Mr. DULLES. Is that two or four?
Miss KNIGHT. 250 now.
Mr. DULLES. 250. It is different.
Miss KNIGHT. We had reduced it to 450,000 and we culled it some more
and it is now 250,000.
Mr. DULLES. That is a reduction from the earlier 450,000?
Miss KNIGHT. That is right. This project was very time-consuming and
tedious but it had to be done, and it was completed in 1962, at which
time we transferred all the data on the cards we considered active onto
a permanent IBM key punch card system which was coded and legible.
To relate this file, this tremendous file, to the Oswald case, I think
it should be remembered that the Passport Office is not a police
organization, nor is it an investigative agency. We must depend on
other sources in and out of the Government to supply us with the
information which we must adjudicate under the criteria of the passport
regulations.
When we issued a passport to Oswald in June 1963 we felt that he had
not expatriated himself and that determination was made.
Mr. COLEMAN. In 1963 you didn't make any judgment at all. He just
wasn't in the lookout file so you just issued it. You didn't make any
independent judgment at that time in 1963, did you?
Miss KNIGHT. If we had thought he had expatriated himself we would have
had a card in his file.
Mr. COLEMAN. Yes; but in 1963 no decision was made.
Miss KNIGHT. There was no question raised. There was never a question
at that time.
Mr. COLEMAN. It was never a question because your Office never looked
at the file.
Miss KNIGHT. Not at the file, but his application was checked over the
lookout cards.
Mr. COLEMAN. Yes.
Miss KNIGHT. Oswald didn't owe money to the Government, and he was not
involved in fraud or criminal activity. So, in retrospect, I feel that
Oswald could have had a catch card inserted in the lookout file under
a very broad and undefined category which is right here, as number "R"
and that is, "Individuals whose actions do not reflect credit to the
United States abroad," but for practical reasons this category is very
narrowly construed in view of the hundreds of U.S. citizen bad-check
artists, the drunks, the con men, the psychotics who travel worldwide,
and so forth.
My office is deluged with requests from irate U.S. citizens returning
from abroad asking us to do something about some of the people they
find traveling overseas.
We have no such authority, and we are not in a position to determine
the good or bad behavior of U.S. citizens here or abroad.
(At this point, Senator Cooper entered the hearing room.)
I think it is a debatable question as to whether Oswald fell into this
broad category of "R" and finally there was no request in the file from
any Government agency or any area of the Government for a lookout card
on Oswald for this reason or any other reason at the time that his 1963
passport was issued.
Mr. DULLES. Who finally determines whether a lookout card should be
made? Would you determine that or in your office?
Miss KNIGHT. That would be determined within our domestic operation
division, our foreign operation or our legal division. An adjudicator,
for instance, is the first person to make a decision.
Mr. DULLES. If the FBI or CIA asked you to put in a card you would do
it?
Miss KNIGHT. Yes, sir; and this is part of "O" and "P" project.
Mr. DULLES. Would you read again that paragraph about Communist or
Communist sympathizer?
Miss KNIGHT. Category K is, "Known or suspected Communist or
subversive."
Mr. DULLES. And you interpret that pretty narrowly?
Miss KNIGHT. Yes.
Representative FORD. Why do you interpret it narrowly?
Mr. DULLES. Well, this goes back to a question of passport regulations
and the decision, the Supreme Court decision in the Kent-Briehl case
and passport denials. I believe we sent you the regulations currently
in effect.
Mr. COLEMAN. The record will note that it is attached to Commission
Exhibit No. 948, which is the letter from Mr. Chayes.
Miss KNIGHT. Would you like an extra copy of it?
Mr. DULLES. May I ask a further question there? When you issue a
passport limited solely to returning to the United States, isn't that
some indication that you don't want the fellow traveling around abroad?
Miss KNIGHT. There would be some indication, yes, but there may be many
reasons for it. It may be a general indication that he should not be
traveling around abroad.
Mr. DULLES. So that normally you wouldn't issue a passport with that
limitation and then let him come right into the Passport Office and
reissue a passport to go abroad.
Miss KNIGHT. Well, if it is a case which merits a stop card we wouldn't
do it. But in this case of Oswald----
Mr. DULLES. In this case would there be a stop card?
