MEMO FOR THE RECORD: INTERVIEW WITH STAFF OF THE HSCA.
Originator: CIA
From: RYAN, EDWARD
Document date: 10/16/1978
Document type: PAPER - TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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16 October 1978

MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

FROM:

Edward Ryan

Deputy Director for Operations Training

SUBJECT:

Interview With Staff of the House Select

Committee on Assassinations (HSCA)

(S)

town dif

1. (S) On 16 October 1978, at the request of

Mr. Scott Breckinridge, I met with Messrs. Robert Blakey

and Gary Cornwell of the staff of the HSCA. Mr. Blakey

said that he had some questions for me that his staff

had wanted him to ask.

(S) Mr. Blakey wanted me to explain the functions

cryptographic

procurement, and covert intercept as

its three principle

missions.

Mr. Blakey seemed confused as to the relationship

between the CI Staff and Division D, particularly with

respect to a possible duplication in their functions.

specifically asked me what CI/SIG was.

I said I had not

heard that designation, but presumably the "SIG" stood

For SIGINT, and

I went

on to explain the complementary

• roles

if the cI'Staff and Division D in the investigation of

illegal agents using radios.

3.

(S) Mr. Blakey said that Division D had opened a

file on Lee Harvey Oswald, and observed that he couldn't

see how the functions of Division D, as I'd described them,

would explain this.

I said I was not aware that Division D

had done such

a thing, and that the only reason I could

imagine for such an action would be if Oswald had been

seeking employment as an intercept operator, but even in.

that case, the Office of Communications, rather than

• Division

D, would have held the file, since all intercept

personnel at that time were in that Office. Mr. Blakey

asked whether the CI Staff would have had a file on Oswald

and I said only if he were suspected of working for a hostile

intelligence service.

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SUBJECT: Interview With Staff of the House Select

Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) (S)

4.

(S) Mr. Blakey observed that every organization

hate at nace tructure but one that seal ly

organization works.

He can understand

CIA's formal organization, but the second one is more

difficult for him to comprehend. Speaking of Bill Harvey;

he asked whether I knew him. I

said I did.

This led

to a discussion

about how it could have happened that Harvey,

as Chief, Division D

activity which seemed to he been a parent

responsibilities, as a service element of CIA. I said that

when I came into the Agency in 1948, Harvey was already a

very senior and respected officer:

i , Harvey

that in subsequent years

he had a very close relationship with Mr. Helms, and if the

latter had given Harvey some special assignment, Harvey could

easily have carried

it out in

a compartmented

way alongside

his regular duties.

I pointed out that since Division D

itself was a compartmented activity, it would not surprise

anyone if the Chief of the Division were handling personally

an

especially compartmented activity. Mr. Blakey wanted

to know how Harvey could have gotten personnel and funds

to carry out his assignment. I said he would probably

borrow the personnel

in the name of the Director, and he

would get his funds

in the regulation manner, probably from

an account under the Director's control.

But he might not

need either: he might use people who would simply handle

his needs in addition to their regular assignments.

5.

(S) Mr. Blakey asked me if I knew who QJWIN was.

I said I of course knew the crypt from its appearance in

the Rockefeller Commission Report, and that "QJ" was a

digraph for a Luxembourg Station

source, agent or operation

and I knew QJWIN was a Luxembourger. Mr. Blakey did not

pursue the question.

6.

(S) Mr. Blakey asked what kind of files Division D

kept,

and I said they were all devoted to the operational

•activities of the Division:

that, except for our own

personnel, there were no files on

individuals. Mr. Cornwell

asked if Harvey had had any personal files and I said that

if he had, he had not left them behind in Division D, and I

doubted very much if he had left any behind when he left the

Agency, The HSCA staffers had no further questions.

161A

Edward Ryal

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