ANONYMOUS TELEPHONE CALLS TO US EMBASSY IN CANBERRA, RELATIVE TO PLANNED ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY.
Agency: CIA
Originator: CIA
From: HELMS, RICHARD, DDP
To: RANKIN, J. LEE
Document date: 05/22/1964
Document type: PAPER-TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY!

WASHINGTON 25, D.C.

22 MAY 1954

Commission No.

971

MEMORANDUM FOR: MI. J. Lee Rankin

SUBJECT:

Anonymous Telephone Calls to United States

Embassy in Canberra, Australia, Relative to

Planned Assassination of President Kennedy

1. I refer again to paragraph two of your memorandum,

dated 12 February 1964, relative to disseminations to the Secret

Service made by CIA.

2. On 24 November 1963, CIA received from the Department

of the Navy a copy of a cable from the Naval Attache in Canberra,

Australia (IN 67327, Top Secret, later downgraded to Secret),

reporting a telephone conversation the previous day with an

anonymous individual who had described himself as a Polish

chauffeur for the Soviet Embassy in that city. This individual,

while discussing several matters of intelligence interest, touched

on the possibility that the Soviet Government had financed the

assassination of President Kennedy. Reference was made in this

cable to the receipt of a similar anonymous telephone call on

15 October 1962•

3. Upon receipt of this cable from Navy CIA took the

following action:

a. Cabled to Canberra asking full details of the

telephone conversation of 23 November and the call made

on 15 October 1962. It should be noted that CIA had not

previously known of the 1962 telephone call.

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B. The ClA Station in Canberra, on 27 November, furnished

all available information on the 1962 telephone call. It appears

that source on that occasion stated that "Iron Curtain Countries"

planned to pay a hundred thousand dollars for the assassination

of President Kennedy •

c. On 27 November, the CIA Canberra Station/also furnished

complete detail on the anonymous telephone call of 23 November 1963.

d. On 29 November, CIA disseminated this information, as

supplied by its Canberra Station, to the White House, Department

of State, and Federal Bureau of Investigation, with a copy to the

Secret Service. A copy of this dissemination in its exact text

is attached to this memorandum.

4. The CIA Station in Canberra)arranged for discussion of the

calls with the Australian security service. In the opinion of the

Australian authorities, the caller was a crank. In any event, they

were not able to identify any Polish employee of the Soviet Embassy,

the automobile described by the caller as the one he drove, or the

license plate number given by him. No further information on this

call has been received. Available evidence would tend to show that

the caller was some type of crank. This conclusion, however, cannot

be confirmed.

5. Please note that the nature of the information in this

memorandum and its attachment requires the use of a sensitivity

indicator.

Richard Helms

Deputy Director for Plans

Attachment

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CommissIon No 971 a

OUT Teletype No. 85691, dated 29 November 1963, filed at 1117 hours,.

to the White House, Department of State and Federal Bureau of

Investigation, with a copy to the Secret Service

'"i. Your attention is called to a series of anonymous telephone

calls made to the office of the U.S. Naval Attache in Canberra,

Australia, by a man claiming to have had knowledge about a Soviet

plot to assassinate the late President Kennedy. Our first record

of this matter is a Naval Attache cable from Canberra sent on

24 November 1963.

2. It appears that the caller, who professes to be the Polish

chauffeur of a Soviet Embassy car in Canberra, first phoned in

over a year ago, on 15 October 1962 repeat 1962. At that time he

told a story about five Soviet submarines carrying 400 to 500 Soviet

soldiers on their way to Cuba. One purpose of this troop movement,

he said, was to support the Governor of Mississippi. He added that

there was a plot to pay one hundred thousand dollars to kill President

Kennedy. Behind the plot, he said, were the "Iron Curtain Countries, "

and "Communist men in England, Hong Kong and probably some other

countries."

3. On 23 November 1963 repeat 1963, the day after the

assassination of President Kennedy and over a year after the first

telephone call, a man believed to be the same person phoned the

Embassy again and spoke to the assistant Naval Attache. The caller

referred to his call a year back and stated he had said that the USSR

had put up 100, 000 dollars for the assassination of President Kennedy•

4. Giving what he claimed were further details about the

assassination, the caller said that about two weeks before (which

would have been in early November 1963) he was present when an

Australian man, 35 to 40 years old, and tall, was dispatched by

the Soviets to the United States carrying a case about 35 to 40

centimeters long, 50 centimeters high, and 8.5 centimeters wide.

The name Vasyl Two was used in some connection with this man.

He was put on a plane in Sydney and while the caller drove the two

Soviet escorts back to Canberra, their shortwave radio in the car

was going constantly. A shortwave radio was going in the Embassy

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also when they arrived there. Over these radios, one of these Soviets

transmitted numbers and "points." They remained in the Embassy, and

that morning (apparently 23 November 1963), a message came through

and toasts were drunk in Russian Vodka and the Russians present said,

"we have achieved what we want."

5. The caller then gave "information" about the Soviet role

in sinking a U.S. Navy nuclear submarine and on Soviet subversion in

Indonesia. He would not identify himself, and when he described the

car he drives (as a navy blue 1952 Buick, license plate New South Wales

CCC 0122) he added they often change plates, have fifty sets. in reserve,

and can change them in five seconds.

6. The caller added some vague information about a woman

employee of the American Embassy he things works for the Soviets.

The conversation concluded with the caller promising to write a letter

to the Naval Attache at the American Embassy.

7. The caller spoke good English and his accent and voice did

not change throughout the conversation, so it was assumed that he

was not disguising his voice:

8..

Australian authorities working on this case consider the

caller to be a crank. They state that Soviet offices in Australia

do not use anything but Soviet chauffeurs; they have no record of

their using a Polish chauffeur. They are continuing their investigation.

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