MEETING WITH HSCA STAFFER KEN KLINE, 26 APRIL 1978.
Originator: CIA
From: PEPPER, BENJAMIN F., CIA
To: MEMO FOR THE RECORD, CIA
Document date: 04/26/1978
Document type: PAPER - TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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

SECIT

OLG #78-1548

26 April 1978

MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

FROM

Benjamin F. Pepper

Chief,

SE/ ORP

SUBJECT: Meeting with House Select Committee on Assassinations

(HSCA) Staffer Ken Kline, 26 April 1978

1. For the second time I met with Mr. Ken Kline

tor a couple of hours at ClA Headquarters, present also

were Mr. Patrick Carpentier and "Shep" Mr.

Shepanek of

CIA.

During the latter portions of our meeting Vasia

Gmerkin of CI Staff Joined us.

In haste, but for the

record, the following is noted:

a. With respect to the 835-page draft paper,

which we are sanitizing for the House Select

Committee for Assassinations

• (HSCA), I noted that

we had some problems.

The first was the fact that

identifications of individuals who are agents or

developmentals, or were of interest to the KGB,

as reported by

I noted that I realized

that we had no legal right to excise these names

(having been so informed by Mr. Len McCoy, DC/CI

on the basis of his discussion with our lawyers),

but that I failed to see

why the biographic data

was germane to the HSCA investigation.

I also

noted that we would be excising any information

regarding these leads that came to us from either

the FBl or foreign liaison services. Mr. Kline

replied

that the names of Americans were essential,

but that he thought that his committee staff could

do without the names of foreigners. He promised

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to call me to confirm. He agreed with our stated

intention to delete references to information from

the FBI or foreign liaison services.

b. Mr. Kline complained that because of the

large amount of excised material from the 400-page

study

which we had already provided him with, he

needed an oral briefing on the general content of

these excisings.

great reluctance I agreed to

review these excisions

and brief him to the extent

possible.

C.

Mr. Kline asked if there were any written

comments by Deryabin regarding his interrogations of

Nosenko.

He is interested in having these as soon

as possible because he intends to talk to Deryabin

tomorrow, 27 April. I added that I was unaware of

any such

comments, but would check and get them to

him as soon as possible if there were any. (Upon

checking I found a section of the 835-page study

which does pertain as well as Deryabin memos, and

these portions are being made available through

Mr. Shepanek today.)

d. Mr. Kline asked to see the full extent of

Nosenko's reporting on Oswald. I told him that this

information had been provided

to CI Staff, but that

I would see

that he got it as soon as possible. (1

am looking into this matter this afternoon and will

get this material to him.)

e .

Mr. Kline had some questions about KGB

training facilities in Minsk.

These questions arose

because of Epstein's theory that Oswald was trained

in Minsk and the implications from an emigre report

which I had earlier made available to Mr. Kline

that there was a KGB training facility in Minsk. (I

am researching this,

but at this moment it looks

like the emigre reporting is indicative of staff

officer instead of agent training and it is not at

all clear that this unevaluated reporting is accurate.)

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f. Mr. Kline wanted all CIA information on

KGB procedures, particularly with regard to the

handling of American defectors.

(I pointed out

that to the best of my knowledge there is very

little information on this topic. Mr. Kline

pointed out that he was aware of some ten

redefectors who presumably had supplied the U.s.

Government with information in this regard.

told him if anyone had talked to these redefectors

if probably would have been the FBI and that he

might want to query them, but in the meantime I

would look into this question.

Chief®

Mr. Kline requested a briefing on

the Second

Directorate operations against Americans to

gIve him a context in which to place both Nosenko

reporting and Oswald's sojourn in the Soviet Union.

He told me he would give me convenient days in early

May for such a briefing and I said we would of

accommodate.

(I plan to ask Mr. (Ed Andrews) to take

care of this briefing, the emphasis being on the

time Oswald was in the Soviet Union.)

2.

I tried to gently suggest to Mr. Kline that if he

was setting about to establish Nosenko's bona fides he had

many problems facing him.

I enumerated some of them, noting

particularly the need

to place Nosenko's picture of the Kgi

in the context of other information we had from active

sources and defectors.

I noted that we obviously could not

share all this information with the HSCA even if they had

the five years

to study such material. Mr. Kline said it

was not the business of the committee

to establish Nosenko's

bona fides, but only to establish the validity of Nosenko's

remarks regarding Oswald.

He added, however, that the committee

needed additional information on Nosenko, the KGB, etc., etc.,

in order to place Nosenko's information on Oswald

in context.

3.

The last portion of our meeting was devoted to the

upcoming threat that Nosenko will be forced to appear in

public

session

before

before the

the HSCA. I noted all the security

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problems involved, particularly stressing that if either

face, body or voice become known through

security precautions could be found to deal with this

problem, but noted that this matter would have to be left

for later resolution.

Obviously, he and the committee want

Nosenko, the prime witness,

to appear in public, thereby

giving the committee the full benefit of his testimony.

I suggested that a full transcript of an executive meeting

would suffice for these purposes.

Benjamin F. Pepper fa

Distribution:

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Office of Legislative Counsel

1 - 0/SA/DO/0 - Mr. Shepanek

1

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