Home/ Resources / Projects / CIA Pseudonyms / pseudonym: CARSWELL_DANIEL

Pseudonym: Carswell, Daniel

Definition:
Daniel Carswell was an alias used by CIA Technical Services Division (TSD) operative David L. Christ. Christ was, along with two others, arrested by Cuban Intelligence in Havana in 1960.
Category:
alias
Status:
Documented
Discussion:
A memo by Arnold Silver on September 20, 1960, stated that at "approximately 1630 hours on 10 August 1960, Christ visited the office of the undersigned to state that he would soon be going to Havana to redo an audio installation in the Hotel Rosita and possibly to mount other audio operations, unspecified by Christ. Christ requested that Mr. Earl Harter and possibly 'some' of Harter’s personnel accompany him on the Havana assignment."

Bayard Stockton, in Flawed Patriot: The Rise and Fall of CIA Legend Bill Harvey, mentioned Earl Harter and the "second-story men."
Sources:

104-10110-10422: MEMO: IDENTIFICATION OF AGENCY PSEUDONYMS.

"1. Several names occur in the press material recently made available to FIOB which probably cannot be identified in Security files, but which are known to the writer. These names are pseudonyms which were used by Staff employees as shown below. Daniel Carswell: David L. Christ. Eustace Danbrunt: Thornton Anderson. Edmund Taransky: Walter E. Szuminski. 2. Christ, Anderson, and Szuminski were arrested in Cuba and were held prisoner by Castro. Their true names have never appeared in the press, and all material relating to their assignment and imprisonment in Cuba is held in SRS..." See 1/18/68, Memo from E. Mendoza to Chief, FIOB/Security Research Staff:

104-10111-10040: MRS. DAVID L. CHRIST

David Christ and his colleagues were arrested on 9/15/60. Christ's alias was Daniel Carswell; his colleagues' names and pseudos can be found in this document. James Donovan - the attorney who negotiated the release of the Bay of Pigs prisoners - was made witting of their Agency background. Constantine Kangles - a Chicago attorney who worked with people like Richard Cain and had formerly been the attorney for the Cuban government and Fidel Castro in the US - allegedly did not know of the Agency background of Christ and his colleagues. The prisoners were in the Isle of Pines prison at the same time as John Martino, as pointed out in Larry Hancock's book "Someone Would Have Talked".

104-10066-10076: SUMMARY OF ESCALADE AUDIO OPERATION AGAINST THE NEW CHINA NEWS AGENCY IN HAVANA.

9/20/60 memo to Director, Central Intelligence from Acting WH Chief Rudolph Gomez: Listening devices had been installed within the New China News Agency from adjacent apartments. When it was learned that the leases were being cancelled, the decision was made to install distant listening devices. That is when Carswell and the other officers were captured by the Cubans. Gomez describes their fake names as aliases, not pseudonyms.

104-10111-10062: CONVERSATION WITH MR. DAVID CHRIST.

09/20/60: Memo from Arnold M. Silver, FI/D/Ops, to Chief, FI/D, William K. Harvey: "1. Pursuant to the request of Chief, FI/D, on 19 September 1960, this memorandum contains the substance of a conversation between Mr. David Christ, TSD, and the undersigned. 2. Approximately 1630 hours on 10 August 1960, Christ visited the office of the undersigned to state that he would soon be going to Havana to redo an audio installation in the Hotel Rosita and possibly to mount other audio operations, unspecified by Christ. Christ requested that Mr. Earl Harter and possibly 'some' of Harter’s personnel accompany him on the Havana assignment. In response to the query by the undersigned as to why Harter’s services were desired, Christ stated that Harter might be needed for entry into the target area. When the undersigned pointed out that there was apparently no entry problem with regard to the Hotel Rosita target rooms, Christ changed the basis for his request in that he mentioned the possible need for protection while in Havana. He went on to explain that Harter and his people could be used to determine whether he, Christ, was under surveillance. At this juncture, Harter entered the undersigned’s office, and Christ repeated his request. After a review of the pros and cons, and particularly in view of Harter’s duties, it was decided that there was no concrete purpose which could justify the assignment of Harter as requested by Christ. 3. Christ proceeded to Havana on 17 August, returned to Washington o/a 31 August, and departed again for Havana for the NCNA task o/a 7 September."

