Mr. COLEMAN. And by "file" you mean the passport file?
Miss KNIGHT. The passport file of Lee Harvey Oswald, I would say the
handling of the case would break down into three separate actions: One,
the adjudication of his citizenship; two, the documentation of his
repatriation loan, and, three, the issuance of a passport to Oswald on
June 25, 1963.
As I understand it, the Commission has been furnished with detailed
information covering all these actions, and in addition we have
supplied replies which were prepared in the Passport Office by our
staff to the specific questions that were posed by the Commission.
My comments on the citizenship and expatriation phase of the Oswald
case are these: Insofar as the Oswald citizenship status is concerned,
it is my firm belief that Lee Harvey Oswald, despite his statement to
the U.S. consul in Moscow, that he wished to divest himself of U.S.
citizenship, did not do so.
At no time did he sign the required documents which were available to
him for that purpose. Oswald was a 20-year-old ex-Marine, and the U.S.
consul made it quite clear in his despatches to the Department, that
Oswald was arrogant and aggressive, and angry and unstable.
I had not had the opportunity to read the file until last Saturday,
because it was taken out of the Passport Office on November 23, 1963.
However, I do not recall----
Mr. DULLES. By whom?
Miss KNIGHT. It was asked for and sent to the Administrator of the
Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs, Mr. Abba Schwartz. I want to
make a correction on that date. It was on November 22 that the file was
taken out of the Passport Office. Late at night, I believe.
I do not recall that the file, the passport folder, contained any
information that would tag Oswald as a U.S. Communist, or a Communist
sympathizer prior to his visit to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, and there
is no record that he engaged in any public denunciation of the United
States.
During the time Oswald's citizenship status was in question, that is
from the time he had advised the U.S. consul in Moscow that he wished
to renounce his citizenship, to the time it was determined he had not
committed an expatriative act, a period of almost 2 years, his file was
flagged and according to our records a lookout card was ordered for the
lookout file.
On March 28, 1960, the Passport Office advised the U.S. Embassy in
Moscow that "An appropriate notice has been placed in the lookout card
section of the Passport Office in the event that Mr. Oswald should
apply for documentation at a post outside the Soviet Union."
Mr. COLEMAN. We will note for the record that document you are
referring to--I think it is the Operations Memorandum of May 23,
1960--has been given Commission Exhibit No. 963.
Miss KNIGHT. In view of the volume of our work it would be impossible
at this late date for a clerk in the Passport Office to remember
whether a card was actually made or not made. Apparently no card was
found in the 1961 search of the lookout file, but again it is possible
that such a card was misfiled. It is also possible if a card was made
it was destroyed in error, but whether there was a card made or not has
no bearing on the final outcome of the decision regarding the Oswald
citizenship.
Mr. DULLES. May I ask a question there. Would you prefer to read this
entire document first?