Mr. DULLES. Could I ask one question there? Do you recall or do you
know at what time the name of Lee Harvey Oswald was carded, first came
to your attention so it became a matter of record, in the Agency?
Mr. HELMS. Sir, I would want to consult the record to be absolutely
accurate, but it is my impression that the first time that his name
showed up on any Agency records was when he went to the Soviet Union.
Mr. RANKIN. Mr. Helms, in connection with your work you have supplied
information to the Commission and we have requested many things from
your Agency. Can you tell the Commission as to whether or not you have
supplied us all the information the Agency has, at least in substance,
in regard to Lee Harvey Oswald?
Mr. HELMS. We have; all.
Representative FORD. Has a member of the Commission staff had full
access to your files on Lee Harvey Oswald?
Mr. HELMS. He has, sir.
Representative FORD. They have had the opportunity to personally look
at the entire file?
Mr. HELMS. We invited them to come out to our building in Langley and
actually put the file on the table so that they could examine it.
The CHAIRMAN. I was personally out there, too, and was offered the same
opportunity. I did not avail myself of it because of the time element,
but I was offered the same opportunity.
Mr. RANKIN. Mr. Helms, can you explain, according to the limitations of
security, the reasons why we examined materials but did not always take
them, in a general way?
Mr. HELMS. Yes; I can.
In our communications between individuals working overseas and in
Washington, we for security reasons have a method of hiding the
identities of individuals in telegrams and dispatches by the use of
pseudonyms and cryptonyms. For this reason, we never allow the original
documents to leave our premises. However, on the occasion when the
representatives of the Commission staff looked at these files, we sat
there and identified these pseudonyms and cryptonyms and related them
to the proper names of the individuals concerned, so that they would
know exactly what the correspondence said.
Mr. RANKIN. By that you mean the representatives of the Commission were
able to satisfy themselves that they had all of the information for the
benefit of the Commission without disclosing matters that would be a
threat to security; is that right?
Mr. HELMS. It is my understanding that they were satisfied.
Representative FORD. Mr. McCone, do you have full authority from higher
authority to make full disclosure to this Commission of any information
in the files of the Central Intelligence Agency?
Mr. McCONE. That is right. It is my understanding that it is the desire
of higher authority that this Commission shall have access to all
information of every nature in our files or in the minds of employees
of Central Intelligence Agency.
Representative FORD. On the basis of that authority, you or the Agency
have made a full disclosure?
Mr. McCONE. That is correct.
Mr. RANKIN. Mr. Helms, I have handed you Exhibits 868 and 869 directed
to you acting for the Agency, the first one being from the Commission
to you and the second one, 869, being your answer in regard to your
full and complete disclosure in regard to your records; isn't that
correct?
Mr. HELMS. That is correct. May I say, Mr. Rankin, that any
information, though, subsequent to this correspondence which we may
obtain we will certainly continue to forward to the Commission.
Mr. RANKIN. Thank you. Mr. Chief Justice, I ask leave to have those two
exhibits, 868 and 869, received in evidence at this time.
The CHAIRMAN. They may be admitted under those numbers.
(Commission Exhibits Nos. 868 and 869 were marked for identification
and received in evidence.)
Mr. RANKIN. Mr. McCone, if I may return to you, I will now ask you if
you have any credible information that you know of or evidence causing
you to believe that there is any or was any conspiracy either domestic
or foreign in connection with the assassination of President Kennedy?
Mr. McCONE. No; I have no information, Mr. Rankin, that would lead me
to believe or conclude that a conspiracy existed.
Representative FORD. Did the CIA make an investigation of this aspect
of the assassination?
Mr. McCONE. We made an investigation of all developments after the
assassination which came to our attention which might possibly have
indicated a conspiracy, and we determined after these investigations,
which were made promptly and immediately, that we had no evidence to
support such an assumption.
Representative FORD. Did the Central Intelligence Agency have any
contact with Oswald during the period of his life in the Soviet Union?
Mr. McCONE. No; not to my knowledge, nor to the knowledge of those who
would have been in a position to have made such contact, nor according
to any record we have.
Representative FORD. Did the Central Intelligence Agency have any
personal contact with Oswald subsequent to his return to the United
States?
Mr. McCONE. No.
Mr. RANKIN. Mr. McCone, your Agency made a particular investigation in
connection with any allegations about a conspiracy involving the Soviet
Union or people connected with Cuba, did you not?
Mr. McCONE. Yes, we did. We made a thorough, a very thorough,
investigation of information that came to us concerning an alleged
trip that Oswald made to Mexico City during which time he made contact
with the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City in an attempt to gain transit
privileges from Mexico City to the Soviet Union via Havana. We
investigated that thoroughly.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you also include in your statement that you found no
evidence of conspiracy in all of that investigation?
Mr. McCONE. That is correct.
Mr. RANKIN. And also the investigation you made of the period that Lee
Harvey Oswald was in the Soviet Union?
Mr. McCONE. That is right.