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NODULE 6 CONSPIRATORS BACKGROUNDS THE THEORY RICHARD MILHAUS NIXON was the highest ranking member of the conspiracy to kill President John F. Kennedy. HEMMING did not know NIXON, but he knew HUNT and ANGLETON. Both of these men knew NIXON. WHEN DID RICHARD NIXON MEET B.B. REBOZO? During World War II, RICHARD NIXON was on the Tire Price Control Board. NIXON associate, B. B. Rebozo, a Cuban-American, made huge profits in the tire-recapping business during the War. NIXON claimed to have met B.B. Rebozo around 1950. Rebozo also claimed he met NIXON around 1950, through ex-FBI S.A. Richard Danner (born November 1, 1910; died July 1987). Danner had managed Senator George Smathers' first Congressional Primary campaign in 1946. [Rebozo v. Wash. Post USDC SD FLORIDA 73-172-CIV-SMA] George Smathers (Rep.-FL) was a close associate of NIXON. Evidence suggested that B.B. and NIXON were acquainted during the war. During the libel suit captioned B. B. Rebozo v. The Washington Post, B. B. Rebozo testified he knew NIXON associate Senator George Smathers since the fourth grade and assisted him when he ran for Senate in 1950. Rebozo was asked, "Did Mr. Smathers introduce you to RICHARD NIXON?" B.B. Rebozo said that he did not. NIXON was first elected to Congress in 1947, the same year the CIA came into existence. The first piece of legislation that bore his name required members of the Communist Party to register with the Foreign Agents Registration Board. In early 1952 NIXON visited Cuba, accompanied by Richard Danner. As the former City Manager of Miami, Richard Danner knew many gangsters operating in South Florida and Cuba, including Meyer Lansky. While he was in Havana, NIXON'S associate, Donald Smith, incurred a large gambling debt in the Sans Souci, a casino owned by national crime syndicate associate Norman Rothman; Donald Smith gave Norman Rothman a bad check. Norman Rothman was about to sue him in the United States, but before the case came to trial, Norman Rothman received word from the syndicate to leave the country. [FBI Document in poss. of Scott Malone]
RICHARD NIXON AND NAZISM
In the early 1950's Nicolae Malaxa, a Nazi war criminal, was NIXON'S business partner. After he became a Congressman, NIXON introduced a bill to make Nicolae Malaxa a U.S. citizen. NIXON employed Lynn Nofziger, who funneled money to the California chapter of the American Nazi Party. G. Gordon Liddy, a member of the White House Special Operations Group, arranged for a Nazi propaganda film showing at the National Archives for members of the NIXON Administration. In his writing, G. Gordon Liddy professed admiration for the Nazis: "Compare if you will the mindset of the SS Leibstandarte with the often drugged dropouts that make up a significant portion of the nation's Armed Forces today." G. Gordon Liddy named White House/Special Operations Group operations after Nazi campaigns and organizations: the operation to kidnap left-wing radicals was called Nacht Und Nebel - Night And Fog. During his deposition in HUNT V. ajweberman Liddy was asked: Q. How did you come upon that? A. I lived during the time when nacht un nebel was practiced regularly; remembered it from the past, in other words. MR. MILLER: Nacht un nebel was the name, is the translation, and it was named for an operation against demonstrators that occurred in which Mr. HUNT was partially involved and in which he was involved. THE WITNESS: No, no. Let's not confuse what I was speaking about. When you asked me to identify nacht un nebel, it was a euphemism used in the time of the Third Reich in Germany by the geheimstatspolizei, the secret state police. When they would remove an individual without explanation, the person would be said to have disappeared in the night and the fog. So what I was using was a historical reference. And it was I who suggested it, not Mr. HUNT. Another operation was named Odessa, which G. Gordon Liddy described as "the organization directed to the subversion of the Administration's secrets..." Odessa was originally an organization of former Nazi SS agents. NIXON aide H.R. Haldeman admitted he had a Nazi image during this period, and that Alexander Haig had warned him: "The Jewish Community is out to get you...this ties back to your Nazi activities and all that stuff..." NIXON appointed Laszlo Pasztor, a Nazi war criminal, as a member of the Republican Nationalities Council. NIXON was heard to make anti-Semitic remarks during various conferences. The White House tapes contained numerous examples of NIXON'S detestation of Jews. In January 1974 NIXON compared himself to Hitler when he cited the accomplishments of high ranking Nazi Albert Speer: "I want Bill Simon to be my Albert Speer." William Simon was Secretary of Energy Affairs at the time. THE ASSASSINATION OF JOSE ANTONIO REMON In 1954 Vice President NIXON was involved in PB SUCCESS and met CIA employees E. HOWARD HUNT and DAVID ATLEE PHILLIPS. On January 1, 1955, NIXON reportedly attended a meeting in Honduras, where plans for assassinating the President of Panama, Jose Antonio Remon, were discussed. Allegedly present were the team of hired assassins to do the killing, NIXON, and former CIA agent Marion Cooper, who related this story to Senator Frank Church. The following day, Jose Antonio Remon was machine-gunned to death. A "Report Concerning the Assassination of Jose Antonio Remon, President of Panama, dated February 1, 1955" [WCD 279] is in the National Archives as part of the Kennedy records group. A telegram dated August 2, 1967 to Marion Cooper was included in the 1990's JFK documents release. It regarded a proposed trip to Beirut. In late 1955 NIXON met with Fulgencio Batista and pinned a Medal of Honor on him. In 1960, Donald Kendall, chairman of Pepsico, offered NIXON employment after his defeat by Senator John F. Kennedy. Senator Joseph McCarthy (Dem.