Originator: HSCA
Document date: 00/00/0000
Document type: SUMMARY

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180-10110-10123

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

JFK Assassination System

Date:

10/21/20

Identification Form

Agency Information

AGENCY:

HSCA

RECORD NUMBER :

180-10110-10123

RECORD SERIES:

SECURITY CLASSIFIED FILES

AGENCY FILE NUMBER : 153-JFK

Document Information

ORIGINATOR:

HSCA

FROM:

TO :

TITLE :

DATE: 00/00/0000

PAGES:

3

SUBJECTS :

OSWALD, LEE, POST-RUSSIAN PERIOD, TRAVEL, TRIP TO

MEXICO

CIA, ADMINISTRATION

DOCUMENT TYPE: SUMMARY

CLASSIFICATION: Unclassified

RESTRICTIONS: 1A

CURRENT STATUS : Redact

DATE OF LAST REVIEW: 01/01/2003

OPENING CRITERIA:

COMMENTS:

Box 5.

v9.1

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JFK 153

000261

INTERVIEW OF DANIEL STANLEY WATSON:

On June 4, 1978, House Select Committee on Assassinations staffers

Gary Cornwell, Dan Hardway, Edwin J. Lopez and Harold Leap met with

Mr. Daniel Stanley Watson, aka Bernard G. Edgebrook, at his home in

Cuernavaca, Mexico. Mr. Watson was born on November 16, 1917. His

Social Security number is 098-32-0443. Mr. Watson graduated from Knox

College in Illinois and did his graduate work at Georgetown University

in Washington, D.C. He was in the Army from 1941 to 1949, joined the

Central Intelligence Agency in 1949 and worked with them until he

retired in 1973. His assignments while with the Agency were as follows:

Rome 1949 to 1950, Germany 1951-1952, Japan 1953-1955, Pakistan 1957-

1962, New York (United Nations) 1963-1964, Mexico 1965-1967 as Chief

of Covert Action, and 1967-1969 as Deputy Chief of Station, Saigon

1969-1971, and, finally, United States (Headquarters) 1971-1973.

Mr. Watson stated that sometime between 1965 and 1966 while he

was stationed in Mexico City he requested Lee Oswald's personality file.

When it was brought to him it contained only one or two photographs and

intercept transcripts. Mr. Watson stated that the file was very thin

and that the photo(s) was a 3/4 shot from behind--"basically an ear

and back shot". He did not think there was anyone else in the picture

and thoght that it was of Oswald. He could not recall what was on the

transcripts but does remember reading them. When asked why he had orig

inally requested the file he stated that he could not recall. When the

House Select Connittee staffers asked Mr. Watson if it would surprise

him if we told him that Oswald's personality file from Mexico was seven

volumes, he said yes. The staffers asked him if Scott would destroy

files, pictures or would keep highly sensitive material in a special

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place.

Mr. Watson answered that it would not surprise him if win

Scott had destroyed some files and pictures. He also stated that Scott

kept highly sensitive material which he did not want in the system in

a personal safe in his office. Mr. Watson stated that when Win Scott

retired he took the contents of the personal safe with him and stored

them in a safe in his home. When asked if the Oswald p-file he saw

had a note fram Winston Scott that stated that nothing should be removed

as he was highly interested in it, Watson stated that it did not. He

said that a note like that on a file would draw attention to it. "Every

one would want to read it." He said that he did not think it likely

that Scott would put such a note in a file that was sensitive.

Stanley Watson stated that before Win Scott had been buried, James

Angleton flew to Mexico and emptied the personal safe in Scott's bedroom.

Mr. Watson said that he knew this from Scott's wife, Janet. When asked

if Angleton and Scott were close friends, Watson said, "they were".

Watson stated that he thought the CIA Mexico City Station had given

all the material in their possession to the Warren Commission but that

he also knew that Win Scott was capable of "phoneying a photo if asked

to produce one. I never believed Win Scott the first time he told me

something." Watson also remembers Richard Helms congratulating Win

Scott for his excellent job on the Oswald trip to Mexico because "the

Agency had not looked all that bad. "

Regarding Charles Thomas, Watson said, "He was rock solid; you can

rely on anything he said. He was sharp and perceptive. In fact I found

him to be way ahead of me many times."

Watson said that he was responsible

for keeping Charles Thomas next to Elena Garro de Paz. Watson said

that Charles Thomas was skeptical of Elena's story at first. He does

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remember if he later believed her but said that if he did then there must

have been someting to her story.

Regarding Elena Garro de Paz, Watson stated that she was a neurotic

genius. "All the key people did not give her much credence." He stated

that Elena was not an intelligence agent. His last contact with Elena

Garro de Paz was in 1968. He thinks she left town around that time.

Watson stated that he thinks she left under "hurried" circumstances.

He also recalled that when Thomas left he (Watson) dropped all contact

with Elena. Finally, Watson stated that if the Company had helped Elena

depart he would not have necessarily known about it.

Watson stated that Cynthia Thomas was a troublemaker but that she

aided Charles and himself by introducing them to the intellectual crowd.

He apologized for not knowing more but stated that there was much

compartmentation in the Agency.

When asked if he had anything more to add to what he had told us,

he stated that it bothered him that the Agency had destroyed many P-files

when Win Scott retired.

Mr. Watson requested that we use his true name in any writeups.

The omnibus release letter was explained to Mr. Watson before the

interview started. He stated that he believed us and did not have to

see the letter. He was shown the letter at the end of the interview and

was

asked if he wanted a copy for his records. He stated that he had

read it and understood it and had been truthful in what he had told us

and that he did not want to copy of the letter lying around the house for

the maid to read.

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