50 Years Since JFK Assassination Retrospective: Oswald's `Intelligence Role'

In its Appendix XII, "Speculations And Rumours," the Warren Commission Report stated the following:

"Rumors and speculations that Oswald was in some way associated with or used by agencies of the U.S. government grew out of his Russian period and his investigation by the FBI after his return to the United States. Insinuations were made that Oswald had been a CIA agent or had some relationship with the CIA and that this explained the supposed ease with which he received passports and visas...The Commission has concluded on the basis of its own investigations of the files of Federal agencies that Oswald was not and had never ben an agent of any agency of the U.S. Government (aside from his service in the Marines) and was not and had never been used by any U.S. Government agency for any purpose..."

Yet in his book Destiny Betrayed: JFK, Cuba and the Garrison Case, James DiEugenio wrote the following:

"Colorado Democrat Gary Hart and Pennsylvania Republican Richard Schweiker had access to many classified intelligence files...In 1978, Schweiker...stated that the Warren Commission had collapsed. It was set up to numb the public in order for a huge coverup to be enacted. He then focused on Oswald's role in that charade:

"'Oswald was playing out an intelligence role...All the fingerprints I found during my 10 months on the Senate Select Committee point to Oswald being a product of, and interacting with, the intelligence community...'"

(Downtown 5/26/93)

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)