RELEASE OF DOCUMENTS FURNISHED TO THE PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION BY THE CIA.
Originator: CIA
From: ROCCA, RAYMOND G., C/CI/R&A, CIA
To: CIA/DCI VIA DDP
Document date: 1972-05-15 00:00:00
Document type: PAPER - TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

# DOCID-32107267

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Date: 06/17/96

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JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM

IDENTIFICATION

FORM

AGENCY INFORMATION

AGENCY

RECORD NUMBER

RECORD SERIES

AGENCY FILE NUMBER

CIA

104-10009-10195

JFK

201-289248

DOCUMENT INFORMATION

ORIGINATOR

FROM

TO

TITLE

DATE

PAGES

SUBJECTS:

DOCUMENT TYPE :

CLASSIFICATION

RESTRICTIONS

CURRENT STATUS

DATE OF LAST REVIEW :

OPENING CRITERIA

COMMENTS

CIA

ROCCA, RAYMOND G., C/CI/R&A, CIA

CIA/DCI VIA DDP

RELEASE

CIA.

DOCUMENTS FURNISHED TO THE PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION BY THE

05/15/72

5

CONGRESS REQ

CIA RELEASE

WC EXHIBITS

WC DOCUMENTS

PAPER, TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

SECRET

1B

RELEASED WITH DELETIONS

06/22/93

OSW14: V54B 1993.06.22.17:07:42:250150: PART OF BULKY (DCE 18035)

COMPRISED OF CIA DOCUMENTS (CLASSIFIED) IN CUSTODY OF NARA AS OF 30 JUL

Released under the John F. Kennedy

issassination Records Collection Act of

1992 |44 USC 2107 Notel. Case#:NW

55924 Date: 10-21-2021

[R] - ITEM IS

RESTRICTED

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UNCLASSIFIED

STERNAL • :.

SE ONLY

CONE DENTIAL O

ROUTING AND RECORD SHEET

SECRET

SUBJECT: (Optional)

FROM:

EXTENSION

Arthur E.

CI/REA

TO: (Officer designation, room number, and

building)

Mr. D.E. Pratt

C/CI/R&A

DATE

RECEIVED

FORWARDED

15MA2

is/s

DP

NO.

DATE

COMMENTS a reach so come do the from men.)

to whom.

good job

2.

3.

Mr.

R. Rocca

DC/CI Staff

4.

5.

6.

7. Mr.

Helms

DCI

7 D 6011

8.

9.

16 MAY 1972

Mr.

Karamessines

DDP - 3 C 2016

3 9 MAY 1972

2 2 MAY 1972

Document Number 00S7.94%

for FOIA Review on

SEP 1976

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

FORM 610 USEDPRENOUS

3-62

EDITIONS

SECRET

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CONFIDENTIAL

INTERNAL

USE ONLY

UNCLASSIFIED

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-SECRET

DD/P22-2310

15 MAY 1972

72.1625/2

MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence

VIA

: Deputy Director for Plans

SUBJECT

: Release of Documents Furnished to the

President's Commission by the Central

Intelligence Agency

On Monday, 8 May 1972, Mr. Arthur Dooley visited

Congressman Richard Ichord

to show him the exhibits he

requested and to answer any questions. Mr. Ichord

is

Chairman of the House Committee on Internal Security.

It was quickly apparent that he knew very little about

the Oswald case, and that he had been misled by Bernard

Fensterwald

Jr. regarding the extent of CIA's coverage

of Oswald when he was in Mexico City. Mr. Ichord ex-

amined the documents and raised a number of points

which were answered candidly and without reservation.

He thanked us for easing his mind and said that we could

consider the matter closed. Mr. Ichord was well-disposed

toward this

Agency from the

onset and assured us that

anything said or shown to him would be held in strict

confidence. A more detailed memorandum is attached.

Deputy Chief

Counter Intelligence Staff

1

Attachment, A/S

Document Number

1057-9478

for FOlA. Review on

SEP 1976

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SECRET

GROUP 1

Exctuded iron automatle

coungrading and

declassification

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SEGRET

SUBJECY: Lee Harvey Oswald Case Briefing of Congressman

Richard Ichord, & May

1: Mr. Joseph O'Neill, Office of the Legislative.

