Pseudonym: Oswald, Lee Henry

104-10404-10075: LOG SHEET: MATERIAL REVIEWED AT CIA HEADQUARTERS BY HSCA STAFF MEMBERS ON EXPANDED COMPUTER LIST OF U.S. PERSONS DEFECTING TO USSR DURING 1958-1963

The CIA's own log sheet is dogmatic on this point: Lee Henry Oswald is listed as "T" as a true name. Lee Harvey Oswald is listed as "V" as a variant on his true name. Alexsy Harvey Oswald, O.H. Lee, and Alek J. Hidell are all listed as "A" for alias.

1993.08.14.13:05:31:250056: BIOGRAPHY OF LEE HARVEY OSWALD

11/26/59 CIA memo by SR/6/Bio Betty Stacey: "Oswald, Lee Harvey. Date of Birth: October, 18, 1939. Date of Defection: October 1959. Education: High school. Always a studious type. Read books that were considered 'deep'. Military service: Joined the Marines at 17. Said he did this because he didn't want to be a burden on his mother. Became a PFC, radar operator; 14 months service Japan and the Philippines. Honorable discharge on 8? September 1959 (Dependency discharge).

House Select Committee on Assassinations Final Report Current Section: 5. The Secret Service, FBI, and CIA were not involved in the assassination of President Kennedy

"Why was he carried as Lee Henry Oswald in his 201 file? Oswald's 201 file was opened under the name of Lee Henry Oswald. No Agency witness was able to explain why. All Agency personnel, however, including the person who initiated the file opening, testified that this must have been occasioned innocently by bureaucratic error..."

Peter Dale Scott, CIA Files and the Pre-Assassination Framing of Lee Harvey Oswald: http://www.assassinationweb.com/scottc.htm

CIA counterintelligence officer Ann Egerter, one of these "three knowledgeable people," had invented the name "Lee Henry Oswald" back in November 1960, when information about Lee Harvey Oswald was collected in response to a request from the State Department's Director of Intelligence and Research. In December 1960 Ms. Egerter then opened a 201 file on "Lee Henry Oswald," which then became the repository for information on Lee Harvey Oswald, plus her lone misleading report on Lee Henry Oswald. (22) This falsification in 1960 appears to have been deliberate. In her report for the State Department, Ms. Egerter also altered an FBI account from Oswald's mother of Oswald's coming "to Fort Worth for a visit of about three days" into a visit to "his mother in Waco, Texas for about three days." (23) The effect of the two alterations was to make "Lee Henry Oswald" much harder to trace. (24). Endnotes: File Request for "Lee Henry Oswald" reproduced at 4 AH 206...Ann Egerter is identified by a reference in the House Committee Assassination Report (AR 201) to the individual who "responded to the [State Department] inquiry and then opened a 201 file on each defector [including 'Lee Henry Oswald'] involved." 23. ...Attachment to letter of 21 Nov 1960 to Hugh S. Cumming, Jr., Director of Intelligence and Research, State Department, from Richard M. Bissell, Jr., CIA Deputy Director (Plans); submitted for signature by S. H. Horton, Acting Chief, Counter Intelligence Staff.. 24. Marguerite Oswald lived and worked in Waco at the time of her FBI interview in April 1960 (17 WH 708), but not when Lee visited her in Fort Worth in September 1959. Other false or dubious statements in this brief 1960 report (e.g. that Oswald "renounced his U.S. citizenship") are traceable to sources outside the CIA: chiefly Marguerite Oswald's interview with the FBI, and a news story about Oswald by Priscilla Johnson (CIA Doc. #594-252D).

Bill Simpich, State Secret, Chapter 1: Wiretapping in Mexico City, Double Agents, and the Framing of Lee Oswald

During December 1960, Egerter finally opened a 201 file for Oswald when the Office of Security put together a list of defectors and it noticed that Oswald had no biographical file. I think, however, that the Office of Security was spurred to make this observation only after finding out from various sources that Oswald was interested in returning to the USA. Angleton’s successor George Kalaris noted many years later that the 201 was opened because of Oswald’s defector status and because of Oswald’s “queries about possible reentry into the United States”. Egerter named him “Lee Henry Oswald”, and supplied the head of covert operations with a separate Lee Henry Oswald index card with the note “CIT?”, asking whether Oswald was a citizen. Egerter knew Oswald’s real name and was staying on top of his story, as shown by a late 1960 note signed by Egerter after reviewing the Soviet division’s latest memo on Oswald’s background. Oswald’s 201 file could now be used to keep track of Oswald’s alleged biography. Egerter had all of the CIA’s documents available to her by working with the Office of Security, which also had sole access to CIA employee personnel files. By embedding false statements - the “marked cards” - within Oswald's file, and then tracking those people that had access to Oswald’s file, Egerter and her molehunters could determine if this information had surfaced to unauthorized personnel. As mentioned earlier, the covert operations desk had a separate Lee Harvey Oswald index card that was based on Fain’s interviews with the Oswald family. This card states flatly and falsely that Oswald was now a Soviet citizen! In the limited but important world of CIA record-keeping, there were now two different Oswalds by the end of 1960."

