SPECIAL ACTION BY THE CIA'S MIAMI STATION TO INVESTIGATE EVENTS SURROUNDING PRES KENNEDY'S ASSASSINATION
Originator: CIA
From: IAD/CAS/SOVIET OPS/X
To: MEMO FOR THE RECORD
Document date: 12/19/1978
Document type: PAPER - TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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2022 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992

SECRET

19 December 1978

MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

SUBJECT: Special Action by the CIA's Miami Station to Investigate

Events Surrounding President Kennedy's Assassination

During the spring -summer of 1962 the Chief of our Miami Station,

Theodore Shackley, established procedures for mobilizing station personnel,

area agents and casual sources

to cope with sudden emergencies where fast

and continuing collection and reporting were needed. For example, during the

early summer of 1962 rumors began to circulate in the Cuban community in

Miami and reports were received from refugees arriving in Miami from Cuba

indicating the Cuban government expected an invasion of Cuba by the USA. In-

dividual staff officers in the station were charged with organizing their

Miami area, agentsto comb through the Cuban community in Florida for sources

who had received such rumors through contacts in Cuba. Ourlocal exile Cuban

intelligence service was organized to develop a network of Cuban exile

families who could phone in to Cuba long distance in relays and try to elicit

information on the invasion rumor from Cuban on-islandrelatives and friends.

When the presence of intermediate range ballistic missiles began to be suspected

in Cuba, this same station emergency collection network was set into motion

to acquire information augmenting reports by our on-island agents and from

tehcnical collection. Later, the emergency mobilization system was used to

help other Federal agencies

search for armed exile groups violating

the

Neutrality Act.

2. When President Kennedy was assassinated the Station was well organized

to mobilize a fairly massive search for information relating to the magnicide.

I recallbeing told to get into immediate contact with all my local agents

and to direct th em in the search for informational leads which might turn

up an exile Cuban conspiratorial group possibly involved in the assassination

and to seek any other information which might turn up evidence about the

murder. All other staff officers in the station were mobilized for this effort.

That is to say, all staff officers who had agents and informants. In addition

to our local search for information those of us with agents in Cuba sent

SW , OWVL, and WI messages asking questions about possible Cuban government

ties to the assassination. I also recall making a trip to Mexico in late November

or early December 1963 specifically to meet with my on-island agent AMWEE-1

for the purpose of debriefing him on information he had heard in Cuban government,

diplomatic and public circles in Cuba about the assassination.

My general recollection is that the Miami Station's search for

leads to the President's assassination continued well into 1964 and was

considered a high priority undertaking ordwred by the

Chief of Station

malconte

Donald R. Heath, JI.

IAD/CAS/Soviet Ops/

SECRET

17575

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