MEMO: RELEASE OF DOCUMENTS FURNISHED TO THE PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION BY THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Originator: CIA
From: ROCCA, DEPUTY CHIEF CIS
To: DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
Document date: 1972-05-15 00:00:00
Document type: PAPER - TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

# DOCID-32403437

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JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM

IDENTIFICATION FORM

AGENCY INFORMATION

AGENCY

RECORD

NUMBER

RECORD SERIES

AGENCY FILE NUMBER

CIA

104-10320-10051

JFK

CIA-OGC FILES

DOCUMENT INFORMATION

AGENCY ORIGINATOR

FROM

TO

TITLE

DATE

PAGES

CIA

ROCCA, DEPUTY CHIEF CIS

DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE

MEMO: RELEASE OF DOCUMENTS FURNISHED TO THE

PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION BY THE. CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE

AGENCY

05/15/1972

4

SUBJECTS : HSCA DOC.

DOCUMENT TYPE

CLASSIFICATION

..

PAPER

SECRET

RESTRICTIONS

CURRENT STATUS

DATE OF LAST REVIEW

COMMENTS

: RELEASED IN PART PUBLIC - RELEASED WITH DELETIONS

03/18/99

JFK-M-12: F1: 1999.03.18.09:07:27:310128 : ARRB

REQUEST. CIA-IR-34

Aeleased under the John F. Kennedy

assassination Records Collection Act of

1992 (44 USC 2107 Note]. Case#:NW

65990 Date: 11-01-2021

[R] - ITEM IS RESTRICTED

104-10320-10051

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DĐ/222-2310

15 MAY 1972

1605/2

METORANDUM FOR: Director of CentralIntelligence

VI.A

: Tenuty director for Plans

SUBJECT

Release of Docunents Furnished to the

President's Commission by the Central

Intelligence Agency

On Monday, & May 1972, Nr. Arthur Dooley visited

Congressman Richard Ichord to show him the exhibits he

requested and to answer any questions. Mr.

Ichord is."

Chairman of the louse Committee on Internal Security!

It was quickly apparent that he knew

very little about

the Oswald case, and that he had been misled by Bernarda

Fensterwald, Jr. regarding the extent of ClA's coverage

of Oswald when he was

in Mexico City. Nr. Ichord, ex-

amined the documents and raised a number of points

which vere answered candidly and without

reservation.

He thanked us for easing his mind and said that we could

consider the matter closed. Mr. Ichord as well-disposed

toward this Agency from, the onset and assured us that

anything said or shown to him vould be held in strict

confidence. A more detailed memorandum is attached.

Deputy Chief

Counter Intelligence Staff

1 Attachment, A/S

Document Number

1057-947 R

for FOlA Review on

SEP 1976

літит

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SUBJECT: Lee Marvey Oscald Case: Briefing of Congressman

Richard Ichord, s

1. Mr. Joseph O'Neill, Office of the Legislativa

Counsel, presented Mr. Arthur Dooley,

who furnished the

exhibits requested by the Congressman, and answored his

questions as folloirs:

2. ir. Ichord suid he was concerned over one aspect

of the swald Investigation from the standpoint of his

committee. lle wanted

to know if "during CIA's investigation

of Oswald when he was

in Mexico'one develoned any evidence

of a conspiratorial relationshin between the Soviets and

Oswaldeither through our coverage of the Embassy or

outside meetings. He specifically

referred to Söviet

consular officials Pavel Antonovich Fatskov, and valeriy

Kos tikov

were identified in the Commission's Report as consular

officials and KGB representatives.) I told him that CIA

did not have Osald under investigation when he was in

Vexico City; directed his attention to the pertinent

exhibit; and explained that the KGB affiliations of the

two soviets were supplied by ClA

experts who were avare

of their activities and not by anything said or indicated

sy Oswald in the evidence

compiled by us. Mr. Ichord

examined the

exhibit, noted that Oswald's short conversations

to securing visas; indicated that he had been

misinformed; and said that he had no further questions to

ask

on this

point.

