MEMO: REVIEW OF AGENCY HOLDINGS REGARDING PHOTOGRAPH OF UNIDENTIFIED INDIVIDUAL IN MEXICO CITY PUBLISHED BY THE WARREN COMMISSION.
Agency: CIA
Originator: CIA
From: ROCCA, RAYMOND G.
To: DC/OPS STAFF
Document date: 5/2/75
Document type: PAPER-TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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2 May

19

75

MEMORANDUM FOR:

Deputy Chief,

Operations Staff

SUBJECT

:.

Review of Agency Holdings regarding

Photograph of Unidentified Individual

in Mexico City published by the

Warren Commission

REFERENCE

Letter dated 15 April 1975 by

Mr. David W. Belin, Executive

Director

of the Commission

on CIA Activities

within the United States, to

MI. E. Henry Knoche (copy attached to

accompanying report)

This is further to,

and in completion of, my

inter'm memorandum of a few weeks ago.

The attachment is a detailed

iew in narrative,

chronological order - together with

propriate comment

ary - of our extensive holdings

OSWALD case that

have a bearing on the matter of photographs taken by

Mexico City Station on I, (4)

1963 of an

Unidentified Individual.

ence of a combina-

tion of analytical error.

stress of an urgent desire

bute to the develop-

ment of the investigation

Ssassination, a

cropped versior of one of

sotographs of the

Unidentified Individual was

introduced into the chain of

evidence in the OSWALD case

23 November 1963 by an

FBI representative in Dallas.

The successive vicissi-

tudes which have now made this event a cause celebre

right down to the present moment are detailed in the

narrative.

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The attached report i

answer to the Fensterwald/O*T

attaches to his memorandumo

by-paragraph refutation,

and commen

which and to me selin

аррторті

ate memorandum to My

intended to be an

article which Mr. Belin

repared a paragraph

that article,

y handled by a sepa

will prepare this

a memorandum if that

Is desti

ist.

The point of the

eferenced memorandum is that

consideration should be given now to "whether or not the

entire matter can be fully disclosed at this time."

This

submission is designed to make it possible for you, the

IG and others whom you may desire to consult to make this

decision.

The narrative-interpretive summary has been

put together in such a way that it discloses no cyptonyms,

pseudonyms or other CIA jargon.

However, its contents

well beyond what has been released to the public thus far

the Warren Commission documentation.

This point must

be borne in mind

in making a decision on Mr. Belin's

question.

any question in anybody's mind

our good faith in this matter,

the narrative is backed up

by copies of actual documentation from our files.

seems to me necessary, in reply to Mr. Belin, that he or

his representative review the documentation that backs up

the narrative.

The documentation has not been keyed into

presentation, but it follows the chronologi

cal order of presentation

from 9 October into the latest

developments in the matter,

and there is an overall index

to facilitate reference to individual items.

INB: There

is only one copy of this collection

this is it.J

5: As noted above, one

photographs taken in

Mexico City on 4 October 196

troduced into the

Warren Commission public

ever,

it was intro

duced into that record

Warren Commission and

made fully aware

the course of their

cadquarters and in

Mexico City of the

photograph, the fact

that we had additionat phat

aphs of the same individual

taken at different times

Mexico City and on the basis

of full knowledge of these

facts reached their own con-

clusions regarding the irrelevance of the photograph to

OSWALD and the assassination.

In fact, we actually hold twelve different photo-

graphs of

the Unidentified Individual.

Each of these are

reproduced in the collected documentation backing up the

narrative report (see Items 25 - 27) •

Chief,

LA Division,

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had indicated in writing to Ch

:IOPS ,

that he has no

objection for Mr. Belin to d

Reve

is desired

with

these photographs at this

wild be noted that

MI. Fensterwald in 1971

tally shown, by

Mr. Houston during a vy

gency, two of the

twelve photographs,

one already published

in the Warren Commissi

(It is these two that

he has published in The New

* Review of Books article

which Mr. Belin attaches

to his memorandum.)

It seems to me that whoever makes a decision on

whether the entire matter can be fully disclosed at this

time should bear in mind that a subsidiary decision must

also be made, i.e., whether to crop

or otherwise fuzz up

the background of the photographs or, alternatively, to

publish the entire run of the photographs for the first

time without taking out the background.

Obviously, none

of these questions apply to the passage of this material

to Mr. Belin and the Rockefeller Commission itself.

think they should see the entire documentation as it

stands.

Perhaps after that, the question of what could

be discussed and the question of "how?"

and "how much?"

could be taken up with Mr. Belin himself.

My personal

recommendation is that the more we can say about this

matter in a fully open and final manner,

the better off

we will be as an Agency.

But it is my

that there are still

sensitive aspects deriving from the

fact that the operation which produced the photographs

was jointly rin with Mexican liaiso

mand as

a consequence

publication at this time would dreste

additional problems

at that level in Mexico.

should be noted that

the Ambassador,

according to

J.C. King on

22 November

documentation), alleged

decision to put the

8 in the backup

Tect role in the

the hands of the FBI

As far as I know,

there has not been

Published about this aspect

at any time in the past pos

i ate state department about the has at ot the matter.

Raymond G. Rocca

Attachments:

as stated

3

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2 May

1975

SUBJECT : The Phota of an Unidentra l

Commission Report:

ning rol of the arre

in the Warren

REFERENCE:

15 April 1975 tachmer My Mr. E. Harry Knache,

1. Reference memorandum suggests it would be appropriate to

reconsider full disclosure at this time of the circumstances and factual

data relative to the Subject. The purpose of this survey is to permit a

realistic evaluation of the suggestion.

(

Background

2. This examination and summary of the record concerns a cropped

photograph considered by the President's Commission on the Assassination

of President Kennedy (hereinafter cited as

(arren Commission) and

introduced into evidence as Odum Exhibjay

The photograph

(together with others of the same

Kad

inated from a highly

1

of President Kennedy (hereinafter cited as Hearings), VoT. XX, p. 691.

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sensitive intelligence operation being

CIA land Mexican security authorities agains

Embassies in Mexico City.

