ARRB REQUEST: CIA-IR-25: ZAPRUDER FILM
Originator: ARRB
From: ARRB
To: CIA/HRG
Document date: 04/03/1997
Document type: PAPER - TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

## Page 1

1704-10336-10024

2022 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992

ADMINISTRATIVE - INTERNAL USE ONLY

Potts

No Zapurder

asIR-25

TO:

FROM:

DATE:

Teresa Wilcox.@ DST

J. Barry Harrelson

04/03/97 03:04:45 PM

SUBJECT: [Re: JFK Assassination inquiry; Lockheed

Thanks for the quick response on Lockheed. I passed the information to the ARB staff; they will keep us informed. The fax

of pages from Rich's book is on its way.

What do you know of NPIC records? In December (?) 1963, NPIC was ask to analyze the Zapruder film of the Kennedy

assassination. In May 1975, the Agency told the Rockefeller Commission that the Secret Service requested the analysis, was present

during the test, and took the film. The ARRB staff has found in the sequestered collection what they believe is evidence that the

Agency made three additional copies. Their question: who directed the copying of the film and what happen to the copies? Do you know

who has NPIC's 1963 records or how to go about searching this topic?

CC:

Marsha Hubbs @ DST, Bonnie Hunter

ADMINISTRATIVE • INTERNAL USE ONLY

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CIA SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

RELEASE IN FULL

2000

DMNGTRAIIZ SITERSAL USE ONLY

20 May 1976

MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

SUBJECT:

Richard Sullins

Coordination on FBI Release to

(Request #F 76-299)

There are a series of memoranda on Zapruder's

film reflecting Time, Inc. loaned us a copy (return not

reflected), and ClA made three additional copies. Film

was for DDO/Services/SOG - not for training of CLA

employees -- but for VIPs.

2. Documents were shown to Rockefeller Commission

because of request from Paul Hoch (see Hoch/Warren Com-

mission file), and are in the denied Oswald documents package.

E. Mendoza

Chief, CI/PA

Distribution:

1 - File #F 76-299

1 - File: Hoch, P.

1 - Chrono

1 - Warren Commission

1 - CI/R&A (Mr. Bradley)

- ADMINS RATIE CREWED USE ONLY

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ADMINISTRATIVE - INTERNAL USE ONLY

file

(.JA-IR-25

6 May 1997

MEMORANDUM FOR:

J. Barry Harrelson

FROM:

Becky L. Rant @ DA

HERNAL USE ONLY

SUBJECT:

ARRB Special Request • Zapruder Film

REFERENCE:

Barry: HRM's response follows to your request for the address of "Holmer-McMann". This sounds like the individual you

described-spelling different. As stated, McMahon resigned in 1970 and the Agency has no current address or record of whether or not

he is still alive. If you want us to pull the file to determine his address while he was an employee, let me now. That info, of course, is 28

years old. Becky

TO:

Becky L. Rant

FROM:

Jeanne Kardaras

OFFICE:

DATE:

HRMIMSIINFO COORDINATOR

05/05/97 04:41:06 PM

SUBJECT: CRe: ARRB Request

Becky -

I have located information on a former employee named Homer Albert McMahon, DOB: 6 Jan 1928/ who (first) EOD'd 22 Sept 1952 and

resigned on 20 March 1953 (GS-03) - his title was photographer. He reEOD'd on 30 Oct 1960 and resigned on 11 Sept 1970 • (GS-11) -

his title was photographer and he was assigned to NPIC. HRM would have no address listing for this individual. Mr. McMahon's

retired official personnel file is at Record Center.

Please advise if I may be of further assistance.

Jeanne

Note: +4/IR080599/IRO heue no pellen

with APREs saff Heyng to locate indruidual

CC:

Frieda P. Omasta

Sent on 5 May 1997 at 04:41:06 PM

CIAMRG

5/14/97

INTERNAL USE ONLY

CC:

Frieda P. Omasta @ DA

Teresa Wilcox a DST

ADMINISTRATIVE • INTERNAL USE ONLY

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WHOA

CALL REPORT: PUBLIC

INTACLAWA

Document's Author: Douglas Horne/ARRB

Date Created: 06/12/97

The Players

Who called whom?

Dave Montague and Douglas Horne called Homer A. McMahon of

Witnesses/Consultants

Description of the Call

Date:

06/12/97

Subject:

Dave Montague and Douglas Horne Called Homer A. McMahon (Modifled on June

13, 1997)

Summary of the Call:

[See Contact Profile for details on how this individual was located.]

Dave Montague located Mr. McMahon and initiated telephonic contact on June 9, 1997; l was invited

to participate in the interview as the staff member most interested in, and most familiar with, the NPIC

working notes of their analysis of the Zapruder film.

The following is a summary of the independent recollections of Mr. McMahon made during ARRB's

cursory, initial assessment interview. Comments are not verbatim unless in quotations:

-He was the Head of NPIC's color lab in 1963. At that time NPIC was no longer in NW Washington

above Steuart Motors (where it was during the Cuban Missile Crisis), but had relocated to BLDG 213 in

the Washington Navy Yard, following a quick 90-day renovation of a warehouse with no windows directed

by Robert Kennedy. McMahon was careful to clarity that he was an employee of NPIC in 1963, not the

CIA, and that the CIA only "paid his salary."

-McMahon did recall the Zapruder film analysis in some detail, and confirmed ARRB's understanding

that the analysis (of which trames in which shots struck occupants of the limousine) was performed at the

request of the Secret Service. He recalled that a Secret Service agent named "Bill Smith" personally

brought the film over to NPIC, and that the personnel involved in the analysis were himself (McMahon),

Bill Smith of the USSS, and a third person whose name McMahon would not reveal to us during the

interview "because he is still current."

-TIMING: McMahon thought that the analysis had occurred only "f or 2 days" after the assassination;

he also recalled that there was a great sense of urgency regarding the desired product, and that he had to

"work all night long" to complete the required work (described below). At one point he said he thought he

had gone into work about 1 A.M. to commence the analysis; later he corrected himself and said that

perhaps it was more like 8 P.M., but that in any case he was sure that the work occurred after normal

working hours, required him to return to work, and that the analysis went on all night long.

-McMahon never used the name Zapruder film during the interview; he repeatedly referred to the film

in question as an "amateur movie" of the assassination brought to NPIC by the Secret Service.

-PROVENANCE OF THE FILM: McMahon stated that Secret Service agent Bill Smith claimed he had

personally picked up the film from the amateur who had exposed it, had flown it to Rochester for

developing, and had then couriered it to Washington, DC to NPIC for analysis and for the creation of

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photographic briefing boards, using still photographic prints enlarged from selected individual frames of

the movie. After twice mentioning Rochester as the site where the film was developed, Dave Montague

(in an attempt to specity whether McMahon was referring to R.I.T., or Kodak) asked whether he meant

Kodak, and McMahon emphatically said "I mean Kodak at Rochester." | asked him how firm he was that

this is what the Secret Service agent told him, and he said he was "absolutely certain."

-REASONS FOR ANALYSIS AT NPIC VICE ANOTHER LOCATION: McMahon said that USSS

agent Bill Smith told him the reason the film had been couriered to NPIC was because NPIC had special,

state-of-the-art enlarging equipment which Kodak did not have at Rochester. McMahon said that after the

analysis of where shots occurred on the film was completed, many frames were selected ("perhaps as

manual a it me tie Manito at a to no palover than r

of multiple color prints of each selected frame. He said that the color lab at NPIC where he worked did not

prepare the actual briefing boards, but that he assumed the briefing boards were prepared somewhere

else at NPIC, in some other department.

-in response to clarification questions by Home, McMahon said that at no time was the amateur movie

copied as a motion picture film, and that the only photographic work done at NPIC was to make color

prints. He could not remember whether the prints were 5" X 7" format, or 8" X 10" format.

-Home asked whether he was working with the original film or a copy, and McMahon stated with some

certainty that he was "sure we had the original film." Home asked why, and he said that he was sure it

was the original because it was Kodachrome, and because it was a "double 8" movie. Horne asked him to

clarity whether the home movie was slit or unslit, and McMahon said that he was pretty sure the film was

UNSLIT, because "we had to flip it over to see the image on the other side in the correct orientation." He

said that the movie was placed in an optical printer, in which the selected frames were then magnified to

40 times their original size for the production of internegatives. He said a "liquid gate" process was used

(on the home movie frames) to produce the internegatives.

