SSC DRAFT REPORT ON ASSASSINATION
Agency: CHENEY
Originator: CIA
From: DCI
To: BRECKINRIDGE, SCOTT
Document date: 10/20/1975
Document type: MEMORANDUM

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JFK Assassination System

Identification Form

Agency Information

Date:

8/27/201

AGENCY :

CHENEY

RECORD NUMBER:

178-10004-10117

RECORD SERIES: GENERAL SUBJECT FILE

• AGENCY FILE NUMBER: INTELLIGENCE--REPORT ON CIA ASSASS. PLOTS(2)

Document Information

ORIGINATOR: CIA

FROM: • BRECKINRIDGE, SCOTT

TO:

DCI

TITLE: SSC DRAFT REPORT ON ASSASSINATION

DATE:

PAGES:

SUBJECTS:

10/20/1975

9

AMLASH

ASSASSINATIONS, FOREIGN LEADERS

ANTI-CASTRO ACTIVITIES

CIA

CHURCH COMMITTEE

DOCUMENT TYPE: MEMORANDUM

CLASSIFICATION: Unclassified

RESTRICTIONS : Consulted

CURRENT STATUS : Redact

DATE OF LAST REVIEW: 09/01/1995

OPENING CRITERIA:

COMMENTS :

Released under the John f. Kennedy

Assassination Records Collection

act of 1992 (44 USC 2107 Notel •

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178-10004-10117

20 0CT. 1975

INTRECTOR GENERAL

75-3777

Exacutive Regiotry

25-11933

MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence

SUBJECT

: SSC Draft Report on Assassination

• 1.

On 16 and 17 October I reviewed the SSC draft report on

My review was

for the express purpose of addressing

the question of such security revelations as there were, and that

required correction if the report is to be considered for publication.

Because of this my review was somewhat more detailed and technical

than the review by the representatives of the Department of State and

Defense:.. I did, however, also reach more general conclusions.

2. Attached is a summary of the problems raised by the disclosures

by the draft report of the identities of persons associated with the

various operations.

The attachment also addresses the report's disclosure

of intelligence methods. I have more detailed rough notes that I am pre-

pared to use in discussions with the SSC Staff members on these technical

bee. be wich remain we the so sort or e

taken into account - some of them were conveyed orally in summary

fashion late Friday afternoon - some sections will require extensive

revision.

Mr. Schwarz stated that the SSC plans to act on the report

this week; the required changes are so extensive that it is doubtful that

they can be made within the stated time frame.

The editorial treatment in the report, and the selected format,

nas resulted in anything but a crisp paper.

experienced difficulty in reaching conclusions on some facts and simply

decided "to let the facts speak for themselves." There is a great deal

of on-one-hand-and-on-the-other-hand discussion that leaves something for

inconsistent i rentone or theatre unt

everyone; it may reflect disagreement within the Committee, and constitutes

a poor compromise, making the report repetitious and discursive.

Inconsistent in treatment of information, shifting from application of

strict tests of proof in some instances what did the White House know

and approve) to generalized interpretation (what was the Agency's direct

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SUBJECT: SSC Draft Report on Assassination

SERGET SENSITIVE

involvement). The resulting presentation is incongruous on occasion --

an effort seems to have been made to reinforce considerations absolving

the White House of responsibility for the events leading to the deaths

of Diem and Trujillo and planning against Castro, while direct evidence

to the contrary is rationalized into an apparent implication of Agency

involvement in the death of Schneider.

4. Were there more time to critique the report, with a copy in

hand, a more thorough and balanced treatment might be provided.

Regardless

of critiques, the report will leave the reader with one fundamental con-

clusion. The degree of detailed treatment, showing high-level approval

of foreign leaders, can only

be injurious to the international status of the United States.

The fuzzy

• picture of executive responsibility, as presented by the draft report,

will be clarified by our foes and reported stridently to an obvious end.

5. Beyond the grave damage that publication of the report will do to

the international position of the United States, consideration must be

given lesser aspects of the problem.

If CIA were to survive the atmosphere

created by the report, it would experience new difficulties in operating

abroad, as would any successor organization.

Foreign agents, who must

trust the Agency to protect their lives, would - as they reportedly are

doing already -- demonstrate a new reluctance to associate themselves

with the American intelligence services.

Foreign services, which now play

a key role in the American foreign intelligence effort, would have to

review the extent of

their relationship with

the intelligence services of

a nation that cannot -- or will not -- protect its own secrets and, by

extension, theirs.

6. The sections of the draft report entitled Findings and Conclusions

and Recommendations contain the conclusions that the United States govern-

ment, and its instruments, have been engaged in planning assassinations,

stating the Committee's opposition to such activity, and recommending

legislatinn against such activity.