- WS) was called "The Pepsi-Cola Kid" after it was revealed that after he helped end sugar rationing, Pepsico paid off some of his loans. [Messick Hoover p210; also see McCoy, A. Heroin in Southeast Asia p186] In January 1963 NIXON moved to New York City, where he took an apartment in a building owned by Nelson Rockefeller. NIXON became a partner in the law firm of Mudge, Rose, Guthrie and Alexander. NIXON'S main account at Mudge, Rose, Guthrie and Alexander was Pepsico. One of the clients of this law firm was Louis Rosenstiel, the President of the Schenley liquor company. The wife of Louis Rosenstiel linked him to Meyer Lansky in sworn testimony, during their divorce trial. JAMES JESUS ANGLETON was born in Boise, Idaho, on December 9, 1917. His Illinois-born father, James Hugh Angleton, joined the National Guard in Idaho in 1916, and chased Pancho Villa south of the border under General Pershing. While there, Angleton married a Mexican girl of 17. On returning to Boise, JAMES JESUS ANGLETON was born. Mr. Angleton became a salesman for the National Cash Register Company, and by 1920, he owned the National Cash Register franchise for Italy. In 1933 the ANGLETONS moved to Milan, Italy. ANGLETON attended a British preparatory school, Malvern College in England and then entered Yale in 1941. At Yale he became interested in the poetry of Ezra Pound. Mrs. Angleton was asked if her husband was a poet: "I can save you a lot of effort. There wasn't any poetry. There is none to publish, not after the catastrophe of The Cold Warrior. But there wasn't any anyway. Since that book, I would never talk. I never saw any poetry, not since Yale. Poetry was his major, but he never wrote poetry. No pickings over here." During the war, ANGLETON'S father joined the OSS and moved to New York. Angleton Sr. took part in the planning of the Italian invasion, went ashore with the forces at Anzio, and rose to Colonel. ANGLETON Jr. entered Harvard Law School and married Cicely d'Autremont of Tucson, Arizona, a junior at Vassar. In 1943, while in the infantry, ANGLETON was recruited by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and assigned to Italy. THE OSS The Office of Strategic Services was the creation of New York lawyer William J. Donovan, whose intelligence career began in 1916, as a representative of the John D. Rockefeller Foundation. [Hersh Old Boys p33] On July 11, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed William J. Donovan Coordinator of Information. In the Summer of 1943 the Office of the Coordinator of Information became the OSS. After the war, J. Edgar Hoover demanded that the OSS be prohibited from conducting domestic espionage investigations, and, with Nelson Rockefeller, the Coordinator of the Office of Inter-American Affairs, insisted on maintaining jurisdiction over Latin America. On October 1, 1945, President Truman ordered that the OSS be dissolved as an independent body. ANGLETON IN ITALY In post-war Italy, ANGLETON'S unit uncovered secret correspondence between Mussolini and Hitler. By age 26, ANGLETON was in the OSS Station in Rome where he met Richard M. Helms and Allen W. Dulles. ANGLETON helped the provisional Italian Government defeat the Communists. In 1945 ANGLETON helped fascists escape from prison camps supplying them with new identities. [Martin Wilderness of Mirrors p19] ANGLETON JOINS THE CIA ANGLETON entered the CIA in 1948, at age 31. In 1954 the Doolittle Report advised the CIA that one urgent priority was "the intensification of the CIA's counter-intelligence efforts to prevent or detect and eliminate penetrations of the CIA." In late 1954, as a result of this, William K. Harvey, who previously performed certain CIA counter-intelligence functions, became CIA Chief of Station in Berlin. ANGLETON became first Chief of the newly-formed Counter-Intelligence component. Former CIA Staff member Claire Edward Petty commented: "In the early 1950's William K. Harvey was performing certain counter-intelligence functions. ANGLETON was counter-intelligence chief in the formal sense from the inception of CI."ANGLETON remained Counter-Intelligence Chief for 20 years, outlasting all of the Directors and Deputy Directors of the CIA. He gained the reputation as paranoid and eccentric, who was seldom seen, even by own staff members. [Mangold Cold Warrior Simon & Shuster 1991]
Raymond Rocca (born February 22, 1917) was reputedly ANGLETON'S chief deputy. Raymond Rocca attended the University of California at Berkeley, where he studied Fascist Italy. In 1942 he received a Doctorate Degree in 1942. He went into the Analytical Section of the Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service, where he learned content analysis as a Italian broadcast analyst. He joined the OSS Counter-Intelligence component in April 1944. He remained in Italy in the service of the OSS and its successor agencies, the Strategic Services Unit and the CIA. Raymond Rocca met ANGLETON in August 1944 and became his executive assistant. Raymond Rocca remained in Italy until after the 1948 elections and was ANGLETON'S liaison with the Italian intelligence service until his own return to Washington in the Summer of 1953. Raymond Rocca joined the DD/P Counter-Intelligence Staff in July 1955, as chief of its Research and Analysis Group. His functions there included production and editing of