•Prior to the production of internegatives and color prints for briefing boards, he said he recalled an

analysis "to determine where the 3 shots hit." He said he would not share the results of the analysis with

us on the telephone. The film was projected as a motion picture 4 or 5 times during the analysis phase,

for purposes of determining "where the 3 shots hit."

-At this point Horne informed Mr. McMahon that CIA's HRG had deposited a surviving briefing board

and the original working notes in the JFK Collection in 1993 for access by the public, and that they were

not classified. Montague promised to send McMahon an information package explaining the JFK Act and

the Review Board's mandate, and Horne and Montague asked Mr. McMahon is he would be willing to

submit to a formal, in-depth, recorded interview at Archives Il with the briefing board and the working

notes available to him during the interview. He agreed.

-McMahon explained that the working notes were "prepared jointly by the 3 of us working on the

project that night." END

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•

CALL REPORT: PUBLIC

Document's Author: Douglas Horne/ARRB

Date Created: 06/17/97

The Players

Who called whom?

Douglas Horne called Roland ("Rollie") Zavada of Witnesses/Consultants

Description of the Call

Date:

06/16/97

Subject:

Doug Horne Called Rollle Zavada

Summary of the Call:

As requested by Jeremy Gunn, I called Rollie Zavada to pursue questions the ARRB staff has about

the developing and processing of 8mm film; Jim Milch had given me permission to contact Rollie directly

on an informal basis.

I asked Rollie whether copies of the original Zapruder film could have been properly exposed on a

contact printer using Kodachrome Il daylight film, vice Kodachrome lIA (designed for a tungsten light

source). He said the answer was yes, but that the exposure would be extremely slow, because more

exposure time would be needed for the Kodachrome ll (daylight) film than for the Tungsten film. He

elaborated by saying that with Kodachrome ll film in the contact printer vice Kodachrome lIA, that the

required exposure per frame might be one fourth of a second per frame, vice one one-hundredth of a

second per frame with Kodachrome IlA; he said that the contact printer would have to be operated much

slower with Kodachrome Il film than with Kodachrome lIA. (Background: the 11/22/63 affidavits executed

by Zapruder with the Jamieson and Kodak film lab people cite Kodachrome Il film as the medium used for

copying the original assassination movie, not Kodachrome IIA; however, the edge print on the 2 Secret

Service copies at NARA reads "Kodachrome lIA.")

After I informed Rollie of the apparent discrepancy between the affidavits and the two Secret Service

copies, he said that to him there was not necessarily any discrepancy. He said that the "product type"

was Kodachrome Il, whether the film was Il (daylight) or lIA (tungsten light source), and that the

designation IlA vice Il simply indicates a variation in color balance, but not a change in product type. He

said that we should not necessarily interpret the apparent discrepancy between the affidavits and the edge

print on the Secret Service copies at NARA as important, because a "film person" would quite possibly

describe only product type, and not address color balance, in ordinary conversation.

He elaborated that a reading lamp is 2800 degrees Kelvin; a contact printer light source is 3200

degrees Kelvin; and sunlight is about 5000 degrees Kelvin.

I next asked him questions about how Kodak labs routinely punched numbers into double 8 mm film

following processing (developing). He said the following:

-the unique, punched numbers would routinely be punched into the tail end of side two of the double 8

mm movie film following developing;

-one reason for this is because the emulsion number (a 7 digit punched number) was always punched

into the head end of side one at the factory.

I asked him where physical splices might normally appear in a normally processed film coming out of

a Kodak lab. His answers follow:

-there should normally be 3 splices, as follows:

-one between the white leader and the beginning of the film (so that the film could be threaded into the

projector); one in the middle marrying side one and side two after slitting; and one at the tail end, if leader

was added to the tail of the film.

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I asked him whether there were any reason to normally separate (cut) the punched number applied by

the processing lab off of the tail end of side two of the film and splice it into another part of the film, and he

said "no, not unless there was a lot of fogged area on the developed film between the end of the image

and the punched number."

I discussed with him Jim Milch's e-mail of 6/12/97 regarding "a film in his possession which was

processed in Rochester." Rollie explained that his film is a private home movie, not an assassination film.

He said it is proof that a film processed (developed) in Rochester would have an "R" in the edge print. He

said he would photocopy the edge print and mail it to me so that I can see what the Rochester lab marking

looks like, and then compare this edge print to the edge print on the various films at NARA.

Rollie then discussed potential camera tests using a Bell and Howell camera of the same model as

Abe Zapruder's. He said that further research he has done indicates that the "inertial effect" may be

peculiar or unique to Zapruder's individual camera, and may not occur in other cameras of the same

model. [This has implications for proposed ARRB camera tests.]

Rollie said he would be on vacation from July 10-August 2, inclusive, but would be available after that

for any business we might wish to conduct. END

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PROCESSED BE KODAK O 1

From-RZ home

Mr. Roland J, Zavada

21 Cottonwood Li

•Pittsford, NY 14534-3407

Monis-"R" i date

process cude - also on

Mar 63 pross. film

JUN OA

SAMPLE OF 8 MM ELM

EDGE PRINT (GREATLY MAGNIFIED)

SHOWING

LETTER "R" WHICH

TONZHI S

DEVELOPED AY KOASK a ROCHESTER.

(PROVIDED BY ME. POLANS ZANADA)

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PROCESSO B KODANO !

Mr. Roland J. Zavada

21 Cottonwood La.

• Pittsford, NY 14534-3407

From-RZ home

monis-"'" A date

process cide -alio on

MaR 63 procs. film

JUNOA

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(START

EDGE-PRINT ON ORIGINAL

ZAPRUDER FILM (JulI 16,1997)

KODACHROME II SAFETY FILM

- BLACK LETTERS ON

WHITE BACKEROUND

SAFETY

FILM

1.1:

37

WHITE

LETTERS

WHITE

DATE CODE

ORIENTATION : WHEN EDGE PRINT ES

REDO CORRECTLY, BASE (SHINY) SIDE DE

FIlM Is "UP" TOWARD VIEWERS EYES,

SPROCKET HOLES ARE ON THE LEFT,

AND IMAGE FRAMES ARE AlSO READ

CORRECTIV

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EXGE-PRINT.ON SECRET SERVICE

Capy # 1 (JuLy 16,1997)

ASSASSINATION SERMONCE (DONEY PLAZA) :

KODACHROME IIA 1.1:

(BLACK LETERS ON I

WHITE-PURPLE BACKGROUND)

(WANE LETNERS"

AND DATE

CODE)

SAFETY FILM

ORIENTATION:

BASE (SHaNy) SIDE "U'", wHEN

EDGE PRINT READ CORRECTLY

HOME MOVIE" SEQUENCE:

PROCESSES BY KODAK ODD NOV 63

BLUE (TURQUOISE) LETTES)

ESUPERIMPOSED OVER BUE LETTERINE IS

SAFETY FILM", READ BACKWARAS ]

ARTEAMATIONS: RACE CHARDSING "ID"

1,

QUE LATERING

LETERING REIA CORRECTLY

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EDGE -PRINT ON SECRET SERVICE

COpY #2 (July 16, 1997)

ASSASSINATION SEQUENCE DEALEY PLAZA):

KODACIROME ITA

26

I BLACK LETERS ON 5

WHITE-PURPLE FIELD)

WARE NUMBERS

AND DATE CODE)

SAFETY FILM

ORIENTATION: BASE(SHINY) SADE "UP" WHew

EDGE PRINT READ CORRIETLY

"

HOME MOVIE" SEQUENCE:

PROCESSED BY KODAK. ID NOV 63

"(BLE oR TURQUORSE LETERS).

ORIENTATION: BASE (SHENY) SIDE "UP" WHEN

BILE EDGE-PRINT READ CORRECTLY.

(SAME SIDE AS IMAGES BETWEEN PERFS)

NOTE: SAME MESSAGE,

BLUE VERSION.

