Senator COOPER. Would that be a matter for some other agency?
Mr. HOOVER. That could be a matter for CIA or for us after Oswald had
returned here.
Senator COOPER. Yes.
Mr. HOOVER. Then he becomes a civilian in the country here. Now,
there is what we call a delimitation agreement among the Government
intelligence agencies. For instance, the military branches of the
Government have their own intelligence services and they handle all
military deviations in regard to espionage or things of that kind. If
they want our assistance and ask for it we, of course, will always
cooperate. In regard to CIA, there are many cases which CIA and the
FBI work jointly on, of individuals that may have been recruited over
in Europe by the CIA, not by us, because we don't have authority to do
that abroad, but when that man comes to this country, the best ends of
intelligence are served by having the two agencies work very closely
together, conduct joint interviews, and exchange information very,
very freely. That has been going on ever since I can recall CIA being
existence.
Mr. DULLES. I would like to testify to the fact that that cooperation
existed during the whole period I was Director, and I am sure it has
continued now with great cooperation on both sides.
Mr. HOOVER. It is a very necessary thing, because the intelligence
agency of many of these foreign countries will cover the whole world
and the country itself. Whereas in this country you have separate
agencies covering espionage activities. CIA covers the foreign
activity, and the FBI the domestic activities, and they must be
interlocking. An espionage agent of the Soviet Government can arrive
in New York today by plane from Paris and he can be in Mexico City
tomorrow. Then, CIA would pick him up there. We would not pick him up
there. We would watch him while in this country, but as soon as he
takes that plane and leaves the United States CIA moves in on him. If
he comes back to the United States, we move in on him. Therefore, we
have a very close liaison.
As a matter of fact, what we have done in government agencies is
to have a liaison agent in our Bureau assigned to contact CIA, the
Pentagon, State Department, and various other agencies to cut out
the red tape of writing letters back and forth. In order to orally
relay information which has come to his attention, our representative
can immediately phone it over to the FBI, and if there is need, for
instance, to meet a plane coming in to New York or a boat that is
docking at New York, it is all accomplished within a matter of 45
minutes or an hour.
If you went through this letter-writing process and the paper war that
goes on so often in the Government it might take a week or 10 days.
The FBI does have 10 legal attaches attached to 10 embassies abroad.
Their purpose is not operational. They don't investigate in those
countries any matters that have to be investigated. That, if it is to
be done, is handled by CIA. Our purpose in being there is to maintain
liaison with our opposite number such as the Surete Nationale in
France and with the national police in the Philippines, to exchange
information that is vital to our internal security, and also vital to
the internal security of the other country.
Senator COOPER. May I ask one other question?
Is there any, considering the number of defectors in the United States
to Communist countries, which cannot be large, I would assume----
Mr. HOOVER. I think there are about 36.
Senator COOPER. Which would indicate, I would think either a lack of
reliability on their part and stability or beyond that a dedicated
purpose to become Communists, then upon their return, wouldn't it seem
to you they should be given some special attention?