MITCHELL LIVINGSTON WERBELL, III (201-259910).
Originator: CIA
Document date: 1975-01-25 00:00:00
Document type: PAPER - TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

# DOCID-32357456

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JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM

IDENTIFICATION

FORM

AGENCY INFORMATION

AGENCY : CIA

RECORD NUMBER

: 104-10105-10195

RECORD

SERIES

: JFK

AGENCY FILE

NUMBER

80T01357A

DOCUMENT INFORMATION

AGENCY ORIGINATOR : CIA

FROM

TO

MITCHELL LIVINGSTON WERBELL, III (201-259910) •

: 01/25/1975

PAGES

SUBJECTS

: PRESS REPORTS

WERBELL & CIA

DOCUMENT TYPE : PAPER

CLASSIFICATION

: SECRET

RESTRICTIONS : 1A

CURRENT STATUS

RELEASED IN PART PUBLIC - RELEASED WITH DELETIONS

DATE OF LAST REVIEW

: 08/11/93

COMMENTS

: JFK37 : F23 : 1993.08.11.13:30:54:250005

Released under the John F. Kennedy

Assassination Records Collection Act of

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

55924 Date: 10-26-2021

[R] - ITEM IS RESTRICTED

104-10105-10195

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SECT

25 January 1975

SUBJECT: Mitchell Livingston WerBell III (201-259910).

1. Mitchell Livingston WerBell, who appeared in recent press

reports has for over a period of ten years been claiming to be a

representative of the United States Government and of CIA. The facts

do not support this contention.

2. CIA first learned of WerBell in July of 1959 when he contacted

General Cabel indicating. knowledge of Cuban and Dominican affairs.

Mr. Thomas J. Flores of LA Division was put in contact with WerBell

and considered using him as an Fl asset.. A POA was granted on

7 July 1959 for this purpose. By October 1959 it was apparent that he

did not have the access to information as hoped and he apparently looked

upon his association with CLA as a means of furthering his various

business

schemes. All contact was then severed.

3. From that time until the present Mr. WerBell has cropped up

in a number of nefarious activities whereby he inferred he had CIA connections

or support. He was reported to have been involved in arms sales to

Nicaragua and Guatemala, in efforts to gain recognition by certain

South American countries of the Cuban Government in Exile, and in an

abortive scheme to invade the Republic of Haiti in 1966. He also turned

up in Thailand where he contacted the COS purporting to be a counter-

insurgency expert. In 1971 the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense

queried the Agency re Mr. WerBell, asking if WerBell had a contractual

agreement or association with the Agency, as Werbell was awaiting a hearing

before a Department of Defense Examiner related to his participation in

the aboritve Haiti invasion.

The Office of the General Counsel placed the

matter in perspective. Subsequently, he contacted the Agency to request

intercession on his behalf to have his security clearance reinstated which

DoD revoked because of his Haitian caper. He was told this could not be

done. In 1971 he again appeared in Thailand attempting to sell arms. In

1973 he was under investigation by U.S. Treasury Bureau of Alcohol,

Tobacco and Firearms and by the United States Customs Service for activities

relating to possible mercenary activities in Abaco Island, Bahamas. In

this connection WerBell contacted three ex-CIA employees, John P. Muldoon,

Walter J. Mackem and Theodore Roussos in a scheme to involve them in

the activities of an organization called the Friends of Abaco (FOA) which is

advocating the secession of the island from the Commonwealth of Bahamas.

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All three inviduals reported their involvement with the WerBell group

and had sought guidance from the Agency. In May and June they were

advised to break all ties with WerBell. On 27 June 1974 the FBI was

formally apprised of WerBell's overtures for their collaboration in

the effort to bring Abaco's secession.

In September 1974 WerBell

reportedly went to Greece to sell arms to the Greek Government.

Most recently WerBell reportedly appeared before Senator Jackson's

Sub-Committee investigating DEA and had taken the Fifth Amendment

on the question of whether or not he had supplied arms to Robert Vesco.

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