APPEARS REVORSER, IN WHITE, ADDACENT TO

ALSO: thE wards

SAFETY FILM" OVERLAP DAEN

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O116H9

MEETING REPORT

ITAGE OUG

Document's Author: Douglas Horne/ARRB

Date Created: 06/18/97

Meeting Logistics

Date:

06/17/97

Agecny Name:

Attendees:

Morgan Bennett Hunter (Ben Hunter) was interviewed by Doug Horne, Jeremy

Gunn, Dave Montague, and Michelle Combs

• Topic:

ARRB Staff Interviewed Ben Hunter (Grammatical Edits Made on June 19,

1997) (Final Edit Made June 20, 1997)

Summary of the Meeting

ARRB staff interviewed Ben Hunter on June 17, 1997. The interview was arranged by HRG at

ARRB's request. Mr. Hunter had remarked to his wife (an HRG employee), during C-Span coverage of

the Review Board's Zapruder film public hearing, that he had worked on an analysis of the film at NPIC in

1963 shortly after the assassination. His wife relayed that fact, and the name of his supervisor at NPIC

(who also worked on the Z-film analysis), Mr. Homer A. McMahon, to the ARRB via Barry Harrelson at

HRG. Previous to this interview, ARRB staff had conducted a brief initial assessment interview of Mr.

McMahon on the telephone.

Mr. Hunter was on active duty in the USAF prior to working for NPIC (National Photo Interpretation

Center). While in the Air Force as an enlisted man (at Offut Air Force Base in Nebraska, at SAC

Headquarters), he received photographic training and worked on "special processing" programs, which he

explained were aeral and early satellite photography (reconnaissance) products. He said he was offered

a job at NPIC before he left the Air Force. He said he leit the Air Force on 30 November 1962, started

working at NPIC (then located at 5th and K Streets in the Stuart Ford dealership building in NW

Washington) on 17 December 1962, and helped NPIC move to its new quarters at BLDG 213 in the

Washington Navy Yard on January 1, 1963. He said that he worked on the same kind of aerial/satellite

reconnaissance products at NPIC as he did in the Air Force; he specifically mentioned that NPIC had the

capability to handle 70 mm KH4 film, and 9.5" U-2 KHB. film. He said that the majority of his experience in

the Air Force was with B & W film, because all of the reconnaissance film in those days was B & W. He

said that he assisted Homer McMahon in establishing the Color Lab at NPIC sometime during 1963, after.

working 6-9 months in the B & W section at NPIC; he said Homer McMahon was the head of the new

color lab and was his supervisor. Just prior to leaving the Air Force, and just after joining NPIC, Mr.

Hunter said he did a lot of work on reconnaissance photography of surveillance of Cuba during, and

following, the Cuban Missile Crisis. He said much of the work was follow-up photography to ensure that

the Soviet missiles really had left Cuba.

Mr. Hunter said he did participate in an NPIC event involving the Zapruder film in 1963, but cautioned

at the beginning of the interview that his memory of this event was "extremely fuzzy," and told us

repeatedly that Mr. Homer McMahon's memory was probably much better than his. Listed below is a

summary of the essential pieces of information he passed to us during the interview:

-He recalled that he and Homer McMahon worked with the Zapruder film very shortly after the

assassination in 1963, just 2 or 3 days afterwards. At another point he said it may have been the next day

(Saturday) or Sunday, November 24, and that he thought it was prior to the funeral of President Kennedy.

He recalled that no one else from NPIC (other than he and Homer McMahon) was in the building, which

means it was almost certainly the weekend of the assassination; he also recalled that he had to drive in

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from home to do this job, and that he was not already at work when the project was assigned.

-He recalled that a "Captain Sands" delivered the home movie of the assassination to him and Homer

McMahon; he thought Sands (a person in civilian clothes whom was simply addressed as "Captain") was

probably with the CIA Office of Security, or perhaps was the NPIC Head of Security, but could not be sure

today. He said that another person may have been present, or arrived with Sands, but could not

remember much about that. Later in the interview, when he was asked whether he remembered any

Secret Service involvement, he said that our question did ring a bell with him, and that yes, he did believe

there may have been a Secret Service employee present. He said that the others (Sands, the person with

Sands, and McMahon) were already present when he arrived. He said Sands remained "close by,"

observing the work, while he and McMahon handled and worked with the Zapruder film.

-He said Sands directed that he and McMahon not talk about their work that night with anyone, not

even anyone else at NPIC, and that it people were to press him on it, they were to be directed to call

Captain Sands. In fact, when he put in for overtime for the Zapruder film work, Hunter said he would not

tell the Head of the Photographic Lab the reason, the person became upset, and he had to direct that

supervisor to call Captain Sands for an explanation.

-The Zapruder film was not copied as a motion picture; in fact, Hunter said that NPIC did not have that

capability for color movies, since they were in the business of still, B & W reconnaissance photography for

the most part. He said that the assigned task was to analyze (i.e., locate on the film) where occupants of

the limousine were wounded, including "studying frames leading up to shots," and then produce color

prints from appropriate frames just prior to shots, and also frames showing shots impacting limousine

occupants. He recalled laying the home movie out on a light table and using a loupe to examine individual

frames. He could not recall whether they received any instructions as to number of shots, or any

guidance as to where to look in the film.

-He recalled making internegatives from about 8 total selected frames from the movie, and then

making multiple (number uncertain) 8" X 10" or 9" X 9" color prints from the internegatives. The machine

used for manufacture of the internegatives was a "10 X 20 X 40 enlarger." He said that on initial attempts,

the intemegative size was 8" X 10", but that later the size of the internegs was "cut down." By this he did

not mean cropped, but that the final internegs used were smaller than the initial size of 8" X 10". He said

that the process of selecting frames of interest, and the production of the internegatives, took a minimum

of 1 to 2 hours, and perhaps a maximum of 3 to 4 hours to accomplish.

-He did not personally participate in the making of any briefing boards, although he said he would not

• be surprised to find out that someone else at NPIC may have.

-His memories of film content were limited to seeing a skull explosion, bone fragments, and Jackie

Kennedy crawling on the trunk of the car. Apparently to those involved that night the film was only

referred to as a "home movie," but he seemed convinced that it was the Zapruder film based on

subsequent viewings of it over the years in documentaries. He had no independent recollection of which

way the President's head moved (forwards or backwards) from his memories of work that night. He

recalled that there were 2 or 3 frames showing the "head explosion," which he alternatively described as

"a cloud of material surrounding President Kennedy's head."

-His impression is that the film was probably in 16 mm format, but was not of an unslit double-8 mm

film. It was his strong impression that they were working with the original, but when asked whether there

were images present between the sprocket holes, he said that it was his reasonably strong impression

today that there were no such images present between the sprocket holes in the film he examined at

NPIC. At one point he described the film as "not high resolution."

-All materials created or used had to be turned in to Sands upon completion of their work: the motion

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picture film itself; finished prints (of approximately 8 views); test prints (made for the purpose of

determining color balance); test internegatives; and the final interegatives used to make the prints.

-As he talked during the interview, his estimates of the amount of time involved to do this work

expanded, to the point where by the end of the interview, he was convinced that the entire job probably

took a minimum of between 5-7 hours to accomplish. Before talking with us about the details of the

process, he said he would initially have estimated only 2-3 hours of work. He recalled that the work

started during the daytime, and ended during the night-time.

-When asked, he said he did recall counting frame numbers (i.e., counting off the location of selected

frames) on the movie film.

-When asked if he or his co-worker McMahon made any notes, he said that he had no specific

recollection of having done so, but that if they did, the notes were probably related to color correction (i.e.,

use of filters).

-EXAMINATION OF NPIC WORKING NOTES: The NPIC working notes, released twice in response

to FOIA lawsuits as "CIA document 450," are numbered today as RIF # 1993.07.22.08:41:07:620600,

Agency File number 80T01357A, JFK Box # JFK39. The original working notes were placed in the JFK

Collection at NARA in 1993 by the CIA's HRG, along with one surviving briefing board (which consists of 4

panels). The briefing board is also in JFK Box # "JFK39," which is one large flat containing the four

briefing board panels (RIF # 1993.07.21.15:48:04:930600) and the original working notes from NPIC.

