The OSS Personnel List

Go to my Substack page for the full OSS personnel list PDF.

https://open.substack.com/pub/georgebailey/p/the-oss-personnel-list

Another ex-Marine in Trouble in Russia

Paul Whelan in Moscow.

Lots of similarities with the famous Defector.

As Mark Twain once said, “History doesn't repeat itself but it often rhymes.”  Such is the case with ex-Marine Paul Whelan who was arrested on late December of 2018 on espionage charges in Russia.  A squirrelly character, the former Marine got in trouble during his tour of duty attempting to steal over $10,000, bounced thousands of dollars in bad checks and was using Social Security numbers in a Marine program to try and increase his advancement in pay and rank.  He was court-martialed, given no jail time and was booted out of military service with a bad-conduct discharge.

Some news reports refer to Paul Whelan as an American but he holds citizenship in three other countries—Britain, Canada and Ireland.  Whelan has two citizenships, one thru his British parents and the other one from being born in Canada.  His sister and brother would also.  He needed the American passport (and citizenship) for entering the Marines.  The reason for Ireland is not known.  Highly peculiar to say the least.

The Washington Post, citing an undisclosed source said, absurdly, that collecting passports was a game between Whelan and his sister. One must take note that a passport is also proof of citizenship in the country that issues it.  It is not as easy as filling out an app with a picture and birth certificate and sending it off in the mail.  To be clear, if you want a passport for a country you are not born in, you have to apply to be a citizen of that country and go through that process.  That can take time.  And money.  Some game, huh?

Whelan’s arrest for espionage was in a Moscow hotel room after receiving a USB stick with allegedly, the classified names of Russian security personnel.  

Russian political analyst, Kirill Rogov, dismissed the use of memory stick saying that using online services, such as social media or WIFI was a quicker method.  How would Rogov know?  A USB stick does not seem that far out regarding a method of data transmission.  It would be more an issue of the drop-off method, such as the more traditional use of a dead drop.  Social media hardly seems like a secure method of intelligence transmission unless it was encoded.  And that would raise red flags considering how heavily monitored everything is now online.  Especially since Whelan was most likely already under watch.  Russian intelligence services would be remiss not to keep an eye on a guy with a bag full of passports and constant travel to their country.  

Never the less, the only evidence of espionage at this point is the USB stick.  

If Paul Whelan is an intelligence asset, what country’s intelligence service is he operating through?  

Before his arrest Whelan was working for BorgWarner, a worldwide automotive parts supplier, as a director of global security for the company.  This raises the question of what corporation would have their security headed by convicted thief with a bad-conduct discharge.  Who would hire a thief to be head of security?  People with this kind of background do not go from one gravy job after the other, except for some other hidden connection.  It is similar to Oswald, an alleged Marxist Soviet defector, getting a job at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall in the fall of 1962, a company that did classified work for the Navy and the Army Mapping Service.  No problem for either Oswald or Whelan getting a job in these sensitive areas despite their prior histories.  

From the New York Times:

“It is highly unlikely that he was working for an American intelligence service, former C.I.A. officers have said.”

Sure, sure.  That is what they said about Lee Oswald in the New York Times over 50 years ago.  Of course an intelligence service would.  It’s called “plausible deniability.”  Just work with an operative with an unsavory background and should he ever be revealed, simply say,  “He’s a kook, a loser, a ne'er-do-well.”  As if the CIA is of such high standards with whom they work with.  This is the bunch that did business with the mob!  Who eventually infiltrated them and compromised some of their secrets.  So this will always be their cover story.  

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, ”And if the detention is not appropriate, we will demand his immediate return.”  Indicating Whelan is an American, but he is also has citizen of other countries as well.  Just in this instance he is considered an American.  The consulate offices of the other countries are attempting to get in touch with him too.  An international incident in the making.  

Similarities with Lee H. Oswald:

• Both former Marines.
• Both served in the Marines overseas; Oswald in the Far East and Whelan in the Middle East.
• Both were obsessed with all things Russian which included learning the language.  Whelan traveled there on vacation numerous times before being kicked out of the Marines and continued afterward.
• Both got into trouble with authority and were court-martialed.
• Oswald got an undesirable discharge and Whelan got a bad-conduct discharge
• Both have been defined as “tourists” while traveling in Russia.

