les midgley cia asset

7/27/2019 Les Midgley CIA Asset

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l8SEPUJ.CI.~ 1 E M O R A } l D U M FOR:SUBJECTREFERENCE

:OAllegat ions of ~ e e H a x : y ~ y __ S N ~ ~ ' _ .Connect ion with t ~ ~ ~ g ~ ~ ~ ~ -: Memorandum of Conversation, DanRather/Les Midgley and the DCI,Dated 6 September 1975

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1. The referent memorandum contains t wo points\'Thich require conunents . The f i r s t point concerns 'a l lega t ions - t ha t were made shor t ly af te r the assa ss ina t ionof P r e s i d e r i ~ _Kennedy and tha t have crep-t;_up every so .of ten . -- --- s ince then:-. - -Iii ...one - form or another ; .. the al legat ions a re - ..- -- ___:__-. tha t Lee:.Harvey -OSWALD .:had . bee n."connected wi.th , th e . Agency. _ ~ : -T h e a l l e g a t i o n ~ a r e } _ : o t a l l y urtfqunded. - .--.. ; . ___


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c . The next component I checked was DCD.There was no record in the i r Headquarters f i l e s .Arrangements were then made for me to checkte lephonical ly with each DCD base in the US. Thechiefs of the bases then serached the i r recordsand spoke with the i r off icers . I vTas then advisedby each of the chiefs or the i r designees individ-ual ly tha t there had been no contact vdth OSWALD.

d. I then checked with Division and .. forany informal desk records. The resul t s were l ~ k ewise negat ive. _ _ . .. . . .. . . .-.e-. : Through t h ~ ,_ of the O f f i c ~ of Securi ty I had the secur i ty __ . _ ;i.les , checked. _ l here was no record .of .OSWALD. .

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specifying a l l the checks I had made and s ta t ingthat the resu l t s shm1ed tha t Lee Harvey OSWALDhad never had any connection whatsoever llith theAgency . Eventually a s t ~ t e r n e n t -to th is e f f ec twas communicated to the Warren Commission.3.. Similar checks regarding use or employmentof OSWALD had been reque sted by the foreign divis ionsof the i r appropriate s ta t ions I was to ld and theresu l t s were negative.

4. I r eca l l very clearly tha t we were e xt r emelyconcerned a t the time that OSWALD, as an Amer ican re turningfrom the USSR, might have. been rout inely debrief8d yDCDr thus having establ ished contact with the Agency. The same _point has now, qui te understandably, b ~ e n madeby the two CBS newsmen. Having some -knowledge of t h i s . - .. s u b j e c t : ; ~ : .:have . personal ly concluded t.ha' = there i s .va l id . 'reason o r r i c n s . :la.ck of inte i:est: o s ~ ~ o a t tha t t i i n e . ' ~ .._ He lvould surely_have .been contacted and- debriefed y DCD -- _____ _::had he been to the USSR and re turned to the US before . . - - .. . ..... .:.

1 9 5 7 i l 9 5 S Trave.l to the Soviet Uniop by e s t e r n ~ r s , . ... - - .pa.rti-cu:I:arly by Amer':i.cans,. b e f o r e t h ~ t t i m e w a ~ quj,te - _ ... .._-'Uricoinmon and we w ~ r e hungry . fo r eye,vi tness informatio ri inthose days. The thaw began in about 1956 and by the endof tha t decade there were so many persons t ravel l ing toand frow the Soviet Union tha t DCD was incapable of t a lk ing to a l l -of them. Therefore, a program of se l ec t iv i tyand spec i f ic t a rge t appl icabi l i ty was ins t i tu ted . In'J. ight o .the above, it .seems t o ~ e tha t O S W ~ ~ D i he:came: t c > ..-ncO-r s at tentl .on a t- a:-11 ....wouJ:d h a v e e - a s i l y been . -by-passed, because he simply did not possess the type o finformation tha t DCD was seeking a t tha t t ime. DCD wouldsure ly have used i t s l imited manpower on t rave l le rs whohad had much grea ter access in the USSR.

5. It should be added tha t my above-descri bedsearch in the Agency f i l e holding produced no record o rindica t ion fuat any other US Government agency had-usedhim as a source o r had considered him fo r recrui tment .

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6. The second point in the referent memorandum concerns the papers that were available at Headquarterson Oswald befote the day of the assassination. Specifi ca l ly , there were five documents which had b e e ~ sent tothe Agency before the assassinat ion. T\vO of the doc::umentshad been sent to us by the FBI; two by the Deoartment o fState , and one by the US Navy. A 201 f i le .had been opened ori 9 December 1960 OR the b a s i ~ of. thereceipt of the f i r s t of these five docwnents".. The 201f i l e containe-d no records that had been originated byany Agency component. The Mexico : . s tat ion s r e po r t i ngof the monitoring of Oswald s act iv i t ies in Mexico had not as ye t been included in the 201 f i l e . The pert inent cab lesfrom .Mexico ,. lvere held a t the Mexico branch a t Head-quar ters , w h ~ l e the data. contained in. them had beendisseminated to the FBI upon receipt . The cables l>Tereincorporated in to the f i l e followirtg the assassinat ion ~nd were, of course, made available to a l l c o n c e r n e d ~i n c l u d ~ n ~ the Warren Commissiol .. .. . - - - . . . - -. . . .. .