October 1963 by the

Soviet and Cuban

3. Under the extraordinary

resso of

effort to develop information

on the assassin and the assassination, copies of the photograph were

made available by CIA's Mexico Station Chief

on the afternoon of

22 November to the local FBI representative, and later that day,

assertedly on the decision of the Ambassador, copies were conveyed by

an FBI representative by a special flight carried out by the U.S. Naval

Attaché to the Dallas office of the FBI for possible use in the ongoing

investigation. One photograph, cropped by the FBI, was shown to

Mrs. Marguerite OSWALD (Lee Harvey OSWALD's mother) in Dallas on the

evening of 23 November 1963 by FBI Agent Bardwell D. ODUM.

4. The Warren Commission's report describes the sequence of events

at pp. 364-365 and 667 (Attachment B) which ultimately resulted in

Mrs. Marguerite OSWALD's allegation tha

Had been shown a cropped

photo of Jack RUBY the day before h

son. (A further

complicati on compounding

this.

when she had been shown

sion was the fact that

lane photograph in her appearance

propped by the FBI in Washington in

before the Commission, it

had b

a slightly different manner.)

5. No detail in the Warren Commission report illustrates more

vividly than this one the difficulties that beset simple truth in the

2

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politicized, rigidly deterministic interaretive

nurtured by the media over the past degade about

climate that has been

the Kennedy Assassina-

tion. The photograph, acknowledged, now not

Be RUBY, has continued to

preoccupy "specialists" applies

Jfore the centerpiece of another

Nypothes is that holds OSWAld to telesteen "franed" by the use of a

double in his activity in Mexico City.?

(

Lee Harvey OSWALD - Reporting on Mexico City Stay

6. Although in no way related to Lee Harvey OSWALD or his stay. in

Mexico City from the morning of 27 September 1963 to the morning of

2 October 1963, at least one set of photographs of the unidentified man

originated during OSWALD's stay there. It is important, therefore, to

an understanding of the acquisition and handling of the photographs by

the Mexico Station to review what the Station ascertained and did with

the information it developed about OSWALD

Mexico City, together with

Headquarters action on that information

%..

From all credible evideno

added since the exhaustively

que

time (none, incidentally,

the Warren Commission),

Lee Harvey OSWALD spent

fo

ays and two (2) partial days--

about 116 hours in all-in Mexicolsity from about 10:00 a.m. 27 September

2 This is the thrust of the article "The CIA and the Man Who Was Not

Oswald" by Bernard Fensterwald and George O'Toole in the New York Review

of Books, a copy of which

is attached to reference (Attachment A).

3

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1963 to about 8:30 a.m. 2 October 1963:

lace of residence was a

small commercial traveler hotel, not<

Dent

Hotel Commercio--where he was registered

"gringos"--the

ias. Exhaustive and

detailed interviews and inter

Mexican authorities and

the FBI, after the assassinat

hed that in the recollection of

all hotel personnel he left early

and returned late each day of his stay.

8. Assuming, and allowing for the fact of late arrival and early

departure, that he slept one-third of the time of his stay (38 or 39

hours, there remain some 78 hours

of activity to be accounted for.

Overall, CIA's information can account solely for very brief periods

during 27, 28 September and 1 October. All coverage by CIA during the

entire period was technical. The Station had no live source (living

agent) coverage either unilateral or from Mexican liaison.

9. It should be noted that OSWALD was in no sense "under investi-

gation." None of the facts of his defection and stay in the USSR and

return to the U.S., 1959 - 1962, were known

Mexico Station files

before 10 October 1963, when the bare ben

his biography were

forwarded by Headquarters in respo

8 October which had forwarded

cabled report of

asis; what appeared to be

a contact by an American

vis

Eg Buba

in transit to the USSR. This

was indicated and deduced from techmically acquired information on

1 October, which was the first and only occasion in which OSWALD

identified himself (partially) by true name.

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10. At no time during his stay in Me

ty

did the CIA acquire

a photo of OSWALD. A careful review of a

as well as photographic, of both

th

Soviet

corducted by the Station on 2

voice intercept,

Cuban Embassies was

1963 after the assassina-

tion, going back to materials from

1963.

It is, therefore, firm

that there was no CIA photo coverage of OSWALD at any time during his

Mexico trip or stay in Mexico City. Moreover, although it had made a

cabled request on 15 October, the Mexico Station had no photo of OSWALD

in its records, nor did it receive one from Headquarters--which did not

have one either--before 22 November 1963.

17. Boding this intensive review of voice intercept transcripts

by the monitor and other personnel on the basis of the 1 October inter-

cept--which had been reported to Headquarters and disseminated to the

interested members of the intelligence community (as an ex-Marine OSWALD

was a Navy and FBI case under the Delimitat

Agreement, and potentialTy

of interest to the Department of State

led

up matches based on

content with materials intercepted

September 1963. These

matches were reported

to Heado

lovember 1963. Analysis

based on voice comparison except

DUlet could be recalled by the

monitor-and this was not an insignificant element because of the

memorably poor Russian spoke by OSWALD) could not be made because the

tapes, in accordance with the normal practice, had been erased and re-used.

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12 It must be stressed that the

intercept and photographic

Jin "real time." The

coverage was not (and normally is noth

means of acquisition and

the

note: of

inFormation precludes anything

but the spot reporting ofe

the monitor to be of more than

ordinary interest and, therefore, nosed in summary logs. Full texts of

selected items require consultation of the tape and either a full tran-

scription or full translation or both. Photo coverage tends to become

available in quantity lots which requires scanning and selection on a

rapid

and accelerated basis in four or five day "peaks." One of the

"triggers" that normally operates to focus and

accelerate more speedy

review and reporting of this kind of raw intelligence is the mention of

a name. This was precisely what occurred in the second of two conversa-

tions on l October with the Soviet Embassy, during which the speaker said

he was "Lee OSWALD." It was this information reported by the Station to

Headquarters in its first indication on OSWALD on 8 October 1963.

13. The Mexico Station did one more t

ig in its 8 October report

on Lee OSWALD based on

its 1 October voi

e Intercepts: it coupled the

data with descriptive

information

đ acqui

from a sensitive

collateral source--a photogran pra malevindavidual, apparently an

American, who was observe entering getsoviet Embassy on 1 October:

The Station reported this detai Nan

the 8th as a matter of coincident

fact. The Station did not assert or suggest that the data deduced from

the photo was in fact OSWALD, or indeed, was in any way related to OSWALD.

