EXHIBIT A
The Subject
Every conspiracy theory begins with a file. This is the file that should have prevented Dallas—and didn't. The question is whether the failure was incompetence or design. In the intelligence world, the two are often indistinguishable.
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
FILE NO. 105-82555
SUBJECT
OSWALD, Lee Harvey
AKA: "Alek," "O.H. Lee," "Hidell, A." (alias on mail-order rifle purchase)
DATE OF BIRTH
18 October 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH
New Orleans, LA
HEIGHT / WEIGHT
5'9" / 140 lbs
SECURITY INDEX
REMOVED 9/63
MILITARY SERVICE
OCT 1956
Enlisted USMC, age 17. MOS: Aviation Electronics Operator (radar).
SEP 1957
Assigned MCAS El Toro, CA. Subsequently transferred to Marine Air Control Squadron 1, Atsugi, Japan.
⚠ SECURITY NOTE
Atsugi Naval Air Station served as primary base for U-2 reconnaissance operations over Soviet Union and PRC. Subject held SECRET clearance and worked radar operations tracking U-2 flights. Subject had detailed knowledge of U-2 flight patterns, altitudes, and operational capabilities.
1957-1958
Subject observed studying Russian language independently. Subscribed to Russian-language newspapers. Expressed Marxist political views to fellow Marines. No disciplinary action taken despite security implications.
SEP 1959
Requested and received hardship discharge (mother's health). Discharge characterized as HONORABLE.
DEFECTION TO USSR
OCT 1959
Subject arrived Moscow via Helsinki. Applied for Soviet citizenship at US Embassy. Stated intention to renounce American citizenship and "furnish Soviets with information concerning Marine Corps and radar operations."
He told the Embassy he would give the Soviets everything he knew about U-2 operations. Six months later, Francis Gary Powers was shot down. Coincidence? The Warren Commission didn't ask. — CDJ
JAN 1960
Subject relocated to Minsk, BSSR. Employed at Minsk Radio Factory. KGB surveillance file opened. Subject given subsidized apartment, salary supplement of 700 rubles/month (source: defector reporting).
MAR 1961
Subject met Marina Nikolayevna Prusakova at trade union dance. Marina's uncle was Col. Ilya Prusakov, MVD (Soviet Interior Ministry). Relationship between subject and Soviet intelligence services remains UNRESOLVED.
APR 1961
Subject married Marina Prusakova. Applied to return to United States.
REPATRIATION — ANOMALIES
⚠ UNEXPLAINED
Subject was a Marine defector who had threatened to provide classified information to Soviet intelligence. Under 18 U.S.C. § 953 and UCMJ, subject was potentially liable for prosecution upon return. Instead:
- State Department issued new passport without difficulty
- State Department provided $435.71 LOAN for travel expenses
- No debriefing by any intelligence agency upon return
- No prosecution initiated by DOJ or military authorities
- Subject's wife granted entry despite Soviet intelligence family connections
JUN 1962
Subject and Marina arrived Dallas/Fort Worth area. Met by Spas T. Raikin, representative of Travelers Aid Society (later identified as having connections to anti-Castro Cuban exile community).
AUG 1962
FBI Dallas opened file. Interview conducted by SA James Hosty. Subject deemed "not a security risk at this time."
NEW ORLEANS PERIOD — 1963
APR 1963
Subject relocated New Orleans. Employed at Reily Coffee Company. Reily Coffee located in building adjacent to offices of FBI, CIA, Secret Service, and Office of Naval Intelligence.
MAY-AUG 1963
Subject established "Fair Play for Cuba Committee" chapter (one member: himself). Distributed pro-Castro leaflets. Engaged in radio debate defending Castro.
⚠ CONTRADICTORY ACTIVITY
During same period subject was publicly pro-Castro, he was observed in company of anti-Castro Cuban exiles, including individuals connected to DRE (Cuban Student Directorate), a CIA-funded organization. Subject also visited office of Guy Banister, former FBI SAC and vocal anti-communist. Banister's office address: 544 Camp Street—same address that appeared on Oswald's FPCC pamphlets.