Other points of interest:

• Whelan holds four passports. Besides British citizenship thru his parents, and has citizenship with three other countries; America, Ireland, and Canada.
• His twin brother David said he had no knowledge of Paul’s “judicial proceedings” in the Marines or the court-martial.
• Whelan’s sister has numerous citizenships/passports supposedly from some sort of game.  

More research needed on this story.  It is all confusing with multiple passports and citizenships, the brother not knowing Whelan was in legal trouble for larceny, the alleged “game” of passports and a thief getting a security job.  Very little makes sense here at all.

Addendum 1.10.19

Former U.S. Marine held for spying had Russian contacts with military backgrounds

http://news.trust.org/item/20190110150852-r060m

Sources

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/04/us/politics/paul-whelan-spy-citizenship.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/four-countries-now-have-links-to-american-detained-in-russia-as-international-spillover-widens/2019/01/04/25d93b2e-1029-11e9-8f0c-6f878a26288a_story.html?utm_term=.aa9f8525667c

https://www.apnews.com/bb81d418fcb34fd096fe62dc7668024b

The Oswald Psy-Op

Lee H. Oswald is an endlessly interesting person to study.  I've never seen anyone with such a maze of conflicts in his life story.  These discrepancies involve people who knew him, his personality, his movements, his interests, his looks and even the reams of documents that form a bewildering array of conflicts.

He is an example of a man that is built as a Legend.  Once he joined the Marines in 1956 he became a government possession and I don't think they ever let go of him until he got mixed up in the dirty deed and then started the long running, never ending, distancing.  He said he was the patsy and at least circumstantially was groomed to be one.  He just never knew when or how though he probably had an inkling towards the end.  Perhaps he envisioned for himself a method of escape.  If he did, it obviously didn't work.

I think if you dug into my past or even yours, they would find people who could give a consistent view of who you were when they knew you years ago.  With Oswald, we have conflicting witness testimony of what his character and interests were and even what he looked like.  One group knew a tall Oswald, the one with the bull neck that was the all American Boy of the 1950's.  Another group knew the misfit Oswald, the short surly kid that kept to himself and read books and studied Communism. We are told he possibly had dyslexia and learning disabilities yet he learned to speak Russian–no easy feat.  People with reading comprehension problems don't enjoy reading.  Oswald was an avid reader who maintained a library card.  It's like we are dealing with two separate people.  From here, comes forth the doppelgänger theories that populate their own weird vista.

At some hazy point the timelines start to intersect.  For example, in the fall of 1953 there are two sets of educational records for Lee Oswald.  One set has him attending school at PS44 in New York.  The other set has him attending school at Beauregard Junior High in New Orleans.  At the same time?  Either he is being impersonated at the age of 13 or else one set of the records is fabricated.  If the government's case is true, and Oswald is the loner in the killing of JFK, then why phony up documents and create this confusion?  Or maybe he was being impersonated as part of a long range project. 

What does The Establishment do if a president is elected that doesn't play ball with them?  He'll have to be guided along by stealth or put in his place.  Did they have a plan?  I think so as JFK proved to have a backbone.

Fast-forward to 1958 to Taiwan.  From his unit dairy they are on operations in Taiwan having left Atsugi, Japan.  Oswald's medical records indicate seven minor medical issues were treated in September through early October of that year (Armstrong, pp. 200-201).  They were, however, all treated at the Atsugi base.  Some have suggested that he was flown there for treatment but that seems impractical since there were medical facilities and staff on Taiwan to treat his ailments.  Would it be sensible to fly somebody back and forth just to treat hemorrhoids?  Once again, he is either being impersonated or else phony documents are being forged.  Robert Blakey, chief counsel to the HSCA was made aware of this during their investigation and chose not to dig too deeply into this morass.  I can see why.  It's another muddy rabbit trail to get bogged down in. 

Things Amp Up In New Orleans

Oswald is in various locations in the New Orleans area handing out the pro-Castro Fair Play For Cuba Committee (FPCC) pamphlets.  The most famous incident of this involves the pamphlets marked with the 544 Camp Street address.  That is the location of the Guy Banister's office.  Banister was the former head of the FBI's field office in Chicago, close friend of J. Edgar Hoover, staunch anti-communist, behind the scenes player and overall general tough guy known to pistol whip people.  Anybody sympathetic to Castro showing up at his office would probably leave with a bloody nose. 