3. He said that his question was sparked by Bernard

Fenstervald, Jr. a former constituent,

about whon he

knew very little when he requested

the documents. since

then he has learned of

Fenstervald's dubious credentials

as an expert on the assassination and of his association

with Jim Garrisson and others of questionable repute.

I detailed our own difficulties with Fenstervald, his

insistence that we are hiding something, and how,

Executive Director of the Committee to Investigate

Assassinations, he has been pressing us to release our

classified documents under threat of invoking

Freedom of Information Act..

SEGRET

GROW I

Espered tor automatis

demagradio? and:

declaring ical

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Vi:

1. it"r. Tchord's request

Igave hin a conplete

mindown on her CA Icarned pfacialUe prescice in Mexico,

and the

circumstances surrounding the photo,

anknown

ofathe

man which was

in front of the Soviot Embassy

I anecified and

refuted the assorted, allegations regarding

this nicture

which vere sonerated. by Ldyard Fostein

wesley Licheler (a former Commission attorney) Mark Lane

Jim Garrisson, and later Bernard Fens tervald, rolL

mentioned that Fenstervald told us a yearlago that he

linei

the identity of the unknown man butso far has not

volunteered his

name.

One

of. Garrisson's charges was that

Cswald was

a CIN agent and that we cut him out of the

picture. I took the occasion to stress that Oswald was

not a CIA agent and that ve never had anything to do with

him.

5. I mentioned that when the President's Commission

came into existence Mr. Helms issued specific instructions

to cooperate fully with the Commission and to give it

connlete. access

any information bearing on the assassina-

tion; that Commission memuers, at Mr. Helm's invitation

visited our Nexico City station for an on-the-scene

briefing and inspection. I told.him

that we have not

released exhibits relating to Oswald's visits to the Soviet

and Cuban Embassies, because the

sources of the above

information are extrenely sensitive and still productive.

MIr. Ichord fully agreed on this

score and complimented us

cil the extent of our coverage.

Б..

Mr.

Ichord asked what steps CIA was taking to

declassify its other documents. I told him of the required

five year cycle (one coming un shortly), the review

then al our interim releases,

and CIA's desire to release

as quickly as the need for protecting them subsides.

I pointed out that most of our material consists of "nut

complaints':

, runors, gossip,

etc; which have no security

significance per se but

could be embarassing to innocent

persons; disclose

a productive and friendly foreign source;

or acknowledge CIA's presence abroad where diplomatically

this would be inadvisable. I cited our experience with the

"crank call" that originated in canberra,

Australia; how

in 1968 we tried to declassify this exhibit but Australian

security officials objected on the grounds that it vould

publicly acknovledge CIA presence on their soil and perhaps

stir unvarranted controversy JI stated that despite the

above-type

problems we gradually have been declassifying

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SEGNET

3d(2)

•CIA'S

material;

sanitizing exhibits as necessaryato

protect

our sources.and methods

7.I mentioned in passin!,

that

tivo otherethings

beyond our control have contributed to the misconceptions

our exhibits:

A The inadvertent/releaschby.

National

Irchives of the master list of numbere, exhibits shortly

after the demise of the

President'S. Connission without

distinguishing between overt and

classified i toms, and

B) the

fact that many.

exhibits bear different numbers

but are interrelated

thus giving a false impression that

there are more exhibits than is the case?

The release

of the master list without the accompanying documents

caused much apprehension and misinterpretation, particularly

among assassination

"buffs"

Agency critics. I cited

"Oswald and the U-?" entry which was widely exploited

until ve declassified the document a couple of years ago.

8. Nir. Ichord asked if any. CIA members served on

the President's Commission. I said no, but mentioned that

former DCI Allen Dulles was on the Commission

turned to the makeup of the Commission staff and how it

was chosen. I

replied that we were not really competent

to comment

on how it was chosen but the

largely of attorneys of varied political and ethnical

backgrounds from widely separated parts of the country;

that, from my

observation, the Connission vas impressively

organized and a highly motivated, hard vorking group.

9. Mr. Ichord stated that he had no further questions

to ask

and

thanked us for easing his mind. We

offered to

exhibits and told us to consider the matter closed.

Arthur E. Dooley

CI/REA

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