finished Counter-Intelligence studies, case studies, briefings, defector debriefings, accumulation of Counter-Intelligence doctrine, and research, stimulation and participation in Counter-Intelligence training. In July 1969 Raymond Rocca became Deputy Chief of the Counter-Intelligence Staff. Clare Edward Petty reported: "Rocca was the head of a CI section called Research and Analysis, CI/R&A. He was very close to ANGLETON and sometimes he acted as his deputy, but did not have the title. For several years before he died James Hunt was ANGLETON'S deputy and acted with full authority when ANGLETON was gone. He had an office next to ANGLETON'S. Then Hunt died. ANGLETON was one of these people who didn't really have a deputy per se. ANGLETON wanted, like a lot people, to run his own show, and did not wish to admit anybody was his deputy." E. HOWARD HUNT: OCTOBER 9, 1918 TO 1943 EVERETTE HOWARD HUNT was born on October 9, 1918, in Hamburg, N.Y., into a family of English and Welsch heritage which traced its lineage to the Revolutionary War. Hunt's Point, in the South Bronx section of New York City, was named after one of HUNT'S ancestors. HUNT'S father, Howard Hunt Sr., was a friend of OSS founder William J. Donovan. When HUNT was eight, his family moved to Miami, where Howard Hunt Sr. entered a business partnership which eventually failed. In Give Us This Day, HUNT described the incident which led to this. On a Saturday, Howard Hunt Sr.'s business partner stole $5,000 from him, then flew to Havana. The next day, Howard Hunt Sr. flew to Havana, found his partner, put a gun to his partner's head, and got all of his money back. The moral to be gained from this story, according to HUNT, was: "An operation conducted with surgical efficiency and maximum speed leaves minimal scars on those involved." ANALYSIS This story can be interpreted so that a different moral is extracted from it: rather than report the incident to the local authorities, Howard Hunt Sr. went to Cuba and was willing to execute his ex-partner for $5000. The moral implied by this incident: if you are double-crossed, murder is permissible. During his teens, HUNT suffered from dyslexia and stammering. He graduated from Brown University in 1940, where he majored in English literature and journalism. He received an Associate Baccalaureate Degree. He was accepted as a play writing student at Yale Drama School. HUNT enlisted in the Naval Reserves. HUNT reported: "Enlisted United States Naval Reserve, August 27, 1940, as Apprentice Seaman, appointed to U.S. Navy Midshipman's School...served aboard USS Destroyer Mayo, discharge by reason of being not physically qualified for retention." In February 1941 HUNT entered the United States Navy. He was on active duty for five months before he was given an honorable medical discharge in late 1942. Tad Szulc reported: "According to incomplete records [HUNT] was injured aboard a ship doing Atlantic convoy duty." HUNT was discharged because of a hearing problem. [FBI 139-4089-1627] HUNT wrote East of Farewell, a fictionalized account of North Atlantic convoy duty, and sold it to Alfred Knopf Publishers. From October 1942 to February 1943 he worked for Time Inc. (March of Time) where he prepared and edited scripts for a monthly newsreel, and produced Naval training films. He was hired by Time and became a war correspondent in the South Pacific from February 1943 to July 1943. HUNT covered the battle of Guadalcanal. He returned to New York City in 1943, where he worked for Fortune magazine and wrote Limit Of Darkness, which he sold to Random House. HUNT JOINS THE OSS: DECEMBER 1944
HUNT enlisted as a private in the United States Air Force: "After basic training at Fort Dix and Miami Beach, I qualified for Officer Candidate School...After being commissioned, I was sent to Air Force Intelligence School at Orlando, Florida, where, after two weeks as a student, I was placed on the faculty." While he was in Air Force Intelligence, HUNT passed rigorous OSS testing and investigation: "A few days later General William E. Donovan summoned me to his office. There he confirmed that I had been accepted for duty in the OSS and was henceforth relieved of further Air Force duties." During his OSS training period, HUNT met Navy Lieutenant James Donovan and future CIA officers Lawrence Houston and Walter Kuzmuk. HUNT cited Bennett Cerf of Random House as a credit reference. In the 1950's, Bennet Cerf, a friend of J. Edgar Hoover, had arranged for Random House to publish The FBI Story, a puff piece. Then, in the 1960's, Cerf sent the Bureau a pre-publication copy of The FBI That Nobody Knows, and may have helped delay its publication. [Turner RFK 1993 (xvi)] HUNT named Quentin Reynolds as a reference. HUNT stated: " I flew as an observer with VT11, Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, 1943, soloed SO3C type, March 1943, New Hebrides. Graduate of Air Combat Intelligence School, AAFSAT, AFTAC, Florida. Wide experience with intelligence sources and procedures as part of current duties in AFTAC Air Room, plus special research into propaganda analysis ( a standard lecture for the Army-Navy Staff College), plus professional writing and experience as naval officer at start of war. As a War correspondent, I found out that my experience as a naval officer helped me effect easy liaison with Task Force and Air Group commanders in the theater. I am known as a novelist and short-story writer, and contribute to national magazines upon the request of individual editors. December 9, 1944." HUNT was assigned to OSS Detachment 202, headed by Paul Helliwell (born September 17, 1914).
