MEMO: ALLEGATIONS OF LEE HARVEY OSWALD'S CONNECTION WITH THE AGENCY

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Records Related to the Assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 00344449
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: June 6, 2025
• Document Release Date: June 12, 2025
• Publication Date: September 18, 1975

[1:;-10322-10046 ACTION APPROVAL � COMMENT CONCURRENCE uNtwrestwEED 10.111 .10- 9 ,a 7 Use previous editions g�Y1 ` . DIRECT REPLY DISPATCH Fl INFORMATION cm HISTORICAL REVIEW PROGRAM RS. IN RILL %- PREPARE REPLY RECOMMENDATION RETURN SIGNATURE rew � ODflfIDFmNTiAi CIA HISTORICAL REVIEW PROGRAM RELEASE IN FULL 199$ MEMORANDUM FOR: Chief, CI Staff, SUBJECT . REFERENCE: : Allegations of Lee Harvey. OSWALD's Connection with the Agency Memorandum of Conversation, Dan Rather/Les Midgley and the DCI, Dated 6 September 1975' 1. The referent memorandum contains two points which require comments. .The first point concerns allegations that were made shortly after the assassination of President Kennedy and that have crept up every so often since then. In one form or another, the allegations are that Lee Harvey OSWALD had been connected with the Agency. The allegations are totally unfounded. 2. The facts regarding this matter are as follows: a. On 27 November 1963 I was instructed by Mr. R-G.Rocca, my inuftediate superior at that time, to make a thorough check within the Agency at Headquarters to determine whether. Lee Harvey OSWALD had ever been used by the Agency or been connected with it in any, conceivable way. He ordered me to make the checks directly and personally to the degree possible and not to accept statements of intermediaries. He also ex- plained that he was following instructions from Mr. R. Helms, who was then the DDP and served as one of the Agency's key contact officials with the Warren Commission. b. Although I had already checked the Main Index of IP (then RID) on the night of the assassination, I rechecked the Main Index and found no record beyond that which I had already obtained before (plus those items which had been integrated into the records system since the assassination). There was nothing in the DDO record d which indicated any Agency connection with OSWA.,D. Sig Hci P1 109 )\ copy sent to EA/DDO, Mr. Pechous, 18 Sept 75. c. The next component I checked was DCD. There was no record in their Headquarters files. Arrangements were then made for me to check telephonically with each DCD base in the US. The chiefs of the bases then serached their records and spoke with their officers was then advised by each of the Chiefs or t ir design es individ- ually that there had bee no conta with OSWALD. d. I then checked w ision D, SE Division, and LA Division's Cuban Operations Group (COG) for any informal desk records. The results were like- wise negative. e. Through the Security Research Section (SRS) of the Office of Security I had the security files checked. There was no record of OSWALD. f. Although CRS keeps no records on Americans, I checked their Soviet, Mexican, and Cuban holdings on,-the remote chance that they may have recorded something on OSWALD. There was no record in those files. g. In my presence the chief of the CI Staff's Administrative Office called the Office of Personnel and received the word that there was no record on an employee or an applicant for employment named Lee Harvey OSWALD. h. I also checked the Office of Medical Services and found no record on OSWALD. i. The Covert Action Staff also found no record on him. j. Finally, I also checked the records of the CI Staff's Operational Approval Group (Cl/OA) with negative results. k. My checks were completed on 4 December 1963 and I then sent a brief informal note to Mr. Rocca 2 specifying all the checks I had made and stating that the results showed that Lee Harvey OSWALD had never had any connection whatsoever with the. Agency. � Eventually a statement to this effect was communicated to the Warren Commission. 3. Similar checks regarding use or employment of OSWALD had been requested by the foreign divisions of their appropriate stations, I was told, and the results were negative. 4. I recall very clearly that we, were extremely concerned at the time that OSWALD, as an American returning from the USSR, might have been routinely debriefed by DCD, thus having established contact with the Agency. The same point has now, quite understandably, been made by the two CBS newsmen. Having some knowledge of this subject I have personally concluded that there. is valid reason for DCD's lack of interest in OSWALD at that time. He would surely have been contacted and debriefed by DCD had he been to the USSR and returned to the US before 1957/1958. Travel to the Soviet Union by Westerners, particularly, by Americans, before that time was quite uncommon and we were hungry for eyewitness information in those days. The thaw began in about 1956 and by the end of that decade there were so many persons travelling to and from the Soviet Union that DCD was incapable of talk- ing to all of them. Therefore, a program of selectivity and specific target applicability was instituted. In light of the above, it seems to me that OSWALD-- if he came to DCD's attention at all--would have easily been by-passed, because he simply did not possess the type of information that DCD was seeking at that time. DCD would. surely have used its limited manpower on travellers who had had much greater access in the USSR. 5. It should be added that my above-described search in the Agency file holding produced no record or indication that any other US Government agency had used him as a source or had considered him for recruitment. C. 6. The second point in the referent memorandum concerns the papers that were available at Headquarters on Oswald befoie the day of the assassination. Specif- ically, there were five documents which had been sent to the Agency before the assassination. Two of the documents had been sent to us by the FBI, two by the Department of State, and one by the US Navy. A 201 file (201-289248) had been opened on 9 December 1960 on the basis of the receipt of the first of these five documents. The 201 file contained no records that had been originated by any Agency component. The Mexico City station's reporting.4 of the monitoring of Oswald's activities in Mexico had not as yet been included in the 201 file. The pertinent cables from Mexico City were held at the Mexico branch at Head- quarters, while the data contained in them had been disseminated to the FBI upon receipt.