Miss KNIGHT. In the case of Oswald?
Mr. DULLES. No; I mean in the case of anybody who is abroad and you
issue him a passport only to travel back to the United States, to get
him back to the United States, if then in the next week he went into
the Passport Office and wanted a passport to travel back to Europe,
which means Russia if he wants to go to Russia, would you issue him a
passport or would you not?
Miss KNIGHT. I think that depends very much on the record that we would
have on him.
The issuance of passports is pretty well defined in the new
regulations. I would say that a decade ago a passport application
for Oswald would have been denied, or at least it would have been
substantially delayed.
But this was prior to the Supreme Court decision of June 16, 1958.
Prior to that there was very little challenge to the Secretary's
discretionary authority in the issuance of passports.
But I think it is important to realize that the Supreme Court in
its decision held that there was no legislative authority for the
Secretary's regulations in denying a passport to persons supporting
the world Communist movement. The Court stated in that decision that
the freedom of travel is indeed an important aspect of the citizen's
liberty.
Since that time Congress has made numerous attempts to provide
legislation to curb the travel of U.S. Communists, and those citizens
whose travel abroad is not in the best interests of the United States,
but for one reason or another Congress has failed to pass any such
legislation.
On January 12, 1962, the Secretary of State promulgated passport
regulations which provide for the confrontation and full discovery in
all cases involving the curtailment of passport privileges.
So, as a result, the Department's decisions in all passport cases have
to be based on an open record.
It is quite evident that these regulations make it virtually impossible
to deny passports to U.S. Communists because the source and record and
details of their nefarious activities are not an open record, as you
well know, and quite obviously they cannot be made an open record by
the Government.
Mr. COLEMAN. Don't you have a specific statute and a specific
regulation which says that if a person is a member of the Communist
Party after it has been required to register that you have to deny him
a passport?
Miss KNIGHT. This is true, but with these regulations, we are directed
to issue passports to active members of the Communist Party despite the
fact that section 6 of the Internal Security Act prohibits the issuance
of passports to those individuals whom we have reason to believe or
know are members of the Communist Party.
Mr. COLEMAN. What regulation requires you to issue them a passport?
Miss KNIGHT. Well, the Department's regulations are very specific on
this point. They state and I quote, "In making its decision"----
Senator COOPER. Could you identify the regulation?
Miss KNIGHT. Yes, sir; it is 51.138(b).
Would you like me to read that section?
Mr. COLEMAN. Yes.
Miss KNIGHT. All right.
"(b) The applicant shall, upon request by the hearing officer, confirm
his oral statements in an affidavit for the record. After the applicant
has presented his case, the Passport Office shall review the record
and advise the applicant of its decision. In making its decision, the
Passport Office shall not take into consideration confidential security
information that is not made available to the applicant in accordance
with paragraph (a) of this section. If the decision is adverse to the
applicant, he shall be notified in writing, and the notification shall
state the reasons for the decision. Such notification shall also inform
the applicant of his right to appeal to the Board of Passport Appeals
under section 51.139."
Mr. COLEMAN. What in there says you have to issue a passport to a
person that you know is a member of the Communist Party after there has
been a decision that the Communist Party has to register under the 1950
act?
Miss KNIGHT. In accordance with these regulations we cannot consider
information in the passport file if that information is confidential
and can't be used in open court or in an open hearing. The information
on persons who are involved in the Communist activities is, for the
most part, confidential information and cannot be revealed in open
court.
Mr. COLEMAN. You say, if you have an FBI report which says that "Mr. So
and So" is a member of the Communist Party, and that is in your record,
and if he applies for a passport, you have to issue him that passport?
Miss KNIGHT. Under the regulations of the Department we would have to
issue him a passport if the information in the FBI report cannot be
made public.
Representative FORD. There has to be information which is confidential,
however?
Miss KNIGHT. Well, the information in the report and the determination
as to whether that information can be made public and can be used in
court is made by the investigative agency that provides it.
Representative FORD. Well, if the agency, the security agency has
a card issued by the Communist Party to this individual, and that
information is given to the applicant, you can still deny this passport
under section 51.135, can't you?