So it's a very odd thing for Oswald, who under the official story is not supposed to be a known associate of Banister to be directing people there.  And if he doesn't know Banister then why do that?  Considering Banister's reputation that would be inviting trouble.  It appears that he and Banister were in cahoots with one another.  As researcher Bill Simpich has said, "I suggest that Banister was like a Triple A baseball manager training his player for the big leagues."  Spot on!  That analogy helps explain Oswald's oddball actions during this time.  Plus, he needed a coach and   Banister makes the perfect guide.  Unfortunately, the Big Leagues evolved into a sinister Cold War game, the secrets of which are yet to unravel.

However, some of these pamphlets didn't have a return address or a phone number printed on them.  (At the time of Oswald's arrest some of the handbills on his person featured two false sets of post office box numbers.)  So nobody was going to be able to get in contact with Oswald, the lone member of the FPCC branch in New Orleans and hook up.  It makes no sense and the only sense that can be derived from it is that Oswald is playing the role of a dongle.  That's a guy that is sent out to do some things to see how the other side is going to react or get under their skin.  It's a basic form of intelligence gathering.  Passing out literature where the USS Wasp was docked is gauging how many communist sympathizers might be onboard.

While Oswald is involved with these activities he is being closely monitored by the FBI.

It all culminates with Oswald's scrum with Cuban DRE member Carlos Bringuier and two other Cubans.  This all originates from Oswald's visit to the DRE to offer his military training services and a financial donation to this anti-Castro group.  Both offers are rebuffed.  As usual, Oswald is not invoking trust in these overtures like he failed to do while sojourning in Russia.  Later, when Carlos and his boys (Celso Hernandez and Miguel Marino Cruz) see Oswald handing out the pro-Castro literature they are incensed–what was this pro-Castro, pro-communist guy trying to do offering them help?  They exchange words and all are arrested for the scuffle that occurs.  (Some have suggested that it was a staged event, evidenced by Oswald mailing a letter to FPCC HQ in New York describing the incident, which is postmarked five days before the affair takes place.)

From this incident Oswald will be branded publicly as a communist.  This will play big after the assassination as the government builds the case against him.  What few people know at the time is that these episodes are loaded with players.  The DRE is supported by the CIA.  The Cubans Bringuier and Cruz arrested in the scuffle are FBI informants, with Hernandez affiliated with the CIA. After Oswald gets out of jail he will appear on the Carte Blanche radio program to debate issues with Bringuier and Ed Butler.  Besides Bringuier being an FBI informant, Ed Butler was the Director of Information Council of the Americas (INCA), a CIA funded propaganda organization.  Not to be undone, even the program's host, Bill Stuckey, was an FBI informant.  Players surround the whole thing.  And the public is totally oblivious to it.  Welcome to Psyop City.

The US Customs Office Comes In Play  

So who is Oswald with? Orestes Pena testified to the Church Committee that Lee Oswald was employed by Customs.  Indeed, his 1959 passport has his occupation listed as "shipping export agent" though that was the year he ended his duty in the Marines and would not long after, defect to the Soviet Union.  Hardly enough time for a 20 year old to be employed by Customs.  FBI informant Joseph Oster said that Customs Agent David Smith was Oswald's handler.  Was Oswald conducting fishing expeditions for Customs during the New Orleans Period?  It's hard to know what is true here as Oswald had a lot of cover stories and left false information in his wake.   

If he was a lone operator then he is really the odd man out.  But all of his eccentric actions to this point lead to only one thing–intelligence gathering.  He approaches the DRE to see if there are any Castro or communist sympathizers there.  Just as he did at the dock handing out pamphlets to passing sailors.  We know from released FBI docs that informants saw him regularly at many Cuban anti-Castro gatherings.  What was a communist doing at these meetings?  Sifting as always.  Being a Marxist is the cover.  He only plays one on TV after the assassination.  The Legend falls into place, piece by piece, just before the final act, the Big Event. 

The Psyop Oswald?

What we know about Lee Oswald is a mishmash of differing threads, some verifiable and some not.  A never ending but fascinating study.  There is the teenage Oswald peddling is junky bike in the trailer park in North Dakota;  the gung-ho Marine Oswald; the crazy Oswald that slashes his wrist in order to stay in the Soviet Union; the kind and thoughtful Oswald from the account of the Judyth Vary Baker; and finally, the cold calculated killer of a young and charismatic President. There are a lot of Oswald's here.  Enough to have a whole roomful of personalities. 

