THE MOB, POISONED SWIMSUITS & EXPLODING SEASHELLS

CIA MADE PLANS TO ASSASSINATE FIDEL CASTRO

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 #178-10004-10091, the report on an investigation of CIA involvement in the assassination of foreign leaders dated May 30, 1975.  The report was the work of the Rockefeller Commission* which investigated CIA activities inside the United States.

The report states that the Executive Director of the commission was "denied access to papers of the NSC (National Security Council)," and that although the investigation was incomplete...it was "sufficiently complete to show that plans were undertaken by the CIA" to assassinate foreign leaders.

The Commission discovered CIA agents "were involved in planning...to assassinate Premier Castro and in supplying arms to persons in the Dominican Republic who sought to assassinate Gen. Trujillo."

The Report says that after Castro came to power and became an ally of the USSR, the CIA "with appropriate authorization" undertook the development of an operation in support of Cuban exiles seeking to overthrow...Castro, the culmination of which became the Bay of Pigs disaster."

Richard Bissell** said plans relating to Cuba began in "the...beginning of 1961" when he learned that Mafia resources might be used.  The report says, however, that documents show that these plans actually began in late 1960 during the last days of the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Much of the last part of the 83 page report deals with information relating to the Trujillo assassination.

*United States President's Commission on CIA Activities within the U.S., a.k.a. The Rockefeller Commission conducted its investigation in 1975 & was headed by Vice-President Nelson Rockefeller.  Members included Ronald Reagan, &  C. Douglas Dillon (JFK's Treasury Secretary).

**Richard M. Bissell, Jr. (1909-1994) was Co-Director of the National Reconnaissance Office, born in Hartford, Connecticut, he attended Groton & graduated from Yale in 1932...earned his PhD in 1939.  RMB became Deputy Director for Plans in the CIA.


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/

"JFK files detail CIA plans to kill Castro using the mob, poisoned swimsuits, exploding seashells," by Matt Pearce, October 27, 2017, www.latimes.com/

Swearing-in of Rockefeller Commission
National Reconnaissance Office (1975)

HARRY TRUMAN & THE CIA

TRUMAN CALLED FOR CIA TO END OPERATIONAL DUTIES ONE MONTH AFTER JFK'S DEATH

Independence, Missouri (JFK+50) Former President Harry S Truman* died forty-three years ago today, December 26, 1972, here in Independence. He was 88 years old.  Mr. Truman, who retired from the presidency in January 1953, referred to himself as "Mr. Citizen." 

Mr. Truman was sworn in as President of the United States on the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, April 12, 1945.  By August 1945, President Truman approved the use of atomic weapons on Japan.

During World War II, FDR had authorized the creation of the Office of Strategic Services, O.S.S. to handle intelligence operations for the United States.  Truman dissolved the O.S.S. on September 20, 1945 by executive order.

For a few months, intelligence activities were shared by the Departments of State and War, but on July 26, 1947, President Truman signed into law the National Security Act of 1947 which created both the National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency.

The original charge of the CIA was to provide a clearinghouse for foreign policy intelligence and analysis.  One month after the death of President John F. Kennedy, however, former President Truman had come to the conclusion that the "operational duties" of the CIA should "be terminated."

Writing in the Washington Post, Mr. Truman expressed concern that the agency had "been diverted from its original assignment" becoming instead "a policy-making arm of the Government."

JFK FACTS argues that "the circumstances" of JFK's death
"propelled Truman's radical proposal."  In original notes written by President Truman available at the Truman Library, he expressed the view that the CIA worked as intended "only when (he) had control."

During his visit with President Kennedy in January 1961, Mr. Truman said...

"Within the first few months I discovered that being president is like riding a tiger.  A man has to keep riding or be swallowed."

*Harry S Truman (1884-1972) was born in Lamar. Missouri.  He served in WWI and was partner in a men's clothing store in Kansas City after the war.
HST was elected to the US Senate in 1934 and was selected as FDR's running mate in 1944.  He became president upon FDR's death on April 12, 1945. HST won an upset victory over Thomas E. Dewey in 1948. 

SOURCE

"After JFK was killed former president Truman called for the abolition of CIA covert operations," JFK Facts, December 22, 2015, www.jfkfacts.org/