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1104-10331-1015

2025 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992*

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OIM 98-000nn

13 April 1998

MEMORANDUM FOR: Deputy Executive Director

VIA:

FROM:

SUBJECT:

Director of Information Management

Lee S. Strickland

Chief, Information Review Group/OIM

Pending ARRB (JFK Board) Issues

1. (AIUO) Per your request at our 1 April bi-weekly

meeting, we have summarized below the significant issues which

are under deliberation and negotiation with the JEK Board. Our

approach on protecting Agency equities is multi-step:

• First, with the staff, we argue relevance although the statute and

implementing regulations define 'assassination records" very

broadly as including

• (1) any records related to the assassination or Oswald, .

• (2) any records concerning the various conspiracy theories, and

• (3) any records within the scope of previous investigations

including the Church Committee, Pike Committee, Warren

Commission, or House Select Committee on Assassinations

(HSCA),

Second, with the staff, we argue that release would cause current

damage although the exemptions under the JFK statute are much

narrower than the corresponding exemptions under the FOIA, and

.

Third, if we fail to convince the staff, we must proceed to a more

detailed and formal presentation to the Board.

(AIUO) It is the materials collected by the HSCA which are the most

numerous and often the most troublesome in terms of sensitive equities.

are generally referred to as the "sequestered collection."

They

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ISSUE 1 -- Unacknowledged Covert Actions

2.

(S) Within records surfaced by the Ford Library is a

document -- a Helms Memorandum for the Record on a PFIAB meeting

-- which contains references to CIA covert financial support to

Political parties in Peru, Greece, Italy and Brazil and to labor

unions in France and Italy.

3. (S) After much negotiation, the ARRB staff has agreed

to recommend to the Board that the information related to those

and much nee

covert actions be considered non-related and the documents

dera non. retate and che

The document will be

Board for final action at the 13 April or 12 May meeting.:

ISSUE 2 -- Alias Documentation and Accommodation Addresses

4. (S) The security file of former Agency employee, David

Morales (deceased - true name already released), within the

sequestered collection contains documentation on

five of his

alias.

We anticipate similar problems as we re-review other

security files within the sequestered collection.

We are

attempting to work a compromise with the following elements but

details have yet to be finalized:

• protect all references to official documents reflecting the alias

such as (social security cards, drivers licenses)

• release items designated as pocket litter such as club cards,

• protect elements of accommodation addresses to avoid identifying

specific locations, and

lastly, make a decision to actually release or protect the alias

itself depending on the timeframe and its importance to the JFK

story.

(S)

However, disagreements on the actual implementation

le.g., protect house number but release street name of

(S)

(S)

See Attachment 1.

See Attachment 2.

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Pending ARRB (JFK Board) Issues

accommodation address) have prevented a final resolution at this

time.

We are also exploring with the DO senior management:

whether the blanket release of pocket litter (whether lawfully

obtained or forged) might present media or operational issues

today. Accordingly, we have requested that the issue be

postponed until the May meeting.

ISSUE 3 - Organizational Materials

6.

(S) This request (one of the earliest and known as CIA-

1) asked for organization charts on various Agency directorates

and/or components for the years 1958-1968. All Agency!*

directorates provided material responsive to the request and the

ARRB staff has selected items for inclusion in the JFK

collection. Remaining at issue are three DO charts -- a 1961

detailed Save organization

a 1963 generic DDP organization, and

a

The DO has agreed to release the

first two and remain

adamantly opposed to the release of the

JMWAVE chart given its similarity to current organizational

plans.

7.

(S) This issue will be presented by ARRB staff to the

Board at the 13 April meeting where they will recommend that the

DDP generic charts be accepted (good for CIA) and that the JMWAVE.

chart be declared as an assassination record (bad for CIA) ; an

actual vote by the Board will not take place until the May

meeting.

ISSUE 4 -- Mexico City Tapes

(S) This request asked for a thorough search of Agency

files and documents for and CIA "... surveillance 'take' from

for a

Cuban and Soviet facilities in Mexico City at the time of the

Oswald visit and in the immediate wake of the assassination."

Among the items provided by the DO were five boxes containing

audio tapes from telephone taps on the Cuban and Russian

embassies and facilities.

