MFR: CI MEETINGS WITH PDDONOR ON 12 MAR 1976.
Originator: CIA
From: WIGREN, LEE H, C/CI/R&A/E
Document date: 03/16/1976
Document type: PAPER - TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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RETURN TO CIA

16 March 1976

MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

SUBJECT : Meetings with PDDONOR on 12 March 1976

REFERENCE: C/CI/R&A/B Memo dated 8 January 1976

1. Cl Staff representatives net with PDDONOR in the

Washington area on 12 March 1976 to obtáin details of

PDDONOR's contacts with John Barron and

others which took

place during the first week of March. In the course of

discussions with PDDONOR, we learned

that, in addition to

a short list of Agency and FBI personnel

(see Ref), two

other individuals know his current legal name, address

and telephone number. They are John Barron of Readers'

Digest and Donald Janeson, a retired CIA staffer.

?. Two meetings were held with PDDONOR: & breakfast

meeting attended by C/CI/R&A and the undersigned and a

follow-up discussion later in the morning attended by

OS Allen Harvey of Cl/R&A/E and the undersigned. At both

sessions PDDONOR was warned of the dangers to his safety

and privacy posed by contacts which we did not know about

and clear in advance. He was asked for details of his

one sas asted for

contacts with Barron

and others on 2-5 March. He was told

that we would obtain a local post office box for his use.

Substantive details of the conversations with PDDONOR are

set forth in the attachment to this memorandum.

3. Throughout the meetings, PDDONOR seemed largely

unconcerned about the dangers of exposure and indicated

that he had complete confidence in Barron and Jameson.

Lee H. Wigren

C/CI/R&A/E

Attachment:

As stated

O5: CL 14 66198

VER

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2. PDDONOR said that the

purpose of his trip was to

9s1st John barron of Readers' Digest with a T.V. intervier

to be made by a Dutch camera Crew and to meet with a man

who was writing a book on President Kennedy's assassination

to be published by the Readers' Digest.

PIDONOR said that

arrangements for this trip had been made by Mr. Donald

Jameson, an Agency retiree, and that he received no money

from anyone for his services during this trip. The trip was

made on his own time while he was on leave.

3. PDDONOR and his wife arrived in the Washington area

late in the afternoon of 2 March.

After checking into a

notel they drove to Barron's neighborhood to be sure they

could locate his house. Early the next day PDDONOR's wife

drove him to Barron's house when he met Barron and members

of a 5 or 6 man Dutch TV crew that was to film an interview

with Barron.

PDDONOR had known in advance of this interview

and agreed to participate in it if his face was not photo-

graphed.

The filming was done in Barron's house and in

his backyard.

4.

In the late afternoon of 3 March PDDONOR took a

taxi from his motel to the Washington offices of Readers'

Digest where he arrived at 4:00 pm and met with Barron.

sarIon, whom he had previously met in 1910, stated that

leaders' Digest was planning a new book on President

Kennedy's assassination and that he would appreciate any

information that PDDONOR might be able to contribute to

it.

He said that Readers' Digest had contracted with

Edward Epstein to write this book which was to be published

in about a year. Fulton Ousler aka Tony was also present

at this meeting. PDDONOR had previously met Pusler, through

Kenneth Gilmore, a senior Readers' Digest officer.

asked if PDDONOR would object to having his comments taped.

He agreed with the proviso that he must review the transcript

for accuracy. Barron left and Edward Epstein arrived shortly

thereafter.

5.

PDDONOR described Epstein

as a bright young man--

probably a professor at a University--who had written several

books.

As part of the interview

PDDONOR explained how the

KGB First and Second Chief Directorates worked. During the

interview PDDONOR learned that Epstein hoped to visit the

Soviet Union to gather additional information on his book

on President Kennedy.

He also learned that Epstein had

visited the Soviet Union as a tourist in 1959. As part

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of his efforts to "educate" Epstein he pointed out that

undoubtedly Epstein's name would appear on the Soviet

computers and that he would not be able to interview any

sources in connection with his forthcoming book who where

not KGB controlled.