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Lee Harvey OSWALD - CIA Coverage of Hi

City Stay

14. One additional element of backgroung must be stipulated now as

the final precondition to unders

tand ing

the relevance (or irrelevance)

of the photo of the unknown indivi

placed in the chain of evidence

on 23 November in Dallas by FBI Agent Bardwell ODUM: what was the

totality of CIA Mexico's coverage of OSWALD's activity as of the after-

noon of the 23rd when all available coverage had been checked?

15. The totality of Mexico Station coverage on, or reasonably

inferable to be OSWALD, consisted of five (5) voice intercepts as follows:

a. 27 September 1963. (Friday, 1605 hours Mexico City time.

Silvia DURAN, a Mexican national, a local employee of the Cuban

Embassy, Consular section, a receptionist, speaks with an unknown

male at the Soviet Embassy. Silvia DURAN tells the man that the

American citizen was there, the one w

vants a visa for Cuba on

his way to the Soviet Union, and

to know with whom he was

talking there because she (S;

sent him to the Soviet

Embassy saying that if

# and gave him a visa, then

the Cubans (Embassy) dolle alse ade him a visa without further

paper work, only advising Immigration in Cuba. The American, she

says, wants to know with whom he had talked there because he says

he was told there would be no problem. The man in the Soviet

Embassy says to wait a moment. A different Soviet speaks, and

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Silvia DURAN explains the same thing to him.

leave a name and telephone numbersands

says

Silvia DURAN gives the telephone

28

She also takes advantage/of

This man says to

will call back.

Suban Consulate).

ation and states she has

moved and wants to advises ther

Embassy of her change of

address so that she can receive the Soviet Embassy's Bulletin.

The man says to call KOUKHARENKO to give her new address, then he

asks the name of the Consul or Cultural Attache. Silvia DURAN says

the name is Teresa PROENZA and the telephone number is 14-13-26.

The man says thanks.

b. 27 September 1963 (Friday), 1626 hours Mexico City time.

An unidentified male, a Soviet, calls the Cuban Consulate, asks

Silvia DURAN if the American had been there. Silvia DURAN says he

is there now. The Soviet says the American showed papers from the

Consulate in Washington, that he wants to

go to the Soviet Union

and be there for a long time with

who is Russian, but

the answer has not come from Was

espect to this problem,

and according to this

t

tal

our or five months, but

without having permissi

agestron

Soviet Union they should ask, or

better said, they cannot iss

sue visa

there without asking Washing-

ton. However, according to this man, he showed a letter indicating

he was a member of an organization in favor of Cuba and that the

Cubans said that they cannot issue a visa without his having a visa

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for the Soviet Union, and now he (the

do with him (the American), becausentr

does not know what to

have to wait for an answer

from Washington.

Silvia DURAN agrees

that the problem with

Thin che

exists with the Cubans,

can) is that he does not know

anyone in Cuba and therefore it

that is true it will be difficult

for him to get a visa for Cuba, because he was thinking of proces-

sing his visa (for the Soviet Union), because he knew it would

require waiting a long time for his visa to the Soviet Union while

in Cuba, and from there go to the Soviet Union. The Soviet

said

the thing is that if his wife right now were in Washington she

would receive her visa right now, or permission, from the Soviet

Union, to return to her country, she is going

to receive her visa in

Washington but having this visa, she could communicate to any place

this permission, for example here or

Nace she could receive it

(visa or permission), but right

do

not have them.

Silvia DURAN says certainly

give a letter either

because they do not kno

be approved. The Soviet

says he cannot give

does not know him (the Ameriesn" an

mmendation either because he

and asks to be excused for

bothering her. Silvia DURAN says that is all right and many thanks.

c. 28 September 1963 (Saturday), 1151 hours Mexico City time.

Silvia DURAN calls the USSR Embassy and talks to an unidentified

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Soviet. She says that in the cuban

there is

a North

American who was at the Soviet Embass

Soviet says wait

minute.

Silvia DURAN speaks EngVist w

el someone--and comments in

Spanish that they gave APARNOLO teleel

one 14-12-99 and to take the

number down--Silvia DURAl then

ays the American citizen is going

to talk with you, i.e., the soviet. The American first speaks

Russian and the Soviet speaks English. They continue in English.

The American talks broken Russian and says I was in your Embassy and

spoke to your Consul. Just a minute. A Soviet takes the phone and

asks the American in English what does he want? The American says

please speak Russian. The Soviet says what else do you want? The

American says I was just now at your Embassy and they took my

address. The Soviet says I know that. The American, in hardly

recognizable Russian, says I did not know it then. I went to the

Cuban Embassy to ask them for my address, because they have it.

The Soviet says why don't you come again

id leave your address

with us, it is not far from the Cuban.

The American says

I'17 be there right away.

d. 1 October 1963

Tuesday

LOSi

Bours Mexico City time.

An unknown male (America

Realls

Soviet Embassy, the Military

Attaché's number, 15-69-87, and

says to an unidentified

Soviet

respondent: I was at your place last Saturday and

talked to your

Consul. They said that they would send a telegram to Washington,

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and I wanted to ask you if there is

I would like to ask you to call angle

it down: 15-60-55, and asksfor

new? The Soviet says

umber? Please write

Thank you.

e. 1 October 1963

45 hours Mexico City time.

The same person who phoned a dayor so ago and spoke in broken

Russian speaks to OBYEDKOV (a Soviet Embassy guard). He says:

This is Lee OSWALD speaking. I was at your place last Saturday and

spoke to a consul, and they said that they would send a telegram to

Washington, so I wanted to find out if you have anything new? But

I don't remember the name of that consul. OBYEDKOV says: KOSTIKOV.

He is dark (hair or skin - ?). OSWALD says yes. My name is OSWALD.

OBYEDKOV says, just a minute, I'll find out. They say that they

have not received anything yet. OSWALD says: Have they done

anything? OBYEDKOV says: Yes, they say that à request has been

sent out, but nothing has been receiv

as yet. OSWALD says, and

what . . . ? OBYEDKOV hangs up

16. Each of these items

texts of the raw intercepts,

We ree send set he went one More comise starfo

station during a stay from 8 - 13 April

1964.3 All were made available promptly to the FBI.

3 The Warren Commission group that visited the Mexico Station consisted

of Mr. Coleman, Mr. Slawson, and Mr. Willens.