This interview was conducted at a CIA office space, not at Archives Il in College Park. Consequently,

ARRB staff had a good photocopy of the working notes with them, but not the briefing board.

-Comments of Mr. Hunter during examination of the NPIC working notes are summarized below:

- He recognized his handwriting on only one page: the handwritten page which describes the

organization of the briefing board panels; and on this page, he only recognized two words (the column

headers "Print #" and "Frame #*) as being written in his hand. He said the remainder of the writing on this

half-page was not his. He did not remember seeing the page before, or witnessing its creation, or writing

on it-he simply recognized the writing for two of the column headers as his.

- He did not recognize any of the other pages in the NPIC working notes, nor did he think that such

activity (e.g., 3 different shot scenarios, and calculation of seconds between shots at two different camera

speeds) took place during the night he and Mr. McMahon performed their work. He was of the belief that

the activity described in the NPIC working notes occurred during a second event at NPIC, one which

occurred after the work done by he and Mr. McMahon.

- He said that to him, the kind of analysis represented by the NPIC notes looked like it may have

been done by mensuration experts at NPIC, and said that if this were the case, he would think that

candidates for this kind of analysis would be either Todd Augustine, Allan Gill, or Steve Clark

--He said that he could recall no discussion of the film speed of the camera which took the

assassination movie (whereas in the notes, both a 16 FPS, and an 18 FPS, timing scenario for shots is

laboriously computed in longhand).

- He said at one point that "I think this was done again" during the tenure of the Warren Commission.

-Even after viewing the NPIC notes referring to three sets each of 28 individual selected frames, he

did not waver from his opinion that only about 8 frames were selected for reproduction that night by he

and Mr. Mcviahon.

Mr. Gunn asked Mr. Hunter to review his pay stubs from 1963 to see if he could determine, from

overtime records, the timing of this event. Mr. Hunter agreed.

At the conclusion of the interview Mr. Hunter expressed a desire to get together with Mr. McMahon

and talk about these events from 1963. We asked him to defer untit after we had formally interviewed Mr.

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McMahon, in person. Jeremy Gunn then suggested that on the day we schedule a formal McMahon

interview at NARA, that we invite Mr. Hunter the same day so that following the McMahon interview, both

men could view the briefing board and original notes together and share their impressions with each other.

Mr. Hunter said he liked that idea. END

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CALL REPORT

CE: 19N0 ODISOTION TO

ING CARMED

Document's Author: Douglas Horne/ARRB

Date Created: 06/26/97

The Players

Who called whom?

Douglas Horne called Morgan Bennett Hunter (Ben Hunter) of CIA

Description of the Call

Date:

06/26/97

Subject:

Doug Horne Called Ben Hunter

Summary of the Call:

I spoke briefly with Ben Hunter to say that the July 2, 1997 interview of Mr. McMahon had been

cancelled (at his--Ben Hunter's--request) and that Mr. McMahon had rejected the tentative rescheduled

interview date of July 11 (for the same reason Hunter had been unavailable on July 2-vacation). I told

him there was no scheduled date now for our interview with Homer McMahon, and that my instructions

were to interview Homer McMahon as soon as practical, at a time convenient to Mr. McMahon. I told him

that it he (Ben Hunter) was available at that time, we would include him; otherwise, we would schedule a

second viewing of the briefing board panels for him subsequent to the McMahon interview.

Following discussion of these logistical details, Mr. Hunter said that he had been thinking about the

events at NPIC which he discussed with us, and wished to amend his previous comments as follows:

-He said he now recalls that a Secret Service agent did deliver the materials to NPIC;

-He said he now believes it was the Secret Service agent who said "don't discuss this with anyone,

and if people persist in knowing what you were doing, refer them to Captain Sands;"

-He said he now is fairty certain that Captain Sands was a high-ranking employee in NPIC's

management structure, possibly the second or third highest ranking member of the organization. He

does still recall that Sands was present during the NPIC event he discussed with us--the manufacture of

internegatives and prints from selected frames of the Zapruder film.

Mr. Hunter said that he still wants to talk with Homer McMahon, even if they cannot view the

photographic briefing board panels together due to schedule conflicts. I told him this was fine, but that we

wanted to interview Mr. Mcmahon first, and promised to pass McMahon's telephone number to him atter

ARRB had concluded its discussions with McMahon. END

---

## Page 18

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• CONFIDENTIAL.

CL BY: 616372)

CL REASON: Section 1.5 C

DECL OM: X1

DRY FRM: 1-82 COV

TO:

Becky L. Rant @ DA

FROM:

J. Barry Harrelson

OFFICE:

CSI/HRG

DATE:

07/09/97 02:06:56 PM

SUBJECT: /Re: ARRB Request-

Original Text of J. Barry Harrelson

Original Text of Becky L. Rant

-

Original Text of J. Barry Harrelson

ARRB has requested information on former ClA employee, John Sands. He is reported to have been a Security Officer at NPIC in

November 1993 and may be familiar with the Zapruder film. Can we confirm that he was at NPIC in Nov. 1993? If so, the ARRB staff

will probably want to interview him and may request that we contact him. We need to know current address and cover status.

Barry: 1993 or 1963?

Sorry - 1963.

CC:

Becky Rant @ DA, Teresa Wilcox @ DST, Bonnie Hunter

Sent on 9 July 1997 at 02:06:56 PM

CONFIDENTIAL

---

## Page 19

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MEETING REPORT

CIA HAS NO DEJECTION TO

DECLARI

NOR

w1A00N

ITAS COOts

Date Created: 07/15/97

Document's Author: Douglas Horne/ARRB

Meeting Logistics

Date:

07/14/97

Ageny Name:

Witnesses/Consultants

Attendees:

Homer McMahon, Jeremy Gunn, Doug Home, Michelle Combs, and Marie

Fagnant

• Topic:

ARRB Interviewed Homer McMahon

Summary of the Meeting

ARRB staff followed up its June 9, 1997 telephonic initial assessment interview of Mr. McMahon with

an in-depth, in-person interview at Archives Il during which the original working notes from NFIC and a

surviving photographic briefing board could be used as exhibits to test the recollections of the witness.

The interview was audiotaped; therefore, this meeting report will only recount substantive highlights of the

interview. (All statements which read as if they were "facts" are actually Mr. McMahon's recounting of

events as he remembers them in 1997.)

Mr. McMahon was manager of the NPIC (National Photo Interpretation Center) color lab in 1963.

About two days after the assassination of President Kennedy, but before the funeral took place, a Secret

Service agent named "Bill Smith" delivered an amateur film of the assassination to NPIC and requested

that color prints be made of frames believed associated with wounding ("frames in which shots occurred"),

for purposes of assembling a briefing board. Mr. Smith did not explain who the briefing boards would be

for, or who would be briefed. The only persons who witnessed this activity (which McMahon described as

an "all night job") were USSS agent Smith, Homer McMahon, and Ben Hunter (McMahon's assistant).

Although no materials produced were stamped with classification markings, Smith told Mcwahon that the

subject matter was to be treated as "above top secret;" McMahon said that not even his supervisor was

allowed to know what he had worked on, nor was his supervisor allowed to participate. Smith told

McMahon that he had personally picked up the film (in an undeveloped condition from the man who

exposed it) in Dallas, flown it to Rochester, N.Y. (where it was developed by Kodak), and then flown it

down to NPIC in Washington so that enlargements of selected frames could be made on NPIC's

state-of-the-art equipment.

After the film (either an unslit original or possibly a duplicate) was viewed more than once on a 16 mm

projector in a briefing room at NPIC, the original (a double-8 mm unslit original) was placed in a 10X20X40

precision enlarger, and 5" X 7" format internegatives were made from selected frames. A full-immersion

"wet-gate" or liquid gate process was used on the original film to reduce refractivity of the film and

maximize the optical quality of the internegatives. Subsequently, three each 5" X 7" contact prints were

made from the internegatives. He recalled that a minimum of 20, and a maximum of 40 frames were

duplicated via internegatives and prints. All prints, internegatives, and scraps were turned over to Bill

Smith at the conclusion of the work. Some working notes were created on a yellow legal pad, and they

were turned over also. At the conclusion of the work, McMahon said he knew that briefing boards were

going to be constructed at NPIC from the prints, but he did not participate in that, and did not know who

did. McMahon stated definitively that at no point did NPIC reproduce the assassination movie (the

Zapruder film) as a motion picture; all NPIC did was produce internegatives and color prints of selected

still frames.

