Lee Oswald Linked to Downing of U-2

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00764R000500100014-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 24, 1998
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: April 19, 1970
• Content Type: NSPR

PRILADURRIA BULLETIN
Approved For Relt a 1 999/0N%4A l lFDP83-00 R000500100014-2
CPYRGHT
Lee Oswald Linked
CP Tz
testimony of John E. Donovan,
a former first ;icutenant as-
signed to the same El Toro
radar unit as Oswald, on page
298 of Volume 8 or the Warren
Commission Hearings.
According to Donovan, Os-
wald "had the access to the to-
cation of all bases in the West
Coast area, all radio fre-
quencies for all squadrons, all
tactical call signs, and the rela-
tive strength of all squadrons,
a squadron, who was the com-
lira,
tion code?of entering and ex-
iting the -'ADIZ, which stands.
for'' Air Defense Identification
Zone.' t-Ics.4Cnew the rage oI our
radar. He knew the range of
our radio. And he knew the
range of the surrounding units"
radio and radar."
'Offered to Tell'
Oswald's conversation with
Snyder is mentioned at least
three times in the Report of the
Warren Commission on the As-
sassination of President Ken-
ney (page references are to
The New York Times edition,
published by McGraw-Hill, Oc-
tober 1964).
Page 618:. "Oswald told him
that he had already offered tol
tell a Soviet official what he
had learned as a radar operator
in the Marines."
Page 665: "Oswald stated to
Snyder that he had voluntarily
told Soviet officials that he
would make known to them.all
information concerning the Ma-
rine Corps and his specialty
therein, radar operation,. as he
possessed."
Page 369: "He stated that he' bad volunteered to give Soviet
officials any information that:
h e had ' concerning Marine
Corps operations, and intimated
that he might know something
of special interest."
Tantalizing Lead
. During the six months follow-'
ing the Oct. 31, 1959, Ems
wo
meeting there, were only two
overflights of 'the USSR. The
one which 'occurred on April 9,
1960, was uneventful. The one
'which followed, on May ?1, 1960,
'FRANCIS GARY POWERS displays a' model at:
the U-2 spy plane he flew over the Soviet.Unipn;
in 1960 at his home in ' Burbank, Calif.
(First of a Series)
By FRANCIS GARY POWERS
In September of 1957 a 17-
year-old Marine Corps private
was assigned to Marine Air
Control Squadron No. 1 (MACS-
1) based at Atsugl, Japan.
MACS-I' was a radar unit
whose duties .Included scouting
for;~ incQgning foreign aircraft.
Its equiR ear. 'included height-
finding tdar. The private, a
trained radar operator, had
access to this equipment..
He remained in Japan until
November 1958, at which time
he was returned to the United
States and assigned to Marine
Air Control Squadron No, 9
(MACS-9) at thel! Marine Corps
Air Station at El Toro, Calif:
El Toro was not a U-2 base,
but U-2s frequently flew over
this portion of Southern Califor-
nia. At El Toro he had access
not only to radar and radio
codes but also to the new MPS
16 height-finding radar gear.
'Hardship Discharge'
In September of' 1959 he ob-
tained a "hardship dischar,^.e
from the U.S. Marine. Corps.
The following months he. de-
fected to the Soviet Union.
On Oct. 31, he appeared In
the,American Embassy in Mos-
cow to state his intention of re-
nouncing his U.S. citizenship.
According to Richard E. Sny-
der, the Second Secretary and
senior consular official, and
John A. McVickar, Snyder's as-
sistant, who was also present,
during the course of the conv8r-
sation he mentioned that he, had
already offered to'tell the Rus-
sians everything he knew about
the Marine Corps and his spe-
cialty, radar operation. He also
Intimated that he might know
something'of "special Interest."
His name was Lee Harvey
Oswald.
Six months- later my U-2,was
shot down.
Mentioned In Testimony
Oswald'b familiarity with
MPS 16 height-finding gear and
radar and radio codes (the lat-
Appe
owning of U-
.
ter were changed following his l
For RPIt?act? 1999109194 dCLS0911Pq> tlt7r9t4194Onnn5nn100014-9
 HT__ A -- -
wasn't.
Here the trail ends, except
,for one tantalizing lead, dis-
covered during the research for
this book. .
Among the Warren Commis-
sion )Documents In the National
Archives in Washington, D.C, Is
one numbered 931, dated May
13, 1964, CIA National Security
Classification Secret.
In response to an inquiry,
Mark G. Eckhoff, director, Leg-
islative,.Judicial and Diplomat-
ic Records Division, National
Archives, in a letter dated Oct,
13, ' 1969, stated "Commission
Document 931 is still classified
and withheld from research."
The title or Document No. 931
Is "Oswald's Access to Infor-
mation about the U-2.
NEXT: ~,gowers' connection
with the C. A;, and apprehen.
sion about the upcoming flight.
Approved For Release 1999/09/24: CIA-RDP83-00764R000500100014-2