Oswald and the CIA: The Documented Truth About the Unknown Relationship Between the U.S. Government and the Alleged Killer of JFK (36 page)

Oswald's greatest concern was whether he would be prosecuted and imprisoned after returning to the U.S., and he engaged Snyder openly about it. The most Snyder was willing to say was that although he could make no promises, he did not know of any grounds on which Oswald would be prosecuted.20 Unlike his 1959 meeting with Snyder, Oswald did not get angry. This time he groveled before Snyder with uncharacteristic humility, pleading that he had "learned a hard lesson a hard way" and acquired "a new appreciation of the United States and the meaning of freedom." Oswald filled out his passport renewal form" as an American national.22 The "bravado and arrogance" of his 1959 defection performance were ancient history. Oswald, Snyder testified to the Warren Commission, "seemed to have matured."23

Time was short: Oswald's passport was due to expire on September 10, 1961,24 and it appeared unlikely the Soviets would issue his exit papers before then. On the basis of his "written and oral statements," Snyder concluded that Oswald had not expatriated himself, and therefore gave him back his passport-stamped valid only for travel to the United States.25 Marina joined Oswald in the embassy on the following day, July 11, to initiate the paperwork for her immigration to the United States. Both Oswalds had a routine interview with McVickar, Snyder's assistant (who had also been present during Oswald's defection in 1959).26 Oswald signed Marina's visa application,27 and said he had saved about two hundred rubles for the return trip and that they would try to save some more.21

On July 11, 1961, cables between the American Embassy in Moscow and the State Department in Washington crossed on their respective journeys. On the same day, both sent cables addressing the issue of Oswald's citizenship. The State Department was responding to the embassy's earlier cables on this and other passport and immigration issues, and the department now authorized the embassy to use its own discretion within the narrow realm of whether Oswald was "entitled to the protection of the United States should an emergency situation arise." If there was no emergency, the embassy was expected to ask Washington before making a final decision on granting Oswald documentation of United States citizenship.29 The embassy cable the same day reiterated its view that Oswald had not committed any expatriating acts, and that his American passport should be returned so that he could begin the application process for a Soviet exit visa. The embassy also asked the department to "approve or disapprove" Oswald's renewal application.'

On July 14, Lee and Marina returned to Minsk," and Oswald chose that day to reopen contact with his brother Robert, telling him he had his passport back and describing what a "test" he had endured to get it. "I could write a book," Oswald said, "about how many feelings have come and gone since that day." The letter was unusually affectionate toward his family.32 "The letter's tone of firm purpose to return to the United States in the face of heavy odds," the Warren Commission observed, "reflected Oswald's attitude thereafter."33 In spite of these odds, Lee and Marina began the procedures with local authorities to acquire permission to leave the Soviet Union.3"

On July 15, 1961, Oswald reported their progress to the embassy, and offered to keep them informed "as to the overall picture." Marina was having difficulties at work because of her decision to go to the United States with her husband, Oswald said, but added that such "tactics" were "quite useless" and that Marina had "stood up well, without getting into trouble."" For August 21 through September 1, Oswald's diary has this entry: "I make repeated trips to the passport & visa office, also to Ministry of For. Affairs in Minsk, also Min. of Internal Affairs, all of which have a say in the granting of a visa. I extracted promises of quick attention to us.36 For September through October 18, Oswald wrote, "No word from Min. (`They'll call us.')."37

For a time, events seemed to be moving more quickly than they actually were. On July 17, Oswald guaranteed to support Marina if she was allowed to enter the U.S.,' and the next day Marina filled out Oswald's application for a Soviet exit permit.' On July 24, the embassy wrote to Oswald asking him to send copies of his marriage certificate,' which he managed to send, along with Marina's birth certificate, to the embassy in August."' By August 8 Oswald was already planning the trip itself. He wrote to the embassy to ask if they could travel by train through Poland and then catch a military hop from Berlin.' On August 21, Marina put in a request for her own Soviet exit visa,43 and had it and her Soviet passport in hand by December 1, 196144

Oswald's decision to bring Marina to America presented a different sort of problem for the CIA. One of the Soviet Russia Division elements in SR/6, the section handling biographic research work- SR/6BIO-had been included in the internal routing of the July 3 Fain report. The chief of SR/6 at the time, known only by the initials T.B.C., described the problem in this way:

I was becoming increasingly interested in watching develop a pattern that we had discovered in the course of our bio and research work in [SR/]6: the number of Soviet women marrying foreigners, being permitted to leave the USSR, then eventually divorcing their spouses and settling down abroad without returning "home." The [redacted] case was among the first of these, and we eventually turned up something like two dozen similar cases. We established links between these women and the KGB. [redacted] became interested in the developing trend we had come across. It was partly out of curiosity to learn if Oswald's wife would actually accompany him to our country, partly out of interest in Oswald's own experiences in the USSR, that we showed operational intelligence interest in the Harvey [Oswald] story45 [emphasis added].