They examined not only the

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17. Summing up, we can state, or by

infer from the intercept evidence, that gALo

the following contacts with the Cuban and

Sovi

interpretation reasonably

or could have made

official establishments

in Mexico City.

2. 27 September 1905 028)

After arrival and check-in to

his hotel, OSWALD went first to the Cuban Embassy where he talked

with Mrs. Silvia DURAN. The time of his first Cuban Embassy visit

is unknown. The time of his second Cuban Embassy visit was about

1600 hours (i.e., just before closing). Sometime between the two

Cuban Embassy visits, at Mrs. DURAN's indication, he must have

visited the Soviet Embassy. We have no indication who he talked

with at the Soviet Embassy.

intercepts a - e above, but others for the 27fg and one for 3 October

that seemed to have relevance.

been included in this

summary because they appear, on review, t

Xcludable from the OSWALD

matter on logical or substantive grounde

the Soviet Embassy received many calls

both,

bearing in mind that

Krain

so visa matters.

On the 27th at 1037 hours the

an unknown individual speaking,

• not

th

SY

received a call from

he wanted visas

to go to

nd

to call back at 1130.

cha Roja bus terminal on bus

#516 at circa 1000 hours on the 27 ts

a. The caller wanted visas, and specifically for Odessa

OSWALD was seeking a visa and never in any context did he specify

the Black Sea port of Odessa as

a destination.

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There was no photographic cove

OSWALD's entries

into either the Cuban or Soviet Embass

TEs

con

the 27th.

The lack of

coverage on the Cuban installation

the camera,

based on the recollection

racer

in service in Head-

quarters, was down on the

becau

of mechanical malfunction,

which was in course of corrections

Why OSWALD was missed in his

probable entry to the Soviet installation on the 27th is not yet

explained, but no technical operation of that kind is infallible.

b. 28 September 1963 (Saturday)• [Note: Both the Cuban and

Soviet Embassies were closed to the public on Saturdays. Photo-

graphic coverage was normally suspended Saturdays and Sundays.]

b. The call was directed to the correct Soviet consular

number: 15-60-55.

On 1 October,

OSWALD. first called the wrong

number, 15-69-87 (the MA's number), and had to redirect his call to

the correct number, 15-60-55.

what would have been his initial

It se

ems trilikely he would have made

son Friday the 27th, to the

correct number, and called the

ect number on 1 October.

C. There is every reason

intercepts, para 15, a-erabo

after arrival and check

From the context of the

ALD's first destination

was a visit to the Cuban

Embassy.

d. The use of the Spanish language would exclude OSWALD unless

he made use of an intermediary, which seems unlikely from what is

known of his modus operandi.

On 3 October at 1539 hours an individual speaking broken Spanish,

then English, called the Soviet Embassy and asked for a visa.

respondent says: Call on the other phone. The requestor says: I'm

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OSWALD, notwithstanding the holiday schedate, went on Saturday

morning to the Soviet Embassy (his sec

nd Visit) where he spoke to

a Consul. He apparently could not recall

new Texas address.

At circa 1151 hours he went

to:

Cuban

Opbassy--his third entry.

Where he had registered

Unhis

ig application the day

previously. He secured the

from Mrs. DURAN and she called

the Soviet Consulate presumably to permit him to give them the

address over the

phone. Instead, the Soviet with whom OSWALD spoke

over Mrs. DURAN's telephone invited OSWALD to come back in person,

and he said he would immediately. Presumably, thereupon OSWALD went

back to the Soviet installation (his third entry).

looking for a visa to go to Russia. The Soviet says: Please call on the

telephone of the Consul, 15-60-55.

The requestor says: One moment

please, I'll have to get a pencil to write the number down.

the visa there? The Soviet:

gur conversation.

know about this business.

The requestor aski

For the number again.

Soviet gives him the number and tells him

for the Consul of the

Soviet Embassy in Mexico.

The relevance of this inter

grounds:

OSW

excludable on three

a.

The use of brok

Russian or English.

conversation of this kind.

Spand

had

OSWALD throughout used broken

ompetance in Spanish to handle a

b. The substance of the request indicates a visa request in

the first stages of initiation.

OSWALD had developed his matter

with the Cubans and the Soviets the previous Saturday to a point

well beyond the stage indicated by the substance of this call.

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c. 29 September 1963 (Sunday).

No activity registered.

d. 30 September 1963 (Monday V2

@activity registered.

It is known that OsWAlD reserved fuôce

date on a Mexico City-

Loredo bus, departing 2 October.

MU 963 91 0830 hours.)

e. l October 1962

SWALD made at least two calls,

at 1031 and 1045 hours,

to the

Soviet Embassy. He identified himself

twice during the second call when he talked with OBYEDKOV--a guard--

and referred to his talk on Saturday, probably with KOSTIKOV. There

no photographic coverage of OSWALD on 1 October; if the follow-

ing reasoning is correct, that was as it should be. From

the context

of the two calls, there would have been no reason for him to go to

the Embassy. His case had clearly been placed at the sufferance of

the USSR Embassy in Washington. His two calls on 1 October were

concerned with whether any reply had been received from Washington.

Under those circumstances, it is unreasonable to believe OSWALD

would have gone to the Soviet Embassy

that date.

18. The camera at about mid-da

he entry into the

des no, in the opinion of the

c. OSWALD had left Mexico City, based on all the credible

evidence, the early morning of the previous day, 2 October, and

could not have made this local call.

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Station, among all the persons photographec

ay, appeared

to be the

only person- a non-latin, and posit ly a bren,

-who entered the Soviet

installation. On the chance there could

association between the

identification data derived fre the

tercept and the descriptive

data derived from the photogragh,

ion reported the two elements

as separate facts in its cable to Headquarters on 8 October.

19. The Station's action was not unusual and really amounted to an

analytic "quantum leap," justified by the primitive and initiatory status

of the OSWALD identification. Many examples of a similar kind of thing

can be found

in the day-to-day record of Station-Headquarters correspon-

dence and reporting.

(.

Developments from 8 October. - 22 November 1963

20. Mexico Station reported to Headquart

Headquarters 9 October) the following

(1) On 1 October 1963

broken Russian

and

stated he was

at

on 8 October (received in

information on OSWALD. 4

who spoke

ee OSWALD (phonetic),

September when he spoke

4 Cablese has been rendered here, and throughout, into readable English,

without substantive

changes or omissions.

