by Joan Mellen
p. 162: Bissell as Wisner’s assistant: Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities.” (SSCIA), June 9, 1975, Testimony of Richard Bissell, 108 pages, Record number: 157-10011-10020, SSCIA box 231, folder 3- Transcript/Bissell, NARA.
p. 162: “failure was almost impossible”: Quoted in Beschloss, p. 387.
p. 163: on the U-2: “Powers came down”: L. Fletcher Prouty to Joan Mellen, July 3, 1999, and Interview with Fletcher Prouty. See also Francis Gary Powers with Curt Gentry, Operation Overflight: The U-2 Pilot Tells His Story for the First Time (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970). See also, L. Fletcher Prouty, The Secret Team: The CIA and Its Allies in Control of the U.S. and the World (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973) and “The Sabotaging of the American Presidency—The U-2 Debacle” (available on the Internet). See also Michael R. Beschloss, MAY-DAY: Eisenhower, Khrushchev and the U-2 Incident (New York: Harper and Row, 1986), and Lawrence R. Houston in Periscope: Journal of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers XI (Summer 1986): 11. See also the obfuscating statements of Dino Burgioni quoted in Gus Russo, Live by the Sword: The Secret War against Castro and the Death of JFK (Baltimore: Bancroft Press, 1980), p. 102.
p. 165: “important information regarding the U-2 flights”: CIA. Record number 104- 10309-10022. Record series: JFK. Agency file number: LA DIV WORK FILE. Originator: FBI. Title: Jack Edward Dunlap. Date: 04/21/66. 5 pages. NARA. JFK-WF04: F161. 1998. 09.22.11:46: 07:123128. NARA.
p. 165: on February 16, 1961: Memorandum for the Record. 16 February 1961, Subject: Meeting with (redacted) and his Cousin. This document is signed only by C/WH/3 (Chief, Western Hemisphere, number 3), 5 pages. Only on May 13, 1961 did CIA send a briefing paper to the White House, at the request of President Kennedy’s aide, Richard Goodwin. In this paper, CIA lies about its knowledge of the use to which the submachine guns passed to the “dissidents” were put. CIA contended that they were “for their use in personal defense.” At the request of the Church Committee, the CIA searched for documentation that the Department of State or the Special Group approved the transfer of the carbines to “dissidents” in the Dominican Republic. It could locate no such documentation. For a discussion of the arming of Trujillo’s assassins and the attempts to assassinate Lumumba, see SSCIA Testimony of Richard Bissell, July 22, 1975, 221 pages, Record Number: 157-10011-10017, and testimony of Richard Bissell, September 10, 1975, 84 pages, Record number: 157- 10014-10093, Agency file: 13-H-02. The September testimony is a 1998 ARRB release, one long in coming. In the late 1970s, Frank Church would be indignant as information of how the CIA withheld information from John F. Kennedy emerged: “Again and again and again, whenever a time comes for telling the President or telling his assistant in the White House, or telling the Attorney General what is going on, it is never done . . . everything is related except the fact that there was a specific plan laid on to assassinate Trujillo, and it is not there at all.” It happens “again and again,” Church repeated, the CIA keeping the president in the dark, informing the State Department and the president’s “Special Group” of its schemes only after the fact, if at all. Church chastised the Agency, and Bissell in particular: “The fact is, you were in on it, and the Agency knew about it, the Agency was in on it, the Agency was considering supplying weapons for a known purpose, and this was never communicated to the President.” Listening to Bissell, Helms, Angleton, Harvey, and Maheu, Senator Morgan of North Carolina feared that should the “concrete evidence” of “murder plots” become public, the Committee would “completely destroy the intelligence community.” See SSCIA, Testimony of Robert A. Maheu, June 9, 1975, Record Number 157- 10011-10046, SSCIA box 252, folder 3, 45 pages, NARA.
p. 165: “the overthrow of Trujillo”: Testimony of Richard M. Bissell, June 11, 1975.
p. 166: The CIA operates domestically: See U.S. Government Memorandum, Secret, January 15, 1964, To: Mr. W. C. Sullivan, From: Mr. D. J. Brennan Jr. 62-80750-4196, 4 pages, Re: CIA OPERATIONS IN THE U.S.
p. 166: James Angleton admitted: Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Testimony of James Angleton, June 19, 1975.
p. 166: the Alibi Club an all-male hangout: Robert Littell, The Company: A Novel of the CIA (New York: Penguin Books, 2003), p. 272.
p. 166: liquid bacteria: See the Inspector General’s Report on Plots to Assassinate Fidel Castro, J. S. Earman, Inspector General, May 23, 1967, NARA.
