ARTICLE WRITTEN BY NICHOLAS M. HORROCK WHICH APPEARED IN THE NEW YORK TIMES ON 27 MARCH 1978.
Originator: CIA
From: DIRECTOR
To: WITHHELD
Document date: 03/28/1978
Document type: PAPER - TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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DIRECTOR 195505

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TO: PRIORITY IOKYO..

WNINTEL RYBAT TAPPER

RETURN TO CIA

THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE WRITTEN BY NICHOLAS M. HORROCK APPEARED

IN THE NEW YORK TIMES ON 27 MARCH 1978.

(FYI - THE

NAMES GIVEN TO THE COMMITTEE BY WILCOTT INCLUDED THE FOLLOWING

GEORGE BREEN, ELEANOR BREEN, WILLIAM V. BROE, JIM DELANEY, JERRY

FOX, ROBERT S.

"HASHIMA", CHESTER ITO, ELWOOD D. (PETE) MARTIN,

BOB OJIRI, FREDERICK RÄNDALL, JACK RANDALL, KAN TAKAI, DORIS

- WATANABE, LARRY WATANABE, JIM WOODS, LOUISE WOODS, PETE WHEELER, AND

SHIZUO YAMADA.

PLEASE NOTE THESE NAMES WERE NOT GIVEN IN THE

ARTICLE, AND AS FAR AS WE ARE AWARE, ARE NOT AVAILABLE

TO THE PUBLIC.)

QUOTE

OSWALD LINK TO COI.A. SUGGESTED AT INQUIRY

EX-EMPLOYEE OF AGENCY TELLS PANEL THAT HE HEARD OSWALD WAS AN

OPERATIVE IN JAPAN IN THE '50'S

BY NICHOLAS M. HORROCK

SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON, MARCH 26--A FORMER FINANCE OFFICER FOR THE

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY HAS TESTIFIED BEFORE THE HOUSE SELECT

COMMITTEE ON ASSASSINATIONS THAT HIS COLLEAGUES HAD TOLD HIM. THAT

LEE HARVEY OSWALD HAS A SECRET OPERATIVE FOR THE AGENCY IN JAPAN

IN THE LATE 1950'S.

THE WITNESS, JAMES B. WILCOTT, WHO SAID THAT ME HAD SERVED

IN LOW-LEVEL JOBS WITH THE C.I.A, FROM 1957 THROUGH APRIL 1966,

CONTENDED IN AN INTERVIEW THAT CONVERSATIONS WITH COLLEAGUES IN

THE AGENCY'S TOKYO STATION AFTER PRESIDENT KENNEDY'S ASSASSINATION

ON NOV. 22, 1963 CONVINCED HIM THAT OSWALD, WHO HAD BEEN RECRUITED

BY THE AGENCY TO INFILTRATE THE SOVIET UNION AND SERVED AS A MARINE

IN THE FAR EAST.

MR. WILCOTT, WHO ACKNOWLEDGED THAT HIS MEMORY OF EVENTS 15

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YEARS AGO WAS OFTEN SKETCHY, SAID THAT HE TESTIFIED UNDER OATH

AT A CLOSED SESSION OF THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON WEDNESDAY, SUPPLYING

THE NAMES OF SEVERAL OFFICIALS OF THE C.I.A. WHO MIGHT BE ABLE

TO GIVE FURTHER DETAILS ON THE MATTER.

ROBERT BLAKEY, THE CHIEF COUNSEL AND STAFF DIRECTOR OF THE

COMMITTEE, DECLINED TO COMMENT ON THE TESTIMONY.

HOWEVER, AN

INTERIM REPORT ISSUED BY THE COMMITTEE INDICATED THAT, ALTHOUGH

THE STAFF HAD CONDUCTED SOME 1,400 FIELD INTERVIEWS, THE

COMMITTEE CHOSE TO FLY RELATIVELY FORMAL, SWORN TESTIMONY LIKE

THAT

SUPPLIED BY MR. WILCOTT.

PROJECTS CALLED "CRYPTOS"

ACCORDING TO SEVERAL SOURCES, THE COMMITTEE WAS INVESTIGATING

MR. WILCOTT'S TESTIMONY:

MR. WILCOTT SAID THAT HE JOINED THE C.I.A, AS A LOW-RANKING

FINANCE OFFICER IN 1957 AND WAS SENT TO TOKYO IN 1960.

AT THE

TOKYO STATION, WHICH WAS IN A BUILDING THAT OSTENSIBLY HOUSED

UNITED STATES AIR FORCE PERSONNEL, MR. WILCOTT SAID, HIS

RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDED MAKING CASH DISBURSEMENTS FOR PROJECTS

IDENTIFIED ONLY BY CODE NAMES CALLED "CRYPTOS."

HE SAID THAT HIS WIFE WAS À CLERICAL EMPLOYEE OF THE AGENCY

AT THAT TIME AND THAT HE STOOD "WATCH SHIFTS" TO EARN EXTRA MONEY.

MR. WILCOTT SAID THAT ALTHOUGH THE TRADITIONS AND THE

•REGULATIONS OF THE AGENCY SEPARATED MEMBERS OF THE SUPPORT STAFF

SUCH AS HIMSELF FROM INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS AND OTHER OFFICIALS,

HE FRATERNIZED WITH OPERATIONAL. PERSONNEL WHILE HE WAS ON NIGHT-

WATCH DUTY, IN OCCASIONAL OFF-DUTY CONVERSATIONS AND AT THE

TELLER'S CAGE WHERE HE MADE HIS DISBURSEMENTS.

HE SAID THAT IN THE MONTHS AFTER KENNEDY'S DEATH HE HAD

SEVERAL CONVERSATIONS WITH PERSONNEL INVOLVED IN COVERT OPERATIONS.

THOSE TALKSY HE SAID, CONVINCED HIM THAT OSWALD: WHO HAD BEEN

STATIONED AT ATSUGI AIR BASE, JAPAN HAD BEEN RECRUITED TO INFILTRATE

THE SOVIET UNION AS A SPY.

ONLY QNE CONVERSATION

MR. WILCOTT

SAID THAT HE COULD RECALL ONLY ONE SPECIFIC

CONVERSATION, WHICH OCCURRED SHORTLY AFTER JACK RUBY SHOT OSWALD

IN DALLAS. IN AN ACCOUNT OF THE CONVERSATION THAT HE PREPARED FOR

PUBLICATION, MR. WILCOTT NOTED, 'I WAS TALKING WITH SOMEONE, I

CAN'T RECALL WHO FOR SURE, AND I EXPRESSED DISBELIEF ABOUT OSWALD

EVEN BEING A C.I.A• PROJECT. I WAS TOLD SOMETHING LIKE, "WELL,

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JIM,

SO AND SO DREW AN ADVANCE SOMETIME IN THE PAST FROM YOU FOR

OSWALD! OR "FOR THAT PROJECT UNDER SUCH AND SUCH A CRYPTO"'"'

"IT WAS A FAMILIAR CRYPTONYM TO ME AT THE TIME, WHICH I

HAVE SINCE FORGOTTEN, AS WELL AS THE TIME THAT THE ADVANCE OF

FUNDS WAS DRAWN, " HE WROTE..

THERE APPEAR TO BE SEVERAL DISCREPANCIES IN THE RECOLLECTIONS

OF MR.

A. GRAYOHAIRED MAN OF MEDIUM HEIGHT.

FOR INSTANCE

HE REMEMBERED HAVING LEARNED OF THE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION ON AN

AFTERNOON FLIGHT OF A PRIVATE PLANE. HOWEVER, KENNEDY WAS SHOT

AT MIDDAY IN DALLAS, WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN EARLY THE NEXT MORNING

IN JAPAN.

OSWALD SERVED IN THE FAR EAST FROM 1957 UNTIL NOVEMBER 1958

- AND WAS DISCHARGED FROM THE MARINE CORPS BEFORE MR. WILCOTT WAS

SENT TO TOKYO.

MR. WILCOTT SAID THAT HE HAD BEEN TOLD THAT OSWALD

HAD BEEN TAKEN TO JAPAN FOR QUESTIONING AFTER RETURNING FROM THE

SOVIET UNION IN 1962.

INTEREST IN RUSSIAN

THERE HAS BEEN SPECULATION ABOUT WHETHER OSWALD CAME UNDER

THE CONTROL OF THE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY IN JAPAN.

IN A RECENT BOOK,

'LEGEND. THE SECRET WORLD OF LEE HARVEY OSWALD, " EDWARD JAY EPSTEIN

DESCRIBES OSWALD'S INTEREST IN THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE AND HIS

STRANGE CONTACTS WITH JAPANESE CIVILIANS.

BUT OFFICIALS OF THE AGENCY HAVE DENIED UNDER OATH HAVING

EVER RECRUITED, TRAINED OR MANIPULATED OSWALD, AND FORMER SENIOR

OFFICIALS OF THE AGENCY HAVE ANGRILY DENDUNCED AS IRRESPONSIBLE

ATTEMPTS TO CONNECT THE AGENCY TO THE ASSASSINATION.

THE AGENCY WILL NOT SAY WHETHER IT HAS EMPLOYED INDIVIDUALS.

MR. WILCOTT SAID THAT AFTER LEAVING TOKYO IN JUNE 1964 HE SERVED

AT THE AGENCY'S OFFICES IN ROSSLYN, VA; AT THE MAIN HEADQUARTERS

IN MCLEAN, VA., AND AT THE STATION IN MIAMI. HE SAID THAT HE

RESIGNED IN APRIL 1966.

MR. WILCOTT SAID THAT AFTER LEAVING THE AGENCY HE BECAME

ACTIVE IN THE MOVEMENT AGAINST THE VIETNAM WAR AND DEVELOPED AN

INTEREST IN LEFT-WING POLITICAL CAUSES.

HE SAID THAT HE BEGAN

CIRCULATING HIS ACCOUNT OF THE CONVERSATIONS CONCERNING. OSWALD

SEVERAL YEARS AGO BUT THAT THEY WERE NEVER PUBLISHED.

ACCORDING TO ONE SOURCE, THE HOUSE COMMITTEE LEARNED ABOUT

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MR. WILCOTT'S STORY FROM PHILIP. AGEE, A FORMER AGENT. OF THE C.I,A.

WHO PUBLISHED SEVERAL YEARS AGO A BOOK ATTACKING THE AGENCY'S

OPERATIONS IN LATIN AMERICA.

MR. WILCOTT WAS REPRESENTED AT THE COMMITTEE HEARING

BY WILLIAM M, SCHAAP, ONE OF MR. AGEE'S LAWYERS.

UNQUOTE:

NO FILE.

E2 IMPDET.>

ORIG CEA/S (GATELY X1388 Z7 MAR 78)

COORD CEA/STE (DOREY)

DEA (BUELL) SA/DO/D (GREGG)

REL:

CEA/J (GATELY). CL BY 019522.

HEND OF

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