Monday, October 30, 2017

INTELLIGENCE COLLECTION & SABOTAGE

OPERATION MONGOOSE MEETING MINUTES RELEASED

Washington, D.C. (JFK ASSASSINATION) On October 27, 2017, President Donald Trump authorized release of more than 2800 files on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.  

The President said...

"The American public expects -- and deserves -- its government to provide as much access as possible to the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records so that the people may finally be fully informed about all aspects of this pivotal event."

Today we will discuss Record #178-10004-10264, a document which includes the minutes of a meeting of Special Group Augmented on Mongoose* of September 6, 1962.

Among those attending the meeting were McGeorge Bundy, Robert Kennedy, General Edward Lansdale** and Edward R. Murrow***.

According to the document, the group discussed the possibility of intrusion into Cuban radio and television broadcasts.  Mr. Murrow suggested the Cubans could mount "far-reaching reactions...against U.S. radio stations."  He, therefore, advised that this type of "electronic warfare" would be unprofitable.

The discussion turned to the possibility of causing crop failure in Cuba by introduction of biological agents.  Also, "the matter of attacking and harassing Soviet personnel in Cuba" was "considered."


*Operation Mongoose was authorized on November 30,, 1961 by JFK to coordinate efforts to topple Fidel Castro.  The operation was led by Air Force Brigadier General Edward Lansdale who coordinated CIA, DOD & State Department activities.  Special Group Augmented was led by Attorney General RFK & SOD Bob McNamara.

OM, which included intelligence collection and sabotage, was suspended after the Cuban Missile Crisis in the fall of 1962.

**General Edward G. Lansdale (1908-1987) attended UCLA & rose to the rank of Major General in the USAF.  EGL was born in Detroit, Michigan.  L. Fletcher Prouty accused EGL of being one of 3 "tramps" photographed in Dealy Plaza shortly after JFK was killed.

***Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965) was born in Guilford County, NC & was a graduate of Washington State University in 1930.  ERM was a radio broadcaster during WWII & became a pioneer in television news.


SOURCES

"Feds have released 2,800 JFK assassination files," by Ray Locker and David Jackson, USA Today, Knoxville News-Sentinel, October 27, 2017.

"JFK Assassination Records-2017 Additional Documents Release", National Archives, www.archives.gov/

"Murrow's Cold War:  Public Diplomacy For the Kennedy Administration", by Gregory M. Tomlin, University of Nebraska Press, 2016.

"Operation Mongoose", Mary Ferrell Foundation, www.maryferrell.org/


National Archives
Washington, D.C.
Photo by John White (2016)

1 comment:

  1. Lansdale was not one of the three tramps. Prouty (as well as Victor Krulak, JC Marines) identified the man facing away from the camera as Lansdale

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