Miss KNIGHT. You mean if the FBI, let's say an FBI report, gave us
information that the person is an active member of the Communist Party?
Representative FORD. That he has actually, just for illustrative
purposes, a card issued by the Communist Party and the Department gives
this information to the applicant, it is not confidential, it is given
to the applicant, can't you deny a passport under section 51.135?
Miss KNIGHT. Yes; yes.
Representative FORD. Well, then, I think the answer is that you do have
authority to deny passports to Communists where the information----
Miss KNIGHT. Is made available.
Representative FORD. Is made available.
Miss KNIGHT. Yes; where the information is made available and can be
used in an open hearing.
But from a practical operation, this is very difficult to do because
most of the information in the FBI reports is confidential and by
bringing forth their informers they certainly destroy their security.
Mr. COLEMAN. Miss Knight, the same regulation that is in effect today
was also the regulation in effect in 1963, isn't it?
Miss KNIGHT. Yes.
Mr. COLEMAN. Now, as of March 14, 1964, didn't the Department establish
another category for lookout cards, namely for defectors?
Miss KNIGHT. Yes; we have that. I think that was provided to the
Commission.
Mr. COLEMAN. Yes.
Miss KNIGHT. Yes.
Mr. COLEMAN. Now, you do that under whatever authority that you had as
of 1963, don't you? You haven't been given any additional congressional
authority, have you?
Miss KNIGHT. No; but we haven't denied passports to any of them, either.
Mr. COLEMAN. Does that mean that despite this memorandum from Mr.
Schwartz to you under date of March 14, 1964, if a known defector came
in and asked for a passport, you would issue him one today?
Miss KNIGHT. No; we wouldn't issue. A card would be put in the lookout
file to indicate that this person was a defector, and in such a case
the file would go to Mr. Johnson's office, our legal counsel. It would
be referred to his security branch, and be adjudicated. However, I
don't believe that a passport could be denied to them on the basis of
that.
Mr. COLEMAN. Now, you know that in October 1963 the Passport Office
received information that Mr. Oswald had been down to the Russian
Embassy in Mexico?
Miss KNIGHT. That is correct.
Mr. COLEMAN. Would that fact cause the Department to attempt to revoke
a passport which had already been issued?
Miss KNIGHT. No, sir; because there are many U.S. citizens who go to
Soviet Embassies, and the fact he went there may have been for the
purpose of getting information; it certainly was not a reason to deny a
passport.
Representative FORD. There aren't many people like Lee Harvey Oswald,
with a record of that background. It would seem to me that that, the
availability of that information, ought to have flagged some interest
some place in the State Department or the Passport Office.
Miss KNIGHT. Well, in my opinion, passports are being issued today to
individuals whose activities and past record of behavior are patently
more detrimental to the security and best interests of the United
States than any report or any record that we had in the file of Lee
Harvey Oswald.
Representative FORD. That may be true, and I might agree with you, but
we can only deal with the specific case, and it concerns me that this
information which was made available, somehow didn't get some attention
in the Passport Division.
Miss KNIGHT. I think my answer to that is that there was attention
given to it but there was no action that could be taken on it.
The fact that we gave attention to it is beside the point.
If we had had a lookout card in the file, and under different
circumstances, there may have been some reason for seeking further
information. I do know that the FBI was reviewing his file at regular
intervals, and I think the file shows that.
To get the full import of our action one would have to read the
security files and the records of certain individuals to whom we have
been forced to give passports, and put them beside the Oswald file. The
comparison would be very interesting.
Senator COOPER. Might I ask just a few questions?
First, let me say I missed part of the testimony because I was in the
Senate and could not come here until after we had voted.
I am now looking at Federal Register, Title 22--Foreign Relations,
Chapter 1: Department of State, part 51, dealing with passports. This
title refers to the issuing officer.
Who is the issuing officer? Does that mean you or those who are under
you, who are responsible to you?
Miss KNIGHT. Well, this is a question. Up until recently, I think the
director of the Passport Office was considered the issuing officer.
However, passports are issued in the name of the Secretary of State,
who has the authority and the responsibility on passports.
Senator COOPER. And you are responsible to the Secretary of State?
