Fifty five years later, this remains a highly sensitive question.
Take a look at page 9 of this lightly-redacted 1977 CIA memo, released last month by the National Archives. The name of a CIA officer who was running covert operations along with David Phillips in 1963, has been postponed for release until 2021.
The memo, composed by veteran operations officer Ann Goodpasture, describes the staffing and assets of the Mexico City station, where she worked for many years. Goodpasture wanted to prepare her colleagues in Langley for the questions they would likely face from the House Select Committee on Assassination.
We know a lot about David Phillips, the other officer running covert operations in the station at the time. One of Phillips’ Cuban agents, Antonio Veciana, says he saw Phillips with Oswald in Dallas in September 1963. Phillips had a hard time keeping his JFK stories straight. In November 1976, he told the Washington Post reporter Ron Kessler that CIA surveillance had captured Oswald offering help to the Cubans. The next day Phillips testified under oath to the HSCA and all but recanted the story.
JFK researchers will wonder if the other CIA officer running covert action operations in 1962-64 could shed more light on the question of Oswald in Mexico
Is the name postponed because the person is still alive? I put that question to the CIA and a spokesperson said the Agency would not answer it.
I asked National Archives for an unclassified explanation for postponement of the document, as required by the JFK Records Act. I was told the explanation was previously published in the Federal Register.
I asked the Federal Register how to find the notification for Goodpasture’s memo, identified in the National Archives with RIF number, 104-10427-10044. I got this response.
You can search historical editions of the Federal Register here using keywords or phrases, the issuing agency (Assassination Records Review Board), or perhaps that RIF number. However, anything published prior to 2000 may require a manual search because those documents do not include extensive markup tags necessary for reliable searches. I’m sorry, but OFR does not have the resources to perform research for external parties. You can also seek assistance at a Federal Depository Library.
I searched without success. So I’m putting this to readers.
Can you find the Assassination Record Review Board’s determination for postponing the three names in Goodpasture’s Feb. 10, 1977 memo. The RIF number is 104-10427-10044.
Thanks.