From January 17, 1945 to August 18, 1945, Paul Helliwell served as Chief, Special Intelligence Branch, OSS, China Theater. When the war ended, Paul Helliwell was placed in charge of postwar intelligence, and awarded the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster. In January 1950 he joined the CIA. In 1951 Paul Helliwell helped set up and run Sea Supply Corporation, a CIA proprietary. ANGLETON associate John Hart headed a CIA group of 76 men training the Thai Police via the Sea Supply Corporation. [Indochina Resource Center Study 1.77] Paul Helliwell served as a paymaster during the Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961. HUNT listed his OSS and military duty: "CBI Reports Officer, Lecturer on Psychological Warfare at Army-Navy Staff College." HUNT served in the Far East until January 1946. After the war, he went to Mexico on a Guggenheim Fellowship. Later he took up residence in Los Angeles and Miami.
THE ECONOMIC COOPERATION ADMINISTRATION PARIS 1948
HUNT was an Economic Attache at the American Embassy, Paris. HUNT'S associates there included Glen Morehouse, a Paris CIA Station officer, Richard Bissell and Frank Wisner. At the Economic Cooperation Administration, Vienna, HUNT produced an anti-communist film directed toward labor groups, entitled Mit Vereinten Kraeften. In 1948 HUNT was employed by the Economic Cooperation Administration and served in Paris as and aide to Avarell Harriman: "A background investigation conducted by the FBI in July 1949 revealed no indication of instability on the Subject's part, but it was later learned that Subject had been refused an increase in salary with the Economic Cooperation Administration and had been permitted to resign. He was described as highly intelligent, but blindly selfish, and egotistical." HUNT'S employment history stated: "May 1948 to February 1948, Economic Cooperation Administration, Public Relations, J.F. Fleming, U.S. Media Specialist. PR work plus speech writing for Ambassador Harriman; film production. Reasons for Leaving: My publishing affairs deteriorated to such an extent that my presence in America became imperative for financial reasons." On November 23, 1949, HUNT was fingerprinted by the FBI for the CIA.
Dorothy Wetzel worked for the State Department in Bern, Switzerland, between July 1944 and January 1946. From April 1946 to May 1947, DOROTHY HUNT worked for the Treasury Department, Shanghai, China. She joined Economic Cooperation Administration in April 1948. She married HOWARD HUNT on September 7, 1949. The CIA reported that "DOROTHY LOUISE HUNT [OS 355,750] was investigated for Agency employment in 1948. Her former husband [Goutiere] was described as an habitual drunkard and not inclined to remain in any one place for any length of time. She did not enter on duty, having accepted a position with the Economic Cooperation Administration in Paris. Our Paris sources later reported that Subject's wife was formerly his mistress and was openly flouted as such for several months. She was then described as an amoral and dangerous individual who underhandedly attacked those persons who incurred her enmity." HUNT: 1949 In 1949 HUNT'S book, Bimini Run, was published; Warner Brothers paid HUNT $35,000 for the movie rights. On May 18, 1949, HUNT filled out a PERSONAL HISTORY STATEMENT for the CIA. HUNT cited Major J.K. Singlaub as an employment reference. General Singlaub became commander of the Joint Unconventional Warfare Task Force in Vietnam in 1968 and was involved in Operation Phoenix. In 1984 Singlaub headed the World Anti-Communist League. John K. Singlaub had been in HUNT'S OSS unit. On November 8, 1949, HUNT filled out a Personal Status Report. In November 1949 HUNT joined the Office of Policy Coordination (CIA) where he became an International Organization Editor. He remained there until December 1950. HUNT 1950 TO 1953 On February 17, 1950, HUNT was informed by the CIA's Office of Security that his wife held left-wing attitudes regarding certain minority groups: "With regard to his wife, Mr. HUNT states that she is one of these individuals who carries the torch for minority groups and always has been too ready to take up the battle when any derogatory remarks are made concerning members of these groups. He advised, however, that she is becoming less pugnacious about this because he has constantly made it a point to request her not to express her opinion so strongly. Mr. HUNT advises, as a matter of fact, that at the outset he used to bait his wife on these matters, but as he realized how strongly she feels about them, he ceased the practice. It seems as though Mrs. Hunt becomes so upset concerning racial and minority prejudices that the resultant condition is really injurious to her health. Mr. HUNT advises that he will have a heart-to-heart talk with his wife and ask her to tighten up on the control of her emotions. He will further suggest to his wife that she take the chip off her shoulders, and if remarks are made which disturb her, she should assume the attitude of considering the source. Mr. HUNT believes his wife is becoming less susceptible to remarks which have enraged her in the past. He has promised me to adopt a policy of discontinuing social relations with individuals who constantly discuss matters which are repugnant to his wife. I was very favorably impressed by Mr. HUNT'S attitude concerning my admonitions, and I respect him for his forthright denouncement and evaluation of his wife's shortcomings. I am firm in my belief that Mr. HUNT is throughly patriotic, completely anti-Communist, and that there will be no repetition of past complaints. I sincerely recommend that we close the book on this issue, and start over with a clean slate. (Deleted) OS."
THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN EUGENE KARP On February 27, 1950, HUNT wrote a memo about his association with U.S. Naval Officer Eugene Simon Karpe. MEMORANDUM FOR: OSE SUBJECT: Captain Eugene Karpe, USN, deceased. 1. During 1948 to 1949 I served in Europe as an official of the Economic Cooperation Administration, ranking as an Attache of the American Embassy, Paris. 2. During various periods of temporary duty in Vienna (August to October 1948) I came to know Captain Karpe socially. He came to Vienna frequently on week ends from his Bucharest post, staying, like myself, at the Bristol Hotel. 3. On at least two occasions he flew with me in General Keyes' aircraft from Vienna to Paris, and I had the distinct impression that he wanted to spend as little time as possible in Bucharest because of the annoying and constant surveillance of secret police. 4. On one occasion, returning unexpectedly from Vienna, I encountered Captain Karpe at the Bristol and asked him why he was again in Vienna. He replied that there had been a series of incidents in Bucharest involving servants of Embassy personnel (shadowing, interrogations, etc.) And that I could not imagine how rigorous was the life there for Americans. He added jokingly that he could not even visit a urinal in Bucharest without being accompanied by the Secret Police. 5. At no time did Captain Karpe appear despondent; rather he impressed me a conscientious officer who was undergoing tremendous hardships, but sought relaxation from surveillance at every legitimate opportunity. 6. In October 1949 I encountered Captain Karpe in the Army & Navy Club in Washington, and asked him if his Bucharest assignment had terminated. His answer was rather vague, and my total impression was that he felt I was lucky to be out of Europe, and that he was not anxious to return to Romania. 7. Our association was more than casual, for we had mutual friends in the Navy; one of his classmates, in fact, having been a fellow officer of mine. 8. Although I knew Mr. and Mrs. Robert Vogeler socially in Vienna, I was not aware Captain Karpe knew them, as later events indicate. HOWARD HUNT PBII/HH/mee. William Harvey was sent a copy of HUNT'S memorandum regarding Karpe. Eugene Simon Karpe fell off the Orient Express on February 25, 1950: "A track walker found the body of Captain Eugene Simon Karpe of the United States Navy, a friend of imprisoned Robert A. Vogler, in a railway tunnel south of Salzberg yesterday. His passport was missing. United States Army investigators and Austrian police said they believed Captain Karpe's death had been accidental. American officials in Washington said they were not eliminating the possibility that the officer had been slain. Austrian police said that Captain Karpe, en route to the United States after three years as Naval Attache in Romania, evidently had fallen from a door of the Arlberg Orient express on a curve...Captain Karpe, 45 years old, was sent to Rumania in 1946 as a naval member of the Allied Control Commission. Officers said all passengers appeared to be legitimate travelers and that there was no reason to suspect them of having had any part in Captain Karpe's death." HUNT and Eugene Simon Karpe were acquainted with Robert A. Vogeler, who had been sentenced to 15 years in prison for espionage by a Hungarian People's Court on February 20, 1950. Robert A. Vogeler was a roving ITT representative who allegedly plotted to sabotage the Hungarian state-owned telephone company. Vogeler was released after having served one year of his sentence. He denied being a spy ; he said all he had done was keep in touch with "Fish" Karpe. [NYT 2.25.50] On Tuesday, March 2, 1950, United States Army investigators "said today that it was possible in the darkness of a Salzberg tunnel Karpe could have been thrown accidentally from the Arlberg-Express." On November 8, 1950, William D. Miller, Assistant Chief, Overseas Branch, sent George P. Loker, Jr. Chief, Special Security Branch, a memo: "Subject (Deleted) OPC) (Deleted) of SAC has been changed to above. Former (deleted) was (deleted). On December 14, 1950, the Chief, Special Security Branch, was informed by the Chief, Overseas Branch, that "(deleted) (Pseudo - Office of Policy Coordination) Please cancel your security clearance dated December 7, 1950. The decision has been made that the Subject is to be considered a semi-covert employee (deleted)." HUNT IN MEXICO CITY DECEMBER 1950 HUNT'S first assignment for the Deputy Director/Plans took him to Mexico City where he became head of operations against the Soviets under Chief of Station Winston Scott. The CIA stated: "In December 1950 he was assigned as (deleted) Mexico City, and then served as (deleted) until August, 1953." HUNT was trained in Secret Writing, Flaps and Seals and Photography. HUNT described his role in Mexico City as "Chief of the Office of Policy Coordination Station in Mexico City in 1950 to 1952 or 1953." A highly deleted document about the Mexico City CIA Station: "(Deleted) COS Winston M. Scott (deceased) (Deleted) an (retired) (Deleted) (retired) (Deleted)on (retired in Mexico) COVERT ACTION (Deleted) HOWARD HUNT (retired)." On April 1, 1953, this document about HUNT was generated by the CIA: MEMORANDUM FOR: Chief, Security Control Staff SUBJECT: Publication Clearance - HUNT 1. Mr. HUNT is Deputy Chief of a (Deleted) of the Western Hemisphere Division and he has been operating (Deleted). 2. Mr. HUNT has been granted security clearances for several novels during his employment with this Agency. In 1949, just prior to employment with the CIA, he published Day of the Serpent, a fictional work on the OSS in China. He has achieved considerable national prominence as an author of World War II stories. 