MEMO:APPEARANCE OF MR. TENNENT BAGLEY BEFORE THE HSCA.
Originator: CIA
From: RININGER. ASST. GENERAL COUNSEL
To: THE RECORD
Document date: 11/21/1978
Document type: PAPER - TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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104-10126-10314.

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

78-7740

21 November 1978

MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

FROM

SUBJECT

: Richard L. Rininger

Assistant General Counsel

:

Appearance of Mr. Tennent Bagley Before

The HSCA

016 #78 5219|

HSCA

1. On 15 November, I spoke with Mr. Tennent (Pete)

Bagley and his counsel, Philip Chabot, concerning Mr. Bagley's

appearance before the House Select Committee on Assassina-

tions on 16 November.

2.

This Office first became aware that Mr. Bagley

might make such an appearance on 13 November.

On that date

Mr. Ernest Mayerfeld was contacted by Mr. William Shaeffer

of the Civil Division, DOJ.

Mr. Shaeffer indicated that, Mr.

Bagley had written to DOJ requesting that DOJ hire private

counsel to represent him in an appearance he planned to make

before the Committee.

3.

Since Mr. Mayerfeld was to be out of town for the

next

several days, he asked me to contact Shaeffer and

handle the matter:

On 14 November I called Shaeffer, but actually

I informed her

that the Agency had not been contacted by Bagley, nor had

the Committee said anything to us about him, so it would

seem that, he might be volunteering an appearance.

I told

her it was my understanding that Mr. Bagley, who is retired,

was living in Brussels.

5. Ms. Spasato told me that Mr. Bagley had returned to

this country and was now residing in Vienna, Virginia. In

his letter to DOJ (we have no copy) he apparently indicates

that he has returned in order to set the record straight and

was prepared to stay

that.

Weinberg and Palmer, P.C. (the firm which has represented

Prop ana pole, to a

as long as necessary to accomplish

to be represented by Duncan, Brown,

James Angleton).

_CONFUENTIAL T

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6.

Ms. Spasato agreed with me that if Mr. Bagley was

volunteering

to appear, there was no basis for DOJ repre-

sentation or sponsorship.

Since the Agency was totally

unaware of Mr.

Bagley's actions, she said she would contact

Bagley directly to learn his status.

On 15, November she

informed me that Bagley was indeed a volunteer and that DOJ

had declined to represent him or pay for private representa-

tion.

7. On 15 November, at about 1230 hours, I received a

call from Philip Chabot, Esq., of Duncan, Brown, Weinberg

and Palmer, P.C., who indicated he was representing Mr.

Bagley.

Chabot is a cleared attorney - OS#659 094. Chabot

indicated that Bagley was appearing before the Committee at

1000 hours on 16 November and was very anxious to obtain or

review some Agency materials before he did so.

8. Chabot indicated that Bagley wanted the following:

a.

The original memo (said to be in his hand-

writing) which set forth disposal options for Yuri

Nosenko (mentioned in John Hart's public testimony at

line 4218, and in Richard Helms' public testimony at

line 4610).

b. The original (plus the excised portions) memo

from DC/SB referring to the aims of the polygraph

examination of Yuri Nosenko (Hart 2981/Helms 2068) •

The original letter with attachments from

DC/SB which speaks of "devastating consequences" (Hart

3877)•

d. Bagley's complete personnel file, including:

(1)

Reference to his transfer from Hqs in

1966/67.

(2) His fitness reports, including all com-

ments, for the period 1962-1972.

(3) His promotion recommendations for the

period 1962-1972.

(4) His medal and accompanying

citations.

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9. I told Chabot that I wasn't the one to make the

decision in the matter, but I would take the appropriate

steps here and contact him as soon as I could.

I then

relayed the substance of the call to John Morrison of this

Office and S.D. Breckinridge, OLC.

10. Mr. Breckinridge took steps to locate the various

items.

I checked with Ray Reardon, OS/SAG, to learn what

Mr. Bagley's clearance status was.

11. Breckinridge convened a meeting at 1630 to discuss

the Agency's response. Others attending were David Smock,

CCS; Michael Sednaoui, CI Staff; N. Shepanek, PCS/LOC; and

myself.

At about the

time the meeting convened I called

Chabot to tell him we had not forgotten him and that we were

about to make our decision.

He asked if they could have

access to the data that evening if we decided to grant

access. I also learned from Reardon at about this time that

Bagley did not presently hold any clearances.

12. Coincidentally, most (but not all) of the files

bearing upon Bagley's request were in the headquarters

building and were

assembled for the meeting.

data is classified and

some of the classified data incorporates

the fact that Bagley was under cover and retired under

cover.

The paper setting out the options for Nosenko's

disposal is one of the items which is not classified.

13. At this meeting the decision was made to grant no

access on such a hurried basis. First, Bagley is not pre-

sently authorized

access to any classified information

(though the attorney is). And second, the Agency had not at

that point had any contact with Bagley himself. Consequently,

we had no idea what his wishes were relative to his cover

status or what the Agency's reaction to that would be.

cover file was not in the building and consequently not

(The

available for our review.) It should be emphasized that

this was the short term response.

It was recognized that

there are steps available to Mr. Bagley if he takes them, by

which he can seek to obtain the requested data.

14.

I called Chabot to relay this decision at about

1745.

Chabot was disappointed but cordial. He indicated

that Mr. Bagley was with him at the moment and asked me to

speak to Bagley directly.

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15.

I spoke with Bagley at some length, reiterating

• what I had told Chabot.

with Bagley

I noted that Bagley presently held

no clearances, that the Agency had not until that moment, to

my knowledge, had any direct contact with him, and that his

retirement status in itself raised some problems and questions.

Bagley replied to the effect that it was silly to worry

about cover any longer, since the press had been in contact

with him very shortly after the close of John Hart's public

testimony (even though Hart had not used Bagley's name in

that testimony). I replied that, be that as it may, this

Agency would not accept that alone as a basis for changing

23513

its position on the cover matter.

16. I indicated to Bagley that if he wished to change

his status, he should write a letter to the Agency requesting

I also indicated that he could make a request

pursuant to the Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts, to

obtain the data he is seeking.

and gave indication that he would indeed send a letter

concerning change of cover status, and an FOI/PA request. I

also indicated to him that the paper concerning Nosenko

disposal options was unclassified and had been made avail-

able to the Committee. I suggested he ask the Committee for

access to the paper at the time of his appearance.

1?. Mr. Bagley was quite cordial throughout our con-

versation and thanked me for the information I had given

him.

18. After speaking with Bagley, I recontacted Phil

Chabot and relayed to him the security ground rules for such

an appearance.

Chabot confirmed that Bagley's appearance

on the l6th was to be in executive session.

He was familiar

with the security procedure, since he had been involved in

reiterate that Bagley was free to make a full and complete

can 0 0 the g

before the Committee. I did

response in an executive session, including responses involv-

ing classified information, so long as the questions were

relevant to the Committee's mandate. I also indicated that

if there was any doubt as to relevance, he could ask. to

defer his response until he had an opportunity to consult

with Agency officials on the matter.

Richard L. Rininge

21 Nor 78

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i .

CC:

SÀ/DDCI/Smith

OLC/Breckinridge

CCS/Smock)

OS/SAG/Reardon

OGC/Morrison

CI Staff/Sednaoui

PCS/ LOC/Shepanek

PA/Petersen

OGC/Mayerfeld

/ CONFIDENTIAL 1

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