- The cables were incorporated into the file following the assassination. and were, of course, made available to all concerned, including the Warren Commission. 7. It should be noted that no particularly great urgency was attached to the handling of the records regarding Oswald before the assassination because Oswald's name had no particular meaning before that fateful event. . B: The facts regarding the records we possessed- before the assassination as well as the make up of our computerized records system were explained to Chief Justice Warren, members of his Commission, and a group of the - Commission's staff members when they visited Headquarters in about March 1964 for the express purpose. of viewing the methods and controls we employed in our records keeping activities. Our 201 file on Oswald was also shown to them at the time. From all I have heard regarding this visit, the visitors were satisfied with our records system and the manner in which we kept our records. . �S__ � At7 Paul aartman 1 � 6 September 1975 MEMORANDUM OF CONVERSATION: Dan Rather and Les Midgley _ 3 September 1975 Mr. Rather said that CBS is working up a series of programs entitled, "The Assassinations," dealing with the assassinations of President Kennedy, Robert Kennedy.; Rev. King, and the attempt on Gov. Wallace. He said they are particularly concerned that they have the facts about any possible CIA connection with Oswald. He said that it seems also, on its face, incredible that CIA. had not had .1:51Lie contact with an ex-Marine who worked in the Soviet Onion and returned. He said he realized the difference between an interview with him and making him an agent, but wanted to make sure he had covered all the bets. He referred to the work of Nark Lane in this field and I referred to Dick Gregory's paranoia on the subject of CIA connections with .the Kennedy death. 4 � We went over a variety of matters, but I essentially firmed it. up at the end by saying that CIA had. no contact_:__. with Oswald -either during 114.s Russian periOd ot-afterufa'rdS, that CIA's only records of Oswald came from our becoming aware of his visits to embassies in Mexico City, which information was made available to the Warren Commission, that there is absolutely no basis for a conclusion .(and some indications to the contrary) that Howard Hunt visited Mexico at the time Oswald was there, and that the Russian traveler that CIA had interviewed was indeed a different � individual than Oswald, despite the coincidence of the dates of his residence in the Soviet. Union. I ended by saying I was prepared to give these answers under oath, based on information available within the Agency, although I had no personal knowledge of the matter. I said I could not believe that any additional information would surface in the Agency as it had been carefully examined, from 1963 on, especially by Mr. Belin in the Rockefeller Commission investigations due to his personal interest in the matter.. Mr. Midgley referred to the fact that some additional information is coming out from the FBI, and I pointed out that the Rockefeller Commission had not had a charter to look into the FBI. We discussed Allen Dulles's com- ments.about whether an intelligence agent could ever be exposed, but we left on the final comment by Mr. Dulles that he believed Mr. Hoover's comments on this matter, which Mr. Rather said he probably would himself at that time. I said that this in no way indicated a desire by Mr. Dulles to conceal any CIA activity.. Mr. Rather also said that Mr. Helms had become somewhat agitated over the Garrison allegations, and I said this was easiAy- explained by Mr. Helms' concern that such false allegations be made against CIA. In response to Mr. Rather's question, I said I know of no indication that Mr. Helms' agitation - was because Mr. Garrison was revealing information about the Agency-which Mr. Helms wanted to remain concealed. � With respect I explained that C mig t well have shied. off front any- interview with him if there was an indication of prior FBI interest. As for the military, I said the Interagency - Source Register did not indicate Mr. Oswald was a clandes- tine 'source and that DCS Joint Debriefing 'Program with the military services from 1953 on would probably have indicated any military debriefing fdr-intelIigence purposes, but none appear in our files, so I believed none had been conducted. records earance in our We parted with my assurance that anything else that - arose which would cast doubt on my statements would be brought to Mr. Rather's attention. The two gentlemen expressed appreciation for our discussion. � COMMENT: From their attitude, I believe there is a� chance that the program will indicate that there is no CIA connection with Oswald beyond that noted above. This could make a contribution to knocking down the paranoic belief to the contrary. We =al., however, insure that Mr. Rather does learn anything which would cause the -glag-T�te.do-ub-E on the above account � he �r8aTins� Ii programs in ovem er. Distribution: Orig - DCI 1 - Review Staff 1 - DDO 1 - DDA 1 - OIG 1 - OLC 1 - OGC 1 - Asst/DCI � 1 - ER W. E. E. Colby Director