LETTER TO E. HENRY KNOCHE FROM DAVID W. BELIN RE LEE HARVEY OSWALD WAS IN MEXICO CITY IN LATE SEPTEMBER AND EARLY OCTOBER 1963

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 01481975
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2022
• Document Release Date: August 7, 2017
• Case Number: F-2007-00094
• Publication Date: April 15, 1975

Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01481975
COMMISSION ON CIA ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE UNITED STATES
Washington, DC 20500
Nelson A. Rockefeller,
Chairman
John T. Connor
C. Douglas Dillon
Erwin N. Griswold
Lane Kirkland
Lyman L. Lemnitzer
Ronald Reagan
Edgar F. Shannon, Jr.
April 15, 1975
Mr. E. Henry Knoche
Assistant to the Director
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, D.C.
Dear Mr. Knoche:
David W. Belin,
Executive Director
As you know, Lee Harvey Oswald was in Mexico City in
late September and early October, 1963. Shortly after
he left Mexico City a photograph was taken of an American
male and a question was raised whether or not this male was
Lee Harvey Oswald. The CIA and the Warren Commission both
determined that the picture was not of Lee Harvey Oswald
and that the picture was taken after Oswald left Mexico
City.
Although portions of this record have been released to the
public, other portions have remained classified because
of concerns by the CIA at the time that a release of the
full picture might disclose sources and methods which the
CIA felt were not in the national interest to disclose at
that time. In light of the false allegations about the
assassination of President Kennedy and the false allegations
of CIA involvement, I feel that it would be appropriate to
reconsider whether or not the entire matter can be fully
disclosed at this time.
I would like to receive by April 22 a full report from
the CIA on this entire matter.
t.
I ne-
11J
c I
Sincerely yours,
David W. Belin
Executive Director
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Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01481975
Tha Ca A anti the :NI xi Who
sx weeks. before the ensassination � of
eesident Kennedy. on November 22e�
p63, the Central. Intelligence Agency-
:rzt the following teletype message to-
te �
Fedensl Bureau ofT Investigation
:d the Departments of State and the
a :
Subject: Lee Henry OSWALD
1. On I 0ctOber-�1963- a reliable'
and . sensitive source-. in Mexico �
reported that an American male,
who identified.' �lairnself as Lee
OSWALD, contacted the Soeiet
Embassy in Mexico City inquiring �
whether the Embassy had received
any news concerning a telegram �
which had been sent to Washing-
ton. The American was described
as approximately 35 years old, �
'Isn athletic build, about six �
I,. with a receding hairline.
2. __ is believed that OSWALD
may- be identical. t0. Lee Henry
OSWALD, born on .18 October
1939 in New Orleans, Louisiana. A
former U.S. Marine who defected
to the Soviet' Uniqn in petober
1959-and later made arrangement.
through the 'United States Em-
bassy in Moscow to return to the
United States with his Russian-
born wife, Marina Nikolaevna
Pusakova, and their child. '
3. The information in paragraph
ores is being disseminated to your
representatives in Mexico City.
Any ferfner information received
on this subject will be furnished
you. This information is � being �
made available to the Immigration
and Natsnalization Service)
t as the Lee Henry Oswald of the
2fe me.seest Lee Harvey Oswald? Yes,
see:dine ea Richard Helms, then chief
;f eessesy's Clandestine Services.
:en -1964 memorandum to J.
seeneral counsel to the
;;arsen Cenneission, Helms explained
"see "Ove LDS middle name was
Bernard Yenstermald and
Ge-orge O'Toole
erroneously given as `Henry' in the
subject line and in paragraph two of
the dissemination..:. The maiden sur-
name of Mrs. OSWALD was mistakenly
listed as PUSAKOVA.' "2
But Le ee Harvey. Oswald was not
"approximately 35 years old, with an
athletic build"; he was twenty-three
years old and siender.3 Apparently the
CIA was concerned about the � dis-
crepancy, for on October 23 it sent'
the following message to the Depert:
ment of the Navy:-
Subject: Lee Henry OSWALD �
�Reference is made to CIA Out
Teletype No. 74673 [the earlier
message], dated 10 October 1963,
regarding possible presence of sub-
ject in Mexico City. It is requested
that you forward to this office 'as
soon as possible two copies of the
most recent photograph you have
of subject. We will forward them �
to our representative in Mexico,
whits will attempt to determine if
the Lee OSWALD in Mexico City
and subject are the same individ-
ua1.4
� �
Since Oswald had served in the
Marine Corps, which comes- under the
administration. of the Navy, his person- -
nel records would have included' his
photograph.