Those sections. while providing the

stark conclusions as noted, do not include the extensive detail of the

preceding several hundred pages, with its many disclosures. Its publi-

cation would be harmful in general, but would tend to reduce the basis for

succeeding criticism, thereby reducing the extent of the damage. Damage

here will be, but limiting publication to the sections on Findings an

conclusions and Recommendations may provide a basis for discussion with the

Select Committee.

S. D. Breckinridge

Attachment:

As Stated

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Security Revelations in SSC Draft Report on Assassination.

;

I. In its present form the draft report makes extensive

revelationg of the names of individuals involved in the various

operations. These must be reviewed for deletion prior to con-

sideration of lurther treatment of the report. From this point of

view, alone, it remains a highly classified document.

2. The report specifically names a number of individuals:

Agency employees, employees of other government departments or

agencies, cooperating individuals--both foreign and American--and

agents. It so describes others, whose names are concealed, that

their identification is readily ascertainable. It is inevitable, in

such detailed review of the various events, that a good deal is

reviewed about operational staff planning, and operational patterns

and techniques. These are treated below.

Identification of Individuals

Recording of Names

The draft makes extengive use of the

true names of employees, agente, and

cooperating individuals who were involved.

Those Now Deceased

The deaths of such persons as senior government officials

and of Allen Dulles, C. P. Cabell, Desmond Fitzgerald,

Sheffield Edwards, Tracy Barnes, and Salvatore Glancana

may obviate the need to protect their names in association

with the events treated in the draft report, either from personal

retaliation or from harassment by unstable persons to whose

aliention inty are bruught by the publicity.

The purpose of

publication in any event is unclear.

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Those Still Living

The list of names in the report of those still living..

who had some role in the various activities, ig long: The

names picked out in the review of the draft are below:

(1) James O'Connell

(2)

Robert Maheu

• (3) John Roselli

(4)

Santos Trafficante

(5) (FNU) Maceo

(6)

Tony Varona

(7)

Juan Orta

(8) J.C. King

(9) William Harvey

(10): Samuel Halpern

(11)

Bronson Tweedy

(12) Sidney Gottlieb

(13) Arnold Silver

(14) Edward Gunn

(15). (FNU) Gomez (otherwise unidentified in text)

(16) Henry Dearborn

(17) John

1 Barfield

(18) Robert Owen . :

(19) Alonzo Berry

(20) Colonel Wimert

(21) David Phillips :

(22) Justin O'Donnell

(23) Glenn Fields

(24) Lou Conein :

(25) John Richardson

(26) David R. Smith

This list omits persons not directly involved other than in the

line of command, from the level of Deputy Director up. Two division

chiefs are listed--J.C. King and Bronson Iweedy--and might, by reason

of their seniority, be omitted from the list of those whose names :

should be deleted. The list, otherwise, is a mix of Agency employees;

cooperating individuals, and agents. The comments below first treat

the question of Agency employees.

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Agency Employees

The day-to-day record of events is subject to relatively

direct reconstruction, and the draft opts for detailed recitation.

In some instances, the format calls for treatment of the same

subject matter from more than one point of view. Relying on

this approach, there has been extensive recording of the true

names of individuals. •This is so extensive in some sections

of the report that major editorial revision will be required to

protect those entitled to it.

Those employees still living--either still active or retired--

require protection from whatever repercussions that might

Now (rom official connection with the reported events.. They

are entitled to this both in traditional terms of protection of

employees and agents in their work, and in terms of separating

them from such unpredictable incidents as may flow from

publication.

Other U. S. Employees

Publication of the names of Henry Dearborn, John

Barfield (Department of State) in connection with the

Trujillo affair should be omitted (Section E). Mention

of Colonel Wimert (Section F) in connection with the

Schneider affair also should be accorded the same treatment.

Cooperating Individuals

Robert Maheu, whatever publicity he has been given, is

entitled to protection from official confirmation of the press

stories. Not only is he entitled to protection (rom direct.

association in the Castro operation, he is entitled to protection

from incidental revelation of his involvement in other unrelated

activities (The report ciles his involvement: in an Onassis-

Niarchos contest, on which he reported to the government, and

in making a motion picture to discredit a foreign leader)..

The Syndicate members through whom Maheu worked

pose a somewhat different

problem, but the same central

issue remains. We cannot divine how publicity would impact

on their future. Giancana is dead, presumably as a result.

of unrelated events, but how publicity would affect Trafficante

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and Maceo is debatable. Both are entitled to this protection.

Roselli, now engaged in deportation proceedings, may wish

the publicity to strengthen a claim to special consideration,

but he nevertheless is entitled to the same protection that

the others are.

Great care is taken to conceal the identity of an action

asset inside Cuba (Section D.I., pp 18-19), but his true

name appears at page 21. He is believed to still be alive,

and is entitled to protection.

The full name of Tony Varona appears often. (Section

D. I. p 19, ff). He is entitled to protection.

One man named in the drait, but unknown to this reviewer,

(FNU) Gomez (Section E, p 5), should be checked for identi-

fication. He would seem entitled to protection, in the context

that he is mentioned.