p. 166: “man-eating shark”: Harris Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings: Making Sense of the Sixties (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1980), p. 358.
p. 166: “secret state of its own”: Ibid., Wofford, p. 356.
p. 166: “did not appear on paper . . . never will. . .”: SSCIA Testimony of Richard Helms, September 12, 1975.
p. 166: “last president to believe”: Interview with Gerald Patrick Hemming, October 22, 1999.
p. 166: “any person who doesn’t clearly understand. . . .”: Quoted in Beschloss, p. 153.
p. 167: Eisenhower did Kennedy “a disservice by not firing Dulles”: Quoted in Beschloss, p. 387.
p. 167: mayor of Dallas: Jim Garrison, conversation with the author, April 14, 1989. New Orleans.
p. 167: Bissell was banished from the clandestine services: Testimony of Richard Bissell, June 9, 1975.
p. 167: “onrushing train”: Testimony of Richard Helms, September 12, 1975.
p. 167: John Whitten characterizes William Harvey: HSCA. Security Classified Testimony, May 16, 1978, 193 pages, 014728, Transcript, NARA. pp. 143-146.
p. 167: Helms ran the clandestine services: Testimony of William Harvey, June 25, 1975.
p. 167: Helms didn’t debrief McCone: Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Afternoon Session, June 25, 1975, Testimony of William Harvey, Record number: 157-10002-10106. Agency file: R-398, box 245, folder 14. 96 pages, NARA.
p. 167: Lawrence Houston admits he did not always debrief McCone, and neither did Helms: The U.S. Senate, Report of Proceedings, June 2, 1975, Witness: Lawrence Reed Houston, SSCIA, 157-10005-10224, Agency file: R174, 111 pages, NARA.
p. 167: “under a law passed on 20 June:” Norman Polmar, Spyplane: The U-2 History Declassified (Osceola, WI: MBI Publishing Company), p. 49.
p. 167: Minutes of the meetings of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board are available at AARC.
p. 168: “resisting the pressure”: Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Testimony of Richard M. Bissell, June 11, 1975, 135 pages, SSCIA Record Number: 157-10011-10018, SSCIA box 231, folder 5, NARA.
p. 168: Strategic Air Command: Minutes of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, November 20, 1962, AARC.
p. 168: Kennedy limits the CIA’s powers to conduct covert operations: See Mark Lane, Plausible Denial, pp. 99–100, 100n.
p. 168: CIA denies Kennedy information: The Kennedy Tapes, p. 65.
p. 168: General Cabell attempts to restrict distribution of the Inspector General’s Report: Eyes Only, Secret memorandum dated 28 November 1961, The National Security Archive, The George Washington University, Gelman Library. After Cabell’s departure, copies did go out: Memorandum For: Director of Central Intelligence, February 16, 1962, Subject: Inspector General Survey of the Cuban Operation (dated October 1961), Lyman B. Kirkpatrick, The National Security Archive.
p. 168: “those CIA bastards”: Reeves, p. 345.
p. 168: “no limitations”: SSCIA Testimony of Richard Helms, September 11, 1975, Record number: 157-10011-10060, SSCIA box 247, folder 4, 71 pages, NARA.
p. 169: “a broad economic sabotage program”: Testimony of Richard Helms, September 11, 1975. See also Memorandum for the Record, Subject: Cuban Operations, 12 November 1963, description of a meeting “with higher authority” on the subject, signed by Paul Eckel, NARA.
p. 169: “sabotage operations”: M
inutes of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, October 4, 1962.
p. 169: assassination contingency plans: Testimony of Richard Helms, September 16, 1975, SSCIA 157-10002-10008, Agency file: R-1330, 41 pages, box 73, NARA.
p. 169: “concrete action against Cuba”: FBI Memorandum, To: Mr. Tolson, From: A. H. Belmont, Subject: Cuban Situation, November 8, 1961; FBI Memorandum, To: Mr. W. C. Sullivan, From: Mr. D. E. Moore, Subject: Cuban Situation, December 4, 1961. See also FBI Memorandum, To: Mr. R. O. L’Allier, From: S. J. Papich, Subject: the Cuban Situation, August 7, 1961.
p. 169: Ramsey Clark discovers Lansdale’s memos on how to kill Castro in Bobby Kennedy’s files: Interview with Ramsey Clark, February 21, 2000.
p. 169: “Executive Action capability”: Inspector General’s report, p. 37.
p. 169: Executive Action capability is generated “within the Agency”: Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Testimony of Richard Bissell, SSCIA box 231, folder 4, July 22, 1975, Record number: 157-10011-10017, NARA.
