ARRB REQUEST: CIA-IR-21: DRE MONTHLY OPERATIONAL REPORTS
Originator: ARRB
From: ARRB
To: CIA/HRG
Document date: 10/17/1996
Document type: PAPER - TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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1704-10336-10020

eugene in

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

444

122214

MEMORANDUM

CIA HAS NO OBJECTION TO

DECLASSIFICATION AND/OR

RELEASE OF CIA INFORMATION

IN THIS DOCUMENT

October 17, 1996

To: Barry Harrleson, CIA/HRG

From: Manuel E. Legaspi, ARRB Staff

Subject: Operational Reports, Cuban Exile Groups

In recent weeks members of the ARRB staff have attempted to locate and/or ascertain

the disposition of monthly operational reports for certain Cuban exile groups which (in

some cases, allegedly) worked with the Central Intelligence Agency during the years

1963 and 1964.

Our initial suivey of the JFK Segregated Collection and the Microfilm reels indicates

that monthly operational reports do exist for one group in particular (the Directorio

Revolucionario Estudiantil (DRE)), but that reports for the time frame immediately

surrounding the assassination of President Kennedy are not present in the collection.

To the extent that it is possible, could you and your staff please assist us in identifying,

if they should exist, monthly operational reports for the time frame March 1963 - March

1964 for the following exile groups:

The Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil (DRE)

Cuban Revolutionary Council (CRC)

Movimiento Recuperacion Revolucionario (MRR)

Thanks for your help.

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Mr. Barry Harrelson

October 27, 1996

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CIA HAS NO OBJECTION TO

DECLASSIFICATION AND/OR

RELEASE OF CIA INFORMATION

IN THIS DOGUMENT

will discuss issues with CIA.

HTLINGUAL. It is the Review Board staff's understanding that CIA continues

its search for HTLINGUAL records and will provide an oral briefing on the

subject. It is also our understanding that some HTLINGUAL records have been

located, but that they have not yet been made available to the Review Board.

Recent and additional informal requests that we have discussed with you:

Operational Reports for Cuban Exile Groups. The Review Board staff has been

whether these récords exist and when we may review them.

Moscow. CIA has been asked to search for additional information regarding

Mosco as discussed with Michelle Combs on October 24, 1996.

Tape. CIA has been asked to search for additional information regarding a tape

as discussed with Irene Marr on October 24, 1996.

Please let me know of any inaccuracies in this letter or any suggestions that you have.

Thank you for your help and cooperation.

T. Jeremy Gunn

General Counsel and Associate Director for Research

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FAX TRANSMISSION

ASSASSINATION RECORDS REVIEW BOARD

600 E STREET, NW, SUITE 200

WASHINGTON, DC 20530

(202) 724-0088 x261

FAX:

CIA HAS NO OBJECTION TO

DECLASSIFICATION AND/OR

RELEASE OF CIA INFORMATION

- IN THIS DOCUMENT

May 16, 1997

1, including this cover sheet.

To:

Fax #:

From:

Subject:

Barty Harleson, CIA/DCIHIRG Date:

703 613-3063

Pages:

Manuel E. Legaspi

DRE Months

Reports.

COMMENTS:

The Op reports reside in the following DRE folders in the JFK Microfilm:

Reel 25, Folders 25, 26, 27,

Reel 26, Folders 2, 3, 5,

The following is a breakdown of the Op reports I was able to find:

Already in collection:

1962: May, June, September through November / 1a 16/

1963: None.

2/ 1964; May through December.

1965: January through March, May, July through December

1966: January through July, October through December.

We would like to make this a complete series, but have a particular interest in the reports for

Deember 1962 through April 1964.

Thanks!

Edes 27 (UFGA: 6891)

I Reel 25, Folder 22, (UFGA-6851)

Reel 25.

Ill Redli26, Follera (UFGA - 1089)

2/ From Peel 25, Folder 25 (UFGA 16, 168)

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re CIAIR-21

Assassination Records Review Board

600 E Street NW • 2nd Floor • Washington, DC 20530

(202) 724-0088 • Fax: (202) 724-0457

December 18, 1997

Mr. John Pereira

Chief

CIA HAS NO OBJECTION TO

DECLASSIFICATION AND/OR

RELEASE OF CIA INFORMATION

1X9 WET

Historical Review Group

Center for the Study of Intelligence

Central Intelligence Agency

Washington, D.C. 02505

Re:

Status of CLA Responses to Assassination Records Review Board's Requests for

Additional Information and Records

Dear John:

I am writing to follow-up on our telephone call earlier today and to convey my serious

concern about the status of CLA's responses to the Review Board's requests for

additional information and records. Although CLA has completed its responses to

several requests, and many others have been answered in part, a significant number of

requests have not been answered — including some that were made more than two

years ago. On many occasions we have been assured that responses would be

forthcoming, only to have promised dates come and go without answers. It is now

extremely important that these requests be answered promptly so that we may conduct

a proper follow-up if necessary. The issues that we can now identify as being of the

highest priority are identified in the text below by double asterisks (**)' and we request

that they be answered within the next month. We request that the remaining requests

be answered by April 1, 1998.