"Per your request for any info on Oswald," said a September 28, 1961, internal CIA memo, "pls[please] note: Marina ... has apparently applied for a visa to the U.S., as reflected in Dept. of State, Visa Office notice received in CIA, which is dated 9/21/61."46 The memo added that this notation "is being placed in Oswald['s] 201."

On October 4, 1961, Oswald wrote to the embassy asking for help in securing Soviet exit visas ,4' and on October 9 Marina's petition to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service was filed. On October 13, the embassy sent dispatch number 317 to the State Department, stating that "Oswald is having difficulty in obtaining exit visas for himself and his wife, and they are subject to increasing harassment in Minsk."08 The records office noted on the attached CIA routing sheet that this dispatch "has not been integrated into the CS [clandestine services] Record System." The only person who signed for it outside of the records office was CI/SIG's Ann Egerter. On December 1, 1961, the Soviets notified the embassy that Marina had her Russian passport and exit visa, which would be good until December 1, 1962.' Marina said she was surprised to get an exit visa.SO So was U.S. Ambassador Thompson in Moscow. He testified to the Warren Commission that it was "unusual" for Marina to have been given her exit visa so quickly."

It was also unusual, as the HSCA noted, that out of all the mail to and from Oswald in Russia, the CIA intercepted just one letter. From a 1962-1963 LINGUAL "Progress Report" dated April 1964, located in an obscure box of CIA records in the National Archives, however, comes this suggestive comment:

The [HT/LINGUAL] Project has produced many items over the years concerning defectors and repatriates from the United States now living in the USSR. Among these have been numerous redefectors who have returned to the United States, the most interesting among whom, during the past year, has been Lee Harvey Oswald. The Project's files contain several items to and from Oswald and his wife, and these were the source of the information that Oswald's pseudonym was used in the USSR as well as when he ordered the murder weapon from the gun store in Chicago.52

This was written by John Mertz, who should have known what was most interesting in Oswald's HT/LINGUAL file because he was the chief of the program at the time. His comment about "several" letters to and from Oswald and Marina leaves open the possibility that the Agency saw more of Oswald's mail than it has publicly acknowledged. We will return to the pseudonym and the rifle mail order later. Now, however, we return to the story of Gerry Patrick Hemming.

Hemming 11: 1961

"After a period of weeks with no orders from the CIA," Hemming later wrote of his time in Los Angeles after his debriefing sessions of October 1960, "I decided to drop my cover and proceed to the Miami area to aid former Cuban associates that needed instructors for their personnel." Hemming had become impatient for more action, and Miami was where the Cuban action was. Naturally, it was also the location of the CIA's JMWAVE station, from which much of its Cuban operations were run. "After arrival in Miami [March 1961]," he said, "I then helped organize a group of volunteer U.S. and foreign Guerrilla Warfare Instructors.53 He named the group "Intercontinental Penetration Forces," or "Interpen" for short. A 1976 CIA memo states Hemming was a "long-time cohort" of Frank Anthony Sturgis, of Watergate fame, and who organized a group of mercenaries for Caribbean and Central American activities which he named the International Anti-Communist Brigade.' This memo said that the "backers of Sturgis' group have never been fully established," and added that a reported "sub-unit" of this brigade was Hemming's Interpen.

Hemming's planned move to Miami was the cause of considerable security activity at the CIA as early as January 1961. On January 3 the chief of CI/Operational Approval and Support Division initiated a CIA Form 693 on Hemming. This form was used to get approval for contact with informants like Hemming and, in this case, listed the "Use of Subject" as "Contact and Assessment."SS The previous day, an internal CIA memo asking for National Agency Checks (NACs) on Hemming said he was "now engaged in revolutionary activities in Nicaragua." The memo added that Hemming "will be debriefed with OCI requirements requesting all possible information concerning current military, economic and political developments in various Latin American countries."'