Cryptonyms and pseudonyms

have been omitted or put into clear text.

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with a consul whom he believed to be

Palerity

Vladimirovich KOSTIKOV. Subject

guard [Ivan] OBYEDKOV, who answer

anything new regarding

3 telesram

OBYEDKO upon checking sala

received yet, but the request gad

Soviet

re was

lashington.

had been

been sent.

(2) Mexico Station said it had photos of a male

who appeared to be an American entering the Soviet

Embassy at 1216 hours, leaving 1222 on 1 October.

Apparent age 35, athletic build, circa 6 feet,

receding

hairline, balding top. Wore khakis and

sport shirt.

(3) No local dissemination was being made by the

Station.

21. On 10 October 1963 at 2012Z time the

WH Division responsible

for action disseminated this report to the

and the Navy Department by routine electri

collateral details drawn from a pi

ament of State, the FBI,

ion, adding some

lew:

(1) On 1 October 1969g2

ab t

) and

sensitive

source in Mexico reported that an American male,

who identified himself as Lee OSWALD, contacted

the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City inquiring

17

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whether the Embassy had received hil

cerning a telegram which had beer

sent

Washington. The American was

as

approximately 35 years old, migran

athletic

build, about & feet tall, Pren

"receding"

hairline.

con-

(2) It is believed that OSWALD may be identical

to Lee Henry [sic] OSWALD, born on 18 October 1939

in New Orleans, Louisiana, a former U.S. Marine

who defected

to the Soviet Union

in October 1959

and later made arrangements

through the United

States Embassy in Moscow to return to the United

States with his Russian-born wife, Marina

Nikolaevna PUSAKOVA [sic] and their child.

(3) The information in paragraph

(1).

is being

disseminated to your representat

à Mexico City.

Any further information received

subject

will be furnished you.

information is being

made available to the nigrat

and

Naturalization

Service.

22. Although the reaction of the Headquarters desk was "by the

book" and in good time, there were a number of errors in this advisory

to the departments which, on the record, were concerned with the OSWALD

case:

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a. OSWALD's middle name was

The reason for this mistake!

"Henry" for Harvey-

self. The sheet opening

the file on OSWALD on.

December

been erroneously inscribed

"OSWALD, Lee Henry."

changed except for the notation of

the error--is still the first)sheet in the OSWALD file.

b. His wife's maiden name was misspelled: "PUSAKOVA" for PRUSAKOVA.

Neither of these errors are significant (though they persist in the

Headquarters communications throughout the month. More important was:

c. Paragraph: (2) of the Mexico Station's report, which dealt with

a concurrent, but separate, phenomenon, the description of an individual

observed going into and out of the Soviet Embassy, had been locked on to

Lee OSWALD as an alleged descriptive fact. The Station's qualification,

"appeared to be

an American," was transformed in the flat designation of

the unidentified individual as "The American."

There can be no question that this misreading

was an analyst's error which escaped dete

release: the descriptive details attri

the Mexico Station report

in the coordination before

mark as to be immediately recogn:

as

D were so far off the

the recipients in Head-

quarters, among whom both

rad

photos of OSWALD. (In partial

explanation, if not exculpation, bé

ecalled that as of that moment CIA

had no photograph of OSWALD in Headquarters or in Mexico City to refer to.)

23. Confirmation of this judgment is provided by the contents of

the cable composed by the same analyst and sent as of 2209Z time (two

hours later) to Mexico Station, referencing its 8 October cable:

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(1) Lee OSWALD who called SovEmb.

october

probably identical Lee Henry [sja) OSWALD born

18 October 1939, New Orleans,

•Voui srane

ormer

radar operator in Unite States

who

defected to USSR TOd

strober

OSWALD is

five feet ten inches, one mu

red sixty five

pounds, light brown wavy hair, blue eyes.

(2) On 31 October 1959 he attempted to renounce

his United States citizenship to the United States

Embassy in Moscow, indicating he had applied for

Soviet citizenship. On 13 February the US Embassy

Moscow received an undated letter from OSWALD

postmarked Minsk on 5 February 1961 in which sub-

ject indicated he desired return of his US passport

as he wished to return to USA if "we could come

to some agreement concerning the dropping of any

legal proceedings against me."

On

on his

own initiative he appeared at th

with

his wife to see about his r

Subject stated that he

ver applied

for soviet citizenship and

application

at that time had been to remain in USSR and for a

temporary extension of his tourist visa pending

outcome of his request. This application, according

to OSWALD, contained no reference to Soviet

20

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citizenship. OSWALD stated that he

been

employed since 13 January 1960:

roto one er factory in Me are

Bezorussian

worked

as a metal worker in

esearch

OSWALD was

married on 30 Aprig

to

Man

Nikolaevna

PUSANOVA Esic, a denta Bedictan born 17 duly

1941, USSR. No Headquarters traces.

He

attempted to arrange for his wife to join him in

Moscow so she could appear at Embassy for visa

interview. His American passport was returned

to him. US Embassy Moscow stated twenty months

of realities of life in Soviet Union had clearly

had

a maturing effect on OSWALD.

(3) Latest Headquarters information was an FBI

report dated May 1962 saying the FBI had deter-

mined OSWALD is still a US citize

both he

and his Soviet wife have exit.

mits

Department of State had given

their

trove with their infer on a

to

(4) The Station should

Pas time

information of

reference [its 8 October cable]

and paragraph (1)

above to the Embassy, the FBI, the Navy, and I&NS

locally. The information given above as

21

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(

(

paragraphs (2) and (3) originate

the

FBI.

(5) Reference and possible identi

Ton

being disseminated to

Headquarter

Navy, and I&NS.

Pies

ase

ke

adquarters

advised on any further contacts or positive

identification of OSWALD.

FBI, State,

24. Headquarters feedback to Mexico City of OSWALD's correct

description should have been sufficient, in view of the incongruities

with the details deduced from the photo of the unidentified male, to

keep these two matters apart as investigative facts. But things did not

work out that way.

25. Mexico Station on 15 October 1963 asked Headquarters to

"please pouch a photo of OSWALD." Headquarte

electrically delivered

to the department of the Navy the following message on 24 October 1963.