Although the process of selecting which frames depicted events surrounding the wounding of

limousine occupants (Kennedy and Connally) was a "joint process," McMahon said his opinion, which was

that President Kennedy was shot 6 to 8 times from at least three directions, was ultimately ignored, and

the opinion of USSS agent Smith, that there were 3 shots from behind from the Book Depository,

---

## Page 20

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ultimately was employed in selecting frames in the movie for reproduction. At one point he said "you can't

fight city hall," and then reminded us that his job was to produce internegatives and photographs, not to do

analysis. He said that it was clear that the Secret Service agent had previously viewed the film and

already had opinions about which frames depicted woundings.

At one point in the interview, Mr. McMahon described in some detail various health-related memory

problems which he claims to suffer from. Details are on the tape.

Toward the end of the interview, McMahon was shown the NPIC working notes and the surviving

briefing board (there are four panels), which are both in the JFK Collection in flat # 90A.

NPIC Working Notes: McMahon recognized the half-sized sheet of yellow legal paper containing a

handwritten description of briefing board panel contents, and on its reverse side containing a description

of the work performed that night and how long each step took, as being written in his own handwriting

(and partially in Ben Hunter's). He said that three other full-length yellow legal pad pages of notes

• (containing three possible 3-shot scenarios, a 16 FPS and 18 FPS timing analysis, and additional timing

computations) were not in his handwriting, and were not made by him or previously seen by him.

Briefing Board Panels (4): McMahon looked at the 28 photographs on all four briefing board panels,

and said that he had made all of them; he also said that some were missing. I asked him which types of

images that he had produced he thought were missing, and he said he thought motorcade images from

prior to frame 188 (i.e., earlier in the motorcade, before the limousine disappeared behind the roadsign) •

were the photographs he produced which were not on the briefing board panels. He said it looked to him

like the prints he had produced had been trimmed, i.e., made smaller. END

---

## Page 21

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PANELS

Print. #

Frahi t

18:8

2

14-8

104-0

206

2.10

2.

OCLA SUSTORIGAL REMEY

GRAM

PANEL

700122

225

226

PANEL

15

5.10

19-

20

266

2686

274

289-

290.

292

PANELITE

÷300

- 2.1

310

-22

223

24

=25

2 4.

2.2

28

2500

•...

257

20ec

3,5 sic

(224)- 250- 32

5,5 м

yoln:

с 244 2

3.2

210

38062

02191

MONS

---

## Page 22

13-00000

Shoof: Initer.negs

Proct dry

. 81

Print test

make 3 prints e

Procy dry prints

I's hr

2 his

I'e hir

7 hrs.

18/70.0

54

ї6

36

ті.

14.

F2181

3/2

242

---

## Page 23

13-00000

BASED ON 18 FOS AS CEPORIED IN LIFE MAGAZINE

LIFE

OTHER

MAGAZINE

•POSSIBILITIES

PRINT

FRAME

SECONDS

' FRAMES

18 FPS

SHOTS

OCCUR

SECONDS

BETWEENG

SHOTS.

FRAMES ON

i HicH

SHOTS

OCGUR

SECONDS

BETWEEN

S14.OrS

FRAMES

WHICH

5H013

OccUR

190

.. i

... ...

213

206

242

29

-FRAMES

36

FRAMES

SECONDS

BETWEEN

5H095

88. =

7H FRAMES

LATER."

242

242.

2.

26%

264

70

FRAMES

:?0

"FRAMES!

3.8)

"48' FRAmES

AFTER THAT".

0: 7

2

3.

5.

312

;.

4n8

312 5.4

312

5,8

.7

---

## Page 24

13-00000

s.t. Shot

FRIME

190

Seconds

nd Shot.

26 p

217.

seconds

rd: Shot 312

FRAME

190

+ shot.

d Shot

242

i Shot.

6i8

SEC

At 18 Frames Per Secons

19:0

213 2171

2,7

SEC

V..

- 263

1

2.7

SECONDS

312

SEC

24R 5,5

-SEC

3,8

SEC

519

SEE-

A.t:

16

Frames Per Second

22,4

224

5.5

38

or

256

T

3.5

SEC

312

---

## Page 25

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18 FPS-"2FPS

than it should have

Seen

".-

LIFE MAGAZINE

SHOT.

1.

2

372

242.

>. 0

"JEK - throat

Frames,

Later

Cannally.

•...

48 Frames

aften

that:

....

JFK

= bead

3.8

18)

2, 60.

Queationa from thre

8mm film how do

they.

frames of I st and

Lind shot?

Frames

4.1

seronds

. 7.5.

6,8

Seconts

12.7

'seconds

123:

4al secondo at 18 FPS = 7.3.8. Frames...

2.7 seconda"

6.8..

4:8.6

=12.2.4

73.

122.4

Frame. 312 = Frame 123 2)

.. a 189. differential.

364

....

.75

190

=

18.8 л.

7.4....

312

/ N.

39g

---

## Page 26

13-00000

Print

No.

PANEL I

Frame

NO.

2

3

4

5

Print

No.

7

8

9

10

11

12

.13

14

PANEL II

Frame

No.

225

226

::-"

PANEL III

Print

No.

15

16

17

18

19

20

Frame

No.

PANEL IV

Print

No.

21

22

23.

24

25

26

27

28

Frame

No.

310

---

## Page 27

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CIA HAS NO GOECTION TO

DECLASSIFICATION AND/OR

RELEASE OF CIA INFORMATION

IN THIS DOCUMENT

MEMORANDUM

July 16, 1997

TO:

David Marwell

Jeremy Gunn

FROM:

Doug Horne

SUBJECT:

Interviews With Former NPIC Employees About Their Involvement With

the Zapruder Film in November 1963

1. In June and July, 1997, through fortuitous circumstance, ARRB became cognizant of,

and was able to interview, both CIA NPIC (National Photographic Interpretation

Center) employees involved in 1963 with photographic reproduction of the Zapruder

film of President Kennedy's assassination. [See attached interview reports with Ben

Hunter (dated 6/17/97 and 6/26/97), and with Homer McMahon (dated 6/12/97 and

7/14/97).] As a result of these interviews, ARRB staff determined that the undated

NPIC working notes (see attached) which pertain to processing activity involving the

Zapruder film in 1963 have been misinterpreted by many researchers as indicating that

NPIC made three copies of the motion picture film for unknown reasons shortly after

the assassination. (I made this assumption myself, in memos dated October 18, 1995

and April 9, 1997. Our interviews with Homer McMahon (NPIC color lab manager in

1963) and Ben Hunter (his assistant in 1963, and the only other NPIC employee present

during processing of the Zapruder film) in June and July of 1997 revealed that the

processing memorialized by the NPIC working notes (i.e., "shoot internegs... print test...make.

three prints @") refers only to the reproduction of selected still frames as color prints, with the

manufacture of greatly magnified indiviaval 8 mm movie frames as internegatives as the

intermediate step in this process. It is now clear that the NPIC working notes do not refer

to the reproduction of the Zapruder film as a motion picture, but rather, only to the

production of three sets each of 28 selected still frames for the purpose of making

briefing boards.

2. During our two interviews with Mr. McMahon, he remembered with great certainty

that the Secret Service agent who couriered the Zapruder film to NPIC told him that the

original film, and the duplicate movies struck from it, were all developed at Rochester,

N.Y. by Kodak. This, of course, is contrary to the existing documentary trail which

indicates otherwise-namely, that the original film and the three first generation copies

were all developed by Kodak in Dallas. (See my memo of April 9, 1997 for copies of the

affidavits executed by Abraham Zapruder, his letter to C.D. Jackson of LIFE, and Secret

Service documents which all indicate that the original film and three copies were

Horne e: \wp-docs ledgeprnt.wpd

File: 4.0.2 (Zapruder Film)

---

## Page 28

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2

developed in Dallas on November 22, 1963.) Nevertheless, Mr. McMahon's memory of

this statement by the Secret Service agent is quite firm, so ARRB staff decided to re-

examine the edge print on the original Zapruder film and the two Secret Service copies

to see if there was any evidence present of developing in Rochester, vice Dallas. Mr.

