OS - KRONTHAL, JAMES SPEYER <SANITIZED>

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06619108
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: March 9, 2023
• Document Release Date: February 6, 2020
• Case Number: F-2013-01784
• Publication Date: June 6, 1989

Approved for Release: 2020/01/15 C06619108
6 June 1989
MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
SUBJECT: KRONTHAL, James Speyer
1. The attached memos from C/UDAC and Ed Sayle indicate a
retired Agency "source" alleges that the Kronthal espionage
information came from the debriefings of Dr. Otto John
by Justin O'Donnell or William
Corson.
2. O'Donnell's file was reviewed. He entered the Agency
through the OSS, where he had served in Egypt. His military
record reflects an uncooperative and rebellious attitude.
O'Connell had instances of refusing to obey NC0s, exhibiting a
sarcastic attitude toward them.
3. Another previous supervisor from the Pennsylvania Motor
Police stated he "would betray a confidence if it were in his
interest to do so." A third supervisor recalled he was
"unhesitant about lying to further his own endeavors."
4. O'Donnell's Agency career was marked with instances of
conflicts betweeen him and his peers and supervisors. In 1955 he
submitted a handwritten memorandum under the title, "Reasons Why I
Think I Am Being Made a Target" (as an Agency scapegoat). Another
late 1955 memo further illustrates instances of paranoia and
intemperate acts.
5. In 1961 O'Donnell attended a meeting conducted by C. Tracy
Barnes, then A/DDP where he alleged:
a. Failures in the Cl/CE field,
penetrations of the DD/P.
mentioned in this connection,
management.
as
evidenced by Communist
a staff officer, was (b)(3)
as an example of poor
but only
(b)(3)
(b)(3)
(b)(3)
(b)(3)
b. O'Donnell also noted several unnamed penetrations of SR
Division, inferring that the penetrations were the reasons
that SR had lost a number of agents.
WARNING NOTICE
INTELLIGENCE SOURCES
OR METHODS INVOLVED
(b)(1)
(b)(3)
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Approved for Release: 2020/01/15 C06619108
SECRET
SUBJECT: KRONTHAL, James Speyer
c. He alleged that he had been asked by the DD/P to go to the
Congo and kill Patrice Lumumba. O'Donnell felt this "was
basically wrong" and noted he would fight it.
While O'Donnell was asked on several occasions to put his
allegations in writing and name names, he refused. This resulted
in his dismissal, after several meetings with DCI Dulles failed to
resolve his allegations.
6. O'Donnell subsequently went to work for DOD. A 14
September 1962 memo stated that he appeared to be on a personal
vendetta against the Agency and reflected "his hatred for the CIA
which he exhibited continuously."
7. A 15 February 1979 SAD MFR notes that in William Corson's
book, The Armies of Ignorance, he singles out "my good friend"
Justin O'Donnell among those he acknowledges for help in his book.
8. Otto John's 201 file has not been reviewed, but from the
above information it is obvious that O'Donnell is a disgruntled
former employee, grinding his ax against the Agency for their
failure to believe his unsubstantiated claims of a penetration and
other "wrongs" he feels were perpetrated against him. One would
think that if disgruntled O'Donnell were contacted by or met
disgruntled Corson, a fast friendship would have ensured.
9. Corson's service record (attached) does not have any
indication that he was detailed to or served with the Agency,
particularly during Allen Dulles' tenure as DCI, 1952-1960.
Corson's security file was started as result of
his allegations of Agency employment. Corson does not have, and
never has had, an Agency Personnel folder. Corson's ability to
have been in a position to debrief Otto John seems seriously in
doubt.
Attachments
2
SECRET
Approved for Release: 2020/01/15 C06619108