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

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2 May 1975

MEMORANDUM FOR:

SUBJECT

:.

Deputy Chief, Operations Staff

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.

2.

The attachment is a detailed review in narrative,

chronological order - together with appropriate comment-

ary - of our extensive holdings on the OSWALD case that

have a bearing on the matter of photographs taken by

Mexico City Station on J, Cand 15 October 1963 of an

Unidentified Individual.

As a consequence of a combina-

tion of analytical error, misjudgement and under the

stress of an urgent desire to contribute to the develop-

ment of the investigation of the assassination, a

cropped versior of one of the photographs of the

Unidentified Individual was introduced into the chain of

evidence in the OSWALD case on 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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3.

The attached report is not intended to be an

answer to the Fensterwald/O'Toole article which Mr. Belin

attaches to his memorandum.

(I have prepared a paragraph-

by-paragraph refutation and comment on that article,

which I believe

is more appropriately handled by a

rate memorandum to Mr. Belin,

and I will prepare this as

a memorandum if that is desired.)

The point of the referenced memorandum is that

consideration should be given now to "whether or not the

entire matter can be fully disclosed at this time."

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 go

well beyond what has been released to the public thus far

in the Warren Commission documentation.

This point must

be borne in mind in making a decision on Mr.

Belin's

question.

To remove any question in anybody's mind about

our good faith in this matter, the narrative is backed up

by copies of actual documentation from our files.

seens 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

the narrative presentation, but it follows the chronologi-

cal order of presentation from 9 October into the latest

developments in the matter individual items.

and there is an overall index

to facilitate reference to

INB: There

is only one copy of this collection; this is it.

As noted above, one of the photographs taken in

Mexico City on 4 October 1963 was introduced into the

Warren Commission public record.

However, it was intro-

duced into that record in two cropped versions.

Warren Commission and its staff were made fully aware in

the course of their inquiry at Headquarters and in

Mexico City of the origins of the photograph, the fact

that we had additional photographs of the same individual

taken at different times in Mexico City and on the basis

of full knowledge of these facts reached their own

clusions regarding the irrelevance of the photograph to

OSWALD and the assassination.

6. 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,

220 ÷2

5/1115

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had indicated in writing to Chief, CIOPS, that he has no

objection for Mr. Belin to do whatever is desired with

these photographs at this time.

It should be noted that

Mr. Fensterwald in 1971

- 1972 was actually shown, by

Mr. Houston during a visit to the Agency, two of

the

twelve photographs, other than the one already published

in the Warren Commission report.

(It is these two that

he has published in The New York Review of Books article

which Mr. Belin attaches to his memorandum.)

7.

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,

publish

the

entire run of the photographs for the

time without taking out the background.

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.

recommendation is that the more we can say about this

matter in a fully open and final manner,

we will be as an Agency.

that there are still sensitive aspects deriving from the

ract that the operation which produced the photographs

was JOintly ran with Mexican liaison and as a consequence

publication at this time would create additional problems

at that level in Mexico. Also, it should be noted that

the Ambassador, according to Win Scott's memorandum to

J.C. King on 22 November 1963 (see Item 8 in the backup

documentation), allegedly played a direct role in the

in Dallas laterally from the Field.

there has not been anything published about this aspect

at any time in the past nor have we had any discussions

with the State. Department about that aspect of the matter.

Raymond G. Rocca

Attachments:

as stated

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2 May 1975

SUBJECT

REFERENCE:

The Photo of an Unidentified Individual in the Warren

Commission Report: A Factual Chronological Survey

Memorandum by David W. Belin to Mr. E. Harry Knoche,

15 April 1975 (Attachment A)

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 the Warren Commission) and

1

introduced into evidence as Odum Exhibit No. 1.

The photograph

(together with others of the same individual) originated from a highly

of fresHeent as mete the preside ted am aron the assassin til.