Rollie Zavada, a former career employee with Kodak, provided me with a photographic

reproduction of what edge print would look like on an 8 mm film developed in

Rochester (see attached); using this example as a control, I visited Archives II today, and

assisted by Alan Lewis of NARA, examined the edge print on the original film and the

two Secret Service copies for any evidence of having been processed in Rochester.

Summarizing the results of my examination, I could find no. "R" for Rochester

anywhere on the edge print of either the original film, or the two Secret Service copies,

which are first generation. However, I did notice that both Secret service copies exhibit edge

print which reads as follows: "Processed by Kodak D Noo 63." I presume that this capital

"D," found in the edge print on the home movie portions of Secret Service copies 1 and

2, probably stands for "Dallas." I will raise this question with Mr. Zavada of Kodak

(who is presently on vacation) next month. Thus, at the present time, there is no

physical or documentary evidence I am aware of which supports developing in

Rochester, and considerable documentary and some physical evidence which supports

developing of the original and first generation copies in Dallas.

3. The final three attachments to this memo are hand-drawn, detailed reproductions of

the edge print as observed by me today on the film designated as the original by

NARA, and Secret Service copies 1 and 2. Edge print observations made during past

examinations were not done with this degree of care, and were not memorialized with

this degree of precision.

Horne e: Iwp-docs ledgeprnt.wpd

File: 4.0.2 (Zapruder Film)

---

## Page 29

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SECRET

CL BY 611637?

CL REASON: Section 1,5 C

DECE ON: XI

DRV FRM: Multiple

20 July 1997

MEMORANDUM FOR:

Becky Rant @ DA

(Teresa Wilcox @ DST

Mary.V. Amoia-Y• @ DO

FROM:

J. Barry Harrelson

OFFICE:

• CSIHRG

SUBJECT:

ARRB Request - Green& Capehart

REFERENCE:

A revisit of two old requests:

(DA, DS&T) Zapruder film - Homer McMahon, NPIC Tech who worked on the film, said it was developed at Hawkeye works in

Rochester, NY, at a lab headed by a Bill (William)/Green.) Do we have anything on a Bill Green at the Eastman Kodak lab in Rochester that

developed NPIC film?

(DA, DO, DS&T) Claude Barnes Capehart • ARRB staff have reviewed the litigation material at OGC and have raised additional

questions. They requested a complete file search, 201, OP, OS etc. Does the DS&T have any files on Capehart?

CC:

Sent on 20 July 1997 at 03:25:13 PM

SECRET

---

## Page 30

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ADMINISTRATIVE INTERNAL USE ONLY

Lapurder

TO:

Frieda P. Omasta @ DA

FROM:

(Jeanne Kardaras. @ DA

OFFICE:

DATE:

HRM/MS/INFO COORDINATOR

07/23197 12:55:29 PM

SUBJECT: gRe: ARRB Request Green & Capehart

Frieda •

Based on information provided, I have found no information on the following individual:

Bill (William) Green at the Eastman Kodak lab

The search undertaken was reasonably calculated to uncover all responsive records. Please advise if I may be of further assistance.

(Jeanne

CC:

Becky L. Rant @ DA, J. Barry Harrelson, Thomas C. Benza, @ DA. W. Curtis Chalone/@ DA

Sent on 23 July 1997 at 12:55:29 PM

AOMINISTRATIVE • INTERNAL USE ONLY

---

## Page 31

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SECRET

Zapruden

CL BY: 0000000

CL REASON: Section 1.5 C

DECL OM: XI

DRY FRM: Multiple

23 July 1997

MEMORANDUM FOR:

FROM:

(learne Kadrase DA

Thomas C. Benza @ DA

(W. Curtis Chaloner:@ DA

frieda P. Omasta:@ DA

OFFICE:

SUBJECT:

REFERENCE:

ADA/IRO

ARRB Request • Green, & Capehart

Search on Bill Green, only

Jeanne, Tom and Curt:

As noted in Barry Harrelson's note below, Homer McMahon advised that the Zapruder film was developed at Hawkeye works in

Rochester, NY, at a lab headed by Mr. Bill (William Green Accordingly, would you please check your files to see if you have any

information on Mr. Green at the Eastman Kodak lab in Rochester? Please respond directly to Barry with an information copy to Becky

Rant and to myself. Thank you again for your assistance. Frieda

Original Text of J. Barry Harrelson

CC:

Becky L. Rant @ DA

J. Barry Harrelson

Sent on 23 July 1997 at 10:34:26 AM

SECRET

---

## Page 32

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CIA SPOORA COIRORONS

2000

DRAFT

Background and Questions for Di

DATE

Zapruder Film

In 1975, the CIA forwarded to the Rockefeller Commission undated internal working

notes from the CIA's NPIC (National Photographic Interpretation Center) then under

the Directorate of Intelligence, which indicate that at one time, NPIC conducted an

analysis of the Zapruder film to determine which frames could be equated with

jFKSE

gunshots, and how many seconds had elapsed between shots. A typewritten, undated

memo (presumably prepared on May 13, 1975), which forwarded these working papers? F &

within the agency, implies that the NPIC had performed the analysis at the request of

the U.S. Secret Service.

My analysis of the working notes from NPIC has led me to conclude that NPIC's work

was conducted approximately between December 6, and December 20, 1963. Reasoning

follows: the NPIC notes reference LIFE magazine's own analysis of the shots as one of

the three scenarios they considered, and quote verbatim from LIFE's December 6, 1963

issue; furthermore, the NPIC analyst is not sure whether the Zapruder film was shot at

16 or 18 frames per second-and the FBI concluded on December 20, 1963 that the

operating speed of Zapruder's camera was an average of 18.3 frames per second. Thus,

it is reasonable to conclude that this analysis took place between the time the December

6, 1963 issue of LIFE hit the news stands, and December 20, 1963, the date the FBI

determined the operating speed of Zapruder's Bell and Howell camera.

QUESTIONS

The second-to-last page of the NPIC handwritten notes contains the following entries:

-Shoot Internegs 1.5 hr

-Proc & dry

-Print Test

-Make 3 prints

-Proc & dry

2 hr

1 hr

1 hr

1.5 hr

(Total)

7 hrs

Question #1:

Who directed NPIC to make the 3 copies of the Zapruder film? (CIA, or an external

DRAFT

PUTE ORS

--

---

## Page 33

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DRAFT

agency? For what stated purpose?)

CI.A.- Finite Purpose... at

Question #2:

To whom were the 3 copies delivered? - 50G

Any documents which would shed light on the above questions, including NPIC

personnel rosters from December, 1963, should be made available for ARRB staff

review.

4/2/97

Barry-

Te Key to these tivo questions is de

immedeatel attached Doc. fram ViK 52, 24.

(ch is actuall 3 docs

not includes in de batch jiu yoe me.

e23 assel memo from Simmons—

appeas to have been premia

un redaited.-

ind suspech as

no cover names

fenplagets ver

OVER 52, 59 contains masto de

documents.

• Cannot locate le 20)na, 76 meno

fram E Trendoza-

DRAFT

---

## Page 34

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• GUNHUENHAL

CIA SPECIAL OW: SODIONS

NLF MR Case No.._

93-13

RELLA INTOLE

Document No..

#2

2000 NPIC Analysis of Zapruder Filming

of John F. Kennedy Assassination

Information was forwarded to the Commission previously

on this matter in connection with our comments on the Hoch memo-

randuu. On 8 May 1975, Mr. Olsen asked for copies of any

memoranda or other textual information provided to the Secret

Service by CIA after NPIC's analysis of the Zapruder film. We

have no indication in our records that any such written material

was provided to the Secret Service. Attached are copies of the

only textual matter in our files pertaining to NPIC's analysis

of the Zapruder film. We do not know whether the Secret Service

took copies of these notes at the time of the analysis.

v..