There are plenty of books about Lee Oswald probing the mystery of who he was.  There are the conventional lone gunman views of Vincent Bugliosi and Norman Mailer.  Both have to ignore inconvenient facts to arrive at their conclusions.  To be fair, there is a lot here to wade through and determine what is true and what is not.  On the other side, John Armstrong has Oswald the secret agent man involved in a complicated doppelgänger scheme, while alleged ex-lover Judyth Baker has her man involved with shadow warfare mixed with patriotic intent. 

In truth we really don't know him and he's buried in all of the layers of mythology created for him.  The mythology was created no doubt, by skilled hands.  But nobody can explain the motive to murder a man that the killer had nothing against.


Sources
Armstrong, John, Harvey and Lee; Baker, Judyth, Me and Lee; Mailer, Norman, Oswald's Tale; Bugliosi, Vincent, Reclaiming History

Lee Oswald and Customs
https://www.opednews.com/articles/2/THE-JFK-CASE--THE-TWELVE-by-Bill-Simpich-120825-173.html

Jack White Interview

"We do know Oswald had intelligence connections. Everywhere you look with him, there are fingerprints of intelligence." -Republican Senator Richard Schweiker, member of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (Village Voice: 12/15/75)

Researcher Jack White passed away recently (1927-2012).  He was well admired in the research community and helped broaden our knowledge of the Kennedy assassination.

Here is an interview conducted by Len Oscanic at Black Op Radio with Jack (black583d).

One interesting point Jack White makes is in regards to his testimony in with the HSCA and how he was told by a lawyer the limits of what could be discussed.  Issues made clear to him was that there would be no discussions of Lee Oswald being an intelligence agent or being impersonated.  If he did so, says White, he would be held in contempt of Congress.  Very heavy-handed!  Why are there issues like this that can’t be investigated or for that matter discussed?  And then out of the other side of their mouth they say there is no evidence to support Oswald being a government agent.  Of course not if you are not going to look into it.  What cheek!

RIP Mr. White.

OSS Links For Researchers

Cyrptome.org has long been one of my favorite sites for declassified intelligence information, documents, and generally fascinating reading. It’s a great site for giving us outsiders a glimpse into the clandestine world of spy-craft. Some very interesting material to read though some of it does get a bit obtuse.

Recently, I found some new listings for OSS information that is quite readable and interesting. What follows is batch of links listing of summaries of OSS documents and memos from 1940 to 1946. Of interest to JFK researchers is the mentioning of such characters as Richard Helms, James Angleton and Allen Dulles. Their names come up quite often and there are references to their activities and interactions with other agents and intelligence related issues.

http://cryptome.xxx/2012/04/oss-211.htm

http://cryptome.xxx/2012/04/oss-212.htm

http://cryptome.xxx/2012/04/oss-213.htm

http://cryptome.xxx/2012/04/oss-214.htm

http://cryptome.xxx/2012/04/oss-215.htm

http://cryptome.xxx/2012/04/oss-216.htm

http://cryptome.xxx/2012/04/oss-217.htm

http://cryptome.xxx/2012/04/oss-218.htm

http://cryptome.xxx/2012/04/oss-219.htm

http://cryptome.xxx/2012/04/oss-220.htm

These links give a good peek into intelligence operations during the war and even more, a survey into what our allies were up to as well. We spied on them and they on us. As stated in #214:

“Memorandum to all field stations on the need to report on all of the intelligence systems in their area, September 27, 1945, 2 pp. Germany and Japanese intelligence services were the obvious focal points during the war. With the end of the war, however, "all foreign intelligence services, and personnel connected thereto, now become the legitimate object of observation and study. . . ." [WN#24834]”

Lots of interesting stuff here from WWII to post-WWII operations to a UFO report! One intriguing reference is in regard to interviews with workers that allege they helped in the transport of tons of Nazi gold from Swiss bank vaults to an unknown location outside of mainland europe via Spain and Portugal. Now there’s a mystery for some enterprising soul to track down.

Okay, so lots of trivia here but you never know where it all might lead.