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

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sensitive intelligence operation being conducted

in October 1963 by the

CIA and Mexican security

authorities against the Soviet and Cuban

Embassies in Mexico City.

• 3. Under the extraordinary press 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

Attache 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 that she had been shown a cropped

photo of Jack RUBY the day before he murdered her son. (A further

complication compounding this erroneous conclusion was the fact that

when she had been shown a copy of the same photograph in her appearance

before the Conmission, it had been cropped by the FBI in Washington in

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

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politicized, rigidly deterministic interpretive climate that has been

nurtured by the media over the past decade about the Kennedy Assassina-

tion. The

photograph, acknowledged nov not to be RUBY, has continued to

preoccupy "specialists" and has

becone the centerpiece of another

hypothesis. that holds OSWALD to have been "framed" 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 in Mexico City, together with

Headquarters action on that information.

7. From all credible evidence known to this time (none, incidentally,

• added since the exhaustively unique work of the Warren Commission),

Lee Harvey OSWALD spent four (4) full days and two (2) partial days--

about 116 hours in all--in Mexico City 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).

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1963 to about 8:30 a.m. 2 October 1963. His place of residence was a

small commercial traveler hotel, not frequented by "gringos"--the

Hotel Commercio--where he was registered under alias.

Exhaustive and

detailed interviews and interrogation by the Mexican authorities and

the

FBI, after the assassination, established 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 to Mexico Station files

before 10 October 1963, when the bare bones of his biography were

• forwarded by Headquarters in response to a Station cabled report of

8 October which had forwarded, on a routine basis, what appeared to be

a contact by an American for a visa to Cuba in transit to the USSR. This

was indicated and deduced from technically 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 Mexico City did the CIA acquire

a photo of OSWALD. A careful review of all coverage, voice intercept,

as well as photographic, of both the Soviet and Cuban Embassies was

conducted by the Station on 22 and 23 November 1963 after the assassina-

tien, going back to materials from August 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.

11. estrag 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 Delimitations Agreement, and potentially

of interest to the Department of State)--turned up matches

based on

content with materials

intercepted on 27

and 28

September 1963. These

matches were reported

to Headquarters

on 23 November 1963. Analysis

based on voice comparison (except for what 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 voice intercept and

photographic

coverage was not (and normally is not) processed in

"real time." The

means of

acquisition and the volume of the information precludes anything

but the spot reporting of items

judged by the monitor to be of more than

ordinary interest and, therefore, noted 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 thing in its 8 October report

on Lee OSWALD based on its 1 October voice intercepts: it coupled the

data with descriptive information it had acquired from a sensitive

collateral source--a photograph of a male individual, apparently an

American, who was observed entering the Soviet Embassy on 1 October.

The Station reported this detail on 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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SELKEI

Lee Harvey OSWALD - CIA Coverage of His Mexico City Stay

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

the final precondition to understanding the relevance (or irrelevance)

of the photo of the unknown individual 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 who wants a visa for Cuba on

his way to the Soviet Union, and he wants to know with whom he was

talking there because she (Silvia DURAN) had sent him to the Soviet

Embassy saying that if

they accepted him and gave him a visa, then

the Cubans (Embassy) would also give 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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i

Silvia DURAN explains the same thing to him. This man says to

leave a name and telephone number and

says he will call

back.

Silvia DURAN gives the telephone 11-28-47 (Cuban Consulate).

She also takes advantage of the conversation and states she has

moved

and wants to advise the Soviet 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 his wife, who is Russian, but

the answer has not come from Washington in respect to this problem,

and according to this procedure it takes four or five months, but

without having permission from the Soviet Union they should ask, or

better said, they cannot issue a 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 Soviet) does not know what to

do with him (the American), because they have to wait for an answer

from Washington.

Silvia DURAN agrees the same problem exists with the Cubans,

• that the problem with him (the American) is that he does not know

anyone in Cuba and therefore if 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 any place she could receive it

(visa or permission), but right now they do not have them.