The remainder of this letter is divided into two parts: first, a listing of the formal

requests for information and records, and second, a listing of the informal requests for

information and records. Please let me know if your understanding of any of the

following points differs from ours so that we can resolve any potential discrepancies.

'As identified more fully below, the issues are: CIA-1 Organizational Material,

CIA-6 Cables and Dispatches, CIA-13 Backchannel Communications, CIA-IR-03

HTLINGUAL Documents, CIA-IR-04 Disposition of Angleton Files, CIA-IR-07 Claude

Barnes Capehart, CIA-IR-15 Electronic "take" from Mexico City, CIA-IR-21 DRE

Monthly Operational Reports, CLA-IR-22 "A" Files on Clay Shaw and Jim Garrison.

BOARO MEMBERS: John R. Tunheim, Chair • Henry F. Graff • Kermir !. Hall • William L. Joyce • Anna. K. Nelson

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.:

Mr. John Pereira

December 18, 1997

Page 11

Name.

7. Byron B. Morton, Jr.

8. Marie Cheatham

9. Paul Garbler

10. Verna Deane Brown

11. George Stanley Brown

12. Howard Guebler

13. Gordon Duane Novel

• 14. Ed Butler

15. INCA (Information

Council of the Americas)

16. Permindex

Resuts/Comments

ARRB awaits documentation.

ARRB awaits documentation.

ARRB awaits documentation.

ARRB awaits documentation.

ARRB awaits documentation.

ARRB awaits documentation. HRG will check for files.

ARRB awaits documentation. HRG will check for files.

ARRB awaits documentation. HRG will check for files.

ARRB awaits documentation. HRG will check for files.

ARRB awaits documentation. HRG will check for files.

CIA-IR-20 Monster Plot:

This request is complete.

*CIA-IR-21 Monthly Operational Reports for DRE.

In March 1997, the Review Board requested that the CIA search for monthly

operational reports for the Cuban exile group Directorio Revolucionario

Estudiantil (DRE) records for the period 1960-1964 with particular emphasis on

the reports for August and November 1963. While some of the reports for this

period already exist in the JFK Collection, others, including the reports for

December 1962-April 1964, are missing. We understand that the CIA has done

some research on the missing reports. We request a comprehensive memo on the

creation and disposition of DRE records be provided for the Board. In addition,

we request that the CLA work to discover the identity of "Howard," the CIA

officer mentioned in the DRE files. We request his full name and Office of

Personnel file be provided to the Board.

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SECRET

The DO has checked Headquarters records for files referenced in

HMMW 12454 and for files on the crypts cited in this document and

searched for HMMA 20307 and other cables or dispatches cited in this

document. As previously explained, the crypts in HMMW 12454 have been

researched. The dispatch

was apparently written in haste and in

truncated language without correct knowledge of the operational crypts

for the specific operations in Mexico City. The crypts in the dispatch

are the more generic crypts for teltap operations, not for the then-

current operations in Mexico City. (S)

**CIA-IR-21 Monthly Operational Reports for DRE

The gap in the Directoria Revolucionario Estudiantil (DRE) records

has been researched. The explanation is that the reporting lagged

because the DRE apparently would not take CIA directions or instructions

for their

operations and CIA funding was reduced. Further complicating

the situation was the personality clash of the DRE official and the CIA

case officer. DRE records identified in a search have been located in

the CIA's JFK microfilm files and have been discussed with Manuel

Legaspi of the ARRB staff. (S)

The CIA has not been able to identify "Howard" as "mentioned in

the DRE files." Knowledgeable case officers from other regions have

explained the name could be a routing indicator from a covert officer

for ensuring that something gets to the CIA. The name does not track as

a pseudonym, registered alias, nor true name of any case officer

involved in the DRE operation at the time of the dates on the documents

so marked. (S)

4

SECRET

CL BY: 0563956-

CL Reason: 1.5(c)

Decl On: X1

Drv From: Multiple

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CIA SPECIAL, COLLECTIONS

RELSAGE IN ZULL

2000

20 January 1998

Memorandum For: T. Jeremy Gunn

Executive Director

Assassination Records Review Board

• FrOM:

Subject:

J. Barry Harrelson

Senior Reviewer

JFK Project

CIA-IR-21, Monthly Operational Reports

For the DRE

1.

Reference is made to your request for subject

information as further refined in your 18 December 1997

letter to Chief, Historical Review Group.

Specifically, you

asked about missing DRE monthly operational reports and the

identity of "Howard," the name to which the DRE appears to

have sent correspondence.

2.

The Agency

has searched appropriate data bases and

files for the

"missing" reports. In addition, the

responsible offices have researched the questions contained

within your request.

Based on these rather extensive

efforts, we

can advise you as follows.

3.

Missing operational monthly reports.

The searches

conducted by the Agency failed to locate any of the reports

that appear to be "missing" -- December 1962 through April

1964, in general, and those for August and November 1963 in

particular.

