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Octafish

(55,745 posts)
Sat Dec 14, 2013, 02:04 PM Dec 2013

JFK Conference: Dan Hardway Detailed how CIA Obstructed HSCA Investigation [View all]

As a Democrat, a DUer and as a citizen of the United States, I was proud to attend "Passing the Torch: An International Symposium on the 50th Anniversary of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy" at Duquesne University in October.

One of the important speakers there I was privileged to hear is attorney Dan L. Hardway, whose program was entitled "A View from the Trenches: The HSCA and the CIA." Mr. Hardway once served as a staff investigator and researcher for the House Select Committee on Assassinations.



A body formed by the House of Representatives in 1976, the HSCA was founded to investigate the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In brief, the HSCA was to follow up on information that the Church Committee in the Senate and the Pike Committee in the House -- and other Congressional investigations after Watergate -- uncovered, including the startling revelations that the CIA and the Mafia conspired to murder foreign leaders, starting in 1960 with Patrice Lumumba in Congo and later that year to include Fidel Castro in Cuba. Mr. Hardway's work included interviewing people and researching documents related to the Central Intelligence Agency, including their connections to Lee Harvey Oswald.

The record shows, Mr. Hardway said, that within 24 hours of the assassination of President Kennedy, an anti-Castro organization in Miami, the Directorio Revolucionario Estudantil (DRE, an acronym based on the Spanish phrase for Directorate of Revolutionary Students) began to issue information to the United States press that linked Lee Harvey Oswald to Fidel Castro. The information included an episode in New Orleans where Oswald was handing out pro-Castro literature to passers-by in his "role" as chapter head of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. During the leafleting, DRE members confronted Oswald, pushing him around and calling him a communist dupe. The police were called and arrested Oswald, who was not belligerent and had not initiated the confrontation.

This episode in New Orleans was even more important to Hardway and the HSCA than he knew in 1977 when he first began to investigate it. The reason: George Joannides, the intelligence officer the CIA assigned to serve as liaison to the HSCA in the late 1970s, also was in charge of paying almost $450,000 a month (in today's dollars) to the DRE in 1963. This vital information was not made known to the HSCA, nor to the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) in the 1990s.

Below are Mr. Hardway's words, including a partial transcription of his presentation at Duquesne, and some observations on why his testimony is vitally important for our future as a democracy.



…If (the “Oswald, the Pro-Castro Commie” story) was that coordinated, that quick, and as detailed, it would be reasonable to infer that it had been laid on in advance. I set out to identify the sources of these stories that came out immediately after the assassination with detailed information on Oswald and his pro-Castro activities. I started asking for the CIA files on all those sources. I got a lot of them before we lost access, but I did not get them all. That was one of the things I was really pressing on, when I got shut down.

In the same period, I also found a reference to a CIA debriefing of Johnny Roselli, after Drew Pearson published his piece about Castro turning the assassins sent to kill him around and sending them back to kill Kennedy. I asked for the records about the debriefing that was part of what I was looking into with Bill Harvey. That's how I came across that. I very clearly remember some of the details about this. The debriefing happened at a CIA safe house over a period of two weeks in 1967. Sheffield Edwards was one of the debriefers. He was brought out of retirement, I think in order to do that, I think I remember that he was brought out of retirement.

And that was when the CIA changed the procedures on us. They brought George Joannides out of retirement to be the new liaison for me and Ed (Edwin L. Lopez), primarily. He closed our office at Langley. The agency set up a safe room for us to use as committee offices. I no longer had direct contact with any CIA employees to request files. All further requests for documents and files had to be in writing and approved through official channels. Files (we requested) were not produced for weeks after being requested. My whole inquiry into areas outside and inside the scope of my portfolio ground to a halt. We soon thereafter lost unexpurgated access and perk…

Long and short on the Rosselli debriefing: I was told eventually -- I was given expurgated access to it. As a matter of fact, it was the first expurgated document I was handed. It happened out at the old meeting room that I had at the CIA. It was one of the few times that I am sure I met George Joannides. Ed remembers meeting him a lot. I don't remember meeting that many times, but I know I met him that time because when I walked in, it was just me, him, and Scott Breckenridge.