Silvia DURAN says certainly and they cannot give a letter either

because they do not know if the visa will be approved. The Soviet

says he cannot give a letter or recommendation either because he

does not know him (the American) 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 Embassy there is a North

American who was at the Soviet Embassy. The Soviet says wait a

minute.

Silvia DURAN speaks English with

someone--and comments in

• Spanish that they gave APARICIO telephone 14-12-99 and to

take the

number down--Silvia DURAN then says 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 and leave your address

with us, it is not far from the Cuban Embassy. The American says

I'll be there right away.

d. 1 October 1963 (Tuesday), 1031 hours Mexico City time.

An unknown male (American) calls the 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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3

and I wanted to ask you if there is anything new? The Soviet says

I would Tike to ask you to call another phone number?

Please write

it down:

15-60-55, and ask for a consul. Thank you.

e. I October 1963 (Tuesday), 1045 hours Mexico City time.

The same person who phoned a day. or 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, 1'11 find out. They say that they

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

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

sent out, but nothing has been received as yet. OSWALD says, and

what . ..? OBYEDKOV hangs up.

16. Each of these items, including the texts of the raw intercepts,

• were read by, discussed with, and examined by Warren Commission staffers

in Headquarters and at the Mexico 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 free interpretation reasonably

infer from the intercept evidence, that OSWALD made or could have made

the following contacts with the Cuban and Soviet official establishments

in Mexico City.

a. 27 September 1963 (Friday. 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 indicatin, who he talked

withr at the Soviet Embassy.

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

that seemed to have relevance.

These have not been included in this

summary because they appear, on review, to be excludable from the OSWALD

matter on logical or substantive grounds, or both, bearing in mind that

the Soviet Embassy received many calls pertaining to visa matters.

On the 27th at 1037 hours the Soviet Embassy received a call from

an unknown individual speaking Spanish who said he wanted visas to go to

Odessa.

He was told the Consul was not in and to call back at 1130.

OSWALD is known to have arrived at the Flecha Roja bus terminal on bus

#516 at circa 1000 hours on the 27th.

him to have made this call.

the cats were SkiD or the ioning red conces

It was, therefore, possible for

But granting this, it is unreasonable to

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 coverage of OSWALD's entries

into either the Cuban. or Soviet Embassies on the 27th. The lack of

coverage on the Cuban installation is explainable: the camera,

, based on the recollection of officers still in service in Head-

quarters, was down on the 27th because of mechanical malfunction,

which was in course

of

correction. 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.]

i: The60-15 as trecteder held rest oiled the wrong

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

what would have been his initial call, on Friday the 27th, to the

correct number, and called the incorrect number on 1 October.

There is every reason to believe from the context of the

intercepts, para 15, a-e above,

that OSWALD's first destination

after arrival and check-in to his hotel, was a visit to the Cuban

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.

The Soviet

respondent says: Call on the other phone.

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OSWALD, notwithstanding the holiday schedule, went on Saturday

morning to the Soviet Embassy (his second visit) where he spoke to

a Consul. He apparently could not recall his new Texas address.

At circa 1151 hours he went to the Cuban Embassy--his third entry-.

where he had registered it in his visa application the day

previously. He secured the address 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.

know about this business.

Soviet Embassy in Mexico.

The relevance of this intercept to OSWALD is excludable on three

grounds:

a. The use of broken Spanish. OSWALD throughout used broker

Russian or English.

He had no competance in Spanish to handle a

conversation of this kind.

The substance of the request indicates a visa request i

he first stages of initiation. OSWALD had developed his matte

ith the Cubans and the Soviets the previous Saturday to a poir

al? bevond the stage indicated by the substance of this cal

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c. 29 September 1963 (Sunday). No activity registered.

d. 30 September 1963 (Monday). No activity registered.

(It is known that OSWALD reserved space this date on a Mexico City-

• Loredo bus, departing 2 October 1963 at 0830 hours.)

e. 1 October 1963 (Tuesday). OSWALD 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

was 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 on that date.