Miss KNIGHT. Through the echelons.
Senator COOPER. Yes.
Now, Representative Ford and Mr. Dulles have gone into this, as well as
counsel, but I would like to pursue it just a little bit.
Section 51.135, entitled "Denial of passports to members of Communist
organizations," states, "A passport shall not be issued to, or renewed
for, any individual who the issuing officer knows or has reason to
believe is a member of a Communist organization registered or required
to be registered under section 7 of the Subversive Activities Control
Act of 1950, as amended."
Was there any evidence in the files of Lee Harvey Oswald which could
give to the issuing officer either the knowledge that he was a member
of a Communist organization or such evidence as would lead the issuing
officer to believe that he was?
Miss KNIGHT. No, sir.
Senator COOPER. Why do you say that?
Miss KNIGHT. Because, there was nothing in the passport file or
in the reports that we received from investigative agencies that
would indicate that he had any Communist leanings or any Communist
affiliations prior to his sojourn in the Soviet Union.
Senator COOPER. There wasn't anything in his file from the reports of
the State Department concerning his defection to Russia and his return
which indicated that he was a member of the Communist Party?
Miss KNIGHT. No, sir.
Senator COOPER. Or a Communist organization?
Miss KNIGHT. No, sir.
Senator COOPER. Was there anything in the files from the FBI or any
other security agency which would give you that information?
Miss KNIGHT. None that I saw; no, sir. I do know that there were two
recent intelligence reports from the FBI, and they were dated October
31, 1963, and October 25, 1963, and these were logged into the Passport
Office on November 20, 1963, and on November 22, 1963, respectively.
Senator COOPER. They were then, of course, would have been, received in
the office after the time.
Miss KNIGHT. That was the date of the assassination.
Senator COOPER. After the time that the passport had been renewed.
Mr. COLEMAN. That included the information that he was active in the
Fair Play for Cuba Committee.
Miss KNIGHT. That is correct, and these were referred to us by the
Office of Security, and then on 5:30 a.m. on November 23, 1963, these
reports were called for on an urgent basis by the Administrator of the
Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs and we delivered them to him at
approximately 7:30 that morning.
I never saw these reports and no one in the Passport Office had an
opportunity to read them or see them.
Senator COOPER. The point I am making is, am I correct or are you
correct, when you say at the time Oswald's passport was either issued
or renewed to make the trip to Mexico City, that there was no evidence
in his files of any kind which would indicate that he was a member of a
Communist organization?
Miss KNIGHT. No, sir; there was nothing in the file.
Senator COOPER. What weight would you give to the fact that he had
defected and had returned to the United States, and had claimed once
that he wanted to renounce American citizenship? Would that be a fact
to which you would give weight in determining whether or not you
believed he was a member of the Communist organization?
Miss KNIGHT. Yes, sir; I understand your question. I did not adjudicate
the Oswald citizenship case. But I would say that the adjudicators must
have taken into consideration his instability which was reported in the
dispatches, his attitude, his age, he was 20 years old at the time,
and the fact that when he finally made his appeal to come back to the
United States, he denied that he had asked for Soviet citizenship, that
he was considered a Soviet citizen, and he further denied that he had
offered anybody information.
He denied practically everything that he, in very bad temper, had told
the consul that he was going to do. This, I think, is fairly well
established in the document he signed, and which was sent to us when
his passport was renewed and limited for return to the United States.
Senator COOPER. I am first directing my attention to the issuance or
renewal of the passport which enabled him to go to Mexico City. I want
to keep on that for a moment.
Miss KNIGHT. He didn't have a passport for Mexico City.
Senator COOPER. Not a passport for Mexico City.
Mr. COLEMAN. He had the passport in June 1963.
Senator COOPER. Yes; to go over to Cuba and different places.
Miss KNIGHT. We did not know, and there was nothing, I think I am right
about this, there is nothing in our files to indicate that he went to
Cuba or that he went to the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City. I understand
this was brought out.
Mr. COLEMAN. Yes; that is true.
Miss KNIGHT. Is that right?
Mr. DULLES. Not until October 1963.
