INVESTIGATION OF THE ASSASSINATION JOHN KENNEDY ...

1 94TH CONGRESS SENATE REPORT2d Se8sion No. 94-755 THE INVESTIGATION OF THEASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENTJOHN F. KENNEDY : PERFORMANCEOF THE INTELLIGENCE AGENCIESBOOK VFINAL REPORTOF THESELECT COMMITTEETO STUDY GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONSWITH RESPECT TOINTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIESUNITED STATES SENATEAPRIL 23 (under authority of the order of APRIL 14), PRINTING OFFICE -WASHINGTON : 1976 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing OfficeWashington, 20402 -Price $ Number 052-071-00487-472-059 SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE TO STUDY GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONSWITH RESPECT TO INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIESFRANK CHURCH, Idaho, ChairmanJOHN G.

2 TOWER, Texas, Vice ChairmanPHILIP A. HART, MichiganWALTER F. MONDALE, MinnesotaWALTER D. HUDDLESTON, KentuckyROBERT MORGAN, North CarolinaGARY HART, ColoradoHOWARD H. BAKER, Jn., TennesseeBARRY GOLDWATER, ArizonaCHARLES McC. MATHIAS, Ja., MarylandRICHARD SCHWEIKER, PennsylvaniaWILuAM G. MILLER, Staff DirectorFREDERICK A. 0. ScHwARz, Jr., Chief CounselCURTIs R. SMOTHERS, Counsel to the MinorityAUDREY HATRY, Clerk of the CommitteeLETTER OF TRANSMITTALOn behalf of the Senate Select Committee to Study GovernmentalOperations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, and pursuant tothe mandate of Senate Resolution 21, I am transmitting herewith tothe Senate the volume of the Committee's Final Report entitled, "TheInvestigation of the ASSASSINATION of President john F.

3 KENNEDY :Performance of the Intelligence Agencies."I want to express the deep appreciation of the Committee to SenatorRichard S. Schweiker and Senator Gary Hart for their excellent workon this phase of the Select Committee's CHURCH,Chairman.(III)NOTEOn May 26, 1976, the Select Committee voted to release the sectionof its final Report entitled. "The INVESTIGATION of the Assassinationof President john F. KENNEDY : Performance of the IntelligenceAgencies." Senators Church, Baker, Philip Hart, Mondale, Huddle-ston, Morgan, Gary Hart, Mathias, and Schweiker voted to releasethis Report. Senators Tower, and Goldwater voted against the releaseof this Report has been reviewed and declassified by the appropriateexecutive agencies.

4 After the Committee's original draft of this reportwas completed, copies of it were made available to the executiveagencies. These agencies submitted comments to the Comihittee onsecurity and factual aspects of the draft report. On the basis of thesecomments, the Committee and staff conferred with representatives ofthe agencies to determine which sections of the Report should be re-drafted to protect sensitive intelligence sources and methods. Thesesections of the original draft were then revised to reflect the agenciesconcerns while retaining the original thrust of the of individuals were deleted when, in the Committee's judge-ment, disclosure of their identities would either endanger their safetyor constitute an unwarranted invasion of privacy.

5 Consequently, foot-note citations to testimony and documents occasionally contain onlydescriptions of an individual's of Transmittal ------- ------------------------------------- inI. SUMMARY AND FINDINGS_------------------------------- --- 1A. The Scope of the Committee's INVESTIGATION ----------------- 1B. Summary ---------------------------------------- -------- 2C. Findings ---------------------------------------- --------- 6II. BACKGROUND FOR THE WARREN COMMIS1 SION INVESTIGA-TION: CUBA AND THE INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES ---------- 9 III. THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO THEASSASSINATION: NOVEMBER 22, 1963 TO JANUARY 1, 1964-- 23A.

6 The CIA Response -------------------------------------- 23B. The FBI Response ---------------------------------------- 32IV. THE INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES AND THE WARREN COMMIS-SION: JANUARY TO SEPTEMBER 1964 ----------------------- 45A. The Relationship between the FBI and the Warren ---------------------------------------- ---------- 46B. The Relationship between the CIA and the Warren Commis-sion ---------------------------------------- ---------- 57C. Unpursued Leads ---------------------------------------D . Knowledge of Plots to Assassinate Castro ------------------ 67V. DEVELOPMENTS AFTER THE WARREN COMMISSION--------- 77A. 1965: Termination of the AHLASH Operation -------------- 77B.

7 1967: Allegations of Cuban Involvement in the ASSASSINATION - soAPPENDIX A: The FBI and the Oswald Security Case ----------------- 87 APPENDIX B: The FBI and the Destruction of the Oswald Note -------- 95 APPENDIX C: Ohronology ---------------------------------------- (v)I. SUMMARY AND FINDINGSThe Select Committee's INVESTIGATION of alleged ASSASSINATION at-tempts against foreign leaders raised questions of possible connectionsbetween these plots and the ASSASSINATION of President john FitzgeraldKennedy. Questions were later raised about whether the agencies ade-quately investigated these possible connections and whether inform a-tion about these plots was provided the President's Commission on theAssassination of President KENNEDY (the Warren Commission).

8 As aresult, pursuant to its general mandate to review the performance ofthe intelligence agencies, the Select Committee reviewed their specificperformance with respect to their INVESTIGATION of the ASSASSINATION ofthe The Scope of the Coinmittee's InvestigationThe Committee did not attempt to duplicate the work of the WarrenCommission. It did not review the findings and conclusions of theWarren Commission. It did not re-exaine the physical evidencewhich the Warren Commission had. It did not review one of the prin-cipal questions facing the Commission: whether Lee Harvey Oswaldwas in fact the assassin of President , building upon the Select Committee's earlier work, andutilizing its access to the agencies and its expertise in their functions,the Committee examined the performance of the intelligence agenciesin conducting their INVESTIGATION of the ASSASSINATION and their rela-tionships to the Warren the course of this INVESTIGATION , more than 50 witnesses wereeither interviewed or deposed.

9 Literally tens of thousands of pages ofdocumentary evidence were reviewed at the agencies and more than5,000 pages were acquired. In addition, the Committee relied a greatdeal on testimony taken during the course -of its INVESTIGATION ofalleged plots to assassinate foreign leaders, especially testimonyrelating to knowledge of those Committee has been impressed with the ability and dedicationof most of those in the intelligence community. Most officials of theFBI, the CIA, and other agencies performed their assigned tasksthoroughly, conipetently, and professionally. Supervisors at 'agencyheadquarters similarly met their responsibilities and are deservingof the highest praise.

10 Yet, as this Report documents, these indi-viduals did not have access to -all of the information held by themost senior officials in their own agencies. Nor did they control, oreven influence, many of the decisions made by those senior officials,decisions which shaped the INVESTIGATION and the process by whichinformation was provided to the Warren Commission. Thus, it can-not be too strongly emphasized that this Report examines the per-formance of the senior agency officials in light of the informationavailable to potential witnesses could not be called because of limitationsof time and resources. For this reason the Committee has relied a greatdeal on the documentary record of events.