PHOTO COPY

FROM

GERALD R. FORD LIRDEDU

_CONFIDENTIAL

ZIMPOET CL BY 018186

.

---

## Page 35

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AEPRANOS FOA RELEASEISS?

CLA HISTURIGAL REVIEN PRCCRAN

CGL-ANHLYSIS oF ZAPRUDER FIeM

•sln

---

## Page 36

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1i: Dreice

I May 1975

Hennedy Assassination

Nir. Robert B. Olsen

Senior Counsel

Commission on CLA Activities

_Within the United Staies

Dear Mr. Olsen:

You recently asked for angs textual materiais

that may have been provided by the Agency to the

Secret Service in connection with the PIC

analysis of the Zaprader film.

. T'he only testual material involved is attached.

I understand you have had a Iceting with NPIC

authorities to go into some of the background.

Faithfully yours,

Attachment: a/3

€55

---

## Page 37

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Intornation las corsarded io the commission previously

on this natter in connection vich our connents on tic loch

пспо-

randum. On s day 1975, Mr. Olsen ashod for copies of any

acroranda or other tortual infornation provided to the Sccret

. Service by CIA after NPIC's analysis of the Zapruder film. Ne

have no indication in our records that any

such written naterial

was provided to the Sccret Service. Attached are copies of the

only textual matter in our files pertaining to NPIC's analysis

of the Zapruder film.

We do not know whether the Secret Service

took copies of these notes at the tine of the analysis..

---

## Page 38

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':."

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

24 July 1997

MEMORANDUM FOR:

J. Barry Harrelson

DCI /CSI/HRG

VIA:

FROM:

SUBJECT:

REFERENCE:

Becky Rant

DDA/ IRO

Janet A. Ecklund

Chief, Information Management Branch

Office of Personnel Security

Assassination Records Review Board Name

Trace Request on William Green

Lotus Note dated 23 July 1967

1.

• In response to the referenced request, the Office

of Personnel Security's Management Data Program/Personnel

Security (MDP/PS) database was searched as requested.

The searches undertaken were reasonably calculated

to retrieve all responsive documents.

Based upon the

information provided, no security records were located.

memorandum is provided for your information

and appropriate disposition.

Please direct any further

inquiries regarding this matter to W. Curtis Chaloner at

[405523 (secure).

W. Curtis Chaloner

for

Janet A. Ecklund)

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

---

## Page 39

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MEMORANDUM

DECLASEIEOAEL AND/OR

RELSAUTT

IFORMATIONI

IN THIS DECORANT

August 4, 1997

TO:

File

CC:

Jeremy Gunn

Michelle Combs

David Marwell

FROM:

Doug Horne

SUBJECT: ARRB Interview of Homer McMahon

1. On July 14, 1997 ARRB staff interviewed Mr. Homer McMahon, former director of

the color photography lab at the National-Photographic Interpretation Center.

2. During our tape-recorded interview, he used a code-word for a location/ technical

site which he indicated may have been "off-limits," i.e., still-classified information.

3. Today, Michelle Combs informed me that she had just had a conversation with Mr. J.

Barry Harrelson of the CIA's HRG, who informed her that the code-word mentioned

during ARRB's interview of Mr. McMahon is still classified Top Secret/SCI, and that

our audiotape of the interview must be marked accordingly and placed into SCI

storage.

4. The purpose of this memo is to accompany the audiotape, which is today being

placed into our SCI safe in the ARRB SCIF.

5. The code-word mentioned on the tape was not used in my meeting report which

summarized the results of the interview.

Horne e: \wp-docs \McMah.wpd

File: 4.0.5 (Homer McMahon Interview)

---

## Page 40

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_FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

Zapruden

MEMORANDUM FOR:

FROM:

OFFICE:

SUBJECT:

REFERENCE:

Barry,

8 September 1997

J. Barry Harrelson

CIA. 3920

Teresa Wilcox, @ DST

..'.

ACTIONS

RELEASE IN FOLL

2000

ODDS&T/IRO

ARRB interview of Homer McMahon

12-page fax did 27 Aug 97

I have reviewed the ARRB notes and have identified no classified material in them, I will arrange a time with you later this

week to listen to the audiotape. Thanks.

CC:

Sent on 8 September 1997 at 03:32:18 PM

-FOR OFFICIAL USE ONEY-

---

## Page 41

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SECRET

;.

C BY: 2085904

CL REASON: Section 1.5 C, e

DECL ON: X1

DRV FRM: COL 6.82

24 September 1997

MEMORANDUM FOR:

J. Barry Harrelson

FROM:

Teresa Wilcox)@ DST

OFFICE:

ODDS&T/IRO

SUBJECT:

(U) Review of Homer McMahon interview tape

REFERENCE:

Barry,

(S) Based on my review of the audiotape today, I have determined that the tape is classified $ BYE. As we discussed, please delete the

name of the film processing facility from the tape before the tape is released. The name is mentioned at the very end of the tape's side

"A." I recommend that the reference to Camp Peary also be deleted; however, this is also a DO and DA equity. FYI, Mr. McMahon does

not directly link the facility to CIA; he says he was an Army brat, and that he used to do shooting at Camp Peary, However, I feel

uncomfortable raising the profile of Camp Peary, in a public release, even if the facility is not directly identified as a CIA location. Also,

the mention of Camp Peary is irrelevant to the point Mr. McMahon is trying to make. He mentions his experience with firearms in order to

lay the foundation for his knowledge of how rounds travel when shot from firearms. Where he learned to shoot, as an Army brat or

otherwise, is not relevant, in my view.

CC:

Sent on 24 September 1997 at 04:13:35 PM

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19:1190109)

......!..

re CiA IR-25

O N

Assassination Records Review Board

600 E Street NW • 2nd Floor • Washington, DC 20530

(202) 724-0088 • Fax: (202) 724-0457

CIA HAS NG ORJECTION TO

DECLASSIFICATION AND/OR

RELEASE OF CIA INFORMATION

IN THIS DOCUMENT

December 18, 1997

Mr. John Pereira

Chief

Historical Review Group

Center for the Study of Intelligence

Central Intelligence Agency

Washington, D.C. 02505

Re: Status of CLA Responses to Assassination Records Reviesv Board's Requests for

Additional Information and Records

Dear John:

I am writing to follow-up on our telephone call earlier today and to convey my serious

concern about the status of CLA's responses to the Review Board's requests for

additional information and records. Although ClA has completed its responses to

several requests, and many others have been answered in part, a significant number of

requests have not been answered — including some that were made more than two

years ago. On many occasions we have been assured that responses would be

forthcoming, only to have promised dates come and go without answers. It is now

extremely important that these requests be answered promptly so that we may conduct

a proper follow-up if necessary. The issues that we can now identify as being of the

highest priority are identified in the text below by double asterisks (**)' and we request

that they be answered within the next month. We request that the remaining requests

be answered by April 1, 1998.

The remainder of this letter is divided into two parts: first, a listing of the formal

requests for information and records, and second, a listing of the informal requests for

information and records. Please let me know if your understanding of any of the

following points differs from ours so that we can resolve any potential discrepancies.

'As identified more fully below, the issues are: CIA-1 Organizational Material,

CIA-6 Cables and Dispatches, CLA-13 Backchannel Communications, CIA-IR-03

HTLINGUAL Documents, CIA-IR-04 Disposition of Angleton Files, CIA-IR-07 Claude

Barnes Capehart, CLA-IR-15 Electronic "take" from Mexico City, CLA-IR-21 DRE

Monthly Operational Reports, CIA-IR-22 "A" Files on Clay Shaw and Jim Garrison.

BOARO MEMBERS: John R. Tunheim. Chair • Henry F. Graff - Kermis !. Mall - William L. Jorce • Anna K. Nelson

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Mr. John Pereira

December 18, 1997

Page 12

**CIA-IR-22 "A" File on Clay Shaw and Jim Garrison.

In July 1997, the ARRB staff was shown an "A" file on Clay Shaw which pre-

dated a 201 file. We were also told that an "A" file on Jim Garrison also existed.

The Shaw file was declared to be an assassination record and it was our

understanding that both files were to be sent to HRG for processing. We have

not yet received confirmation from HRG that the files are in process as

assassination records.