p. 169: “unseat”: CIA Helms Exhibit #3B-30, HSCA 01110, box 8 of 78 -B-455.
p. 169: “CIA contribution to the Inter-Agency Mongoose effort”: SSCIA William Harvey testimony, afternoon session, June 25, 1975.
p. 169: “actively engaged in giving instruction”: Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, June 18, 1975, Testimony of Samuel Halpern, SSCIA, 157-10002- 10087, R-352, NARA.
p. 169: “the question was never asked”: Bissell before the Church Committee, June 9, 1975.
p. 169: “keep its hand tightly”: Memorandum for Record, Subject: Minutes of Special Group (Augmented) on PROJECT MONGOOSE, 5 March 1962, signed by Thomas A. Parrott, 06904 and 06905.
p. 169: Robert Kennedy is misled by the Agency: See testimony of William Harvey, afternoon session, and testimony of Richard Helms, September 16, 1975.
p. 169: they ignored Bobby Kennedy: Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, July 18, 1975, Testimony of Richard Helms, Record Number: 157-10011- 10056, SSCIA box 246, folder 8, 85 pages, NARA. See also “major operations going beyond the collection of intelligence” were to be “approved in advance by the Special Group”: testimony of William Harvey, afternoon session, June 25, 1975.
p. 169: Lansdale informed the FBI: Memorandum To: Mr. Tolson From: A. H. Belmont, November 8, 1961, Subject: Cuban situation, 2 pages, document number illegible, NARA. This was no different from the CIA’s James Angleton from 1959 informing to Hoover. See Memorandum For: Director Federal Bureau of Investigation, Subject: Anti-Fidel CASTRO Activities, Internal Security—Cuba, September 29, 1959, 189-584-397, From: James Angleton, NARA. See also for Lansdale’s communication with the FBI that “the President had instructed that an operation of great concern to this country be instituted efficiently and quietly:” Memorandum to: Mr. W. C. Sullivan, From: D. E. Moore, Subject: Cuban Situation, December 4, 1961, 2 pages, 105-89923, NARA.
p. 170: “operational relationship”: CIA. Title: Special Activities Report on a JMWAVE Relationship. Date: 03/19/64. 104–10072–10289. JFK 15: F38 1993.08.06.14:34:43:310028. 10 pages. Courtesy of Malcolm Blunt and Gordon Winslow.
p. 170: “we become prisoners of our agents”: Testimony of Richard Goodwin, July 18, 1975.
p. 170: Richard Goodwin offers Hemming and his mercenaries the opportunity to run Radio Swan: Interview with Howard K. Davis, March 18, 2002; interview with Gerald Patrick Hemming.
p. 170: Hemming infiltrates the 26th of July and participates in firing squads: Interviews with Gerald Patrick Hemming, October 22–25, 1999.
p. 171: David Atlee Phillips is seen with Oswald: See Gaeton Fonzi, The Last Investigation. See also “Who Killed JFK?” by Gaeton Fonzi. Washingtonian, November 1980, pp. 157–237.
p. 171: Kennedy attempts to monitor CIA in Miami through William Baggs: FBI 105-110398, June 30, 1962, AARC.
p. 171: opposition to Castro within Cuba: The Kennedy Tapes, p. 74.
p. 171: Operation Forty: Arthur Schlesinger comments on this development in a June 10, 1961, Memorandum: Subject: CIA Reorganization, NARA.
p. 171: Veciana press conference— attempts to embarrass John F. Kennedy: See Gaeton Fonzi’s two articles in Washingtonian magazine as well as The Last Investigation. Whether an alternate group to Veciana’s, also calling itself “Alpha 66,” actually committed these acts does not alter that the CIA used them to embarrass John F. Kennedy.
p. 171: “Dickie”: Conversation with Mary Keating, July 6, 2000.
p. 172: “a tremendous error and a serious concession”: Congressional Record, October 9, 1962.
p. 172: Keating is supplied with film by Loran Hall: Testimony of Loran Hall in Executive Session before the House Select Committee on Assassinations, October 6, 1977, Record number: 180-10117-10027, Agency file number: 014661, NARA. See also Notes from taped Discussions with Loran Hall, August 20, 1977, August 26, 1977, From: Bill Triplett, HSCA 002153. See also: Our Man in Haiti, by author.
p. 172: “if it’s the last thing”: Richard Reeves, President Kennedy, p. 345.
p. 172: McCone threatens to resign: Minutes of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, March 8 and 9, 1963, Memorandum for the File: March 11, 1963.
p. 172: “gesture to establish communication”: Carlos Lechuga, In the Eye of the Storm: Castro, Khrushchev, Kennedy and the Missile Crisis (Melbourne, Australia: Ocean Press, 1995), p. 207.