18. The camera at about mid-day registered the entry into the

Soviet Embassy of a white-shirted individual who, in the opinion of the

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

vidence, the early morning of the previous day, 2 Uctober, an

ould not have made this local call.

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Station, among all the persons photographed that day, appeared

to be the

only person--a non-Latin, and possibly an American--who entered the Soviet

installation. On the chance there could be an association between the

identification data derived from the voice intercept and the descriptive

data derived from the photograph, the Station 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 Headquarters on 8 October (received in

Headquarters 9 October) the following initial information on OSWALD. 4

(1). On 1 October 1963, an American male who spoke

broken Russian and said his name Lee OSWALD (phonetic),

stated he was at SovEmb on 28 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 Valeriy

Vladimirovich KOSTIKOV. Subject asked the Soviet

guard [Ivan] OBYEDKOV, who answered, if there was

anything new regarding a telegram to Washington.

OBYEDKOV upon checking said nothing had been

received yet, but the request had 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 20127 time the WH Division responsible

for action disseminated this report to the Department of State, the FBI,

and the Navy Department by routine electrical transmission, adding some

collateral details drawn from a preliminary file review:

(1) On 1 October 1963 a reliable and sensitive

source in Mexico reported that an American male,

who identified himself as Lee OSWALD, contacted

the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City inquiring

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whether the Embassy had received any news con-

cerning a telegram which had been sent to

Washington. The American was described as

approximately 35 years old, with an athletic

build, about 6 feet tall, with a "receding"

hairline.

(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 representatives in Mexico City.

Any further information received on this subject

will be furnished you. This information is being

made available to the Immigration 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

misgiven:

"Henry" for Harvey.

The reason for this mistake is simplicity itself. The sheet opening

the file on OSWALD on 9 December 1960 had been erroneous ly inscribed

"CSWALD, Lee Henry." That sheet--unchanged 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 of the Mexico Station report

was an analyst's error which escaped detection in the coordination before

release: the descriptive details attributed to OSWALD were so far off the

• mark as to be immediately recognizable as such by the recipients in Head-

quarters, among whom both the Navy and FBI had photos of

OSWALD. (In partial

explanation, if not exculpation, be it recalled 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 1 October

probably identical Lee Henry [sic] OSWALD born

18 October 1939, New Orleans, Louisiana, former

radar operator in United States Marines who

defected to USSR

in October 1959. OSWALD is

five feet ten inches, one hundred 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 8 July on his

own initiative he appeared at the Embassy with

his wife to see about his return to States.

Subject stated that he actually had never applied

for Soviet citizenship and that his 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

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citizenship. OSWALD stated that he had been

employed since 13 January 1960 in Belorussian

radio and tv factory in Minsk where he worked

as a metal worker in research shop. OSWALD was

married on 30 April 1961 to Marina Nikolaevna

PUSAKOVA• [sic], a dental technician born 17 July

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 citizen and both he

and his Soviet wife have exit permits and

Department of State had given approval for their

travel with their infant child to USA.

(4) The Station should pass the 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

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paragraphs (2) and (3) originated with the FBI.

(5) Reference and

possible identification

being disseminated to Headquarters of FBI, State,

Navy, and I&NS. Please keep Headquarters

advised on any further contacts or positive

identification of OSWALD.

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." Headquarters electrically delivered

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

"Lee Henry [sic] OSWALD . . .

"It is requested that you forward 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 November 1963.

26. Within its limitations and capabilities, Mexico Station had

done all it could to comply with Headquarters instructions:

a. Headquarters had been alerted, 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 view of OSWALD's hotel registra-

tion under alias.

There the matter rested until mid-day 22 November 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,

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possibly in connection with the assassination, and referenced its

earlier messages of 8-9 and 15 October and Headquarters' reply of

10 October.. The Station requested by:

"priority pouch a photo of OSWALD 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

" October who could be identical."

