DEPOSITION OF RICHARD MC GARRAH HELMS, APRIL 23, 1975
Agency: ROTH,BARRY
Originator: ROCKEFELLER COMMISSION
From: HELMS, RICHARD
Document date: 04/23/1975
Document type: DEPOSITION

## Page 1

JFK Assassination System

Identification Form

Agency Information

Date:

8/27/201

AGENCY: ROTH, BARRY

RECORD NUMBER:

178-10003-10272

RECORD SERIES: ACCESSION 78-58 (UNPROCESSED)

AGENCY FILE NUMBER: UNTITLED (HELMS AND CHILE)

Document Information

ORIGINATOR: ROCKEFELLER COMMISSION

FROM:

HELMS, RICHARD

TO :

TITLE: DEPOSITION OF RICHARD MC GARRAH HELMS, APRIL 23, 1975

DATE: 04/23/1975

PAGES: 3

SUBJECTS:

Released under the John F. Kennedy

Assassination Records Collection

act of 1992 (44 USC 2107 Note) .

Case#l:NU 53310 Date: 06-14-2017

JOHNSON, LYNDON B.

HELMS, RICHARD

DIEM, NGO DINH

CONSPIRACY THEORIES, CIA INVOLVEMENT

ROCKEFELLER COMMISSION

DOCUMENT TYPE: DEPOSITION

CLASSIFICATION: Top Secret

RESTRICTIONS: Consulted

CURRENT STATUS : Withhold

DATE OF LAST REVIEW: 07/26/1993

OPENING CRITERIA:

• COMMENTS :

Attached to 1781000310270. Selected pages from longer deposition. Response begun on last page is

incomplete. Declassification marking may be for special access only.

v9.1

NH 53310

DocId:32113033 Page 1

21

---

## Page 2

•ON CIA ACTIVITIES

-

4

5

6

пным

canagear infills

8

• 9

10.

11

•12

13

14

15

15

17

18

19,

20

21

22

23

24

25

178-10003-10272

Langley, Virginia

Wednesday, Apxil 23, 197

Deposition of Richard icGarrah Helms, called for

examination by Counsel for the Commission on CIA Activitiés,

the witness having been previously duly sworn by the Presiday

Commission on CIA in the offices of the Central Intelligenceo

Agency, Langley, Virginia, at 9:37 a.n., on reanesday,

April 23, 1975, the proceedings being taken down in stenotya

by S. Susan Hanback and transcribed under her direction.

APPEARANCES:

On behalf of the Commission:

WILLIAM SCHWARZER, ESq-

GEORGE A. HANFREDI, ESG.

TIMOTHY S. HARDY, Esq.

David Selin, Esq.

COPY

THE GERALD R.

FORD. LIBPARY.

--

DECLASSIFIED

Auth:

Date:

OCTOBER 1S, 1976

By :

LINIAM GHILAND

NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL

NW 53310 DocId: 32113033 Page 2

---

## Page 3

Castro, one was, Irujillo, and do you remember what the third

was?

- ...

3

5

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

Diem.

Q. And. I think you have already testifier about that.

-A.

-- I

just did, because President Johnson had raised the:

cases. with me-and I thought that since he had done it he might

have raised them with-President Nixon and early in his Admini-

stration I wanted to get him sträightened out on this.

_You know, to. this.day I am not persuaded that President

PHOTOCOPY

Nixon doesn't still believe that the Agency didn't have someti

to do with the demise of President Diem of

Vietnam and there

absolutely no evidence of this in the Agency records and

the

whole thing has been, I mean, rather -- what is the word I

- heated by the fact that President

ohnson used to go around

saying

that the reason President Kennedy was assassinated waso

that he had assassinated President Dien and this was just

justice. He certainly used to say that in the early days of

LIBPARY

Presidency and where he got this idea from I don't

know.

don't know how many of you had the privilege of trying to

argue

with Presidents about things like that but you tend to be a

loser

Let me just digress on that one point for the are

Before we get back to Mr. Castro. After the election in Chile,

I believe it was in 1970 where Allende derived a plurality,

President Nixon called you or contacted

you to ascertain if

17A937

NW 53310 DocId: 32113033 Page 3

---

## Page 4

1

2

4

5

6

7

8

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

• 20

21

22

23

24

25

mean

inquiries' - complete openness necessarily with other

committees of the congress.

MR. HELMS: No, because I may have been mistaken

about this jut under Me. Dulles ad I believe under li icone,

I had always had the impression that the Congress had set

•up these oversight comnittees as to be the only committees

in which these secret covert actions and secret intelligence

operations were to be unveiled and I was - therefore, this

was my guideline. If I was going to talk to the Congress I

talked to those Congressmen. When I testified before other

committees, I tried to avoid lying or being guilty. of any

illegality, but I also tried in some cases to duck these

questions so that I wouldn't be in the position of having

come forward in a different context with a different committe:

on matters which I thought were the proper business of the

FORD

oversight committees.

MR. BELIN: Well, now, the final area of my interry

ARY

gation relates to charges that the CIA was

In some way

conspiratorially involved with the assassination of President

Kennedy. During the time of the warren Commission you were

Deputy Director of Plans, is that correct?

MR. HELMS: I believe so.

MR. BELIN: Is there any information involved viti

the assassination of President jennedy which in any wag show

that Lee Harvey Oswald was in some way a CIA agent of an acer

4A1A30TE

NW 53310 DocId: 32113033 Page 4

---