Mr. COLEMAN. Even then, Mr. Dulles, they didn't know. The notice they
got from Mexico only stated that he had been at the Soviet Embassy and
not that he had been over to the Cuban Embassy.
Mr. DULLES. Is that correct?
Mr. COLEMAN. Yes.
Senator COOPER. The point I am trying to develop at some point in 1963
prior to the assassination he went to the office in New Orleans.
Miss KNIGHT. That is right, the New Orleans Passport Agency.
Senator COOPER. And he secured a passport there.
Miss KNIGHT. He applied for a passport.
Senator COOPER. To travel, applied for a passport, to travel in a
number of countries.
Miss KNIGHT. That is right.
Senator COOPER. And that was issued to him.
Miss KNIGHT. That is right.
Senator COOPER. On the following day?
Miss KNIGHT. That is right.
Senator COOPER. At that time, of course, the issuing officer was under
the restrictions of the regulations here that we have been talking
about. What would the officer--would the officer in New Orleans have
any information available to him?
Miss KNIGHT. No, sir.
Senator COOPER. About Oswald?
Miss KNIGHT. No, sir; the operation works like this: New Orleans is one
of eight passport agencies in the United States. They are connected
with the main office by teletype. Oswald made an application for a
passport at the New Orleans agency, and they TWX'd to us, his name and
identification--that is, date and place of birth, and so on. His name
was one on a list of names. There may have been 15 or 20 of them.
Mr. COLEMAN. The record shows there were 25.
Miss KNIGHT. 25.
These names were then checked over the lookout file which I have
explained here.
Senator COOPER. Here in Washington?
Miss KNIGHT. Yes; and if there is no card in the lookout file, it is
presumed that he is clear, because if we had information that he was an
active Communist, or that we had reason to believe that there should
be further check on him, this would have been reflected in the lookout
file. There was no such card in the file.
Senator COOPER. All right. At that time, then, when he had made his
application and the information was sent to your office, there was no
lookout card?
Miss KNIGHT. No, sir.
Senator COOPER. Which would indicate that he was a Communist or a
member of a Communist organization, registered, and so forth. And did
you have such a system then?
Miss KNIGHT. Yes, sir.
Senator COOPER. Of lookout cards?
Miss KNIGHT. Yes, sir; we have had that system for a long time.
Senator COOPER. Was your reason for not having a lookout card for
Oswald, that there wasn't anything in his file to indicate that he was
a member of a Communist organization?
Miss KNIGHT. That is correct.
Senator COOPER. Is that the reason?
Miss KNIGHT. That is correct. Because the FBI reports which had come
to the Passport Office during his sojourn in the Soviet Union and
after, did not indicate that he was a Communist. As a matter of fact,
they were concerned with several other things, his mother's concern
regarding his whereabouts, the fact that he had made a declaration that
he wished to become a Soviet citizen; and the question of expatriation.
But there was nothing in the files to indicate that he had had any
contact or any active part in the Communist Party.
Senator COOPER. The fact that he had married a Russian girl and brought
her to the United States have any significance in the determination
that the issuing officer would have to make?
Miss KNIGHT. No.
Senator COOPER. You are sure that the FBI nor any other security agency
had placed any information in that file which would fall within the
scope of this first section dealing with, applicable to passports?
Miss KNIGHT. I am sure of that; yes, sir.
Senator COOPER. Have you yourself examined those files?
Miss KNIGHT. I examined the file last Saturday for the first time.
Senator COOPER. And do you know who had charge of the file?
Miss KNIGHT. The file was in the Passport Office up until November 22,
the day of the assassination.
Senator COOPER. Where did it go then?
Miss KNIGHT. It went to the Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs, to
Mr. Schwartz.
Senator COOPER. Who is in charge there?
Miss KNIGHT. Mr. Schwartz. He is the Administrator.
Mr. EHRLICH. I might add he turned them over immediately, he turned
them over to Mr. Chayes who was authorized to take charge of all files
and they were maintained in the Office of the Legal Adviser.
And anyone in the Department who wanted to review them was free to do
so but we kept them all in one place.
Senator COOPER. Have you been testifying?
Mr. EHRLICH. I have broken in.
Senator COOPER. Just for the purpose of the record identify yourself.