29. The Station meanwhile had begun an exhaustive and accelerated

review of all its technical and photographic intelligence.

A dispatch

was prepared in accordance with the indication given

in the cable of

22 November, cited in paragraph: 25 above. The dispatch noted that

' photo coverage of the unidentified individual 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 l October 1963 which appeared

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to be

an American. This same man visited the Soviet

Embassy on 4 October 1963.

"2. Copies of these photographs were shown to the

U.S. Ambassador on 22 November 1963 and a copy of

each of the two photographs was given to Chief FBI,

Mexico, on that date . . . .

"P.S: Photographs dated 15 October 1963 were

inserted after typing of dispatch. These were

taken as [the] 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 in a black shirt. It

would seem to be logical that the word "sets" was probably omitted from

paragraph two of the dispatch between the words "two" and "photographs."

30. That the Station was working under forced draft is clearly

apparent from the text of the dispatch, which tacked on a material fact

as a postscript. That fact was reported simultaneously by cable to

Headquarters at 0053Z time, 23 November:

•"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-documented entry Cuban Embassy

other days.

"2. Also attempting establish OSWALD entry and

departure Mexico. "

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 of the photographs of the uniden-

tified individual to the Legal Attaché and to make them known to the

Ambassador.

33. What happened next is best reflected in a personal note by the

Chief of Station to the WH Division Chief, 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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in which I requested permission to give the Legal

Attache copies of photographs of a certain person

who is known to you..

"Attached are copies of each 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 promised to

mail this material to you for me.

"Copies of these photographs are also being sent

by pouch which will leave Mexico City on the

night of 22 November 1963.

"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 photographs to the FBI in Dallas

had been made by the Ambassador, according to the Chief of Station, who

simultaneously with the FBI agent's departure reported to Headquarters

by cable (0244Z time, 23 November):

"F.BI agent left here 2000 local 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 view of above does

Has still want a staffer with additional photo(s)?"

35. Headquarters responded two hours later, 0422Z time,

23 November 1963, cancelling its request:

"J. No need send staffer with 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

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relaying names of travelers with similar names.

Note radio says OSWALD lived under alias of

O. H. LEE."

, 36. On the 23rd at 1729Z time, Headquarters 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 Lée 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 television night of

22 November and it obvious photos sent to Dallas

were not identical with Lee OSWALD held in Dallas.

Dates are as given on photos.

Mexico Station is reviewing all available photos

of persons entering Soviet and Cuban Embassies."

38. Two hours later (2254Z time, 23 November 1963) the Station had

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

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"Complete recheck of photos of all visitors to

Cuban Embassy from August through first half of

November against good press photos

shows

no

evidence of OSWALD visit. Similar

blank against

all Soviet Embassy photos from l 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 conmunication 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 description of OSWALD and the

unidentified individual were quite disparate.

40. This review has attempted to deal even-handedly with all items

in the case record that have a bearing on what happened. The operational

• zeal, innovativeness, and the high committment 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

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sought by CIA, before 22 November. A photograph of OSWALD would have

obviated--in a way the mere possession

of

a correct physical description

evidently could not--the whole successive deterioration of what began in

Mexico City as an impressionistic selection of the photograph on

1 Óctober 1963 into a cause celebre today.

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. 1 and

Commission Exhibit 237

41. Special Agent of the FBI, Bardwell D. ODUM, on 23 November

1963 showed

one of the six photos flown up from Mexico City the previous

day to OSWALD's mother, Marguerite OSWALD. ODUM himself had trimmed off

• the background by straight cuts. Mrs. 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

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Embassy in Mexico City on 4 October 1963, two days after OSWALD had

left the city.

43. At this point, for the record, the total available photo

covgrage of the unidentified individual 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 extent and are now held in Headquarters

as integral parts of the OSWALD and related file holdings.

