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The Central Intelligence Agency's operational interest in Oswald predated the assassination by several years and is documented across station cables, 201 personality files, and counterintelligence correspondence. Agency holdings released under the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 include materials from the Mexico City, Miami, and Directorate of Plans files.
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CIA established under the National Security Act of 1947, consolidating the postwar intelligence function under a single civilian agency.
Appears at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and declares his intent to renounce U.S. citizenship. The CIA opens a 201 personality file on Oswald the following December.
At the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, Santo Trafficante Jr., Johnny Roselli, and Sam Giancana meet with CIA operatives Robert Maheu and James O'Connell. Poison pills and $10,000 are transferred for use against Fidel Castro. The meeting is a cornerstone of the Church Committee's 1975 Interim Report.
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“ARRB · From: ARRB · To: CIA/HRG · JFK-M-20 : F35 : 20030731-973780 : · Release: Redact”
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Finding aid for the Agency's JFK holdings.
Comprehensive congressional review of CIA conduct around the assassination.
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The CIA-directed Brigade 2506 lands at Playa Girón, Cuba. The operation fails within three days, reshaping Kennedy-CIA relations and U.S. policy toward Castro.
U.S. intelligence confirms Soviet medium-range ballistic missiles in Cuba. Thirteen-day standoff shapes the operational context for much of the following year's CIA-Cuba planning.
Travels to Mexico City; visits the Cuban Consulate and the Soviet Embassy through October 2. CIA station cables record the contact; no visa is issued.
Per CI/Liaison routing logs, Roman reads an FBI report describing Oswald's September 1963 Fair Play for Cuba Committee activities in New Orleans. She signs the HQ cable to Mexico City six days later; that cable does not reference the FBI report.
The CIA headquarters cable responding to the Mexico City station's report on Oswald's Cuban and Soviet embassy visits is dispatched over Roman's signature. The cable states the agency had last reported on Oswald in May 1962. Several FBI reports on his September 1963 New Orleans activities had been routed through CIA in the intervening weeks and are not referenced in the cable. Not fully declassified until 2002.
CIA case officer Nestor Sanchez meets Rolando Cubela (AMLASH-1) in Paris and passes him a poison pen. The meeting concerns a plot against Fidel Castro and is underway at the same hour as the assassination in Dallas. Documented in the Church Committee record.
The Commission on CIA Activities within the United States (Rockefeller Commission) issues its report, which includes a limited review of the Kennedy assassination autopsy materials.
The body of CIA-mob intermediary Johnny Roselli is found in a 55-gallon oil drum in Dumfoundling Bay, Florida. He had disappeared July 28, 1976, shortly before additional scheduled HSCA testimony on CIA-Mafia Castro plots. The FBI later identified Santo Trafficante Jr. as the most likely figure to have ordered the killing; the murder remains officially unsolved.
Former CIA Director Richard Helms acknowledges in Congressional testimony that Clay Shaw had served as a contact for the CIA's Domestic Contact Service in the 1950s–early 1960s.
“CIA · JFK-M-17 : F24 : 2000.02.22.09:53:49:310044 : UNIT INDEX · Release: Redact”
“CIA · From: J. BARRY HARRELSON · To: EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ARRB · JFK-M-15 : F5 : 2000.02.07.14:32:26:543035 : · Release: Redact”
“CIA · JFK-M-17 : F1 : 2000.02.10.14:06:01:780044 : UNIT INDEX · Release: Redact”
“CIA · From: J. BARRY HARRELSON · To: JOHN PEREIRA · JFK-M-16 : F6 : 2000.02.09.13:37:04:747035 : · Release: Redact”
“CIA · From: MICHAEL J. O'NEIL · To: DAVID G. MARWELL · JFK-M-15 : F4 : 2000.02.07.08:31:30:670035 : · Release: Redact”
“CIA · From: BARRY HARRELSON · To: FRED WICKHAM · JFK-M-16 : F6 : 2000.02.09.09:39:32:950035 : · Release: Redact”
“CIA · From: BARRY HARRELSON · To: JOHN PEREIRA, C/HRG · JFK-M-16 : F13 : 2000.02.14.10:05:34:043054 : 3 PG MEMO W/ATTS · Release: Redact”
“CIA · From: J. BARRY HARRELSON · To: FRED WICKHAM · JFK-M-16 : F6 : 2000.02.09.08:48:18:483035 : · Release: Redact”
“CIA · From: WITHHELD · To: NONE · JFK-M-17 : F19 : 2000.02.15.09:14:26:327054 : · Release: Redact”