MEMO: OSWALD DOCUMENTS - ACTION TAKEN.
Agency: CIA
Originator: CIA
From: WALLER, JOHN H.
To: DDCI
Document date: 12/1/76
Document type: PAPER-TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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104-10142-10145

1 December 1976

MEMORANDUM FOR:

Deputy Director of Central Intelligence

FROM:

SUBJECT:

John II. Waller

Inspector General

Oswald Documents -- Action Taken

16-3482

L0L6/116 318-4

Sattitin

Chuono.

HSCA

77-002013

Attached herewith is an edited version of the memorandum

on Kessler's article in the Washington Post forwarded to you on

27 November 1976.

In an effort to obtain all the information that is avail-

able on this matter, the office of Security, at the behest of the

ortate all'

Inspector General, has initiated à formal security investigation

into the reported leaks.

This is to be confined to an analysis o?

Agency files and records and to present and former Agency employees,

including the translator formerly assigned to the Mexico City Sta-

tion, the typist at the Station at that time and Mr. David Phillips.

They state that it is virtually impossible to estimate the length of

time it will take to conduct these investigations.

The Office of the General Counsel has been engaged since

April 1976 in perusing the Oswald 201 files, page by page, for

FOIA purposes. It is estimated that 75 percent of that material

containing Agency information will be sanitized, if needed, and

declassified by mid-December 1976.

The information relating to

telephone taps in Mexico City, however, has been deleted:

Oswaid 201 files consist of 1l 1/2 sare dravers of material.

Other files with possible relevance to the assassination of Presi-

dent Kennedy include the following: 12 safe drawers of Cuban Opera-

tions material that is baing reviewed in connection with the

Schweiker report; 2 1/2 safe drawers of material in the office of

security; varying amounts of related material in che Mexico City

Station files; soft filos; Rocca files; Clista files; 066 files

and bei fries.

E2 IMPDET

CL. BY 055636

20155

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Branch of he Division endea his to rexico sa that the mexico

as to what records may still be there relating to the period of

Oswald's visit to Mexico and afterwards. As of this date, we have

not located the original transcripts of the telephone intercepts of

Oswald's 1963 telephone conversations in Mexico City. We are hoping

that the present intensive search will unearth them.

5: The kinds of information currently being deleted by the Of-

fice of General Counsel from Oswald documents under Freedom of Infor-

mation are as follows:

Information confirming the existence of an Agency

station in a named.city (country) abroad.

b. Cryptonyms and pseudonyms.

c. Identities of Agency staff employees.

d. Identities of agents (foreign intelligence sources).

e. Revelations concerning the Agency's use of identi- ,

fiable operational tactics, techniques or equipment.

f.

Confirmation of the existence of liaison agreements

or working relationships with identified or identifiable

foreign intelligence and security services.

g. Revelation of information received from foreign

liaison services; obtained under agreements that committed

the Agency to protect the facts of the liaison arrangements

and any information received under it, to protection against

unauthorized disclosure.

h. In a number of instances the kind of information

(iter abo gears later are abanding stret on a still

foreign affairs, national security interests and/or

intelligence operations and classification is still

justifiable under Executive Order 11652.

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i. Identities of Agency components and internal

Agency filing instructions.

j. Information concerning activities or behavior

patterns of people not even incidentally involved in

the assassination whose personal privacy would be un-

justifiably invaded should the information be released.

k. Identities of U.S. law enforcement officials.

6. I cannot guarantee that the OGC sterilizations, following

guidelines described in the attached memorandum, are generally as

minimal as you may want. As you can see, this process has been

going on since last April, thus it would be a major undertaking to

begin all over again.

I will look further into this, but if you

ultimately conclude

that there should be a different standard for

FOIA releases on this subject than on others, we may have a very.

large job ahead of us. DDo, OGE and the FOIA office should be

heard from.

7. With regard to the Sprague investigation, our irtention

would be to let. Sprague or his investigators have generally un-

fettered access to our relevant files here in this building.

Those

documents he wishes to take out would be given a minimal steriliza-

tion.

Those documents which he wishes to have taken out and declas-

sified would be sterilized for that purpose. I anticipate that the

problems will occur as we disagree over what may be declassified.

His instincts will be to want to put as much as possible in the

public domain.

But, we will have to face those bridges when we

come

to them.

Much will depend upon the kind of

agreement OLC

will

be able to negotiate in advance on security matters.

" (vianor:

John M. Waller

Attachment - a/s

CC.

ode w/att

OLC w/att

Assistant to DDCt W/att

3

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