"Lee Henry [sic] OSWALD

"It is requested

to this office

as soon as possible two copies of the most recent

photograph you have of subject. We will forward

them to our representative in Mexico, who will

attempt to determine if the Lee OSWALD in Mexico

City and subject are the same individual."

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No photo had been received by CIA by 22 No

1963.

26. Within its limitations and capabi

done all it could to comply with Headquar

es.Mexico Station had

instructions:

a. Headquarters had been

red, and in turn those agencies

with an investigative or policy interest in OSWALD as an American

in the United States had been alerted, both in Washington and in

the field.

b. Mexico Station had no further contacts by OSWALD to report

because--as it was ultimately ascertained--he had left Mexico City

on 2 October.

c. OSWALD was not an Agency investigative responsibility, in

any case. Even with a photograph, it would have taken very special

efforts, triggered by the other interested

U.S. agencies, to have

made a positive identification in ye

OSWALD's hotel registra-

tion under alias.

There the matter rested until

-gay

rowember 1963.

The Insertion of the Photo of the Unidentified Individual into the

Chain of Evidence

27. On 22 November 1963 the Mexico Station cabled Headquarters at

2229Z time after learning of the arrest of Lee H. OSWALD, age 24,

23

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possibly in connection with the assassinatio

earlier messages of 8-9 and 15 October, and Heade

10 October. The Station requested by.

nd

referenced its

ers'

reply of

"priority pouch a ph

so that Station

can check' all recent coverage for OSWALD. Forward-

ing soonest copies of only visitor to Soviet Embassy

on 1 October who could be identical with OSWALD."

28. It is clear that Mexico Station had forgotten that according

to its own communication the unidentified male in the photo was of

"apparent age 35"

and

that the accurate description of OSWALD forwarded

by Headquarters on 10 October precluded the identity with OSWALD of the

person whom they regarded as the "only visitor to the Soviet Embassy on

I October who could be identical."

29. The Station meanwhile had be

review of all its technical and ph

exhaustive and accelerated

was prepared in accordance wit

22 November, cited in para

photo coverage of the unidentifie

ndi

elligence. A dispatch

jon given in the cable of

The dispatch noted that

neividual had turned up on 4 and

15 October at the Soviet and Cuban Embassies, respectively. The text

of the 22 November 1963 pouched dispatch read:

"1. Attached are copies of the only photographs

obtained . . . on 1 October 1963 which appeared

24

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to be an American. This same man

Embassy on 4 October 1963.

the Soviet

"2. Copies of these photographs

U.S. Ambassador on 22/No

embel

each of the two photographsa

Mexico, on that date . .

shown to the

and a copy of

given

to Chief FBI,

"P.S. Photographs dated 15 October 1963 were

inserted after typing of dispatch. These were

taken as [thel person entered the Cuban Embassy."

Attached were eight photographs: four (of which two were marked

1 October on reverse) showing the individual in a white shirt, and four

(unmarked on reverse) showing the individual

would seem to be logical that the word "se

paragraph two of the dispatch between

cords

a black shirt. It

probably omitted from

and "photographs."

30. That the Station was

apparent from the text of the

catch

as a postscript. That fact was repo

Headquarters at 0053Z time, 23 November:

aced draft is clearly

tacked on a material fact

& simultaneously by cable to

"1. Mexico Station has photos same unidentified

American type who is possibly OSWALD entering

Cuban Embassy on 15 October. Searching for

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possibility photo-documen

other days.

entr

Ruban Finbasy.

"2. Also

attempt no

departure Mexica

ROHIB

VOSWALD entry and

31. Headquarters, at 0136Z time, 23 November 1963, asked Mexico

Station to send a staff member with all photographs to Headquarters on

the next available flight.

32. Concurrently with or before the foregoing cables to Headquarters,

the Chief of

Station, Mexico City, had spoken directly by double-talk

telephone with the Western Hemisphere Chief of Division, Mr. J. C. KING,

and secured permission to give copies

tified individual to the Legal Atta

photographs of the uniden-

se them known to the

Ambassador.

33. What happened

ne

Chief of Station to the WH Dwist

cted in a personal note by the

Cbief, mailed to the latter from

Dallas, together with copies of the

photographs, by the Legal Attachés

representative who delivered them to the FBI in that city.

"22 November 1963

"Dear J.C. [KING]:

"Reference is made to our conversation of 22 November

(

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ete the Legal

who is known to your

of the photographs

we have with the dates of the visits stamped on

the back.

"At. 6 p.m. Mexico time on 22 November, The Ambas-

sador decided that this was important enough to

have a member of

the Legal Attache's office take

copies of these pictures to Dallas, Texas. The

Naval Attache is making a special flight from

Mexico City for this purpose. The Legal Attache's

officer who is going to Dallas has

mised to

mail this material to you for fie

"Copies of these photographs are

by pouch which will leave, Mex

béing

sent

City

on

the

night of 22 November

"Best wishes.

"Win [SCOTT]"

According to a sidelined comment on this letter, the Legal Attache's.

officer was Eldon RUDD.

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34.

The decision to remit the photog

had been made by the Ambassador, accor

simultaneously with the FBI agentle depar

by cable (0244Z time, 23 November):

aphs to the FBI in Dallas

Chief of Station, who

reported to Headquarters

"FBI agent left here 2000 Mocal

time with two copies

each of six photos of a person suspected to be

OSWALD, on a special flight for Dallas. He is

carrying envelope with one copy each photo for

airmail special from Dallas to J. C. KING at

home as per telephone conversation with SCOTT.

One copy of each of these photos plus a copy of

each of the photos showing the same person exiting

the Cuban Embassy forwarded by memorandum leaving

by regular pouch tonight.

In vie

of above does

Has still want a staffer wi

dditional photo(s)?"

35. Headquarters responded two

23 November 1963, cancelling

ter, 04222 time,

"1.

No need send

ith photos..

We have

asked Navy for photos again, but Mexico can see

OSWALD's picture soonest on the press wire.

"2. Have just re-emphasized to FBI Headquarters

the sensitivity of photos you are sending and also

28

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(

(

relaying names of travelers withs

sim

Note radio says OSWALD lived under

O. H. LEE."

ar

names.

36.

On the 23rd at 17297 time,

aguarters advised Mexico City:

"The FBI says that the photos of the man

entering the Soviet Embassy which Mexico

Station sent to Dallas were not of Lee OSWALD.