CLA-IR-23 Watch Committee Files.

In his memoirs, George Ball reports that upon first hearing of the shots in Dallas

he called DCI John McCone and asked him to activate the Watch Committee.

McCone replied that he already had. The Review Board requests the files of the

Watch Committee for the period January 1963-May 1964.

CIA-IR-24 Defector File.

The ARRB staff has identified documents on Lee Harvey Oswald from the Office

of Security's "Defector File." It is our understanding that these documents are

now being processed as assassination records. No further tasking on this subject

is anticipated.

CLA-IR-25 Zapruder Film.

The Board has requested any and all records, not previously located in the

Sequestered Collection, on any handling by the CLA of the Zapruder film. In

particular, we are interested in any records of NPIC's handling of the Zapruder

film or copies of the Zapruder film in November and December 1963. Any log

books or indexes which would indicate the individuals involved in the

processing and handling of any assassination films should be inclyded in this

request.

CLA-IR-26 Jordan James Pfuntner.

The Review Board requested that a complete search for any records on this

individual be undertaken, including a search of the Interagency Source Register

The ARRB staff provided HRG with additional identification data on this

individual. The Review Board seeks a full and accurate formal response to this

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2d. Searches conducted on OTS, OTC and CITO records used the following keywords:

surveil

Russian

USSR

Cuba®

audio*

electron®

embassy

Mexico*

Uz sheist, UP. 1, spoil he de daled in quested, in on, te he a was drovided with a revised

4. CIA-IR-17 DS&T Records on Castro Assassination Plots - Closed per Board memo.

5. CIA-IR-25 Zapruder Fllm - As previously reported, a search was conducted on the terms:

ZAPRUDER, UrK, Commission, and 1963. Hits on year 1963 did not reveal any pertinent information to

the request. I am, therefore, requesting that this action be closed.

AHB.Q7 Claudo Barnes Capshart,

Closed

309799491

1987 ConCur 1/1, 9 po. 191-92-112 Final response s

7. CIA-IR-33 FBIS-USR-92-112 Final response submitted for review to DS&T on 20 March

8. In summary I have addressed all the Board actions relevant to DS&T. Based on the

comments associated with each item, DS&T's actions are all closed. If you have any questions, please

contact me on secure 76297.

ADMIN-IUO when separated from attachments

NOTE: Documents will sent through the mail.

CC:

Sent on 23 March 1998 at 12:00:07 PM

CC:

Sent on 23 March 1998 at 16,19,14

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• :

MEMORANDUM FOR:

24 March 1998

FROM:

OFFICE:

SUBJECT:

REFERENCE:

J. Barry Harrelson

Marsha A. Hubbs

DS&T Information Management Officer

O/DS&T

JFK Records

ARRB Memo dtd 5 March 1998

C/A-IR-25

1. This memorandum is in response to the following JFK action items relevant to

DS&T as contained in the Assassination Records Review Board memorandum

addressed to J. Barry Harrelson and dated 5 March 1998.

2. CHA 10 "Eletrente tate from texter enty Stron This

memorandum addresses the portion of the action "In addition, the Board is still awaiting

a response on the present location of Stal D records. Regardless of the outcome of

these particular searches, the Review Board continues to seek a full accounting for all

surveillance conducted during the releva

time periods."

2a. In conducting a search for the above information, a file from OTS (Office of

Technical Service) surfaced with the folder title "Mexico City, Mexico." The attached

documents are the entire contents of that folder for the period 24 May 1961-10 June

1965. The attachment to Dispatch HIMA 20307 dated 4 December 1962 has not

been included. It is an audio tape in Spanish of the SRT-9R transmitter/switch receiver

that was placed in an office at the Cuban Embassy at Mexico City. The conversation

(poor quality) was between a man and woman who are just talking about office

procedures. No substantive information was exchanged between the two of them:

2b. A search was conducted on OTC (Office of Technical Collection) records.

This office would have inherited the Division D records of the DO. In reviewing old DO

Records Retirement Requests, no information pertinent to the request surfaced. There

Admin-IUO when separated from attachments

CL BY: 0524507)

CL Reason: 1.5c

Decl On: X1

Drv From:Multiple Sources

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are no shelflists (folder-inventory) asso

lated with these Records Retirement Requests

since the Division D records were recg ded intitally in the DO system. I have attached

six Records Retirement Requests wh

pse job numbers relfect the years 1959-1962

Additionally, I have called the Record Center to get a status of those jobs today. They

are as follows:

1. 59-5-477

stroyed September 1977 per Records Center

ords

2. 60-S-182R

Destroyed May 1980 per Records Center records

3. 60-S-402

Recor

ransferred to FI/D (DDO), December 1977 per

$ Center records

4. 61-S-175 -Four boxes transferred to FI/D (DDO), - March

1972

three boxes destroyed

May 1980 per Records Center records

5. 62-S-8

5-Destroyed per Records Center records

6. 62S0C 986R -Transferred to OSO (DS&T) 1974

These were the only

records Retirement Requests in the possession of OTC

that are in the timeframe rele ant to the JFK assassination. As their descriptions

indicate, they do not appea

relevant to the request.

2c. A search was cinducted on CITO (Clandestine Information Technology

(Office). This fairly new Di

&T office inherited files from OTC and may have some

Division D records as par

of its collection. The search revealed no pertinent hits

2d. Searches co

ducted on OTS, OTO and CITO records used the following

keywords

el

il*

lan

Ru

U

S

C

aug

ele

em

Mes

on*

asSy

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CIA IR-16 U-2 Files. As stated in the memorandum, the Board was provided

with

revised U-2 shelflist. Unless, specific documents are requested, I will consider

this action closed.

CIA-IR-17 DS&T Records on Castro Assassination Plots - Closed per

• Boa

memo.

5. CIA-IR-25 Zapruder Film - As previously reported, a search was conducted

on the terms: ZAPRUDER, JFK, and 1963. Hits on year 1963 did not reveal any

pertinent information to the request. I am, therefore, requesting that this action be

closed.

on

IA-IR-07 Claude Barnes Capehart. Closed per Board memo.

SCIA-IR-33 FBIS-USR-92-112 Final response submitted for review to DS&T

March 1997. Concur in the response.

8. In summary I have addressed all the Board actions relevant to DS&T. Based

on the comments associated with each item, DS&T's actions are all closed. If you

have any questions, please contact me on secure 76297)

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LY July 1998

MEMORANDUM FOR: Laura Denk, Esq.

Executive Director, ARRB

FROM:

J. Barry Harrelson

Senior Reviewer, HRP

SUBJECT:

ARRB Reguest No. CIA-IR-25, Bill

(William) /Green and the

Zapruder Film

1. The following is responsive to subject request.

2. Considerable information has been provided and

reviewed by ARRB staff members concerning the Agency's

involvement with the so-called "Zapruder film."

It is our

understanding that all questions relating to this subject

have been answered previously except for the possible

existence of NPIC log books and the identity of one, "Bill

(Green. "

3. The Agency has conducted a

search of its records for

the NPIC log books and a Bill or William Green who may have

worked at NPIC or in another capacity which would have

caused him to deal with the Zapruder film. The results of

that search were negative.

4. If you require anything further in this regard,

please advise.

J.

Barry Harrelpon

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## Page 49

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MEMORANDUM FOR:

FROM:

SUBJECT:

Dail

may Gunn, Esq.

Executive Director, ARRB

J. Barry Harrelson

Senior Reviewer, HRP

29 July 1998

1. The following is responsive to subject request.

2. Considerable information has been provided and

reviewed by ARRB staff members concerning the Agency's

involvement with the so-called "Zapruder film."

It is our

understanding that all questions relating to this subject

have been answered previously except for the possible

existence of NPIC log books and the identity of one, "Bill

(Green.)

3. The Agency has conducted

a search of its records. for

the NPIC log books and a Bill or William Green who may have

worked at NPIC or in another capacity which would have

caused him to deal with the Zapruder film.

The results of

that search were negative.

4.

If you require anything further in this regard,

please advise.

J. Barry Harrelson

DSIT IRO

Has demerand

Dodd

-4 Y8

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