50 Years Since JFK Assassination Retrospective: Moscow And The `Oswald Case'

According to Chapter VI of the Warren Commission Report, entitled "Investigation of Possible Conspiracy," then-CIA Director John McCone and then-CIA Deputy Director Richard Helms "testified before the Commission that no one connected with the CIA had ever interviewed Oswald or communicated with him in anyway."

Yet, according to a 1990s-published book, the U.S. diplomat who interviewed Oswald prior to his "defection" to Russia in 1959--Richard Snyder--was apparently connected to the CIA. As Destiny Betrayed: JFK, Cuba and The Garrison Case by James DiEugenio noted:

"Oswald's defection and entry into the U.S.S.R. and his departure were both handled by U.S. Moscow Embassy Consul Richard E. Snyder. Snyder was, in his own words, `the sole officer handling the Oswald case.' Snyder sent Oswald his passport, months before his return, and processed Oswald and Marina's exit from the Soviet Union as well. CIA document #609-786 says that Snyder joined the CIA in 1949...Julius Mader's 1968 Who's Who In CIA...lists Snyder as still in the Agency."

In the same book, author James DiEugenio also stated the following in reference to the November 22, 1963 elimination of JFK:

"I have come to believe that there was, in fact, high-up Agency involvement, with `plausible denial' shielding the sanctioning of the assassination. This, plus `need to know' limitations on the parceling out of pieces of information helped make the conspiracy difficult to detect. I also believe the Agency was aided by top military brass in the coordination of the operation and in the deliberate sabotage of the autoopsy."

(Downtown 3/12/93)