3. On the last of his PHS he stated that an estimated one million pocket edition copies of two of his books are in circulation. His present publisher, Fawcett Publications, publishes the 25 and 35 cent books which are sold in drugstores, newsstands, hotels, stations etc. throughout the United States. It seems quite probable that Mr. HUNT would be known as a writer by persons in the (Deleted) and that his work would be read by some (Deleted) even though it is in English. It is not known whether or not the pocket book publishing companies have exported their publications in (Deleted). 4. Darkness on the Land is the title of the novel for which security clearance is now requested. There appear to be several objectional aspects in the novel when it is considered in combination with the fact that the author is (Deleted) in Latin America. 5. It would seem that the author's fixation in regard to the superiority of the Nordic to the Latin and Indian races, which permeates the entire novel, would be most offensive to Latin Americans. The Latin American might well argue that Mr. HUNT, like Erskine Caldwell, has taken a sample of the illiterate, amoral minority in Latin America and used it to depict a whole culture. On September 17, 1953, HUNT generated a MFR on Cornelius Van Manen, a Dutch citizen who was entering the United States military: "Subject stated that it was unfortunate that Hitler did not succeed in his conquest of Europe...HOWARD HUNT SE/CPP." On December 4, 1953, HUNT was granted clearance for attendance at lectures of the Armed Forces Industrial College. HUNT worked with Colonel Edward Landsdale, an Army counterinsurgency expert. During his career with the CIA, HUNT was listed as assigned to the following Staffs and Divisions: PB II, WH/?, SP/?, PY/?, PP/CR/TV, SE/PP, WH/4, DODS/ R & P, DO/CA, OPSER, C/E/CA. In 1953 HUNT earned an Appreciation from Chief, PP, for assistance rendered in the preparation of "PP Operational Aids." In 1953 HUNT won another Appreciation from P.T. Culbertson, American Embassy, (Deleted) for ability, discretion and judgement displayed while assigned to (Deleted). HUNT served as Case Officer for William F. Buckley Jr. in the early 1950's. William F. Buckley Sr. had been an owner of the Pantipec Oil Company in Mexico. In the early 1920's, Mexican nationalists sent him to the United States. His fortune remained intact, and he used it to again speculate in oil, ultimately amassing a fortune. When Pantipec reopened in Mexico it was part of an oil empire worth an estimated $110 million. [Markmann The Buckleys William Morrow 1973 p33] Born in 1925, William Buckley Jr. studied at the University of Mexico and then at Yale, where he wrote a tome attacking liberalism, God and Man at Yale. When William F. Buckley Jr. returned to Mexico in July 1951, he had some familiarity with the country and language. He resigned from the CIA in 1952 and joined the staff of The American Mercury. In 1955 he founded his own magazine, The National Review. William F. Buckley helped organize the American Committee to Aid the Katanga Freedom Fighters, who opposed Patrice Lumumba. William F. Buckley's CIA file was still withheld. The CIA: "Third party information (Summary of Bill Buckley's relationship with the CIA)." In 1954 HUNT was in contact with the CIA's assassination unit. HUNT recalled: "The CIA had set up a small group to arrange for assassinations of suspected double-agents and similar low ranking officials...I was told by my CIA superiors in 1954 that Boris T. Pash, an Agency official, was in charge of the assassination unit...Boris Pash was the man in charge of an area that dealt with removals by violent means...I never asked Boris Pash to plan an assassination mission, I simply asked him if he had the capability." Boris Pash, a former Army intelligence agent, headed the Alsos Mission during World War II. Its target goals were the capture of German scientists and the termination of the Nazi atomic bomb program. After the war, Boris Pash, an associate of John Earman, helped Nazi scientists enter the United States. [Lasby Project Paperclip p203; HUNT Depo. in HUNT v. ajweberman First Depo. undated; Hersh Old Boys p226] Boris Pash joined HUNT at the Office of Policy Coordination in 1949, where he worked in the Office of Special Operations, Program Branch 7 (PB/7). ANGLETON and William K. Harvey directed the Office of Special Operations. DAVID PHILLIPS was asked: "Do you know if William K. Harvey knew Mr. HUNT or ever worked with Mr. HUNT, to your knowledge?" He responded: "I think it is quite possible since they both were in the Agency for a long time." The Operations Planning Director of the Office of Policy Coordination, who supervised PB/7, confirmed it was responsible for assassinations and kidnapping. The Deputy Chief of PB/7, who served under Boris Pash, testified he had a clear recollection that the written charter of the Office of Special Operation included the following language: "PB/7 will be responsible for assassinations, kidnapping and other such functions as from time to time may be given it." HUNT was questioned about Boris Pash by the SSCIA: "I will have to go back considerably in time to the period in 1954 and early 1955 when I was staff officer of the Southeast European Division of the CIA. My title was Chief of Political and Psychological Warfare for Southeast Europe. As such I had staff responsibility to the Chief of the Division for all political and psychological warfare matters that involved the following countries: Albania, Rumania, Greece, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria...I was of course in daily contact with the chiefs of the various country branches and it came to my attention that we were having considerable difficulty with our Albanian Guard Unit, I believe it was called, which was then located in West Germany. This guard unit had been drawn largely from the retainers of King Zog of Albania...That is bodyguards, members of his personal staff, probably some