OSS Personel List on PDF

Also of interest, a complete listing of OSS personnel during the war. Names, ranks and serial numbers. The usual suspects are here including noted CIA alums Dulles, Helms, Angleton, Hunt, Colby and so on. It’s known in recent years that TV chef Julia Child also served in the OSS during the war. She is listed under her maiden surname, McWilliams. Robert K. Wilcox, who wrote Target Patton, the book that alleges that General George Patton death was a concealed assassination, lists OSS agent Joseph Bazata as the perpetrator. Bazata’s name does appear in this personnel list, adding some additional credence to the author’s theory.

Do you have a relative that did intelligence work in WWII? You might find their name listed here in this PDF. Good luck.

http://cryptome.xxx/2012/04/oss-personnel.pdf

Or, get it from the National Archives web site:

http://www.archives.gov/iwg/declassified-records/rg-226-oss/personnel-database.pdf

Addendum

Though widely reported on the Internet and in some JFK books, Clay Shaw was apparently not an OSS agent.  His name is not to be found on the OSS agent list. 

Lee Oswald, International Man of Mystery

Much has been written over the years about the possibility of Lee H. Oswald being an intelligence operative. Oswald’s mother Marguerite believed her son to be an agent and stated so many times in her Warren Commission testimony. The CIA and other agencies of the Federal government denied hiring Oswald for any type of employment. But down through the years, declassified documents and witness testimony has come forth to show that Lee Oswald could very well possibly have been an agent. It certainly paints a different picture than what we were originally told. In fact, the evidence, though piecemeal, is quite substantial. He was most likely a low level operative. Oswald as “secret agent” helps fill in some of the mysterious and inexplicable events of his life. Let us take a look at what we know.

Marine Health Records
It’s been widely reported that Oswald’s health records document his contracting gonorrhea “in the line of duty” and “not of his own fault.” This makes no sense at all unless Oswald was involved with a covert operation, this being under the Office of Naval Intelligence. At this time, a serviceman found to be infected with a sexually transmitted disease was grounds for immediate dismissal from the military. Yet, Oswald slides by, just as he does when he is court-martialed twice and still remains in the Marines.

Oswald was known to frequent a “gentlemen’s club” in Tokyo when on leave. His fellow marines were surprised that he could afford to go there, as they couldn’t. It was known as an exclusive club and quite expensive. There was a geisha there that was allegedly a KGB agent. Perhaps the source of Oswald’s infection? We’ll never know for certain, but it makes more sense than the official explanation contained in Oswald’s medical records.

Years in Russia
Much has been written on Oswald’s entry into the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War. John Newman’s Oswald and the CIA is a good book to cover that period in detail, as I don’t have the space here to plod through it all. Probably the most important point to examine is the CIA’s false defector program, headed by chief of counter intelligence, James Angleton, which was in operation at this time. Oswald, ever portrayed as a loser, never has any problems financing his trip to the Soviet Union, getting passports and visas in record time, obtains a job a radio plant, acquires a monthly stipend from the Red Cross, marries a Russian woman within a month of meeting her, and has no trouble in getting a loan from the State Department for his return to the USA. All of this, from a man that has proven himself to be as anti-American and unpatriotic as a person could be in this highly charged time. Meanwhile, his wife gets permission to leave with a foreign defector (within ten days—unheard of!), and he gets his new passport in 24 hours and off they go.

When his mother Marguerite asks him why did he return, Oswald replies, “…not even Marina knows why I returned.” Why the big secret? Why can’t you tell your wife, or your family about such a big turnaround of events such as this? Maybe to cover for his operations there?

One item of note is the stamping of Lee and Marina’s passports. Since they are traveling together their passports should confirm identical stamps. Marina says they were never separated during their long train journey to Rotterdam to board the ship. However, there is a discrepancy. When they crossed the East German border to the west, Marina’s passport is stamped at the Helmstedt crossing—Lee’s is not. His passport is not stamped till they get to the Belgium border crossing at Bentheim/Oldenzaal. Could he have been detained for questioning at this point? Other than a bureaucratic screw-up, there is no other explanation other than Oswald being held aside and debriefed. Especially since the FBI and CIA shown so little interest in chatting with him upon his return stateside. Perhaps that is because he was debriefed in west Berlin.

