INTERVIEW WITH RAYMOND ROCCA
Agency: SSCIA
Originator: SSCIA
From: ROCCA, RAYMOND
To: DWYER, DAN & GREISSING, ED
Document date: 03/15/1976
Document type: PAPER, TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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7/28,08

NOGG

Date:10/07/93

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JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM

IDENTIFICATION FORM

AGENCY INFORMATION

AGENCY : SSCIA

RECORD NUMBER : 157-10008-10210

RECORDS SERIES :

AGENCY FILE NUMBER :

CIA HAS NO OBJECTION TO

DECLASSIFICATION AND/OR

RELEASE OF CIA INFORMATION

IN THIS DOCUMENT AS SANITIZED

4112/98

DOCUMENT INFORMATION

ORIGINATOR : SSCIA

FROM : DWYER, DAN & GREISSING, ED

TO : ROCCA, RAYMOND

TITLE :

MEMO

DATE : 03/15/7

›AGES :

SUBJECTS :

INTERVIEW SUMMARY

DOCUMENT TYPE : PAPER, TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

CLASSIFICATION : S

RESTRICTIONS: REFERRED

CURRENT STATUS : P

DATE OF LAST REVIEW : 10/07/93

OPENING CRITERIA :

COMMENTS:

BOX 408-78

Released under the John F. Kennedy

Assassination Records Collection

Get of 1992 144 USC 2107 Note! •

Case#:NW 53244 Date: 06-13-2017

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408-78

10210

(

INTERVIEW SUMMARY

Interview With:

Interviewers:

DATE:

Place:

Raymond Rocca

Dan Dwyer and Ed Greissing

3/15/76

Arlington, VA

ASIA HAS NO OBJECTION TO

DEGLASSIFICATION AND/OR

RELEASE OF THIS DOCUMENT

AS SANITIZES

24 Xor 94

(1)(A)

Ed Greissing and Dan Dwyer of the SSC staff interviewed

Raymond Rocca, retired Chief, Counterintelligence/Research

and Analysis, CIA, at his home in Arlington, Virginia on

March 15, 1976. The purpose of the interview was to clarify

the role of the CIA in the investigation of President Kennedy's

assassination.

(1) The GPFLOOR Phase. The GPFLOOR phase of the CIA's

investigation of the assassination covered the period of

November 23, 1963 until January 23, 1964. Rocca explained that

Richard Helms, DDP, delegated (Jack Whitten),

desk chief of the

Western Hemisphere division, to direct and control the CIA's

responses to information that was being reported from CIA stations

around the globe.

Most of the information the CIA received

came from Mexico City where Oswald had contacted the Soviet and

Cuban diplomatic establishments in late September and early

October. Rocca noted that Thomas Karamessines, Assistant DDP,

was probably involved in Helms' decision to have (Jack whitten

direct the GPFLOOR investigation.

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(2)

Warren Commission Phase. Rocca places the beginning

of the Warren Commission shase around January 23, 1964, when J.

Lee Rankin contacted Helms and asked for CIA assistance for the

Commission.

Helms delegated Rocca to be the "point of contact"

of the CIA with the Warren Commission. Rocca's own Counterintelli-

gence staff involved in research matters for the Commission

included Tom Dooley, Paul Hartman and Thomas Hall:

Other CIA

personnel involved with the Commission were Jack whitter! Murphy

(Chief of SB), J.C. King, Wigren (Chief SB Research), and Bagley

(Deputy Chief SB). Rocca noted that as liaison became more

informal,.

staff members of the Commission had direct contact

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with (Whitten,

Murohy, Virgren and Bagley. Helms maintained

direct contact with Rankin.

Rocca emphasized that the Warren Commission phase was not

interoreted by CIA as an investigation. Rocca said that when

the Warren Commission "task force" was established, all

cabies and materials senarated in the deton period from mee

desk were made available to the task force. Rocca added, however,

that the task force made no appraisal of the GPFLOOR phase. When

questioned if the warren Commission "task force" reviewed Mexico

City traffic to check name traces, for example, Rocca replied

the material was left alone except for the allegations

such

as

the Alvarado matter which concerned the Commission. Whitten

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Cuba. Rocca also suggested that j.C. King might have known of

some sensitive operations in general but that he would have

been left out on specifics.

Rocca added that whitten) "might

have known about sensitive overations through osmosis" because

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Whitten as desk Chief, Western Hemisphere, would send out

traffic to stations including traffic dealing with operations.

Rocca noted that the DDP or Director could have by-passed

Whitten by authoring and cabling a message themselves.

With regard to Western Hemisphere cable traffic and assass-

ination plots, Rocca. noted that in April 1975 there was

an

individual (name unknown) from Western Hemisphere appointed

by Dave Phillips to work with the Inspector General. This

• individual found the memo that discussed Desmond Fitzgerald's

having used Robert Kennedy's name in meeting with AMLASH, in

the WH files.

(5) Miscellaneous. Rocca saw nothing strange in the

FBI report on Oswald's FPCC activities being routed to SAS.

He stated that SAS would have received all reports of relevance

to Cuba.

Rocca could offer no explanation as to why the WAVE cable

discussing anti-Castro groups' public statement on the

assassination was filed in the "sensitive Ops-Kennedy file"

and later placed in the Oswald 201 file.

GILMORAL

DL 000E

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