The name of Alonzo Berry is included (Section E, pp 16-22,

p. 31). Although he has received publicity in the past, he is

entitled to protection (rom official confirmation of his role

in the Trujillo affair.

Section F. pp 30-42. The listing by rame of a number of

Chilean officers, some of whom have been tried in Chile for .

their role in plotting, would reveal additionally contacts with

a foreign power. This might open them to new charges at some

time in the future.

Reference Inaccurately Conveying

Impression of Operational Involve-

ment. of American Citizen

D. I. pp 28-29. In reporting the various schemes conceived

at working levels in CIA to infect a diving suit, the impression

is conveyed that Attorney James Donovan might be aware of

what was being discussed, while there is no evidence that he

was. His being mentioned in true name, in this context, is

subject to correction.

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Uninvolved Bystanders

Recitation of the Las Vegas bugging incident is such as

to expose both Dan Rowan and the person associated with him

in the incident. Official publication would give the press a free

run at this

unnecessary detail in a private life. (Section D. I.

pp 13-17)..

Identification by Description

In some instances, where the actual name is not recorded,

the description is such that the identification can be made

readily by knowledgeable persons.

Section D.I. P. 4. The summary of an offer by a Cuban

pilot in July 1960, to cause an accident that would kill senior

Cuban officials, makes his identification a relatively simple

thing for the Cuban DGI.

Section D. I. pp 29-34. The description of AMLASH/1 is

such that his identity is fairly simple. Were there any doubt,

the citing of specific dates on which he was met outside Cuba

(pp 31, 33, 34 and 35) would make it very clear who he is.

He is now in prison in Cuba and is entitled to this protection.

Section E. Even if the name of COS Ciudad Trujillo is

omitted, the litle is still revealing to knowledgeable persons.

More general reference to cables to and from the "Station"

would generalize the identity, assuming that any reference

is necessary.

Section F. p 27. The COS is cited but not named. It is

preferable that reference be to the "Station" and not to him

as an individual.

Section F. pp 30-42. In conjunction with a listing of

i

Unilean otticers by name (supra),

the additional identi-

fication of a "Lieutenant Colonel, " a "'Navy Captain," and

an "Air Force General," presumably not previously identified,

could lead to further inquiry in Chile. General reference.lo

"Chilean military figures" should suffice, if any treatment is

necessary.

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Section G.

The use:of the pseudonym "Fledgman" for the

asherCodS Shion in Leopoldville/Kinshasa would be illusory

if it is intended to conceal his identity. Those knowledgeable

would soon penetrate the device. Some more general reference

to the CIA Station is a minimum requirement:

Section G. p 13. The direct citation of Station use of :

a Congolese security man who was in liaison with the CIA Station

would permit his

ready identification.

Cryptonyms

The draft report employs cryptronyms of agents and

operations that probably should not be contested. New digraphs

may be necessary in the Latin American Division (c.g., AMLASH,

JMWAVE), but these probably cannot be avoided. Preferably

they should not be used, but the Rockefeller Report set a precedent

that might as well be followed.

Section F. p 21. Reference to the initials "CAS"' is no

more than a designation employed by other government agencies

in referring to CLA in certain communications. • It ghould be

replaced by the "CLA" initials, if used at all.

Sources and Methods

It is impossible to treat the entire subject of these various

operatione, recording day-to-day activities in such detail,

without revealing a great deal about patterns of thought and.

activity that will reveal a great deal to foreign intelligence

analysts about CIA techniques, attitudes and modus operandi.

The draft report is highly revealing, in its extensive detail.

While it would be misleading in some respects, it nevertheless

reveals a great deal about staff planning at lower levels (prior

to elevating the results, if ever, for senior review), methods

for approaching polential agents (and considerations in how to

try to bring them under control and direct them), use of cut-'

• outs, etc. Some specific revelationg are noted below:

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Section D. I. pp 22-28. In describing Harvey's past and

other roles, interesting, bits of information are revealed to the.

knowledgeable analyst.

Harvey's role with the Berlin tunnel

is cited. Description of his later division--surreptitious

acquisition of codes--could present an interesting organizational

concept for the analyst. The recruitment of a foreign agent for

his criminal talents, by a named Agency employee working for:

Ilarvey (according to the draft report), would be read by foreign

analysts for what it was, a man to steal codes. The speculation

in the draft report doesn't seem to support a rationale for including

these bits of information.

Section D. I. pp 29-34. It is noted above that AMLASH could

be identified by the pattern of his foreign meetings. It also

highlights the ability of the Agency to follow the coming-and-

going of foreign intelligence targets, an item that would attract

the attention of foreign CI analysts. :

Section D. I. p 38. Reference to a meeting in Madrid

between AMLASH and anotherAgency operational contact,.

arranged by the Agency without the knowledge of either participant,

is a technique that should not be publicized.

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