The Agents That Talked
Over the years several CIA agents have come forward with interesting revelations on Lee Oswald and his interaction with the Agency. Many others have given testimony in regards to Oswald to various investigations (Church Committee, HSCA, etc.) and their statements remain classified.

Some have broken the silence. One was Hunter Leake, formerly second in command at the CIA station in New Orleans. He gave an interview 1981 to historian Michael Kurtz, professor at Southeastern Louisiana University. In the interview he candidly stated that he had hired Oswald out as a low-level currier. Leake paid Oswald in cash for his efforts. Leake also said that Oswald moved to New Orleans in April of 1963 on behest of the CIA to work for them there. After the assassination, Leake reports he was ordered by the Agency to deliver all files on Oswald personally to the CIA headquarters at Langley, Virginia. And there, in the belly of the Beast, goes the evidence.

Former CIA officer Joan Roman, who worked directly under counter intelligence chief James Angleton, admitted to author Jeff Morley in 1994 that the CIA had an “keen interest” in regards to Oswald that was held in a “need to know basis.” She later regretted making the statement but never recanted it. An October 10, 1963 cable, now declassified shows there was a great interest in Oswald and his activities before the assassination. This information was never given to any of the investigations that have been conducted. So deep was the need to know that the station chief in Mexico City, Winston Scott, was kept in the dark about many of Oswald’s activities. So, a keen interest in Oswald but to what end? For his operational work? Maybe so. James Angleton was known to run operations under the nose of his station chiefs, leaving them in the dark. Jeff Morley, author of Our Man in Mexico, stated in an interview (www.maryferrell.org) that the reason for an interest in Oswald, and the deceptive nature of not telling all to Win Scott, belies an Agency use of Oswald for operations.

Winston Scott keep copies of everything in home safe that were later acquired personally by James Angleton. They stayed in the belly of the Beast till they were destroyed by written order in 1986. This is the destruction of material evidence in a murder investigation. Classic CIA cover-up.

Former CIA accountant James B. Wilcott gave his testimony in a secret session of the HSCA in 1978. It was kept classified for over 20 years till a FOIA request pried it out of the bowels of the Beast. In his testimony, under oath, Wilcott claimed that his role was furnishing money to Case Officers for reimbursement to their assets in the field. After the assassination of Kennedy, he learned from a Case Officer (name by this time forgotten) that Oswald was a recipient of payments. Critics have cited other witness testimony to discredit Wilcott’s claims but he did pass a lie detector test in regards to his statements. As one researcher once said, if he is lying then where is the perjury indictment? Also, why was the testimony taken in secret and held classified for so long, if not important? I believe Wilcott’s testimony is correct and collaborates the interview Hunter Leake gave in 1980. Perhaps Leake was the agent Wilcott was distributing cash to?

Antonio Veciana, head of anti Castro group, Alpha 66 had a meeting in Dallas in 1963 with his CIA handler Maurice Bishop (alias for David Philips). As he was walking up to meet Bishop/Philips he noticed his handler was talking to a young, pale, skinny young man. He took careful note of the young man’s looks as his CIA handler had taught him to do. Antonio Veciana hung around for a while till the conversation was over. Only then did he approach the CIA officer. Veciana conducted his business with Bishop/Philips and then left Dallas, never asking about the young man he had seen. Later, as the news flashed across the world that President Kennedy had been shot and a suspect had been arrested, Veciana instantly recognized the suspect. He was the same young man he had seen talking to his CIA officer in Dallas. Veciana then realized how deep he was in the matrix.

Finally, years later, David Philips would write an outline for a novel with Lee Oswald (named) as one of the main characters. It’s allegedly autobiographical with a CIA agent character as Philips. In the outline he states that Oswald had two handlers and was being groomed for an assassination mission against Castro. The Philips character can’t understand why Oswald shot Kennedy, as if this is an operation gone badly, forever a mystery to even those “in the know.” Of course it may all be very self-serving too—the words of a man with a guilty conscience. A man who spent the last years of his life dodging the question of what really happened on that day in Dealey Plaza in November 22, 1963.