They handed me the file. It was about 2-inches, 2-and-a-half-inches thick. I sat down at the desk and they stood there, grinning, which struck me as unusual, and I thought maybe they don't trust me to look at the file without them present, because usually whoever delivered the file (in the past) would leave and let me work on them. And they were standing there, grinning in anticipation. And I opened it. And not only was the document expurgated, instead of taking the document and blacking out the lines on the copy, which is what they always did, they had retyped the whole document leaving white spaces where things were left out.

I blew up. I left. And, uh. They agreed, after the committee issued a subpoena, they agreed to let Gary Cornwall see it, unexpurgated. Gary went out there one day in the middle of trying to get the final report written, with 20 things on his agenda to get done. He stayed maybe two hours. He was out of the office about two hours. I know because I was waiting for him to get back, because I wanted to find out what he'd seen. And when he came back in he said, “It doesn't have anything to do with what you're working on for the final report. Forget it.” And that was the end of it.

That was the end of it until I went before the Assassination Records Review Board, which I was subpoenaed before to testify. And after they'd asked me about all the documents they wanted to ask me about, they asked me if there was anything else that they should ask me about that they had not asked me about. I told them about the debriefing of Johnny Roselli, about Sheffield Edwards' involvement, about Harvey, leaving the (inaudible) with the Harvey files. They (ARRB) said they would search for that, because it certainly sounded interesting and relevant and something that should be disclosed. They later had the kindness to get back to me, to tell me there was no record of any such file having ever existed or having ever been requested by the House Select Committee on Assassinations...



The George Joannides case shows the lengths to which the CIA went to stonewall the HSCA investigation. That's not just what Mr. Hardway said, it's what G. Robert Blakey, the chief counsel and staff director of the HSCA said:



I am no longer confident that the Central Intelligence Agency co-operated with the committee...

SNIP...

I was not told of Joannides’ background with the DRE, a focal point of the investigation. Had I known who he was, he would have been a witness who would have been interrogated under oath by the staff or by the committee. He would never have been acceptable as a point of contact with us to retrieve documents. In fact, I have now learned, as I note above, that Joannides was the point of contact between the Agency and DRE during the period Oswald was in contact with DRE.

That the Agency would put a “material witness” in as a “filter” between the committee and its quests for documents was a flat out breach of the understanding the committee had with the Agency that it would co-operate with the investigation.

The committee’s researchers immediately complained to me that Joannides was, in fact, not facilitating but obstructing our obtaining of documents. I contacted Breckinridge and Joannides. Their side of the story wrote off the complaints to the young age and attitude of the people.

They were certainly right about one question: the committee’s researchers did not trust the Agency. Indeed, that is precisely why they were in their positions. We wanted to test the Agency’s integrity. I wrote off the complaints. I was wrong; the researchers were right. I now believe the process lacked integrity precisely because of Joannides.

SNIP...

Significantly, the Warren Commission’s conclusion that the agencies of the government co-operated with it is, in retrospect, not the truth.

CONTINUED...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/biographies/oswald/interview-g-robert-blakey/#addendum



Federal Judge John Tunheim, who headed the ARRB panel, the government body charged with finding, reviewing and releasing all pertinent JFK and MLK assassination records, said he was very surprised to learn to what extend the CIA went to obstruct HSCA Congressional investigators, the ARRB and the law:

“It really was an example of treachery,” Tunheim said in a recent interview of the CIA’s handling of the Joannides affair. “If (the CIA) fooled us on that, they may have fooled us on other things.”

SOURCE: http://www.bostonglobe.com/2013/11/25/government-still-withholding-thousands-documents-jfk-assassination/PvBM2PCgW1H11vadQ4Wp4H/story.html