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6 September 1975

M E ~ t O R A i l D U M OF CONVERSATION: Dan Rather nnd Les Nidglcy3 September 1975, .

Mr. Rather said that CBS s 1-:orking up a ser ies ofprograms ent i t led The Assassinations, dealing l\ 'i th tllcassassinations of President Kennedy, Robert K e n n e d y ~Rev. King, and the attempt on Gov. Wallace. He sa id theyare part icular ly concerned that they have the fac ts aboutany possible CIA connection with Oswald. He said tha t tseems also, on i t s face, i n c r e d i b l ~ that CIA had not -hadfdme contact with an ex-Maririe who worked in the Soviet -Onion and returned. He said he real ized the dif ference . -J > e ~ ~ v e ~ ~ _ n i n t ~ r v i e w lirth _ h__in anA irrakir1g..hi_m. : i : t \ e n t ~ b u t ..

. J .anted: .to .make sure .he. 'had. covered ~ 1 1 .the; .bets . . H.e referred .' _- --- t 6 t h e ~ : - : w o r k o f M a r . k ia.ne n .:this : fie id and I :-refe-rred to : _ . . ,Dick Gregory's paranoia on the subject of CIA ~ o n n e c t i o n s . t ~ 1 : 1 ~ Kennedy . e a t h ~ . __ - . >. >:_....:. -... : : . . - . : ~ : _: : ~ i e ~ t o- /er>a v ~ ~ ~ i ~ t y : ~ i t . t e ~ ~ \ b . u = t : ~ . : ; ; ~ n 1 : i a i t y : - : . .firmed t up a t the end by saying that_CIA had no contactwith Oswald ei ther d u r i n ~ his Russian period or afterwards,that CIA's o n ~ y records of Oswald came from our becomingalofare of his vis i t s to embassies in Mexico City, 1-1hichinfo-rmation lias made available to the Warren Commissim'i. . hat t h e ~ e i s absolutely no l;>as_s for . a c o n c ~ u s i o n (and . .

s < ) n i e - i n d l c a t . 1 c n 1 s to-..th-e e:c;n.frarir haF Ho1 fara HUt-vis i ed .. -l-Iexico a t the time Osl'lald was there 1 and tha t the Russiant raveler that CIA had interviewed was indeed a dif feren t~ n d i v i d u a l than Oswald, despite the coincidence of the datesof his residence in the S o v i e ~ Union. I ended by saying Iwas prepared to give these answers under oath, based oninformation available within the Agency, although I had no personal knowledge of the matter. I said I could notbel ieve that any addit ional information would suFface inthe Agency as t had been carefully examined from 1963 onespecial ly by Mr. Belin in the Rockefeller Commission invest igat ions due to his personal in teres t in the matter .Mr. ~ I i d g l e y refer red to the fact that some addi t ionalinformation is coming out from the FBI, and I pointed out

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iI - . , . - - . .. ~ - - -- - - : : : : : - - ~ :_ ----- t ha t the Rockefel ler Commission had not had a c ha r t e rto look in to the FBI. We discussed Allen D ul l e s ' s c o m ~ments about t-rhether . an int e l l i gence agent could eve r beexposed, but we l e f t on the f i na l c6mment by Mr. Dullest ha t he bel ieved Mr. Hoover 's comments on . -hi s ma t t e r ,1-rhich Mr. Rather s a id he probably l'lould himself a t t h ~ t

. . t ime. I sa id tha t th i s in no \'lay i-ndicated a des i re by Mr. Dulles to conceal any CIA ac t iv i ty . Mr. Rather a l sos a i d t ha t Mr . Helms had become somewhat ag i t a t ed ove rthe Garr ison a l lega t ions , and I sa id t h i s was e a s i l yexp-lained by Mr. Helms' concern tha t such fal-se a l l e ga t ionsbe made aga ins t CIA. In response to Mr. Rather ' s q u e s t i o n ~I s a i d I know o f no i nd ica t ion t ha t Mr. Helmst a g i t a t i onwas because Mr. _Garr ison was revea l ing in format ion aboutt ~ . e A g ~ n c y \-Thich Mr. Helms \v-an ted to remain CC2J.icea led .

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. . ... .. . . With ~ e s p e c t to ;Oswa.id ' s on t{ ..appea;ance in ou;. r e c o r d . ~ : ~I - expla ined t ha t CIA . mir;ht lvel l have shied of f. - from any . ._ ._.

interviet ' l ivi th him if the re \'las -a_n indicat ion of p r i o r .FBI - - - i n t e res t . : As fo r th e- mi l i t a ry , I s a id the .In te ragency . . :: : ;Source Regis te r .d id . not .in.dica te fr: Os,(ald 1 - i ~ s a clarides-: . ..-t i ne s o u r c ~ and tha_ ncs Jo in t Debrief ing P r o g ~ a m l'li th . .: . :. P . .the mill. t a ry se rv ices from 19 53 ori \(otild probably have __ . ind ica ted any mi l i t a ry debr ie f ing for i n t e l l i gence purposes> :bu t none appear in our f i l e s , so I bel ieved none had beenconducted .