relatives...The Agency in fact, had been encountering a lot of difficulty with losing agents, Albanian agents who parachuted into the area. And as a result of the rapid disappearance of our parachuted agents, it became a matter of some concern to the Division. To the best of my recollection, the presence of a double agent or a penetration agent, in the Albanian guard unit was suspected, if not assumed. To that end there was some discussion, the details of which are no longer clear to me, about the best way to cleanse the unit of whatever offending individual there might be, the penetration agent. And I don't recall whether I was specifically commissioned to look into the method of cleansing, or whether it was a matter of my personal interest. But in any event, I inquired around among knowledgeable people in the Agency and it came to my attention and I hate, again, to be so indefinite, although I will speculate on who might have directed me to this particular unit. I was told that somewhere within the overall political and psychological staff there was located a man with a small office. This man's name was Colonel Boris Pash, and my understanding was that Colonel Pash had been doing business, let us say, with the Agency in West Germany for quite a while. I sought out Colonel Pash. I was directed to his office and I found sitting with him another Agency officer named [Martin Lazarus]. I'm not sure whether it is (Deleted). Mr. Baron: It's a Greek name. (Deleted) is his correct first name, but he goes by (Deleted). Mr. HUNT: Very good. But in any case, he was known throughout my career as (Deleted). And I was at that point on, let's say, a search mission to determine whether the alleged capability of Colonel Pash in 'wet affairs,' which is how it was referred to, that is, liquidations, would have any relevance to our particular problem of the Albanian disappointments. [By liquidation I mean] assassinations, kidnappings, removals, let's say. So I spoke to Colonel Pash in Mr. (Deleted's) presence. I explained the problem to him, although at that juncture I'm quite sure that we had not identified the Albanian suspect. So we were talking hypothetically. And I might say parenthetically, at this juncture, that it became clear many years later that the actual informant was Kim Philby, the British MI-6 Chief who was keeping everyone apprised of our Albanian activities. So in fact, we had no nominee for Colonel Pash's special attentions. However, I broached the problem on a hypothetical basis to Colonel Pash, who seemed to, he didn't pick up on it immediately. He seemed a little startled at the subject. He indicated it was something that would have to be approved by higher authority, and I withdrew, and never approached Colonel Pash again. This took place in Colonel Pash's office, which, to the best of my recollection, was in the complex in the old JKL series of CIA buildings along the reflecting pool. They have since been demolished. And in Exhibit Four here I give a breakdown, to the best of my recollection, of the PP staff at that time, which we can go into. I don't want to really interrupt the continuity of what I have to say, but just for clarification, so everyone will know what we're talking about, and who was situated where at the time. Then I can go into that apart from this, if that's all right with you. I should also say, and I'm sorry I didn't mention this earlier when I first inquired around for the location of Colonel Pash and his assistant, that reaction I encountered was a rather jesting one, and the impression I gained was here were a couple of men who were drawing salaries and doing very little. And so when Colonel Pash seemed reluctant to become involved in responding affirmatively to my questions, my inference was that Colonel Pash and (deleted) could well not have such a capability, but for the purposes of employment and status, this was the job they had. But they didn't want anyone to call upon them to activate their particular abilities. Now that was my impression and I was a little disgusted by it. I think I talked to the Chief of the PP staff later, who was, of course, well aware of the Albanian problem and I said I didn't get any satisfaction from Pash, but it doesn't really make any difference because we don't have the name of the suspected individual. Baron: Just to stop here for a second and clear up some of these details, were you under the impression that what you called wet affairs, assassinations, kidnappings or other removals from the scene of troublesome individuals was the primary function of this unit? HUNT: Yes, if fact the only. As far as I knew, they had no other function. If they had another function I was never made aware of what it was... Baron: Did whoever gave you the information about Boris Pash indicate to you that there were any other units in the CIA that could take care of such problems by means of assassinations? HUNT: No. My distinct impression and recollection is that the function, if indeed it existed, and I believed it then to have existed as I do today, was centralized or focused in Colonel Pash and (Deleted). Baron: Now what would have been the formal title of the unit that Colonel Pash and (Deleted) were running? HUNT: If it had one I never knew it...as I recall my conversation with him was a relatively brief one. I stepped in the door, met him, saw (Deleted) who I knew briefly or at least knew him by sight, and I sat down and said we have this problem in the Albanian Branch. We may need somebody liquidated in Western Germany. Can you handle it if the day comes, or if it comes to that? And he seemed a little startled. I have already indicated that. Colonel Pash indicated or said to me that it was a matter that would have to be approved by higher authority and as a relatively low ranking officer in those days, I thought he was probably referring to Frank Wisner. And