180-10070-10404: INTERVIEW WITH JOSEPH BURKHOLDER SMITH

Re Summer, 1963: HSCA Interview with Joseph Burkholder Smith: "...WH/4 was Cuba, before JMWAVE...the Counter Intelligence staff was very interested in the Fair Play for Cuba Committee and getting a penetration into it would have been a high priority effort...(when asked) whether there was a possibility that the New Orleans intelligence operation headed by Banister was funded by right-wing groups through J.C. King, Smith replied, 'Oh yes, I should think so. And I do know that the WH Division did have some activities operating out of New Orleans and I think some of these were used as fronts for funding. King's friends were mostly right-wing, certainly."

Bill Simpich, State Secret, Chapter 5: Wiretapping in Mexico City, Double Agents, and the Framing of Lee Oswald

10/10/63: "Angleton’s aide Ann Egerter had an elaborate role (as the employee) of CI/SIG and its prime directive to smoke out spies trying to penetrate the CIA. Egerter knew his real name was Lee Harvey Oswald. She had been reading about him for years as “Lee Harvey Oswald” in monitoring the US-USSR mail-opening program known as HTLINGUAL. Index cards for the HTLINGUAL program display “Lee Harvey Oswald” and Egerter’s name together... ...Twin Oct 10 memos were cleverly crafted. One went to the national headquarters of the FBI, State, and Navy, and contained a description of “Lee Henry Oswald” as “6 feet tall, athletic build, age 35”, a deliberate lie. This description was similar to a file card description of Yuri Moskalev, who CIA officers believed was probably the "Mystery Man" in the October 1 photo... It also claimed that this information was being shared “with your representatives in Mexico City”... not true...The second memo went directly to the Mexico City station itself, with a different description of “Lee Henry Oswald” as “5 foot 10, 165 pounds” that matched the Robert Webster-like description of Oswald used by Egerter and the FBI for molehunting purposes during Oswald’s days in the Soviet Union... The hope was that one of the marked cards would pop up in the wrong hands in the midst of this Egerter-created clash between the agencies’ headquarters and the local agencies’ offices. When Egerter was questioned by Congress about these two different descriptions, she said that she couldn’t explain why it happened. When Angleton’s CI liaison Jane Roman was shown these two memos many years later, her audiotaped response was that this was 'indicative of a keen interest in Oswald (within the Agency), held very closely on the need to know basis'."

http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Civil%20Actions/JFK-MLK%20Appeals%20Subjects/Ruby%20Records%20Pre-Assassination/Ruby%20Pre%2001.pdf

11/24/63, 10-11:21 am: According to investigator and author Harold Weisberg, "Dallas police Lieutenant George Butler, if my recollection is correct, is the one assigned to signal that the time had come to take Oswald to the vehicle in which be was to have been transported to the county jail from police HQ. The signal was to have been given when this vehicle was in place in the garage beneath police HQ. The signal was given prematurely, before the car was in place. Oswald thus was brought down prematurely." If Butler had waited, the auto would have been parked and blocked the area where Ruby broke through to point his pistol at Oswald." (8/31/78 memo to Quin Shea from author Harold Weisberg.) See 104-10300-10404, William Turner's Ramparts article, 1970, p. 400: Lt. George Butler, high in the Klan, was in "overall charge of the transfer of Oswald on November 24 and who gave the 'all clear' to bring the prisoner into the basement." WC Hearings, Vol. 20, p. 538: Butler was seen in the police basement cleaning out an armored truck to be used as a decoy, with 6-8 officers standing by. Butler is quoted by the publisher of the Oak Cliff Tribune as saying in those final seconds: "He'll never make it to the street." See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n9VQ-dXrwQ - youtube video starting at 1:41 - Fritz is eight feet in front of Oswald. Meanwhile, the officers were blinded by the burst of television lights when Oswald came on the scene. A car horn honks moments before Oswald is shot. While the police are blinded by the TV lights and flashbulbs, Ruby jumps into the crease and shoots. The pickup car literally taps Ruby's buttocks.

Jan Stevens, The Fourth Decade, Volume 1, Issue 3, Current Section: The Oswald Transfer: Who Was Responsible?