44. The result of ODUM's display of the photograph--to repeat, a

• cropped version of one of those noted under paragraph 43b, above--was

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

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. Inspector MALLEY's cropped version of

the ODUM photograph became Commission Exhibit 237 (see Hearings,

vor. XVI, p. 638).

45. The net effect of the developments 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 photograph in any form on the

grounds that the Soviets would be immediately alerted to the existence

of a useful and continuing U.S. intelligence operation, and the opera-

tion would go down the drain. There were repeated cables exchanged on

• this point between Headquarters and Mexico Station during the summer

of 1964, in particular fron 23 September 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

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Mr. RANKIN by memorandum of 23 June 1964 which included the following

additional observation:

"The Central Intelligence Agency recommends that

this photograph not be reproduced in the Commis-

sion's report because it would 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 the Soviet -Embassy began systematic

efforts to survey the surrounding buildings, ostensibly for rental

space, but clearly their inquiries were directed to spotting possible

camera sites. The operation was continued 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.

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Phase III: The "Unidentified Man" Photographs, 1964 - 1975

49. As could be foreseen, there has been persistent pressure by

critics of the Warren Commission Report to exploit Odum Exhibit No. 1

and Commission Exhibit No. 237 for partisan interpretive purposes.

A

considerable correspondence has accumulated 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 and 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, CIA voluntarily submitted a

statement about the photograph to Judge BAGERT of the Criminal

District Court for the Parish of Orleans, State of Louisiana.

The response dealt affirmatively with the contents of the subpoena

that had been delivered to the United States Marshall in the District

of Columbia, despite the

fact 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

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inferences made by Mr. GARRISON in New Orleans about the photograph

of the unidentified individual. The following

is extracted from

Mr. HOUSTON's memorandum.

"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 is no

such photograph.

Furthermore, the photograph which is printed in the

Warren Commission Report, Exhibit No. 237 in Volume

XVI, never contained more than one figure, and the

figure in the photograph depicts an individual who,

to our knowledge, has not been identified. The

circumstances of the filing of this photograph with

the Warren Conmission are set forth in affidavits

on pages 468 and 469 of Volume XI, Hearings Before

the President's Commission on the Assassination of

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President Kennedy. Consequently, we have no record

of any photograph that answers in any way the

description of the one we understand was requested

in the subpoena.

"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 l and 24 November 1971, to which the Agency responded

on 15 November and 14 December, respectively, from

Mr. Paul L. HOCH, 1735 Highland Place #2, Berkeley, California.

d. The most extensive effort to pursue the unidentified

individual was and is being made by Bernard FENSTERWALD, Jr., who

is now Executive Director of a Committee 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 11 October 1972, after the

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FBI's declassification of Commission Document No. 556. On 8 April

1971, Mr. FENSTERWALD was invited to the Agency for a discussion

with the General Counsel, Mr. HOUSTON, of his question about the

, photograph of the unknown individual. Two other photographs of.

the unidentified 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 said he is presently

serving a prison term somewhere in the United

States and admitted that he had known OSWALD, but

Mr. FENSTERWALD said there was nothing to indicate

any connection between the man 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 fron allegations that they were

i

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associated with the assassination, but he did

say he was sure we had a file on the man. He

asked if he could have the photographs, and 1

asked how he could use them. 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 said he is an

American, serving a prison term in this country

on a criminal charge, and that he had met OSWALD

in Mexico. I asked whether the prisoner had any

conspiratorial relationship with

OSWALD.

FENSTERWALD replied he did not 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

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thick file on the unknown man, and that we will

be furnished his name in due course

Mr. FENSTERWALD made no reference in his subsequent

• conversations and correspondence to 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. Belin to Mr. E. Harry Knoche,

dated 15 April 1975, with attachment: "The CIA and

the Man Who Was Not Oswald" from the New York Review

of Books, by Bernard Fensterwald and George O'Toole.

Attachment B: Pages 364, 365, and 667 from the Warren Commission's

report.

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