Presume Mexico Station has double-checked

dates of these photos and is also checking all

pertinent photos for possible shots of OSWALD."

37. And at this point, 2048Z time, 23 November, Mexico Station

finally agreed:

"Saw photos of Lee OSWALD on

22 November and it obvious

were not identical with lee os

Dates are as given

sion night of

:o Dallas

el

d in Dallas.

"Mexico Station is Feviewing all available photos

of persons entering Soviet and Cuban Embassies."

38. Two hours later (22547 time, 23 November 1963) the Station had

reported the results of its effort to review all available coverage:

29

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"Complete recheck of photos of all

cuban embassy from August throug

tors to

first

half of

November against good press pho

evidence of OSWALD visis i Simil

nik against

all Soviet Embassy pholas

fr

September.

Note, only visit we know he made to Cuban Embassy

28 September, Saturday, on which Embassy closed

and we had not had coverage . .

39. With this communication the matter of the "unidentified

individual" reaches the

end of Phase I, the key element of which is the

conviction, at first latent, then expressed, that the photographed

individual might be identical with OSWALD. This applies especially to

the Station, though at a certain point even Headquarters moved no

rebuttal despite the hard fact that the de

sion of OSWALD and the

unidentified individual were quite dispara

40. This review has attempted

)dea

ven handedly with all items

in the case record that have

bearing

What happened. The operational

zeal, innovativeness, and the

Utment of all involved,

especially in Mexico City, speaks for itself. Equally apparent--

because of the 20/20 advantage of hindsight--is the evidence of

non-performance. It was a critical failure, for example, that no photo

of OSWALD was made available--though it was expressly requested both at

Headquarters and by the field--or that it was not more aggressively

30

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sought by CIA, before 22 November. A photog

obviated--in a way the mere possession of g

cor

evidently could not--the whole success iye

de

Mexico City as an impressionis

selec

1 October 1963 into a cause

of OSWALD would have

physical description

loration of what began in

the photograph on

40. It should be clear from this factual survey that never had

there been a cause celebre with less intrinsic merit. It is equally

clear

from the facts themselves that there was nothing contrived or

conspired in what happened, unless we have now descended to that point

in human values achieved under STALIN in the USSR and under HITLER in

Germany, where just a plain mistake is per se evidence of conspiracy.

The Genesis and Development of Odum Exhibit No

Commission Exhibit 237

1 and

41. Special Agent of the FB

1963 showed one of the six

day to OSWALD's mother, Marg

JUM, on 23 November

com Mexico City the previous

ODUM himself had trimmed

off

the background by straight cuts.

OSWALD had no recognition of

the

image in the photograph. ODUM's own detailed account may be found in

Hearings, op cit, Vol. XX, p. 268.

42. The photograph shows the unidentified individual in a black

shirt. It was one of the five photos taken of him in front of the Soviet

31

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Embassy in Mexico City on 4 October 1963,

left the city.

after OSWALD had

43. At this point, for thenrecord,

available photo

coverage of the unidentified?

dirdua, numbers twelve (12) photographs:

a. Five (5) taken on 1 October 1963, entering and exiting the

Soviet Embassy. He is garbed in a white shirt and light-colored

(khaki-?) trousers.

b. Five (5) taken on 4 October 1963 in front of the Soviet

Embassy. He is garbed in a dark, open, button-down shirt with a

high-neckline undershirt showing and dark trousers.

c. Two (2) taken on 15 October 1963 in front of the Cuban.

Embassy. He is wearing a dark, collarless T-shirt or light sweater.

The negatives of all of these are exter

are now held in Headquarters

as integral parts of the OSWALD an

e holdings.

44. The

result of abun

he photograph--to repeat, a

cropped version of one

under paragraph 43b, above--was

Mrs. Marguerite OSWALD's allegas an that she had been shown a picture of

S

her son's killer, Jack RUBY, a day before he perpetuated the deed! Again

the Warren Commission Report (pp. 364-365, 367) exhaustively disposes

of this erroneous charge and requires no repetition here.

A complica-

ting fact developed along the way was Mrs. OSWALD's (correct) observation,

32

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when she finally admitted before the Commission that the ODUM photograph

was not RUBY, was that the photo had been cropped differently from the

one

she had been shown

in Dallas.

Inspect

on MALLEY's cropped version of

the ODUM photograph became

commission

(see Hearings,

Vol. XVI, p. 638).

45. The net effect of the gevelopments in the hearings of the

Commission was to require the admission of the cropped photograph into

evidence in a chain of depositions beginning with ODUM, including the

FBI Inspector, James R. MALLEY (who had trimmed the photograph used by

the Commission in Washington), and Richard HELMS, who deposed for the

originator. These documents speak for themselves and will be found in

the Hearings, Vol. XI, pp. 468-470.

46. Mexico Station and other senior Agency officers strongly

advised against the publication of the

ograph in any form on the

grounds that the Soviets would be

alerted to the existence

of a useful and continuing U.S

beration, and the opera-

tion would go down the drai

repeated cables exchanged on

this point between Headgi

ico Station during the summer

of 1964, in particular fran 23 optiber to 15 october 1964 when the

Station had plans underway to abandon the operation.

47. In acceding to the Commission's request for a deposition,

Mr. HELMS, then the Deputy Director for Plans, replied affirmatively to

33

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Mr. RANKIN by memorandum of 23 June 1964

W

additional observation:

"The Central Intelligen

this photograph not be repr

RODUCT O

included

the following

Cx

commends

that

in the Commis-

sion's report bese

tse

jeopardize a most

confidential and productive operation. In

addition, it could be embarrassing to the indivi-

dual involved who as far as the Agency is aware

had no connection with Lee Harvey OSWALD or the

assassination of President KENNEDY."

48. In this instance the needs of the Commission prevailed over

the DCI's statutory obligation to protect sources and methods. The

"Unidentified Individual" remains to this day unidentified and there is

no credible evidence up to this time to rebut the assertion made by

Mr. HELMS in the concluding sentence of his memorandum to Mr. RANKIN on

23 June 1964. And the operation did, as predicted, go down the drain.

Within a week of the public appearance of

the Odum Exhibit No. 1 and

Commission Exhibit 237, members of,

oviet

ibassy began systematic

efforts to survey the surrounding bundinge

gstensibly for rental

space, but clearly their inquiries

écted to spotting possible

camera sites. The operation was bortued in any case. Within a year

it had become almost totally unproductive in coverage on Americans in

contact with the Embassy--a clear sign that this category of visitor

was being warned away by the Soviets themselves.