The CIA assessment of Hemming continued into March 1961. On the final day of March, a CIA report on "[EE-]29229, Subject: Gerald P. Hemming, Jr., Moves to Miami to Engage in Anti-Castro Operations" was submitted internally, along with a list of numbered reports based on "several debriefing sessions" with him. The purpose of this unsigned but highly significant CIA document was to "give a better idea of whether or not Hemming might prove useful." According to the report, Hemming revealed his new plans to CIA Los Angeles Field Office Agent Hendrickson, who reported that Hemming had said he was "moving to Miami" to train Cubans, and planned to arrive on Monday, March 20, 1961.57 The March 31 CIA report provided these details:

Hemming stated that he was going to contact Jimmy Gentry, 953 SW Penn St., Apt. 8, Miami, Florida (Telephone: Franklin 43265) and that these two men were then going to proceed with a plan of action aimed at organizing a small group of "professionals" (experienced revolutionaries) who would attempt to conduct certain reconnaissance operations on the mainland of Cuba via parachute drops and either light plane or water pick-ups. Hemming also stated that he wanted to do what he could in Miami to attempt to unite the anti-Castro forces there and also to lessen the influence of a number of "mercenaries" who had joined various of these movements and were doing it more harm than good while bleeding off much of the available money."

The CIA report added that Hemming had been honing his parachuting skills "during his recent stay in Los Angeles (September 1960-March 1961), and claimed to have jumped at least once a month with one of the local parachute and skydiving clubs."

Hemming's future plans made it necessary, in the view of the anonymous author of the March 31 CIA report, to evaluate him, a feasible task given the large body of recent debriefing material in his files. The report predicted "it appears likely that the Agency may wish either (1) to make certain that no amateur reconnaissance operations directed at Cuba are undertaken, or (2) in one way or another to guide such activities to maximize their usefulness." Hendrickson, the report concluded, "is inclined to believe that Hemming is both sincere and serious in his desire to assist the U.S. government, provided that this can be accomplished through his continuing to act as a soldier of fortune.59

These CIA documents, then, set the dates for Hemming's stay in Los Angles as September 1960 through the end of March 1961, and the date of his time of arrival in Florida as sometime soon after that. Some of the CIA's checking into Hemming involved odd places like Dallas where, on May 10, 1961, the special agent in charge of the CIA field office in Dallas, Texas, sent a cable to the "Chief Invest Div." This was possibly the investigations branch chief of the Security Support Division (SSD) of the CIA's Security Office. From the "Open Desk" at SSD, the check was passed to the "Clearance Branch, PSD," probably the Personnel Support Division.60

The content of the cable is vague but fascinating. The first line was "SUBJ G P H JR EE 29229," undoubtedly meaning "Subject: Gerald P. Hemming Jr., EE-29229." The second line, "Agency Results," is unclear, and could have been meant a Dallas request for information from the Agency, or the results of an Agency check in Dallas. The third line was "FBI NIC," possibly meaning Federal Bureau of Investigation: nothing of intelligence concern." The last line was revealing: "5 others NR," meaning "no records on the other five people." Apparently, the CIA already had information that connected Hemming to five other people.b'

By July 25, 1961, the CIA investigation had run its course. On that date, M. D. Stevens of the Security Office's Security Research Staff (SRS) wrote a memorandum for the file on Hemming, wrapping up the year's events with this remark: "Hemming prefers to use the name Jerry Patrick when commanding Interpen. He was approved as a CIA contact on 6 March 1961 and as of 2 June 1961 a security check turned up no derogatory information."62 By this time the FBI and the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) began asking questions about Hemming. On May 25, ONI section 921E2 called in a "Status Check" to the "ABN" section of the Marine Corps Commandant's Office on Hemming, "Alleged ex-Marine."63 The next day, Navy YN 1 Pierce, of the same ONI section, prepared an ONI cross-reference sheet for information from a May 19 FBI report. The subject of the FBI report was "Anti-Communist Legionnaires and Neutrality Matters," and it contained information on Gerald Patrick Hemming, Robert Wills aka Robert Willis, and Dick Watley.64 A May 23 Miami FBI report, also on anti-Communist legionnaires, was used by a person with the initials "mlb" to prepare another ONI cross-reference sheet. On this sheet, dated June 16, 1961, "mlb" typed the following data: