Mr. Goldsmith. Did this Case Officer tell you what Oswald's cryptonym was?
Mr. Wilcott. Yes, he mentioned the cryptonym specifically under which the money was drawn.
Mr. Goldsmith. And what did he tell you the cryptonym was?
Mr. Wilcott. I cannot remember.
Mr. Goldsmith. What was your response to this revelation as to what Oswald's cryptonym was? Did you write it down or do anything?
Mr. Wilcott. No; I think that I looked through my advance book--and I had a book where the advances on project were run, and I leafed through them, and I must have at least leafed through them to see if what he said was true.
[Three pages of discussion about Wilcott's "Request for Advance" book follows but is omitted here. --jh]
Mr. Goldsmith. And for purposes of clarification, now, if Oswald was already dead at the time that you went to this book, why did you go back and examine the book?
Mr. Wilcott. Well, I am sorry--if Oswald was what?
Mr. Goldsmith. At the time you went to look at the book, Oswald was already dead, is that correct?
Mr. Wilcott. That is right.
Mr. Goldsmith. Why did you go back to look at the book?
Mr. Wilcott. Well, the payments that were made especially to substations like Oswald's was operated--it was a substation of the [REDACTED] Station, and they had one in [REDACTED] and they had one in [REDACTED]--and it may be six months or even a year after the initial allocation that the final accounting for those funds were submitted, and they would operate out of revolving funds or out of their own personal funds in many cases.
Mr. Goldsmith. So, is your testimony then that even though Oswald was already dead at the time, the book might have contained a reference to either Oswald or the Oswald project and that that reference would have been to a period six months or even a year earlier, is that correct?
Mr. Wilcott. That is correct.
[As far as I can determine from this 54-page typed document, HSCA Counsel Michael Goldsmith never asks Wilcott the essential question, which would be: "Was the Oswald cryptonym you no longer recall in your "Request for Advance" book?" Strange. The most relevant testimony is found on pages 18-19, as follows. --jh]
Mr. Goldsmith. But as a matter of routine, would the CIA cash disbursement files refer to the cryptonym of either the person or the project that is receiving funds?
Mr. Wilcott. Yes, I am sure somewhere.
Mr. Goldsmith. As a matter of routine, there would be that reference? Do you believe that there was such a reference to Oswald?
[Mr. Wilcott.] Yes, I do, and I believe there was such a reference.
The excerpts above present just a small part of Wilcott's sworn testimony at the HSCA Executive Session of 3/22/78. He makes a number of other interesting statements, including how the agency routinely destroyed or altered internal documents when there was public disclosure of an operation (called a "flap"). The transcription of Wilcott's testimony was kept secret for more than three decades, but was referred to briefly in the published HSCA volumes. The HSCA claimed that other CIA employees discounted Wilcott's version, but transcripts of those testimonies were also withheld. Over the years, many others have spoken out:
* Richard Sprague, chief counsel to the U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations said, "If he had it to do over again, he would begin his investigation of the Kennedy assassination by probing 'Oswald's ties to the Central Intelligence Agency."
* Sen. Richard Schweiker said, "We do know Oswald had intelligence connections. Everywhere you look with him, there're fingerprints of intelligence."
* Victor Marchetti was the former Executive Assistant to the Deputy Director of the CIA. Marchetti said, "The more I have learned, the more concerned I have become that the government was involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy."
* CIA Agent Donald Norton said, "Oswald was with the CIA, and if he did it then you better believe the whole CIA was involved."
* Former CIA agent Joseph Newbrough said, "Oswald was an agent for the CIA and acting under orders."
* CIA Agent John Garrett Underhill told friends, just before he died, "Oswald is a patsy. They set him up. They've killed the President. I've been listening and hearing things. I couldn't believe they'd get away with it, but they did."
* CIA Agent William Gaudet said, "The man who probably knows as much as anybody alive on all of this... is... I still think is Howard Hunt"----CIA Agent and Watergate burglar E. Howard Hunt.
* CIA employee Donald Deneslya read reports of a CIA agent who had worked at a radio factory in Minsk and returned to the US with a Russian wife and child--that agent could only have been Oswald.
* CIA officer David Phillips provided the Warren Commission with information that Oswald was at the Russian and Cuban embassies in Mexico City, then later admitted that the information he had provided was false.
* Marvin Watson, an adviser to President Lyndon Johnson, said that Johnson had told him that he was convinced that there was a plot in connection with the assassination. Watson said the President felt the CIA had something to do with this plot.
When researchers began to uncover indications of CIA involvement in the assassination, the CIA sent out memos to media assets offering suggestions as to how to effectively block and impede investigation of the Kennedy assassination by researchers.
Read the full text of the secret HSCA testimony of James Wilcott.