11/24/63, 10-11:21 am: "Author Harold Weisberg said it best...: '(The Warren Report) goes out of its way to justify fables and fabrications', citing only 'minor procedural errors on the part of the police'. We do know that details of the transfer caused sharp disagreement between (Police Chief Jesse Curry and homicide chief Will Fritz). The original plan was to use an armored truck, or 'money wagon', to transport Oswald...Curry finally decided to use the armored truck as a decoy, and to take Oswald in an unmarked car which would then veer off the route away from the other vehicles and approach the jail from another way...On Sunday morning, Curry put Sgt. Patrick Dean in charge of basement security, along with Deputy Chief Stevenson...Dean, we now know, enjoyed a long-standing relationship with Dallas Mob boss Joseph Civello, as he admitted to author Peter Dale Scott 'without embarrassment'...The most damning evidence about the transfer that never happened is, however, the filmed reactions of Will Fritz to the Oswald shooting...as we can clearly see from the CBS coverage, Fritz is just rounding the corner when Ruby lunges forward and fires his Cobra 38 into Oswald. Fritz is the only man in sight who does not display any immediate reaction to the shot. Even after Ruby surges forward the second time, Fritz has yet to turn around, then does so ever-so-slowly, raising his arms on either side. He has a slightly bemused look on his face and looks more like he's about to dance in the 'Nutcracker Suite' ballet, than the tough as nails homicide detective his reputation suggests...Police officers are given specific and extensive training to react quickly and properly to the sound of gunfire." See http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/C%20Disk/Castorr%20L%20Robert%20Colonel/Item%2023.pdf - Weisberg: The police testimony was for the car to be in place before Oswald arrived in the basement - it was not in place even upon Oswald's arrival.

Warren Commission Hearings, Volume XV Current Section: Thayer Waldo, p. 594

11/24/63-12/9/63: (Thayer Waldo of the Fort Worth Star Telegram said that Butler was in charge of admitting the reporters into the basement, saying "Come in", and their credentials were checked. WC Hearings, Vol. 21, p. 710): "(During the transfer Butler) was an extremely nervous man, so nervous that when I was standing asking him a question after I had entered the ramp and gotten down to the basement area, just moments before Oswald was brought down, he was standing profile to me and I noticed his lips trembling as he listened and waited for my answer. It was simply a physical characteristic. I had by then spent enough time talking to this man so that it struck me as something totally out of character." Thayer Waldo also testified that Butler had for many years provided him with important information about the Dallas police department. The Dallas Police Association headquarters building to this day is named the “George E. Butler Building” in his honor. On 9th December, 1963, Jack Revill wrote to Jesse Curry claiming that Butler "related that he had information that Lee Harvey Oswald was the illegitimate son of Jack Ruby. Lieutenant Butler further stated that he had information that Jack Ruby had applied for a visa to Mexico about the same time that Lee Harvey Oswald visited that country. He suggested that we contact the Mexican Consul to confirm this information." WC Hearings Vol. 25, p. 166. Also note that Bill Demar/Wally Weston's claim that he saw Oswald at Ruby's club was refuted by one of the waitresses, saying that the waitresses would have known if Oswald was there, and that the lighting makes it impossible to see the audience from the stage. (He may have seen Larry Crafard, a Ruby workman that looked similar to Oswald). https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=57744#relPageId=2&search=%22t-16%22

124-10371-10092: ADMIN FOLDER-Y10: HSCA ADMINISTRATIVE FOLDER, OUTGOING COMMISSION VOLUME III

2/25/64 verified declaration by Special Agent Robert Gemberling: "The following information is set forth with respect to my instruction and the subsequent handling of the contents of the address book of Lee Harvey Oswald. On approximately December 14, 1963, I instructed Special Agent John T. Kesler of the Houston FBI office...to review photographs of the pages of Oswald's address book for leads. He was instructed to extract all names and telephone numbers, the identities of which were unknown, together with any other lead information, and to prepare a memorandum for use in setting out such leads...the information appearing in this address book: 'November 1 1963 FBI agent (RI 1-1211) James P. Hosty MU 8505 1114 Commerce St. Dallas' was not included in this 30-page memorandum inasmuch as the identity of Special Agent Hosty was known to Special Agent Kesler and myself and was not lead information."...it was my decision to have page one of Special Agent Kesler's memorandum retyped on plain multilith in order that the retyped page one and the subsequent 29 pages of his memorandum could be used as an insert in my report. This was done solely to avoid necessity for retyping the contents of the entire memorandum for a report...I had no discussion with Special Agent Kesler concerning the inclusion or exclusion of the data pertaining to Special Agent Hosty in Oswald's address book, but Special Agent Kesler was merely following my instructions to extract information which was lead material...