indeed he may have. It never got pushed up to Frank Wisner's level because there was no direct approach or a request for such approval was ever made...Now his saying that to me was of course bureaucratically quite appropriate. There was nothing inappropriate in such a response. It neither indicated an enthusiasm for the proposal for that line of work, nor was it a washing of his hands. I felt that he was just glad that he had to reach for higher authority, that it was a deflection, and that he would just as soon not hear any more about it, not because of any moral consideration or anything, but simply from a bureaucratic point of view. He was comfortable where he was and don't bother me. I left with the impression that Colonel Pash was glad that he wasn't going to have any business for me or that he had successfully deflected whatever approach I might be making to him because it would give him and (Deleted) an opportunity to drink more coffee and to draw their salaries from the Agency while affecting to do a job that they were perhaps not equipped to do. Now again, that impression I had when I left was at variance with what I had heard before I came in, where I heard he and (deleted) or he at least had been active in West Germany in wet affairs, particularly kidnappings and that sort of thing. If not personally, certainly he could arrange to have it done. That was my distinct impression. Otherwise I would not have sought him out...I had known previously that he had been associated during the war with the Manhattan Project and that he had a security background...it was my impression that Boris Pash had been active a couple of years at least before I knew him in West Germany with the sort of thing that we had been discussing so far today...kidnappings mostly in West Germany and West Berlin..." HUNT'S overall impression after their conversation was that Boris Pash's function was to carry out assassinations "albeit reluctantly, because my impression was that he was a man who really didn't want to be disturbed. He was comfortable where he was." When HUNT was asked to list others who were aware of Boris Pash's function: General Robert Cushman, John Richardson, John Baker (former Chief of the PP Staff) , Milton Buffington, Tracy Barnes (former Chief of the PP Staff) HUNT stated: "I would think that JIM ANGLETON, who would have had direct knowledge and always was the Chief of the CI/CE staff. The Chief of base in (Deleted) if in fact Pash conducted any activities in that area, certainly the Chief of base in (Deleted) would have been knowledgeable about it. Also the Chief of base at (deleted) which was where we had the (deleted) penetration going on. I don't know whether William K. Harvey, at that time was Chief of Operations (deleted) or whether he was simply running the tunnel, but William K. Harvey might well have some knowledge of Boris Pash. I would certainly assume that when we're talking about liquidations and that sort of thing that the Agency's overall Office of Security somewhere within it must have been involved, such German Division personnel as might be available today, West German, and I would also suggest that General Cushman might be knowledgeable for this reason. It was about this time that General Cushman was still assigned to the CIA. I could be wrong about that but I seem to have a memory of Cushman being around in those days. He was then a Colonel. I had associated with him. In fact, we shared an office at one time, but that was several years earlier. But I'm sure that Cushman was around in that period of time and involved with the PP Staff though what his function was I don't know. Baron: Let me return to one name that you mentioned and this is William Harvey. What was the nature of your operational relationships to William Harvey after this period. Did you have any? HUNT: I never had any, no. In fact I've only seen him once in my life, to the best of my recollection. Baron: As you may know, William Harvey was tasked in 1961 with setting up an executive action capability at the CIA, tasked originally by Richard Bissell to carry out assassinations if required. Do you have any connection from any source of any connection between what Harvey was doing and what Pash was doing? HUNT: No. HUNT told his lawyer that he had "met Boris Pash in a hallway at some point after the initial discussion of this matter and asked him where it stood? And he replied this is very heavy stuff. I must be very selective in talking about it, and [HUNT] dropped the matter." Boris Pash denied HUNT'S allegations and claimed he never met him and that he was never involved in assassination planning. During HUNT v. ajweberman, HUNT was asked: Q. Have you ever discussed the subject of an assassination with Mr. Pash? A. Nor assassination qua assassination, but the liquidation, removal of MR. ajweberman: (Laughs) THE DEPONENT: (continuing) an objectionable -- I would request that the -- Mr. FRIEDMAN: I am asking Mr. ajweberman to maintain himself. MR. ajweberman: It's kind of funny, you know. THE DEPONENT: Mr. Pash, Colonel Pash, was described to me as the man in charge of an area that dealt with removals by violent means. He later testified that he never had such capacity. So, with the exception of the man who was alleged by other to be in the business, to my knowledge I have never known anybody in the assassination business. Q. Boris Pash denies ever having talked to you about this. A. Well, he is an old man. I would say that it has escaped his mind, probably trivial at the time because that wasn't his line of work. HUNT told the SSCIA: "I might add that I was rather briefly at CIA headquarters at that time and within a very short period of time after I had had my interview with Colonel Pash, I was transferred to the Guatemala Project, the overthrow of Guatemala." |
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