. We pa r ted with my assurance t ha t anything e l s e t ha tarose l'lhich '\vould c a s t doubt on my s ta tements t.rould bebrought to : Mr. Rather ' s a t t e n t ion . : T h e t t l o gent lemen : ... expressed apprec ia t ion for our discuss ion ; .

C O ~ W E N T : From t he i r a t t i t ude , I bel ieve t he re i s achance t ha t the program \-rill ind ica te t ha t t he r e i s noCIA connect ion \vi th Os\'lald beyond t ha t . noted above . Thiscould make a con t r ibu t ion to knocking down the pa rano icb e l i e f to the contra ry . We m u s t ~ hot'lever 1 i n s ~ t h a tMr. Rather does l ea rn anything l-rhich \Wuld cause t he s l .1gh te s t aoulSt on the above accOl. .D.t.:-b..e.f.o.r_e_liJ:.._ .J.?.r.oduce'S1:1le programs 1n November. . A / ~ o _

1 Dis t r ibu t ion :J Orig - DCI W. E. ColbyDi r ec t o r1 1 - Review St a f f

:1 1 - DDO1 1 - DDA1 OIG


7/8

~;IA television ties revealed

Vivid glimpses of how the CIA used the ColumbiaBroadcasting System (CBS) News Division forgathering of information and tracking trade union andradical activists abroad have been made available inan interview with the Los Angeles Times by Richard Salant,CBSNews president. Salant limited himself to the period of the 1950sand 1960s He said he had ordered an internal investigation of theCIA-network links last year after charges were made by formerCBS correspondent Daniel Schorr, and that he has severed all thelinks he d ~ e dSalant said that Sig Mickelson, his predecessoras president ofCBS News, was a CIA contact, along with former WashingtonBureau chief Ted Koop, and former correspondentFrank Kearns.Among methods used by the CIA . according to Salant, wasmonitoringreportsofCBScorrespondentsfromabroad to theNewYork and Washington CBS offices. The CIA listened to reportswhich were not put on the air, as well as those that were. naddition, CBsprovided CIA with outtakes - unused portions offilm footage taken abroad. Salant said that the CIA was particularly interested in footage of demonstrations, rallies and otheractivities so that it could take steps to identify participants, evidently to keep track of radical suspects, and to cooperate withpolice-state agencies abroad.

t was also-CIA practice to debrief correspondents returningfrom a b r o a d ~ o r i n g to one report, CBS Chairman WilliamPaley made t rig inallink between Mickelson and the CIA inOctober 1954 i ~ k e l s o n is now head of Radio Free Europe andRadio Liberty, thoperated by theCIA in the pastand still underCIA guidance though now funded directly from federal funds


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Saturday, May 28; 1977 THE MIAMI HERALD F 3 B

C ~ S RepOrtersGave Aid to CIA.,News Chief Says

HE-SAID CTA contacts includedSig Mickelson, his predecessor aspresident of CBS News, formerWashington ' Bureau chief TedKoop, and former correspondentFrank Kearns, now a journalismprofessor at the University of WestVirginia.Schorr had said Kearns was aCIA agent, which Kearns denied.At one time, he said CBS delivered to the CIA in New York itsouttakes - film not used on theair. Salant said the agency wasparticularly interested in footage ofriots and demonstrations fromabroad so that participants couldbe identified, The Times reported.

I found that t was the practicefor the CIA station guy, or whoever he was - it was always verymysterious - to ask for and getouttakes from abroad. Salant said.He said the CIA monitored thereports submitted by CBS corre-.spondents abroad without theknowledge of the reporters, including reports that were never broadcast.IN IRE 1950s, when CBS corre.spondents returned from abroad {found it was a traditional p r c t i c ~

for them to get invited, and acceptthe invitation, to have a debriefingsession with (former CIA DirectorAllen) Dulles, Salant saidHe said the week after he tookoffice as head of CBS news In1961, a CIA agent came to see him.telling him I'm the liaison withthe news division, and when wewant something, I'm the guywho'll call up.He said the CIA told him t h e ~just wanted to continue the ar-rangement, and Mickelson knowsabout it.He noted Mickelson is nowhead of Radio Free Europe andRadio Liberty, so 1f you want totake a few jumps, it all hangs together The two radio operationshave been linked with the CIA.He said Koop made some ar-rangements with the CIA inWashington in . the 1950s andKearns does seem to have beenplaced, or had some sort of relationship to the CIA and was a re-porter for us.

I DON'T think it would bestrong enough to say he was a spy.He was just one of those peoplethat, when he found out things, hewould pass it along to the CIA.Salant was in Los Angeles to at -tend a convention of network affiliate station managers.

les midgley cia asset

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