On October 10, 1963, a man named Lee Harvey Oswald came to the attention of a group of senior CIA officers in Langley, Virginia. Oswald had recently visited the Cuban consulate and Soviet Embassy in Mexico City. A CIA wiretap captured a man identifying himself as “Oswald.”
…Oct. 10, 1963: Six top CIA officers discuss Lee Harvey OswaldRead More »
Howard Willens, former staff attorney on the Warren Commission, remains one of its most vigorous public defenders 50-plus years later.
…‘I was naive to say the least:’ Q&A with Howard Willens of the Warren CommissionRead More »
I spoke about JFK’s assassination on SPAN’s Washington Journal program on Dec. 20, 2021.
ForTruman’s piece in the Washington Post on Dec. 22, 1963, see next page.
…What Harry Truman thought about JFK’s assassinationRead More »
You can watch on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, or Vimeo.
Dear Jeff
I am currently reading Scorpion’s Dance and just wanted to let you know how much I am enjoying it! Really interesting and can’t wait to finish. Starting Chapter 14 later tonight. Good stuff!! I need to order The Ghost next. I enjoy your writing and insight. Best, Ed
….the CIA concocted an ill-conceived scheme to boost their image: Why not create a James Bond of their own? And thus, the Agency tasked a career spy named Howard Hunt with a confidential mission to ‘become the Ian Fleming of the American clandestine service.’ Off Hunt went on a tax-payer funded writers retreat to Madrid where he churned out three novels following the exploits of ‘Peter Ward’—the commie-hunting CIA operative whose missions took him from Hong Kong to New Delhi. There would be seven books in total. The only problem was that the CIA’s pulpy propaganda campaign failed spectacularly. Twice denied by Hollywood, ‘Peter Ward’ was no match for the smoldering adventures of James Bond, and Howard Hunt was no Ian Fleming.
Here’s a deep dive on the CIA and Watergate in three parts: Christopher Moran talks about Richard Nixon’s evovling hostility to the CIA; I talk about Nixon and CIA director Richard Helms; and John Prados talks Helm’s successor, William Colby, and the fall out of Watergate affair.
…Sounded good. It just wasn’t true.
From Eve Ottenberg in Counterpunch
“Jefferson Morley’s Scorpion’s Dance, the President, the Spymaster and Watergate, details decades of CIA funny-business, and there was loads of it. Indeed, if you ever wonder how the world got to be such a mess and who’s responsible, read this book.
A friend writes: “I’m recommending a fantastic chat between Aaron Good and Jefferson Morley, two of the most cogent and relevant analysts of the Cold War’s domestic political legacy. It’s “about” Watergate, but it covers so much more than that. Take the time and have a deeper understanding of the break-in, the burglars,….
Listen here.
Listen to the story: “The CIA had no involvement in the break-in,” said the duly sworn witness Richard Helms. “No involvement whatever.'”
…The Rockefeller Commission wanted to know: Was the Watergate burglar involved in the assassination of President Kennedy?
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[ICYMI Part I : A veteran officer analyzes the death of a president / Part II: ‘The very top people.’ / ]
CIA veteran Rolf Mowatt-Larseen proposed a “thought experiment” to the November 2019 JFK conference in Dallas. He reverse-engineered the lone gunman scenario, posing a question both novel and incisive.
“How can you get away with a really elaborate but very simple plan of deception, to end up in a place where the president is dead and it is blamed on someone else, other than the people who perpetrated it?” he asked. “Not easy.”
…CIA tradecraft & JFK’s assassination: the making of a patsyRead More »
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