Counsel, presented Mr. Arthur Dooley, who furnished the

exhibits

requested by the Congressman, and answered his

questions as follows:

2. Mr. Ichord said he was concerned over one aspect

of the

Oswald Investigation from

the standpoint of his

committee. He wanted to know if "during CIA's investigation

of Oswald when he was in Mexico" we developed any evidence

of a conspiratorial relationship between the Soviets and

Oswaldeither through our coverage of the Embassy or

outside meetings. He specifically referred to soviet

consular officials Pavel Antonovich Yatskov and Valeriy

Vladimirovich Kostikov, one or both of whom Oswald

contacted

at the Soviet Embassy. (Both Yatskov and Kostikov

were identified in the Commission's Report as consular

officials

and KGB representatives.) I told him that CIA

did not have Oswald under investigation when he was in

Mexico City; directed his attention to the pertinent

exhibit; and explained that the KGB affiliations of the

two Soviets were supplied by CIA experts who were aware

of their activities and not by anything said or indicated

by Oswald in the

evidence compiled by

us. Mr. Ichord

examined the exhibit, noted that Oswald's short conversations

only related to securing visas; indicated that he had been

misinformed; and said that he had no further questions to

ask on this

point.

3. He said that his question was sparked by Bernard

Fensterwald, Jr. a former constituent, about whom he

knew very little when he requested the documents. Since

then he has learned of Fensterwald's dubious credentials

as an expert on the assassination and of his association

with

Jim Garrisson and others of questionable repute.

I detailed our own difficulties with Fensterwald, his

insistence that we are hiding something, and how, as

Executive Director of the Committee to Investigate

Assassinations, he has been pressing us to release our

classified documents under threat of invoking the

Freedom of Information Act.

SEGRET

GROUP

Estated from automati:

downgrading and

declassification

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4. At Mr. Ichord's request, I gave him a complete

rundown on how CIA learned of Oswald's presence in Mexico,

and the circumstances surrounding the photo of the

unknown man which was: taken in front of the Soviet Embassy.

I specified and refuted the assorted allegations

regarding

this picture which were

i do rise and are enara ten tenor toni

Lane,

Jim Garrisson,

mentioned:that Fensterwald told us a year ago that he

knew the identity of the unknown man but so far has not

volunteered his name. One of Garrisson's

Oswald was a CIA agent and that we cut him öut of the

picture. I took the occasion to stress that Oswald was

not a CIA agent and that we never had anything to do with

him.

5. I mentioned that when the President's Commission

came into existence Mr. Helms issued specific instructions

to cooperate fully with the Commission

and to give it

complete access

to any information bearing on the assassina-

tion; that Commission members, at Mr. Helm's invitation

visited our Mexico City station for

briefing and inspection. I told him that we have not

released exhibits relating to Oswald's visits to the Soviet

and Cuban Embassies, because the sources of the above

information are extremely sensitive and still productive.

Mr. Ichord fully

agreed on this score and complimented us

on

the extent of our coverage.

6. Mr. Ichord asked what steps CIA was taking to

declassify its other documents. I told him of the required

five year cycle (one coming up shortly), the

review

process, our interim releases,

and CIA's desire to release

I pointed

inte as quickt as the need ate protecting them subsides.

complaints"

, rumors, gossip, etc; which have no security

significance per se

but could be

embarassing to innocent

persons; disclose a productive and friendly foreign source;

or acknowledge CIA's presence abroad where diplomatically

this would be inadvisable. I cited our experience with the

"crank call" that originated in Canberra,

Australia; how

in 1968 we tried to declassify this exhibit but Australian

security officials objected on the grounds that it would

publicly acknowledge CIA presence on their soil and perhaps

stir unwarranted controversy.

I stated that despite

the

above-type problems we gradually have been declassifying

SCORET

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CIA's material, sanitizing exhibits, as necessary to

protect our sources

and

methods.

7. I mentioned in passing, that two other things

beyond our control have

contributed to the misconceptions

over our exhibits:

A)The inadvertent release by National

Archives of the master list of numbered exhibits shortly

after the demise of the President's Commission without

distinguishing between overt and classified items; and

B) the fact that many exhibits bear different numbers

but are interrelated, thus giving a false impression that

there are more exhibits than is the case. The release

of the master list without the accompanying documents

caused much apprehension and misinterpretation, particularly

among assassination "buffs" and Agency critics. I cited

the

"Oswald and the U-?" entry which was widely exploited

until we declassified the document a couple of years ago.

8. Mr. Ichord asked if any CIA members served

on

the President's Commission. I said no, but mentioned that

former DCI Allen Dulles was on the Commission. He then

turned to the makeup of the Commission staff and how it

was chosen. I replied that we were not really competent

to comment on how it was chosen but the staff consisted

largely of attorneys of varied political and ethnical

backgrounds from widely separated parts of the country;

that,

from my observation, the Commission was impressively

organized and a highly motivated, hard working group.

9. Mr. Ichord stated that he had no further questions

to ask and

thanked us for easing his mind. We offered to

produce any other documents he might wish to see. Mr. Ichord

replied that this would not be necessary. He returned our

HO KOC

exhibits and told

us to consider the matter closed.

Arthur E. Dooley

C1 / RGA

-SECRET

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