p. 172: Robert Kennedy, McCone and Lansdale work on a post-Castro program: “Guideline for a Post-Castro Political Program”: Meeting of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, July 12, 1963.
p. 172: “both courses at the same time”: CIA record number: 104-10306-10015, JFK-MISC, CIADCI file, 16 April 1963, Subject: Meeting with the President—5:30—15 April 1963 in Palm Beach, Florida, NARA.
p. 172: CIA presses for a military invasion of Cuba: Memorandum For: Director of Central Intelligence, Through: Deputy Director (Plans), Subject: OPERATION MONGOOSE— Appraisal of Effectiveness and Results Which Can Be Expected from Implementing the Operational Plan Approved at the Meeting of the Special Group (Augmented) on 16 March 1962.
p. 172: “it be done by clandestine means”: Testimony of William Harvey, afternoon session, June 25, 1975.
p. 172: Kennedy questions Ian Fleming about what James Bond would do: John Pearson, The Life of Ian Fleming (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966), pp. 321–322.
p. 172: “the only real solution would be to assassinate Castro”: Richard Goodwin is not certain whether it was McNamara who made the statement. No one disagrees. Testimony of Richard Goodwin, July 19, 1975, U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, SSCIA, 157-10002-10051, Agency file: R-610, NARA.
p. 172: John and Robert Kennedy organize for a sniper to go to Cuba to kill Castro: Interview with F. Lee Bailey, November 11, 1999.
p. 173: confounded the national interest: Quoted in Winters, The Year of the Hare, p. 193.
p. 173: Rosemary Kennedy at Angola: Interviews with John R. Rarick, December 27, 2001; January 2, 2002.
p. 173: “they’re going to throw our asses out of there”: Reeves, p. 484.
p. 173: one thousand soldiers: John Newman points out in his book Kennedy and Vietnam, p. 433, that at the meeting of Kennedy’s advisers held in Honolulu at the time of his death, that number had already been whittled down to 284.
p. 173: McCone is the first person Bobby sees: Washington Merry-Go-Round, September 9, 1976, “CIA Hid Facts on JFK Death” by Jack Anderson and Les Whitten, United Feature Syndicate.
p. 173: “Did the CIA kill my brother?” Arthur M. Schlesinger attributes this quotation to CIA asset Walter Sheridan in a recorded interview by Roberta Greene, June 12, 1970, RFK Oral History Program. See Arthur Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy and His Times, p. 665.
p. 173: “one of your g
uys did it”: Quoted in Evan Thomas, Robert F. Kennedy: His Life, p. 277.
p. 173: “did you think there might be?”: Interview with Frank Mankiewicz, December 1, 1999.
p. 174: Bobby Kennedy sends Walter Sheridan to Dallas: Interview with Edwin Guthman, May 11, 2000.
p. 174: Bobby called Julius Draznin and learns that the mob was not behind the assassination: To: David Marwell/ ARRB, From: Dave Montague/ARRB, January 6, 1997, Subject: Independent Investigations into the Assassination. Julius Draznin returned the ARRB’s call on November 19, 1996, NARA, ARRB document, Author: Brian Rosen/ARRB, Date created: 11/19/96; Telephone conversation with Julius Draznin, August 21, 2002.
p. 174: close communication with Sheridan and Bobby: Draznin and Sheridan communicate during the week following the assassination. Conversation with Julius Draznin, August 21, 2002. See also Agency: WC. Record Number: 179- 40004-10098, From: Cassidy, John, To: Sheridan, Walter, 11/29/63, 1 page, Subjects: Block; Platt. Cassidy at the Department of Justice reports to Walter Sheridan of a telephone call from Draznin referring to Draznin’s having told him about communications he had with Sheridan about three people, NARA.
p. 174: Sheridan tells the Church Committee that the “mob” was behind the assassination: SSCIA, 157- 10014-10060, Records Series. Hearings, Agency file number: 90-H-01, September 19, 1975, Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, testimony of Walter Sheridan, 40 pages, NARA.
p. 174: “undercover intelligence assignments”: Jim Garrison, “The Murder Talents of the CIA,” Freedom (April–May 1987), p. 14.
p. 174: “he’d still be talking”: Jim Garrison to Jonathan Blackmer, July 15, 1977.
p. 174: “major menace”: See States- Item, May 5, 1967: “DA Will Show Oswald in CIA Undercover Role Here.” The second edition headline read: “Oswald Agent for CIA, DA Will Seek to Prove.”
p. 174: “if the CIA killed the President”: William Alford interviewed in John Barbour, The Garrison Tapes.