It should be noted that during the period in

question, major policy differences between the Agency and

DRE developed.

This was particularly true of the latter

years of association because the DRE would not take

directions or instructions about a number of operational

matters, insisting on engaging in activities the Agency did

not sanction.

These differences caused the Agency to reduce

the level of funding for the DRE.

It also replaced the

officer designated to deal with the DRE. Then, about the

same time, the monthly operational reports trailed off.

It

seems probable these

events are linked and that reporting in

the form of such monthly reports simply stopped.

The DRE

files we did find are also within the sequestered JFK

collection and they have previously been made available to

ARRB staff member Manuel Legaspi.

4. The identity of "Howard."

With reference to your

request for information on "Howard," we, like you, have no

clear understanding about the use of this particular name on

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DRE messages.

The phrase, "To Howard" was used as the

addressee of several DRE prepared memoranda. We first

attempted to identify if, in fact,

"Howard"

was an actual

The name was not found to be a pseudonym.

It also

was not found to be a registered alias.

It also is not the

true name of any case officer associated with the DRE

operation at the time the DRE documents were written.

Following review of those data bases, knowledgeable case

officers were queried suggested that the use of "To Howard"

might have been nothing more than a routing indicator to

ensure that the documents got to the correct CIA

office/officer or that the sender was someone known to the

recipient.

5.

If you have any further questions in this regard,

please advise.

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" :

MEMORANDUM

(

March 3, 1998

To:

CIA HAS NO OBJECTION TO

DECLASSIFICATION AND/OR

RELEASE OF CIA INFORMATION

IN THIS DOCUMENT

Jeremy Gunn

Executive Director

cc:

From:

Bob Skwirot

CIA Team Leader

Michelle Combs Michelle Comba

Special Assistant for Research and Review

Subject:

CIA-IR-21 DRE Case Officer for December 1962 - April 1964

In response to ARRB's informal request for additional information and records,

CIA-IR-21, CIA provided access to the Office of Personnel file for Mr. George E.

Joannides. I have examined the personnel file for Mr. Joannides for the period 1961-64

and 1978-79. Mr. Joannides appears in documents in the CIA Sequestered Collection

under his pseudonym Walter D. Newby.

During the period December 1962 to April 1964, Mr. Joannides was assigned as a covert

action officer at JMWAVE, serving as deputy and then chief of the station's covert

action branch. During this time period, Mr. Joannides was the case officer for the

Cuban exile group Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil (DRE). The descriptions of his

duties and accomplishments in the personnel file are very general and contain no

specific reference to his relationship with the DRE. There is no mention of the

assassination of President John F. Kennedy in the file and no information relevant to the

assassination in the file. There is also no indication that Mr. Joannides may have used

or been known by the name "Howard" during his contacts with the DRE, although

personnel files typically would not reveal this information one way or another.

During the period mid-May 1978-January 1979, Mr. Joannides was assigned to work for

Scott Breckinridge, the CIA's principal coordinator to the House Select Committee on

Assassination (HSCA) as a focal person to keep track of the status of HSCA requests,

particularly to the Directorate of Operations. In this role, Mr. Joannides developed and

maintained a log and records of HSCA requests and CIA responses and handled the

day-to-day follow up to HSCA requests.

Several performance evaluation reports from the 1962-64 time period and a memoranda

from Scott Breckinridge on Mr. Joannides duties during the 1978-1979 time frame were

designated assassination records and are being processed for release.

e: /combs \cia-ir21.wpd

File 4.20.1 and 4.20.4

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...

SECRET

26 March 1998

MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

SUBJECT: Joannides' Fitness Reports, ARRB Request,

CIA-IR-21, Relating to DRE

1. Request number CIA-IR-21 from the ARRB is for

information on the Directorio Revolucionario Estudianti

(DRE), its monthly operational reports and its handlers.

2. Significant information has been provided for

review by ARRB staff and the staff has written a memorandum,

dated 3 March 1998, concerning its review. In addition, an

HRP

memorandum has been prepared for the Board concerning

most of subject request.

These two memoranda have been

reviewed by the DO and approved for release.

3. (S) There remained however, the question of who

within the Directorate of Operations served as the case

officer for the DRE during the period before and after the

Kennedy assassination.

That person was George Joannides and

he is identified generally within the DRE materials by his

pseudonym, Walter D. NEWBY.

4. (S) The ARRB staff requested access to his personnel

file. and the same was provided for their review. From that

review, they selected five fitness reports which have been

designated assassination records. The DO has reviewed the

five fitness reports and made suggested redactions to the

fitness reports, primarily to protect such things as size of

station resources, etc. Joannides' name is released.

However, they redacted

the pseudonym, NEWBY.

Note that

items blacked out on the fitness reports reflect their exact

condition within the personnel file. The five fitness

reports have been added to assassination materials awaiting

indexing and review by the ARRB.

5.

The inclusion of the five fitness reports within

the JEK collection for future processing completes HRP

action on subject request.

J. Barry Harrelson

Seen: Concur

For the

Auditch

Directorate of Operations

SECRET

3/26/98

date

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