The interviow lasted until 7:30 pm

after which time PDDONOR, Ousler, and Bpstein went to

dinner.

Following dinner PDDONOR took a taxi and returned

to his motel.

On 4 March PDDONOR met with Donald Janeson at the

Marriot Motel near the 14th Street Bridge.

him to the Smithsonian and introduced him tôi'Star, head of

the George Kennah Institute(e) Star asked PDDONOR to prepare

a paper on Soviet activities against foreign correspondents

in the Soviet Union which would be presented to a symposium

of journalists who had previously served in Moscow.

wanted PDDONOR's comments some time in April so that he

would be able to present them ahead of time to Harrison

Salisbury, of the New York Times who would summarize them

for a meeting of journalists sometime in June or July 1976.

Mr. Wigren asked if we might see these comments first and

PDDONOR readily agreed. The meeting with Mr. Star lasted

about 40 minutes after which PDDONOR took a taxi and

returned to his notel.

7.

As requested, PDDONOR telephoned Barron to inquire

about progress in transcribing the tapes.

Barron said

that the transcribing had only just gotten under way and

was being done by his secretary.

In response to the direct

question whether anybody other than Barron, Ousler and

Epstein

had seen it,, Barron said, "No, only Epstein, Tony

and me."

After completing the call, PDDONOR admitted that

Barron had his current name, address and telephone number

and that he had obtained this information from Jameson.

8. PDDONOR also added that Barron knew about his (PDDONOR'S)

manuscript book in which the British are interested. Barron

wanted to show the manuscript to Robert Conquest, a noted

authority on Soviet Intelligence, in the hope that he might

write an introduction to it.

PDDONOR commented that he was

determined to sge that his book was published even if he had

to pay for it himself. He added, "If the Soviet publish our

names why shouldn't we publish theirs?"

SEGUIT

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ATTACHMENT

A. Breakfast meeting - 12 March 1976

1.

Mr. McCoy (C/CI/R&A) and Mr. Wigren (C/CI/R&A/B)

met with PDDONOR for breakfast at a restaurant near his

motel.

Mr. McCoy began by mentioning that we had learned

through less than friendly channels of PDDONOR's contacts

in early March with John Barron and others and of a tape

recorded interview made at that time by a Mr. Epstein. He

stressed the threat to PDDONOR"s safety and privacy posed

by contacts of this sort which were not known to us in

advance.

2. PDDONOR briefly outlined his activities during

the 2-5 March visit.

These included participating in the

filming of an interview for Dutch TV; and a taped conference

with Edward Epstein who 1s preparing a Readers' Digest

sponsored book on the assassination of President Kennedy.

He also mentioned a meeting at the Smithsonian with a

professor who is planning a symposium for joürnals on the

problems of working in the USSR.

3.

Mr. McCoy emphasized the dangers inherent in the

taped

interview. PDDONOR said he was certain that Barron

would handle it securely but volunteered to call Barron

to check on progress on the transcribing of the tape.

He

seemed to accept Mr. McCoy's suggestion that we provide

him a local post office box to which Barron could send

the completed transcript.

4. Throughout the breakfast meeting, efforts were

made to convince PDDONOR Of the need to tighten his security

in general and to fully inform of all proposed contacts

before they take place.

In conclusion, it was agreed that

Mr. Wigren and Mr. Harvey of CI/R&A/E would meet later in

03

the morning with PDDONOR.

•At that time, PDDONOR's 2-5 March

contacts would be covered systematically.

B. Second meeting - 12 March 1976

03

1.

Mr. Wigren (C/CI/R&A/E) and Mr. Harvey (CI/R&A/B)

met with PDDONOR in his motel room from 10:00 am to 12:00

noon on 12 March. The purpose of this meeting was to obtain

a detailed account of PDDONOR's visit to the Washington area

on 2-5 March.

the following paragraphs contain the informa-

tion acquired.

ZIBR

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