Epilogue
The main argument of the Warren Commission apologists is that no government agency would ever be dumb enough to hire somebody Lee Oswald for espionage work. Well, they were dumb enough to hire out the Mob to kill Castro; weirdoes like David Ferrie; goofs like Frank Sturgess (of Watergate break-in fame). With that understanding, it seems perfectly plausible they would hire somebody like Oswald to do freelance work. I’ve read that the CIA likes to hire fringe types or people with criminal backgrounds so in the advent they are uncovered the CIA can disavow ever dealing with such a person. Oswald was just that type of person, with his two court-marshals, snarky personality, inability to hold down a job, and his arrest record in New Orleans.

All roads lead to Lee H. Oswald. If they didn’t, there wouldn’t be so much covering up, destruction of evidence, files still classified, lying, and obstruction. We only have threads. But over time, collect enough threads and suit shall ye make.


Sources: Google, www.joanmellen.com, www.ourmaninmexico.com, www.history-matters.com, www.maryferrell.org. Books: Our Man in Mexico, Oswald and the CIA, Farewell to Justice, Reclaiming History

assassination

Harry's Regret

In Harry Truman's own words from 1963 (italics mine):

Limit CIA Role To Intelligence
By Harry S. Truman, Copyright, 1963

INDEPENDENCE, MO., Dec. 2 — I think it has become necessary to take another look at the purpose and operations of our Central Intelligence Agency—CIA. At least, I would like to submit here the original reason why I thought it necessary to organize this Agency during my Administration, what I expected it to do and how it was to operate as an arm of the President.
  

I think it is fairly obvious that by and large a President's performance in office is as effective as the information he has and the information he gets. That is to say, that assuming the President himself possesses a knowledge of our history, a sensitive understanding of our institutions, and an insight into the needs and aspirations of the people, he needs to have available to him the most accurate and up-to-the-minute information on what is going on everywhere in the world, and particularly of the trends and developments in all the danger spots in the contest between East and West. This is an immense task and requires a special kind of an intelligence facility.

Of course, every President has available to him all the information gathered by the many intelligence agencies already in existence. The Departments of State, Defense, Commerce, Interior and others are constantly engaged in extensive information gathering and have done excellent work.


But their collective information reached the President all too frequently in conflicting conclusions. At times, the intelligence reports tended to be slanted to conform to established positions of a given department. This becomes confusing and what's worse, such intelligence is of little use to a President in reaching the right decisions.


Therefore, I decided to set up a special organization charged with the collection of all intelligence reports from every available source, and to have those reports reach me as President without department "treatment" or interpretations.


I wanted and needed the information in its "natural raw" state and in as comprehensive a volume as it was practical for me to make full use of it. But the most important thing about this move was to guard against the chance of intelligence being used to influence or to lead the President into unwise decisions—and I thought it was necessary that the President do his own thinking and evaluating.
    

Since the responsibility for decision making was his—then he had to be sure that no information is kept from him for whatever reason at the discretion of any one department or agency, or that unpleasant facts be kept from him. There are always those who would want to shield a President from bad news or misjudgments to spare him from being "upset."
   

For some time I have been disturbed by the way CIA has been diverted from its original assignment. It has become an operational and at times a policy-making arm of the Government. This has led to trouble and may have compounded our difficulties in several explosive areas.


I never had any thought that when I set up the CIA that it would be injected into peacetime cloak and dagger operations. Some of the complications and embarrassment I think we have experienced are in part attributable to the fact that this quiet intelligence arm of the President has been so removed from its intended role that it is being interpreted as a symbol of sinister and mysterious foreign intrigue—and a subject for cold war enemy propaganda.
    

With all the nonsense put out by Communist propaganda about "Yankee imperialism," "exploitive capitalism," "war-mongering," "monopolists," in their name-calling assault on the West, the last thing we needed was for the CIA to be seized upon as something akin to a subverting influence in the affairs of other people.


I well knew the first temporary director of the CIA, Adm. Souers, and the later permanent directors of the CIA, Gen. Hoyt Vandenberg and Allen Dulles. These were men of the highest character, patriotism and integrity—and I assume this is true of all those who continue in charge.


But there are now some searching questions that need to be answered. I, therefore, would like to see the CIA be restored to its original assignment as the intelligence arm of the President, and that whatever else it can properly perform in that special field—and that its operational duties be terminated or properly used elsewhere.


We have grown up as a nation, respected for our free institutions and for our ability to maintain a free and open society. There is something about the way the CIA has been functioning that is casting a shadow over our historic position and I feel that we need to correct it.