What other things? If this is a democracy, We the People should know and know soon, if not immediately. The JFK assassination records still held by CIA, the Pentagon and other government agencies are mandated by law to be released by 2017 -- unless the President in 2017 determines they should not be released. I don't know about you, Dear Reader, but that fact alone makes me want to vote for the Democrat, even if it's someone I -- Octafish -- don't support in the primary. The GOP wing of CIA, the ones who entered into league with the Mafia to kill, has demonstrated they can't be trusted to do the right thing, let alone what's Constitutional.
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We better pray that our Democratic candidate in 2016 is a Democrat. nt NYC_SKP Dec 2013 #1
Yes. A good Democrat. Octafish Dec 2013 #2
... SidDithers Dec 2013 #3
So, apart from ridicule, nothing to add, SidDithers? Octafish Dec 2013 #4
I think Sid thinks Dan Hardway is a professional craps player hootinholler Dec 2013 #5
For those not clear on the concept: Assassination has no place in Democracy. Octafish Dec 2013 #9
It's hard to argue against facts, so have a little sympathy for those who try so hard to distract sabrina 1 Dec 2013 #21
When you can't argue hootinholler Dec 2013 #22
I suppose, but it's a bit futile to try to hide facts because they have a way of surfacing even if sabrina 1 Dec 2013 #24
Sid likes to dither... It's in his nature, and name. SpcMnky Dec 2013 #14
... SidDithers Dec 2013 #17
You are most welcome, SpcMnky! Octafish Dec 2013 #23
The Guardian had something weird on Joannides a few years back starroute Dec 2013 #6
People at Duquesne asked Jefferson Morley and David Talbot about Los Angeles... Octafish Dec 2013 #8
check this out....review of Morley's book about Joannides. this thread reminded me of Winston Scott Gabi Hayes Dec 2013 #12
Thank you for the heads-up, Gabi Hayes! CTKA does not hold back, even for one of its own... Octafish Dec 2013 #28
Mary Meyer was the person to whom I referred, re: Angleton swooping in on the scene after her Gabi Hayes Dec 2013 #29
Gaeton Fonzi responds to Bugliosi's prosecutor's brief, I mean book: Gabi Hayes Dec 2013 #33
"Maurice Bishop...was David Atlee Phillips" Gabi Hayes Dec 2013 #34
Thanks for the heads-up, Gabi-san. A couple of threads on DU brought it up... Octafish Dec 2013 #35
hey! my painting! just goes to show what a bit of moldy rye will do to your perspective. wonder Gabi Hayes Dec 2013 #36
Reply From a Conspiracy Believer Octafish Dec 2013 #37
UnLocking. greytdemocrat Dec 2013 #7
Kick to restore. johnnyreb Dec 2013 #10
More from Dan Hardway's presentation... Octafish Dec 2013 #19
K & R !!! WillyT Dec 2013 #11
What a former CIA agent said to the Congressional investigators... Octafish Dec 2013 #20
I remember being flabbergasted by deMohrenschildt's demise, as well as the rest of his story, Gabi Hayes Dec 2013 #30
Recommended. (nt) NYC_SKP Dec 2013 #13
Thought you were locking these... SidDithers Dec 2013 #15
What's it to ya? Octafish Dec 2013 #16
It Can't Happen A-Schwarzenegger Dec 2013 #18
Redacted from Lopez Report Octafish Dec 2013 #25
Thank you, Octafish. I appreciate all the information you bring from the Duquesne Conference. Zen Democrat Dec 2013 #26
Presenting sponsor was the Heinz History Center, a Smithsonian affiliated institution... Octafish Dec 2013 #27
K&R n/t JohnyCanuck Dec 2013 #31
A great DUer told me to turn on the CBC... Octafish Dec 2013 #38
K&R for the unlock. SixString Dec 2013 #32
Douglas Horne of the ARRB sees JFK at war with the national security establishment... Octafish Dec 2013 #39
Thank you. SixString Dec 2013 #41
It's no wonder the CIA/former OSS team would obsfucate, obstruct and obliterate the HSCA bobthedrummer Dec 2013 #40
Thank you, bobthedrummer! Readers are Leaders... Octafish Dec 2013 #42
Thank you for the "what that means" hyperlink. The National Security Archive is a trusted site for bobthedrummer Dec 2013 #43
The Garrison Commission: On the Assassination of President Kennedy Octafish Dec 2013 #45
K&R for the unlock Waiting For Everyman Dec 2013 #44
Thank you, Waiting For Everyman. Ripples... Octafish Dec 2013 #46
A lot of good info throughout the o.p. and replies. Mc Mike Dec 2013 #47
6-member Duquesne Media Panel ALL said the topic is taboo in national news media. Octafish Dec 2013 #48
History written by the 'winners'. Mc Mike Dec 2013 #56
I didn't realize it was ever locked. Raksha Dec 2013 #50
See post 7, Rak. Mc Mike Dec 2013 #54
K & R Raksha Dec 2013 #49
Congress is the People and CIA lied to it and us. Octafish Dec 2013 #51
"As a Democrat, a DUer and as a citizen of the United States"..... Logical Dec 2013 #52
They are words that express why I wrote the OP. Octafish Dec 2013 #53
Kicked and recommended. Uncle Joe Dec 2013 #55
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