LETTER OF 11 SEPTEMBER 1978 FROM CHAIRMAN STOKES, HSCA (DRAFT).
Agency: CIA
Originator: CIA
From: BRECKINRIDGE, SCOTT D., OLC
To: DCI, CIA
Document date: 9/12/78
Document type: PAPER-TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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12 impteroes 1978

. :

MEMORANDUM FOR : Director of Central Intelligence

VIA

FROM

:

Deputy Director of Central Intelligence

S.D. Breckinridge

SUBJECT

Letter of 11 September 1978 from

Chairman Stokes, House Select

Committee on Assassinations

1. Action Requested: A recommendation for your

approval is at paragraph 3.

2. Background: The House Select Committee on

Assassinations (HSCA) has let a subpoena lapse without

execution, and the ll September letter from Chairman

Stokes, a copy of which is attached, lists five items

of interest to the Committee, some of which were the

subject of the earlier request. The five items are

noted and commented on briefly below:

a. The letter specifies interest in "mug

books" shown to a Cuban defector. Having raised

the questions, the letter then goes on to say that

this "is no longer a matter in dispute." The

material has been available for review by HSCA

personnel for some two weeks now.

b.

The Committee is interested in "all

debriefing memoranda" relating to a Cuban

defector.

This was one of the subjects in the

subpoena and relates to .. Inhriefing memorandum

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(numbered 40) in a series of sequentially numbered

documents. In fact, we believe that a debriefing

memorandum that is unnumbered, but that appears

Whe

to have been in sequence of debriefings, has:

been reviewed by the HSCA investigator. That

investigator has been briefed on this and a

written summary has been available for his review.

Chairman Stokes may not have been informed accurately

on this point and we think that the explanation

available is a valid one.

c. The HSCA requests "all files and file

references" to a person not named in the letter,

but who was William K. Harvey. The HSCA has

seen the official personnel folder on Mr. Harvey

for the period requested (1959-1966). The Office

of Security files were also reviewed, but these

had been sanitized to remove references to

personal difficulties experienced by him in a

later part of his career. No complaint had been

made to the Office of Security about the sanitiza-

tion, and they are ready to show these sections to

•

a senior member, only, on the HSCA staff.

d. The HSCA request for "the three volume

history and analysis" of the Mexico City

Station was a subject of the subpoena. It is

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inaccurate to describe it as an anlysis, and it

is more a compilation of terse summaries than a

true history. It covers a (twenty-two year period

in the history of the Station from 1947 to 1969,

with a wide range of subject matter that by any

normal reasoning is irrelevant to the question of

the assassination of President Kennedy. The

rationale offered up by Mr. Blakey is that

he must understand the history of the Station

to evaluate its performance during the investiga-

Agency's

tion of the assassination. While thepposition

has been that this is irrelevant to the charter

of the Committee, LA Division is prepared to

let either Mr. Blakey or his deputy, Mr. Cornwell,

review this. We realize that both gentlemen are

very busy, but the total compilation is too sensi-

tive to let the young men on the staff have access

to it.

.e.

The request for access to "all files and

file references to a Cuban citizen" for the period

1 September 1963 through 31 January 1964 raises the

question of the Proenza case and a deception

operation in which Miss Proenza was one of the

targets.

Contrary to the statement in the letter,

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a House investigator was shown the 201 file for the

period from January 1963 through May 1964. Access.

to the operation file. on the deception matter

was denied the Committee on the recommendation

of the DDO, approved by the DDCI. LA Division

certifies that the operation file, for the period

requested, contains no references to assassination

plotting or any subject that could by extension

be related to the subject of the investigation.

The origin of the interest in this was in

Miss Proenza herself, and the relevant period

about her and any ties to her association with

the Agency would be reflected in her 201 file. The

Committee interest in the unrelated sensitive

operation seems unreasonable to us.

3. Recommendation: It is recommended that a

meeting be arranged between either you or Mr. Carlucci

and Chairman Stokes to review our understanding of the

status of the first four items, which have already been

satisfied or can be, and to persuade the Chairman to

not precipitate a confrontation on the sensitive opera-

tional file.

S. D. Breckinridge

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