34

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Phase III: The "Unidentified Man" Photog

1964 - 1975

49. As could be foreseen, ther

critics of the Warren Commissio

Dee

ersistent pressure by

t Odum Exhibit No. 1

and Commission Exhibit No.

interpretive purposes. A

considerable correspondence

Pated

since the end of 1964 in

which the Agency has attempted to be responsive to these requests and,

simultaneously, has tried to satisfy what has been its sole interest

from the inception of the matter: to protect the method of acquisition

of the photograph ánd the foreign liaison relationship which made the

acquisition possible.

50. Following are highlights from the correspondence during the

current phase.

a. On 16 May 1967, over the signature of the General Counsel

of the Agency, Lawrence R. HOUSTON, C]

statement about the photograph to

untarily submitted a

BAGERT of the Criminal

District Court for the Parish

ate of Louisiana.

The response dealt affirm

contents of the subpoena

that had been delivered

the

States Marshall in the District

of Columbia, despite the face

that the subpoena could not be

executed because of the lack of jurisdiction.

Mr. HOUSTON proferred on Agency behalf categoric assur-

ances to the court regarding the inaccuracy of statements and

35

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of the unidentified i netyidua

Mr. HOUSTON's memorandur

PROHBITED

ins about the photograph

lowing is exträcted from

"Because of the publicity which has surrounded the

Orleans Parish Grand Jury proceedings, we have

recently carried out an exhaustive search of the

files of the Central Intelligence Agency for any

picture of Lee Harvey OSWALD taken in Mexico. As

a result of this search, I can state categorically

that the files of this Agency do not contain, and

never have contained, any such picture of

Lee Harvey OSWALD taken in Mexico and that we have

no information whatsoever that any such photograph

ever existed. To the best of our knowledge and

information, therefore, there i

Furthermore, the photograph

Warren Commission Repc

such photograph.

printed in the

37 in Volume

XVI, never contai

figure, and the

figure in

the

ts an individual who,

to our knowledge, has

het been identified. The

circumstances of the filing of this photograph with

the Warren Commission are set forth in affidavits

on pages 468 and 469 of Volume XI, Hearings Before

the President's Commission on the Assassination of

!

36

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resident Kennedy. Conseque

of any photograph that

description

of

REDUCTION

e no record

in the subpoena.

PROFIL

the

was

requested

"I hope you will accept this information in this

form in the spirit of cooperation in which it is

proferred."

b. The Agency has repeatedly serviced requests about the

identify of the unknown individual from Mr. Emory L. BROWN, Jr.,

Route #4, Box 82, Squankum Road, Farmingdale, New Jersey. The last

exchange

of correspondence in our record covered the period

4 - 17 April 1970.

c. Detailed inquiries on the unidentified individual were

received on 1 and 24 November 1971, to which the Agency responded

on

15 November and 14 December, respas

from

Mr. Paul L. HOCH, 1735 Highland

rkeley, California.

d. The most extens e

firsue the unidentified

individual was and is alejies

m

Bernard FENSTERWALD, Jr., wha

is now Executive Director of

Conmittee to Investigate Assassina-

tions, 927 55th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., beginning on

22 March 1971, shortly after the Agency declassified Commission

Document No. 674, and extending through 1l October 1972, after the

37

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4=00001)

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FBI's declassification of Com

* No. 556. Oni 8 April

gency for a discussion

1971, Mr. FENSTERWALD was

with the General Cour

photograph of the unknown

of his question about the

yadual.

Two other photographs of

the unidentifièd individual, in addition to the photograph

depicted in the two Commission exhibits, were shown to him at that

time.

It is a matter of more than ordinary interest to note that

on this occasion Mr. FENSTERWALD, who was accompanied by his

partner, Mr. William OHLHAUSEN, told Mr. HOUSTON and another

representative of the Agency in attendance that he knew who the

unidentified man was. The following is extracted from Mr. HOUSTON's

Memorandum of Record, 8 April 1971:

"3. Mr. FENSTERWALD came to my office this

morning with his partner, William G. OHLHAUSEN,

looked

at the other photographs, and told us he

did know who the man was. He si

presently

ted

serving a prison term somew

States and admitted

SWALD, but

Mr. FENSTERWALD S

any connection between

hing to indicate

in the photographs

and the assassination of President KENNEDY.

Mr. FENSTERWALD did not

give us the man's name at

this time, as he said enough people had suffered

unnecessarily from allegations that they were

38

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associated with the assassi

He

agraphs, and 1

asked how he could use their.

He said he did

not know and finally agreed that for the time

being he would not press his request. . . .

The whole meeting was extremely friendly and

they thanked us for our response."

The following is extracted from the Memorandum of Record

by the other CIA man present, Mr. Arthur E. DOOLEY.

"Mr. FENSTERWALD said he knew who the person

was

and had spoken to him; that the man was too

nervous to come forth on his own. FENSTERWALD

would not give the man's name but sa

he is an

American, serving a prison terma

on a criminal charge, and

Bi's country

OSWALD

in Mexico.

I asked

sgner had any

conspiratorial relat

a onshir

OSWALD.

FENSTERWALD replied he did

know the answer

as he had not interviewed the man as yet. We

reiterated that we did not know who the man

was, and

said that we would like to know his

identity. FENSTERWALD replied that CIA has a

39

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thick file on the unknown man,,

be furnished his name in

due

cour

Mr. FENSTERWALD

ref

BITED »

ence

in

his subsequent

conversations and correspondence o

This allegation about the identity

of the "Unidentified Individual," though the claim, if true, would

be of direct evidential interest and possibly permit us to assert.

with finality what we believe has been the fact from the beginning:

the "Unidentified Man" has nothing to do with the OSWALD case at all.

Attachment A: Memorandum by David W. Beli

Jated 15 April 1975, wit

of Books, by Bernar

the Man Who Was No rol

nsterw

Attachment B:

Mr.

E. Harry Knoche,

tachment: "The CIA and

he New York Review

nd George 0'Toole.

Warren Commission's

report.

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