MEMO: ANCILLARY FILES/LEE HARVEY OSWALD, 201-289284 AND SEQUESTERED FILES/HSCA COLLECTION
Originator: CIA
From: RUSSELL B. HOLMES, CONSULTANT
Document date: 04/08/1992
Document type: PAPER - TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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

08 April 1992

MEMORANDUM FOR:

SUBJECT

: a. Ancillary Files

Lee Harvey Oswald, 201-289248

: b. Sequestered Files

SCA Collection

1. INTRODUCTION: In August 1976, Chief, CI Staff appointed the

undersigned as the Staff representative on a Task Force

established in response to DDCI's orders to the Deputy Inspector

General. The Task Force's purpose was to review Book V of the

"Church Committee"'s Final Report: The Investigation of the

Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: Performance of the

Intelligence Agencies, and to formulate comments, based upon an

in-depth study of information available in Agency files; on

statements made and questions raised in Book V. Since CI Staff,

at that time. held Lee Harvey Oswald's 201 file, the CI Staff

chief charged the undersigned with reviewing the file and

preparing papers on a series of topics drawn up by the Task Force

2.

It quickly became evident to the undersigned that the

so-called 201 file on Lee Harvey Oswald was much more than what a

201 file should be.

In addition to biographic information on

Oswald, the file included radio traffic between Headquarters and

the field on matters pertaining to Oswald, information on known

and possible contacts abroad and in the United States,

correspondence between the Agency and the Warren Committee, the

"Garrison Investigation", etc., as well

as internal Warren

Commission documents

containing Agency information.

The file also

includes some 500 third-agency documents (primarily from the FBI

and the Department of State).

In order to get a handle on the welter of disparate material

in the Oswald file, the undersigned set up more than a few

individual files to hold photocopies of documents dealing with

such topics as Gilberto ALVARADO-Ugarte, Silvia DURAN, Waldemar

Boris KARA-PATNITSKY, Valeriy Vladimirovich KOSTIKOV, etc.

(See

attached inventory - Tab A.) The undersigned considers these

ancillary files, which include 9 folders from the former Special

Its integrity should be maintained. [See paragraph 8.]

FIRST AND SECOND REVIEWS (October 1975 - C. February 1977):

For the first time, in October 1975, CI Staff reviewed Oswald's

201 file to ascertain which documents could be released to Bernard

Fensterwald who had requested all Agency documents on Lee Harvey

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Oswald and the assassination of President Kennedy. OGC, who was

handling Fentserwald's request, considered the first staff review

as inadequate and assigned a paralegal (assisted by a CI Staff

officer) to do a more complete second review. At the same time,

each Directorate was asked to forward to OGC any documents in

their files, which pertained to the Kennedy assassination. These

documents were included in the second review.

5.

SEQUESTERED DOCUMENTS: By the time the Task Force had

completed its report in August 1977, the House of Representatives

a resolution setting up a Select Committee on

Assassinations.

Later, the House decided to limit its

investigation of the assassinations of President Kennedy and Rev.

Martin Luther King, III. Members of the Task Force now became

involved in handling requests from the House Select Committee

The undersigned worked closely with HSCA staff/members

and with the Agency's Principal Coordinator, HSCA.

When the HSCA

finished its report on 30 June 1979 (its report did not. come out

until later that year), the undersigned then moved to the Ames

Building to join a group reviewing OSS documents for eventual

transfer to the National Archives.

6.

By late 1981, the Agency had prepared its

material gathered

for the HSCA, for placement in sequestered storage

' in the Agency's

Warrenton) Archives.

The undersigned, though available, was not

asked

to

assist in

this undertaking to ensure all pertinent DO

material had

been included in the collection…

7..

Later, after returning to Headquarters, at IMS's request to

work on the many of FOIA requests for Agency documents on the

Kennedy Assassinations, the undersigned recalled Oswald's 201

including the ancillary files mentioned above.

While preparing an inventory of these latter files, before

returning them to IMS/Files, the undersigned discovered to his

dismay, that not all pertinent files had not been included in the

seguestered Collection in late 1981. Thirty-six of these

Jocuments had been clearly prepared in response to specific HSCA

requests.

The undersigned made a list of these documents to show

the History Staff's group reviewing the HSCA sequestered

collection. The documents include, for example

a .

Response to HSCA Request 77-0076/4, n.d.

Subject: Tab C (Unsanitized), John ROSELLI

& Sam GIANCANA.

b.

Response to HSCA Request 77-0084/1, 30 January

1978.

Subject:

Evaluation of Information in

the Manuscript of Federal Prisoner Antulio

RAMIREZ-Ortiz.

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C .

Response to HSCA Request 78-1058/2, 09 March

1978.

Subject:

Items in Possession of Agency

before Opening Lee Harvey Oswald's 201.

d.

Response to HSCA Request 78-2588/1, 15 August

1978.

Subject: Comments regarding HTLINGUAL

Watchlist Cards.

e.

Three volumes of (unsanitized) documents for

HSCA's use during Helms's appearance before the

Committee in executive hearing.

Volume

I pages 0000151 - 0001873

Volume II pages 0001874 - 0002071,

Volume III pages 0002104 - 0003369

Annex

pages 0003520 - 0003571

(Copy 8)

etc. [See attached inventory; Tab B.]

9. The undersigned had prepared the remaining material [see

paragraph 3

abovel to provide background information,

along with

supporting documents, to the 1976-197/ Task Force.

Since this

material was available at the time of the HSCA review of Agency

documents pertaining to

the assassination of President Kennedy, it

was shown to HSCA staff members either voluntarily or in response

to a verbal request to the undersigned. Each file contained a

"signature sheet" for the staff member to sign, thereby

acknowledging he had

it. This material, in some thirty-five

folders, includes

a. DENIED Documents from Lee Harvey Oswald's 201.

Contained in 5 vols., all reviewed.

RELEASED Documents from Lee Harvey Oswald's 201:

Four volumes of 16 reviewed by HSCA.

b. Comments and supporting documentation

regarding Ronald Kessler's article "CIA Withheld

Details of Oswald's Call",

The Washington Post, 26 November 1976.

shown to Richard Spraque, Chief Counsel (before

-G. Robert Blakey), HSCA, 01 December 1976

c.

CI/SIG (soft) File No. 568: HTLINGUAL material

and memoranda relating to Lee Harvey Oswald et

al (3 vols).

d. . Lee

Harvey Oswald in Mexico City: Background

for Task Force Report, 30 August 1977

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e .

Warren Commission: CIA memoranda addressed to

Warren Commission - 19 February to 29 October

1964. [See

attached inventory, Tab C]

10. It should be emphasized at this point that most, if not all,

the above files contain copies only of "original"

documents

found elsewhere in official files to which the HSCA had access and

had reviewed.

11. PROPOSAL: In order to ensure that nothing is missing from, or

out of sequence in, the sequestered collection, the undersigned.

proposes that he or an assistant be granted access to at least the

34 boxes concerning information belonging to the Directorate, for

Operation so as to

a. Check the contents of each box against the

inventory sheet contained in each box and note

any discrepancies;

b.

Make copies of the "original" documents listed

in the inventory under Tab C and place the

"original" documents in one or more of the 34

boxes, if there is room - for not all boxes are

stuffed full.

If there is insufficient room to

accommodate all the "original" material, then

the left-over material will have to be placed in

extra boxes - not more than four

c.

If documents or folders are put in one of the 34

boxes, the subject and the number of the folder

will be added to the existing inventory sheet;

the folder number will follow the highest folder

number on the inventory sheet.

Russell B. Holmes

Consultant

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