What the Agency did not say in this
cable is that it had in its possession a�
photograph :of the man who had
apparently "identified himself' as Os-
wald. The man in the CIA photo was
not Lee Harvey Oswald; he was, just as
the Agency's "reliable and sensitive
source" had described him, approxi-
mately thirty-five years.. old, with an
athletic build and -a receding hairline_
According to a memorandum by
Helms, the CIA never received the
Navy's pictures of Oswald ;and only
concluded .after the' assassination that
two different people were involved.s
Meanwhile, the photograph was deliv-
ered to the FBI on November 22,
i63.6
s 1\lot Oswald
One can only guess at the confusion
�cailsed by the picture. The FBI needed
no Navy photograph to establish that
the mystery man was not Oswald--Lee
Harvey Oswald was sitting handcuffed
in- a, third-floor office of the Dallas
police headquarters. The next day
Special Agent Bardwell D. -Odum was
dispatched with the photograph to the.
motel where Oswald's wife and mother
.were hidden. He showed the picture to
Mrs. Marguerite Oswald, mother of the
accused assassin. Mrs. Oswald looked at
the -photo .and told �dun:- she didn't
recognize the man.7 The following.
day, however, shortly after her son was.
murdered in the basement of Dallas
City Hall, Mrs. Oswald erroneously
identified the mystery man. She told
the press the FBI had shown her a
picture of Jack Ruby the night before.
Mrs. Oswald's mistake. Was- under-
standable�the mystery man bore a
superficial resemblance. to Jack Ruby,
and in her recollection of a brief
glance at the photograph, two faces-
became one. But the misidentification
made it necessary for the Warren
Commission to refer; however oblique-
ly, to the affair of the mystery man.
In the twenty-six volumes of published
testimony and evidence supplementary
to the Warren Repine, the Commission
printed the picture' that was shown to
Mrs. Ose;lald.8 The Warren Report
contains a very brief account of the
incident. -
' According to the Report, -the CIA
had provided the FBI with a photo..
graph of `a man who, it was thought.
. . _
at the time, might have been associated
with Oswald:"9 The Report quoted an
affidavit by Richard Helms that "the
original photograph had been taken by
the CIA outside of the United State;
sometime between July 1, 1963 and
November "r?, l9e-z "I�
-
The Commission's explanation is
both inaccurate and misleading. The
implication that the CIA thought the
mystery man was "associated with
Approved for Release: 2017/01/18 C01481975
k.eeecy must have concluded either
net tie mystery roan Was impersore
tine Oswald or that an unlikely chain.
en' errors had accidentally linked both
he in the photograph and the
le s "contacted" the Soviet Ern-
aesy co Lee Harvey Oswald.. �
The truth was further obscured by
:le Report's reference to the Helms
flidavit, which described the circem-
:ances in which the. mystery man was
hotegraphed only in the roost vague
rid general terms. The affidavit was.-
e..ted 'August. 7,..1964.1 x However, the �
ornmission never mentioned in its
eeport or in its twenty-six supplementa- � �
n volumes that .it had obtained .an
erner. affidavit from. Helms on July 22,
963 in which he was much More
eeelfic.". "The original photograph,"
lelens* testified, "was taken in Mexico
:ity on. October 4, 1963." 3 (This
arIler 'Helms affidavit was released in
967 thrOugh*the efforts of Paul Hoch,
private researcher.) . �
There is no available record that
'.ie.hard Helms ever told the Warren
nernmis'sion .exactly _where in Mexico
:nye the mystery man was.. photo-
raphed, but the circumstances in
:hid" the photograph was given to the
b� ion -offer., a very plausible
e. a. The CIA required the 'FBI
3 T;,op out the background- in � the
hoto before handing it . over to the
:ornrnission! 4 The obvious conclusion
; that the photograph wes taken by a
idden surveillance camera, and the
IA wished � to avoid disclosing its.
)cation. According to knowledgeable.
>rrner employees of .the CIA, the
aviet and Cuban embassies,. among
theta in Mexico City, were under
3nstant photographic surveillance at
ea time. It Seems likely then that the
;an who, according to the CIA,
identified himself as Lee Oswald" was .
eotographed leaving the Mexico City .
abassy of the Soviet Union or 'of
ene other communist country.
.he first public . hint that the 'nye-
eee man may have been impersonating
swalci came in 1966, With the publi-
eion of Edward Jay Epstein:'s In
sest, a scholarly study of the Warren
ommiesion.1 5 Epstein interviewed
.ne of the Commission's legal staff
ealled the incident. He said he
eel Raymond G. Rocca, the
s liaison with the Commis-
ion,16 about the photograph. The levi-
er later received word from the Agency
at the mystery man W3S thou hr to be
ens:aid at the time the photograph was
ii t1,3 lib