A number of the tapes are dated 22

(S)

See Attachment 3.

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November 1963;

December 1963.

many others are dated 23 November 1963 through

(S) This is one of the most complex requests because of

the following facts:

at one time, there was a tape of Oswald in existence but it has

since been lost or erased;

the relevance of these tapes is argued to be only to prove that no

tape in existence today contains the Oswald conversation;

this was not an unilateral operation but rather a joint operation

With the Mexican Government;

there is a confidential request from the ARRB to the Mexican

(Government) for any (copies of the actual Oswald conversation they

may possess; and,

• quite obviously, the sensitivity is not so much the mere fact that

we possess

such tapes but our confirmation of the extent and our

release of the actual conversations captured.

(S) The good news, at least at this time, is that the

ARRB staff has agreed to postpone Board consideration until May

and, in the interim, the Agency will have an opportunity to

review (i.e., listen and transcribe) and determine the

sensitivity and provide detailed arguments in this regard.

ISSUE 5 -- Protection of (LITAMIL-9

inadvertently released in 1993 and, as a result, he was 2

(identified in true name as a CIA agent in John Newman's book,.

Oswald and the CIA. As of 1993, (LITAMIL-9) was still alive and

living in Mexico City with family in Cuba. To date, the ARRB

Board has agreed to protect his identity and crypt and delay the

release of his 201 file until the Agency could make some

judgments about the potential damage created by the release on

The scope of this request is quite significant; it includes five boxes

of 185 tapes from operations against both the Cuban and Russian Embassy.

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additional documents with his name/crypt in them. That will now

occur at the May meeting of the Board.

It is, however, unlikely

that the Board would agree to delay release until 2017, however,

there is precedent for delaying release of records on individuals

for shorter periods or until death.

ISSUE 6 -- Richard Gibson (CIA Asset) /

112. (S) Richard Gibson, who presently lives in England, is

a left wing journalist who was associated with the Fair Play For

Land Calmed to be ben ention did not become wrote letters

asset until after the assassination, however, he had been of

interest to the FBI when he headed the FPFCC.

Unfortunately, a

combination of previous releases led to press reports in

1994/1995 about his relationship with the CIA.

At that time,

officers were dispatched to advise him about the possible

CIA

¡compromise and promise him the very best attempt at protecting

the relationship.

$ 13 . . (S)

Since

then, the ARRB has agreed to delay the

release of any additional information until the Agency and FBI

Shad determined the full extent of the files on Gibson and the

potential damage:

The issue is scheduled for ARRB action at the

(May meeting and our objective is to release Gibson's role in the

(JEK assassination story while protecting his relationship with

§the Agency; however, the. FBI has a four volumes file which covers

both FBI interest and Gibson's relationship with the Agency.

will be working in detail with the ARRB staff and the FBI on this

approach.

ISSUE 7 -- Certain Files of CIA Officials

14.

(S) This is a major request encompassing "... the

office files of the individual occupying the following positions

during the period 1959-1964.'

• The Office of Deputy Director of Central Intelligence

• General Charles Cabell 1953-1962

• General Marshall Carter 1062-1965

The Office of the Deputy director for Plans

Richard Bissell 1958-1965

Richard Helms 1962-1965

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• The chronological files of C. Tracy Barnes, 1959-1964

• Office of General Counsel, Lawrence Houston, 1959-1964

• Operational Diaries of William Harvey 1962-1963.

This request will by its very breadth require significant time on

the part of the directorate (and DCI) IROs.

while it may appear

overly broad, we have developed a methodology. with the ARRB staff

which provides the access required by the Board but guarantees

that their review is focused:

In sum, we work from shelf lists

to narrow the selection and then conduct file review sessions

with the ARRB staff; if material requested is particularly

sensitive, access can be limited to the ARRB Executive Director

or members

of the Board. This effort will continue for some

time.

Conclusion

15.

(AIUO) At the present time, over 40 persons are

involved in the JFK records review and we anticipate that this

level of effort may increase by 25% in the coming months as we

near the statutory end of the Board (30 September 1998)..

However, even if the Board is not extended (and it has been

extended previously), there are statutory tasks for CIA which

will extend 12-18 months beyond the end of the Board's existence.

Your continued support is critical.

Lee S. Strickland

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