104-10110-10447: WESTERN UNION TELEGRAM TO DANIEL CARSWELL

November 1961: James R. Murphy (probably the high-ranking officer and colleague of Jim Angleton in the Domestic Contact Service) sent a Western Union telegram to Carswell - imprisoned in Cuba - on this date. Contents are in Spanish. Translation: Happy to receive your letter on the 15 of October. Last week I sent packages to the Swiss for you all. I will send more today including the vitamins and other things you ask for. I hope they will arrive without delay. I will communicate with the Swiss Embassy about the special medicines to avoid confusion. Please send me a cable message with the names of the medicines. Victor has your address. Margaret recently sent him several letters. Believe me, you and the others are not forgotten. Your friends and I personally have looked into many possibilities. We have not lost hope and if money could help, we have procured a respectable sum to continue legally fighting your case. It is important that you do not lose hope. I will try to keep you informed and write more frequently. We are of course glad that you are in good physical condition and have what you need to survive (like the basics). Answer me in a cable gram. Keep it to 100 words. Sincerely, Murphy (Note: Murphy became chief of Domestic Contact Service later in the 1960s, was a close friend of James Angleton in X-2 after WW II in the ratlines bringing Jews from Italy into Palestine.)

1993.07.14.18:40:24:680620: RELEASE OF U.S. PRISONERS FROM CUBA

4/23/63 memo from INS Assistant Regional Intelligence Officer Francis Quebodeaux to Chief Intelligence Officer N. T. Flagg re release of Cuban prisoners, re his flight from Miami International Airport to Jose Marti airport: "Mr. James Donovan and twenty-one who had been released from Cuban prison were delayed in their arrival to Jose Marti airport...Listed below are the names of the prisoners who were to be released according to newspaper articles. Of these names there were eight who were not (illegible)...to the United States. A single asterisk? has been placed before each of these eight men who were not among those who were (allowed?) back to the United States. There two prisoners whose names were not on the published list and were among the twenty-one coming back with us... There were two prisoners who are the last ones of the names below, are indicated with a double asterisk..." The eight names are Pedro Fuentes Cid, Joseph Anthony Sanchez, John M. Spiritto, Angel Francisco Trujillo, Antonio Garcia Crews, Rafael del Pino, Jack O'Jalvo, and Ramon Williams. The two with double asterisks are Jorge E. de Waldo Lamar? and Hector B. Varona. On Pedro Fuentes Cid - see https://www.memoryofnations.eu/en/fuentes-cid-pedro-j-1939...The Office of Special Consular Services worked with the Swiss on these and other matters: See https://books.google.com/books?id=1HCrwgYccLQC&pg=PA37&lpg=PA37&dq=%22joseph+anthony+sanchez%22+prisoner&source=bl&ots=qa6F0O7Pwg&sig=ACfU3U2kW0_IkP_SrMwO0ov2JFKqHsO_zQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwir4L3kqMTuAhX4FTQIHWVPBpwQ6AEwEHoECBEQAg#v=onepage&q=%22joseph%20anthony%20sanchez%22%20prisoner&f=false

(2006) Flawed Patriot: The Rise and Fall of CIA Legend Bill Harvey by Bayard Stockton

Pages 146-47: ..."THE SECOND-STORY MEN: The National Security Agency (NSA) had been established to tap the communications of anyone, anywhere. It did a fine job of capturing communications and decoding material on its own supercomputers. But its task could be made much easier if someone provided it with codebooks and other materials on which encrypted messages were based. Procurement of such cryptographic materials was the original raison d'etre of Staff D...The team that provided such documentary gold was part of Division D, where they were referred to jovially as the Second-Story Men, CIA's licensed burglars. They were run by Earl Harter, a CIA legend in his own right. Their feats are to this day highly classified, but the members of the team were greatly admired among those few who knew them...Evan Thomas, author of The Very Best Men, adds, 'They were a very rough bunch with strong ties to (if not full-fledged membership (in) the underworld. 'We had to keep the FBI informed when one of them traveled', said Sam Halpern. Bill Harvey knew where to find men of this caliber'...Halpern recalls, 'Earl Harter was absolutely wonderful. His boys were very, very good. They never talked...No one will ever know the number of embassies all over the world that they entered and relieved of crypto materials.' The very secrecy in which Harter operated was an obvious attraction for Harvey, who needed to hide any trace of the CIA's attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro..."

Contributors:
A. J. Weberman • MFF • Bill Simpich

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