Mr. EHRLICH. I have not been sworn in. My name is Thomas Ehrlich, I am
Special Assistant to the Legal Adviser to the Department of State.
Mr. DULLES. I might add Mr. Chayes testified in some detail that
he was asked by Mr. Ball, Acting Secretary of State, on the night,
afternoon, late afternoon and late evening of the assassination, to
get all the files regarding Oswald together and to prepare for him and
the Secretary of State, who was returning the next morning, a detailed
report on the whole Oswald case, and I assume that the file went from
you to Mr. Schwartz, to Mr. Chayes.
And from there Mr. Chayes collected reports from other sources.
Miss KNIGHT. That is right.
Senator COOPER. I am not questioning any fact that these people
testified to but I think for the record it is important to know where
the file was and whether or not it is the same file, with the same
papers in it that were in existence on November 22, which you turned
over to your superior.
Miss KNIGHT. Well, of course, we presume all the papers are in there.
The file was pretty thick, and, of course, it takes time to go over the
papers. We had not time to look at the file or to check it, and there
is no way of knowing whether any papers were taken in or out.
Mr. COLEMAN. Senator Cooper, we have the files and we also have letters
from Mr. Chayes that to the best of his knowledge and ability every
piece of paper which the State Department had which in any way bore on
Oswald has now been turned over to the Commission and those letters
were marked today.
Senator COOPER. I go a little further.
Look at 51.136, "Limitations on issuance of passports to certain other
persons.
"In order to promote and safeguard the interests of the United States,
passport facilities, except for direct and immediate return to the
United States, shall be refused to a person when it appears to the
satisfaction of the Secretary of State that the person's activities
abroad would: (a) Violate the laws of the United States; (b) be
prejudicial to the orderly conduct of foreign relations; or (c)
otherwise be prejudicial to the interests of the United States."
Now, at the time this passport was issued to Oswald in New Orleans, was
there any information in his passport file about his conduct in New
Orleans in connection with the Fair Play for Cuba Committee?
Miss KNIGHT. There was nothing in the passport file on that. It is my
understanding that there were two FBI reports that had come in and they
were logged into the Passport Office on November 20 and November 22.
Senator COOPER. I know, but I am thinking of June 24, 1963. This
decision to issue a passport to Oswald to go to Mexico and various
other countries was made on when?
Mr. COLEMAN. June 24, 1963.
Senator COOPER. Was there any information in his file relative to his
participation in the Fair Play for Cuba Committee in New Orleans?
Miss KNIGHT. No, sir.
Senator COOPER. The first information that came to the office came in
November?
Miss KNIGHT. November 20 and 22.
Senator COOPER. And November 22.
Miss KNIGHT. And I think, Senator, you would be interested to know that
these FBI reports are sent to us by the Office of Security.
A large volume of these reports come to us in the Passport Office on a
very routine basis.
The last 6 months of 1963 over 3,000 such reports were received, that
is 500 security reports a month, and in order to be effective and
to render the ultimate in security these reports should be read by
individuals who are knowledgeable; who are trained to spot information
of security significance.
The staff that is assigned to this task is very limited, and it is
heavily overburdened with many assignments, some of which take priority
to the reading of reports, and it is physically impossible for the
present staff of our legal division, which is headed by Mr. Johnson, to
read and analyze the information in these reports as promptly and as
thoroughly as should be done.
The eternal question that we are faced with is a matter of diminishing
returns. It is almost impossible to staff the Passport Office 100
percent for security and with knowledgeability of everything that goes
on, and in the course of the year the Passport Office puts in thousands
of hours of overtime, uncompensated overtime, trying to catch up with
this work and believe me, this makes little or no impression on the
vast amount of paperwork, the reading, the reporting and the analyzing
of reports which come in to us.
Senator COOPER. I can see your problem.
But now, assuming that this report from the FBI about Oswald's
activities in New Orleans with the Fair Play for Cuba Committee in
which he was distributing material, and had been arrested, and was
operating under assumed names, had been known, had been in the file
at the time the application for a passport to go to Mexico and other
countries had been made, would that have been of any significance?
Miss KNIGHT. Oh, yes, sir.