MEXICO CITY — SEPTEMBER 1963
On 27 September 1963, subject traveled to Mexico City. The following cable was intercepted:
CIA MEXICO CITY STATION — ROUTINE
DTG: 091147Z OCT 63
FROM: COS MEXICO CITY [Win Scott]
TO: DIRECTOR / FBI LIAISON
SUBJ: POSSIBLE IDENTIFICATION — AMERICAN MALE AT SOVIET EMBASSY
1. ON 1 OCTOBER, AMERICAN MALE CONTACTED SOVIET EMBASSY MEXICO CITY BY TELEPHONE. SUBJECT SPOKE BROKEN RUSSIAN, IDENTIFIED SELF AS "LEE OSWALD," INQUIRED RE: VISA STATUS.
2. SUBJECT STATED HE HAD VISITED SOVIET EMBASSY 28 SEPT AND SPOKEN WITH CONSUL VALERIY KOSTIKOV.
3. NOTE: KOSTIKOV IS KNOWN KGB OFFICER, DEPARTMENT 13 (ASSASSINATION AND SABOTAGE). THIS CONTACT IS SIGNIFICANT.
4. SURVEILLANCE PHOTOGRAPH ATTACHED. REQUEST HQS IDENTIFICATION.
[ SURVEILLANCE PHOTOGRAPH ]
MEXICO CITY STATION
1 OCT 1963
MEXICO CITY STATION
1 OCT 1963
Photograph shows heavyset male, approximately 35 years old, 6'0", 200+ lbs. THIS DOES NOT MATCH OSWALD (5'9", 140 lbs, age 23). Identity of photographed individual NEVER ESTABLISHED. Photograph suppressed from Warren Commission until 1978.
The mystery photograph. The CIA said this was Oswald at the Soviet Embassy. It clearly wasn't. So who was it? And why did the Agency misidentify him? These questions were not pursued by the Warren Commission. Allen Dulles was on the Warren Commission. — CDJ
3 OCT 1963
Subject returned to Dallas. Rented room at 1026 N. Beckley under alias "O.H. Lee."
16 OCT 1963
Subject obtained employment at Texas School Book Depository, Dealey Plaza, Dallas.
FINAL FBI ACTIONS
OCT 1963
SA Hosty visited Oswald residence twice. Spoke with Marina. Unable to locate subject. Hosty's name and license plate number found in Oswald's address book.
1-3 NOV 1963
Subject allegedly visited by unknown individual(s) at rooming house. Landlady's statement inconsistent. Not pursued.
18 NOV 1963
Dallas newspapers published motorcade route through Dealey Plaza.
22 NOV 1963
[FILE CONTINUES POST-INCIDENT]
SUBJECT DECEASED 24 NOV 63
⚠ POST-INCIDENT NOTE — CLASSIFIED
On 24 November 1963, SA Hosty was ordered by SAC Dallas Gordon Shanklin to destroy a note Oswald had hand-delivered to FBI Dallas office approximately 10 days before assassination. Note contents unknown—Hosty testified it contained only a warning to "stop bothering his wife." Hosty flushed note down toilet on Shanklin's direct order. This destruction of evidence was not disclosed until 1975.
QUESTIONS NOT ASKED
- How did a Marine radar operator at the CIA's most sensitive U-2 base defect without debriefing upon return?
- Who authorized the State Department loan for a threatened traitor?
- Why was subject simultaneously appearing as pro-Castro activist and associating with anti-Castro CIA assets in New Orleans?
- Who was the man photographed at the Soviet Embassy if not Oswald?
- Why was Kostikov—a known assassination specialist—the Soviet official Oswald met in Mexico City?
- What was in the note Hosty destroyed?
- Why was Oswald removed from the Security Index in September 1963—six weeks before Dallas?
• • •
The file was closed on November 24th, 1963, when Jack Ruby—a Dallas nightclub owner with connections to organized crime figures in Chicago, New Orleans, and Havana—walked into the basement of Dallas Police headquarters and shot Lee Harvey Oswald on live television.
Ruby claimed he acted alone, out of grief for the President and a desire to spare Jackie Kennedy the pain of a trial.
The Warren Commission accepted this explanation.
The Warren Commission was very good at accepting explanations.
[AUTHOR'S NOTE: I do not know who Lee Harvey Oswald was. I mean this literally. The file describes a man who is simultaneously a communist defector and an FBI informant, a pro-Castro activist and an associate of anti-Castro terrorists, a lone nut and a man surrounded by intelligence connections. Either Oswald was the most confused man in America, or he was something else—an asset, a patsy, a cutout, a piece of tissue paper designed to be used once and thrown away. The file raises every question. The investigation answered none of them. That, too, is a kind of answer. — CDJ]
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