C.A.A. Savastano's Blog, page 22

Primary Evidence Collections Update

The CIA Security Files of Agency counterintelligence agent Balmes Hidalgo, CIA intelligence agent E. Howard Hunt, and Mafia connected assassin Jack Ruby.  #JFK #CIA http://tpaak.com/cia-security-files

Primary Evidence Collections Update

A collection of CIA Personal History Statements, the files offer extensive information on each subject's private biography in their own words. Among the notable subjects included are CIA Officer David Sanchez Morales, CIA asset Lucien Conein, CIA Dallas group chief James Walton Moore, DRE case officer Ross Crozier, and Mexico City station employees Charlotte Bustos Videla, and Anna and Boris Tarasoff for your review. #JFK #MLK #RFK http://tpaak.com/cia-personal-history-statements

Primary Evidence Collection Update

A collection of CIA Personal History Statements, the files offer extensive information on each subject's private biography in their own words. Among the notable subjects included are CIA Officer David Sanchez Morales, CIA asset Lucien Conein, CIA Dallas group chief James Walton Moore, DRE case officer Ross Crozier, and Mexico City station employees Charlotte Bustos Videla, and Anna and Boris Tarasoff for your review. #JFK #MLK #RFK http://tpaak.com/cia-personal-history-statements

Our Thanks

Special thanks to the Mary Ferrell Foundation for tweeting about the new book "Two Princes And A King: A Concise Review of Three Political Assassinations." #MFF #JFK #MLK #RFK https://twitter.com/InfoMferrell

A Brief History of Executive Action

 

The term Executive Action refers to words in formerly suppressed documents that promote the assassination of enemy leaders. Political assassination by no means is a modern development or a singularly American crime. Many officials had no reason to suspect that formerly private documents would become public knowledge. Despite the clandestine operations, suppression of facts, and verifiable destruction of documents, a substantial body of evidence remains. 

Russian official groups had undertaken terrorism against the public since at least 1946. Previous influence from Joseph Stalin's brutal regime feasibly instructed these official activities. In 1953, Stalin dies and the Soviet government forms the KGB a year later. "The 13th Department of the First Chief Directorate of the KGB is responsible for planning and carrying out so called 'wet affairs'...The Russian term mokryye dela ("wet affairs") corresponds to the designation 'executive action' both terms being applied to such as activities as kidnapping, assassination, and other forms of terrorism."i  

Additionally in 1954, The Central Intelligence Agency created "A Study of Assassination". The document referred to contains a tactically effective design and execution of assassination plots.ii The "Study" document reveals a chain of official actions that made the execution of any executive government leader a greater possibility. Plans for assassination evolve as time and related officials influence the idea. Some Russian and American officials sought to utilize terror for their own political agendas.

"The first seriously-pursued CIA plan to assassinate Castro had its inception in 1960. It involved the use of members of the criminal underworld with contacts inside Cuba. The operation had two phases; the first ran from August 1960 until late April or early May 1961, when it was called off following the Bay of Pigs..."iii Phase one included using Mafia leaders, poisons, and a large cash payment if the target Fidel Castro was killed. 

In 1961, CIA Deputy Director for Plans (DDP) Richard Bissell tasked William Harvey to develop Executive Action plans.iv Harvey constructed preparations for using potential assassins to eliminate world leaders.v Among the recruited was Jose Marie Andre Mankel known under his cryptonym as QJWIN.vi  Executive Action becomes ZRRIFLE expanding the possible targets and pool of assassins for utilization. The Castro plots incorporate ZRRIFLE during Phase two, and Harvey militarizes the original idea.

Phase two assertedly "ran from April 1962 until February 1963 and was merely the revival of the first phase..." according to the Agency's Inspector General in 1967.vii However, the ZRRIFLE recruitment of potential assassins occurred significantly earlier, and was reauthorized, not ended, in February 1963.viii The Inspector General also noted, "The project name ZRRIFLE, first appears in the files on May 1961, although the first recorded approval is dated February 1962."ix Harvey is additionally placed in charge of the "Agency's Cuba task force." 

According to Harvey after he "took over the Castro operation he ran it as one aspect of ZRRIFLE; however, he personally handled the Castro operation and did not use any of the assets being developed in ZRRIFLE. Harvey states that he soon came to think of the Castro operation and ZRRIFLE as being synonymous. The over-all Executive Action program came to be treated in his mind as being synonymous with QJWIN, the agent working on the over-all program. He says that when he wrote ZRRIFLE/QJWIN the reference was to Executive Action Capability, when he used the cryptonym ZRRIFLE alone, he was referring to Castro. He said his correspondence would disclose this distinction. We reviewed the correspondence and found it for the most part unrevealing."x  

The Agency obscures their involvement and suppresses information regarding allied criminal and paramilitary groups. They neglect to mention it expands those who might possess the means to undertake such an operation domestically. Never officially regarded are Harvey's questionable related actions, escalating drinking, and penchant for grievously illegal activities. There were multiple deadly plots active before and after the assassination of President Kennedy. Officials involved may have suffered blowback from the very agents and militant forces to which they provided training and funding. Assassination plotting is a two edged blade that by its very nature implies guilt upon all even briefly connected.

Too large a group would be exposed; too small a group might be unable to fulfill the plot's objective. Most should be unseen and only a single person handles the sniper or snipers. All suggested by the aforementioned official instructions. Officials had incompetently provided the means to assassinate a world leader. Some possessing the motive and opportunity to assassinate President Kennedy might have used official plans. 

Sincerely,

C.A.A.  Savastano      

 

References:

 

i. Central Intelligence Agency, Oswald 201 File, KGB "Executive Action" Department of the First Chief Directorate, November 5, 1962

ii. The National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 4, Document 2: "A Study of Assassination" unsigned, no date, George Washington University

iii. House Select Committee on Assassinations, Segregated CIA file, Microfilm Reel 48, Defectors, 201 files, CI/Sig, IG Report..., Folder ZZ- 1967 IG Report (Unsanitized), May 23, 1967, Gambling Syndicate,  p. 37  

iv. Ibid

v. HSCA, Seg. CIA file, Notes in Draft Re ZRRIFLE Project, Box 5, (n.d.) 

vi. HSCA, Seg. CIA file, Microfilm Reel 48,  Folder ZZ- 1967 IG Report (Unsanitized), May 23, 1967, Gambling Syndicate,  p. 38  

vii. Ibid

viii. HSCA, Seg. CIA file, Extension of Authorization of ZRRIFLE Agent Activities, Box  56, March 6, 1963

ix. HSCA, Seg. CIA file, Microfilm Reel 48,  Folder ZZ- 1967 IG Report (Unsanitized), May 23, 1967, Gambling Syndicate,  p. 38  

x. Ibid, p. 40

Primary Evidence Collection Update

Two CIA employee aliases offered for your inspection. CIA Special Affairs Staff employee Daniel Flores and Operations Officer Harold Francis Swenson. #CIA #Alias   http://tpaak.com/cia-cryptonyms-and-pseudonyms

Primary Evidence Collection Update

Three additional CIA Security Files have been added that include anti-Castro exile leader Orlando Bosch Avila, CIA officer William King Harvey, and CIA employee Sylvia Hyde Hoke. Each offered for your inspection. 

Mythical Specters

(A look at some of the unlikely myths surrounding Lee Harvey Oswald)

Perhaps no other alleged criminal rests mired amid such controversy as Lee Harvey Oswald. Many facts, despite their proven basis in evidence, remain contended decades later. Allegations swirl often concealing the verifiable details regarding Oswald. Some dismiss all primary evidence in favor of popular speculation, yet unproven allegations from either side of the case are not compelling. Deeper inspection may offer greater clarity.  

The first considered myth asserts Oswald was a trained Communist agent. During Oswald's Soviet Union defection stay, he resided in Minsk. Supporters of Oswald's guilt stated in press reviews that Minsk was the location of a "Soviet intelligence and/or sabotage training school". The Central Intelligence Agency reviewed these claims relating to an informal inquiry by President's (Warren) Commission member Allen Dulles. "A careful review of CIA files has produced no hard information regarding Soviet intelligence or sabotage training in Minsk since 1947." The Agency memorandum offered reveals no sources corroborated this Oswald claim.i 

Seeking to prove Communist plot CIA employees secretly mistreated and tortured Russian defector Yuri Nosenko. They did this during the President's (Warren) Commission investigation. Yet despite the manipulations of some Agency officers to blame the Soviet Union, Nosenko supported no Communist plot occurred based on his prior access to Soviet files regarding Oswald. He affirmed Oswald is not a Communist, the KGB had no interest in him, and he never participated in any Communist activities in Russia.ii iii The President's Commission confirmed this lack of active Communism as well. 

Significant portions of Nosenko's information were available to the Commission, yet some officials chose to suppress this evidence. They feared it might "possibly prejudice the entire Warren Commission report."iv  Former Agency leader Allen Dulles reported the activities and concerns of the Commission to the CIA.v  This provided the Agency with access to the Commission's private ideas.  Additional prior mentions of the asserted Soviet connections were not reliable.vi No substantial evidence supports a large Soviet plot. 

A different feasible myth often professed by some advocates of a large official plot was that Lee Harvey Oswald was an FBI informant. Yet a mass of twisted rumor and forced innuendo is the likely source of this idea. "J. Lee Rankin, General Counsel of the Warren Commission explained that Waggoner Carr, Attorney General of Texas, had called him in the morning and told him about the rumor. Carr identified the source of the rumor as Dallas District Attorney, Henry Wade."vii Wade is also a former member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  

"...Chief Justice Warren and Rankin met with Carr, Wade, Assistant District Attorney William Alexander and Leon Jaworski and Robert Storey. The Texas group reported that the rumor may have originated with Alonso Hudkins, reporter for the Houston Post." "Hudkins advised Secret Service that Allan Sweatt, Chief Criminal Division, Sheriff's Office, Dallas mentioned that Oswald was being paid 200 a month since September 1962 by the FBI 'as an informant in connection with their subversive investigation'. Hudkins also reported that a number assigned to Oswald was S-172..." Rankin's memo further notes the Secret Service advised on January 24 that Chief Sweatt stated he heard the informant rumor from Assistant DA, Alexander.

"The routes that the FBI-Oswald rumor followed are peculiar. The Warren Commission was informed by Carr, who heard the rumor from Wade. Wade's assistant attributed the rumor to Alexander, who said he received it from Hudkins. However, Hudkins maintains he heard the allegation from Sweatt, who maintained he heard it from Alexander. (N.B. Neither Hudkins or Alexander testified before the Warren Commission.) Hudkins involvement in publicizing the allegation since 1963 is more confounding. In 1973 Hudkins told a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer that he invented the numbers S-172 and S-179 (also connected with an alleged Oswald informant status) and leaked the information during a phone conversation in order to determine if the FBI tapped his telephone."

"Yet in a prior article published in the March 19, 1975, Hudkins wrote that the S-172 number was 'made up' by himself, Assistant DA, Bill Alexander and Hugh Aynesworth (who was a reporter for the Dallas Morning News). Hudkins arranged a conference call, the three talked about Oswald's informant status, and 'within 30 minutes' an FBI agent visited Hudkin's office to ask him questions about the Oswald story. From this exercise, Hudkins determined the FBI had tapped one of the three's respective phones." The primary evidence supports the informant claim feasibly was manufactured and promoted by Alonso Hudkins, he is the possible original source of the rumor.

Hudkins feasibly begins the chain of events in his first claim, he "advised" the Secret Service that Oswald was an informant, and provides no evidence. Hudkins claimed that Chief Sweatt of the Dallas Police Criminal Division made the numeric and informant claims he later admits to inventing. He claimed inventing them without assistance, and then years later asserts with the help of another reporter and one assistant district attorney. His rumor plants the speculation within official documents. He reworks new details into greater allegations without verifiable proof. Hudkins promotes the story with public vigor. The informant tale is just one of Hudkins offered myths. 

Hudkins additionally prior stated to the Secret Service "he was of the opinion that Jack Rubenstein's roommate, George Senator, could possibly have some connection with the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald. He did not appear to have any particular reason for making this suggestion other than when reinterviewed on December 17 he stated that Ruby had a brother and a nephew who worked for Jimmy Hoffa in Detroit, Michigan and he state it was a 'wild guess' that the Hoffa organization could be behind the assassination."viii

"A Secret Service report by S.A. Bertram (12/14/63) states than on December 12, 1963 Hudkins advised that he received information from Felton West, Houston Post Washington Bureau representative, that Oswald heard of an American plot to assassinate Castro while he was in Mexico City, September 27-October 2, 1963. Allegedly, Oswald was also informed that President Kennedy and Vice President-Johnson knew of the plot...Secret Service Director Thomas Kelley talked to Felton West in Washington. West denied having informed Hudkins about any allegation involving Oswald's knowledge of an assassination plot against Castro. Director Kelley concluded Hudkins was a usually unreliable source of information."ix 

None of these various contradictory official or independent accusations enjoys the support of substantial evidence. Not just the official suppression but public speculations cloud the evidence and reliable case information. Those who seek to make the evidence conform to a selected presupposition or belief seize these ideas. They bring us no closer to new insights but prevent them in favor of unnecessary arguments. If the unreliable information from everyone is set aside, we may focus on the evidence that still eludes us.      

Sincerely, 
C.A.A. Savastano

References:

i. House Select Committee on Assassinations, Segregated Central Intelligence Agency files, Microfilm Reel 44, Lee Harvey Oswald Soft File., Memo from the Deputy Director for Plans to the President's Commission General Council, p. 1

ii. Central Intelligence Agency, Russ Holmes Work File, Lee Harvey Oswald-Internal Security-R-Cuba, February 23, 1964, p. 1

iii. HSCA, Seg. CIA files, Microfilm Reel 44, Lee Harvey Oswald Soft File., The Oswald Case, January 1962-January 1964, p. 303

iv. HSCA, Seg. CIA files, Staff Notes, Allan Dulles (sic) Role vis-à-vis the CIA-Warren Commission Relationship, 180-10142-10059, (n.d.), p. 1

v. Ibid

vi. HSCA, Seg. CIA files, Microfilm Reel 44, Lee Harvey Oswald Soft File, Anonymous Telephone calls to United States Embassy in Canberra, Australia, relative to planned assassination of President Kennedy, pp. 1-2

vii. Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with respect to Intelligence Activities, Boxed files, Oswald in New Orleans, Re: Scheduled interview of Alonso Hudkins on November 20, November 19, 1975, pp 1-2

viii. President's Commission Document 320 - Secret Service Rowley Memorandum of 24 Jan 1964, p. 1

ix. Senate Select Comm., Boxed files, Oswald in New Orleans, November 19, 1975, p. 2

Two Princes And A King is Now Available

"Two Princes And A King: A concise review of three political assassinations" demonstrates official suppression and substantial evidence. All offered for your review. Kindle Unlimited subscribers read free, it is part of the Kindle Lending Library, Match Book, and the book is available in Kindle and Paperback editions. ‪#‎JFK‬ ‪#‎MLK‬ ‪#‎RFK‬

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Primary Evidence Collections Update

The CIA's Project ZRRIFLE draft documents (w/transcription) regarding the proposed covert assassination of enemy leaders. Additionally included is the reauthorization memo signed in 1963. Each offered for your review. http://tpaak.com/zrrifle-plots