Senator COOPER. In determining whether or not a passport should be
issued?
Miss KNIGHT. Yes, sir; very definitely. If those reports had reached us
prior to the passport application we certainly would have put a card in
the file.
As a matter of fact, it seems to me that if they had come to the
Passport Office we would have advised the Bureau of Security and
Consular Affairs that this had become a Cuban case. These are handled
by Mr. Schwartz personally.
Senator COOPER. Do you know when the report from the FBI concerning
Oswald's activities in New Orleans in the Fair Play for Cuba Committee
reached the State Department rather than the Passport Division?
Miss KNIGHT. When it reached the Department, I don't know. I think
maybe Mr. Ehrlich might know.
Mr. EHRLICH. I will look to see if I have it.
Miss KNIGHT. I have the dates of them.
Senator COOPER. Will you give the date?
Miss KNIGHT. The date of the reports?
Senator COOPER. The date when it was sent, when it was received.
Miss KNIGHT. The reports were dated October 31, 1963, and October 25,
1963, and they were logged into the Passport Office on November 20,
1963, and November 22, 1963.
Senator COOPER. All of those dates are after the date of the issuance
of the passport?
Miss KNIGHT. Yes, sir.
Senator COOPER. I have just one more thing I want to inquire about.
Are you familiar with the--were you the Chief of the Passport Division
at the time Oswald returned from Russia to the United States?
Miss KNIGHT. Yes, sir.
Senator COOPER. Who was empowered to issue passports in Moscow to
Oswald?
Miss KNIGHT. Well, it was the consul, but he would not issue a passport
or, in this particular case even limit the passport for return to the
United States, without clearance from our office.
Senator COOPER. Then when Oswald made his application to return to the
United States and to secure a passport to return to the United States,
that application had to be cleared by the division, your division, in
Washington?
Miss KNIGHT. Yes.
Senator COOPER. Did you make the determination as to whether the
passport should be issued to him?
Miss KNIGHT. I personally did not. This was made by experienced
citizenship lawyers.
Senator COOPER. By whom?
Miss KNIGHT. The decision was made by experienced citizenship lawyers
in the Foreign Operations Division of the Passport Office. It was
determined that Oswald had not expatriated himself. He had signed the
necessary papers and he answered the required questionnaire under oath,
and to the satisfaction of the Passport Office. Both the consul, who
had an opportunity to talk to Oswald, and the citizenship lawyers, who
handled the case in the Passport Office, were in agreement that he had
not expatriated himself.
Mr. DULLES. Those details are in the file in considerable extent.
Mr. COLEMAN. Senator Cooper, for the record let me note we have
Oswald's passport which is Commission Exhibit No. 946 and it states on
page 15 thereof that the passport was renewed on May 24, 1962, and it
expired on June 24, 1962, and it also stated when Mr. Oswald came into
the United States on June 13, 1962.
Senator COOPER. I have just two more questions then.
One, at the time you issued the passport that Oswald was issued in
New Orleans to go to Mexico and the other countries there was no
requirement at that time that a lookout card be fixed to his file as a
defector?
Miss KNIGHT. No, sir.
Senator COOPER. Whatever decision has been made on that has come since
that time?
Miss KNIGHT. When you say "defector," the answer to that is in the
questionnaire.
Senator COOPER. When I say "defector," was there any regulation, I mean
in the Department, which required any special attention to be given to
a defector----
Miss KNIGHT. No, sir.
Senator COOPER. With regard to the issuance of passports?
Miss KNIGHT. No, sir; and we cannot deny them passports.
Senator COOPER. My last question is, is it your statement that at the
time you issued the passport in Moscow for his return to the United
States, at the time the passport was issued in New Orleans, 1963, for
his trip to Mexico and other countries, that there was nothing in the
regulations relevant and nothing in the files which precluded you from
issuing a passport to him?
Miss KNIGHT. This is my opinion; yes, sir.
Mr. COLEMAN. I have no other questions.
Mr. DULLES. I have no further questions.
Mr. COLEMAN. Thank you, Miss Knight. We appreciate your coming in.
(Whereupon, at 6:35 p.m., the President's Commission recessed.)
_Thursday, June 11, 1964_