Valkyrie At Dealey Plaza

The new movie Valkyrie takes its name from the code word for the Nazi generals plot to assassinate Hitler, which resulted in the July 20, 1944 bombing at the Wolf's Lair bunker.(1)

In an article I wrote some years ago I detail how some of those individuals involved in this plot to kill Hitler were also entwined with the events at Dealey Plaza.
[July 20, 1944 - November 22, 1963](2)

What happened at Dealey Plaza was either the work of a lone, deranged madman or a carefully designed and succesfully conducted conspiracy. If a conspiracy, one of my hypothesis is that it was done by those who had done it before and have done it since, serial political assassins. While first instincts took me directly to Guatemala and Cuba, all providing not only scenarios but veterans who are bit players in the Dealey Plaza drama, the July 20, 1944 attempt on Hitler stands out uniquely.

It was Volkmar Schmidt who first mentioned to me in an interview [See: Volkmar Schmidt Interview](3), that he brought up the subject of the Hitler assassination plot with the accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, at a private party one evening in February of 1963.

Kelly: You mentioned General Walker when you talked with Oswald?

Schmidt: Yes, Professor Kuetemeyer told me you know, to deal with people like this who are disturbed, you have to use empathy, be slightly over zealous yourself to like up with them and that total insanity, towards reality. When I heard how hateful he was towards Kennedy and Cuba, which was kind of irrational, I tried to say "hey, there’s something much more real to be concerned about," because I don’t know about Castro, but I know about this Walker, he’s kind of a Nazi, yea? Not so bad as those Nazis in Germany, but I had specifically mentioned to Lee Harvey Oswald, that Walker had given a speech to the students at the Mississippi campus and those guys went off and killed a couple of journalists....

K: So do you think your conversation with Oswald about Walker may have instigated him to take a pot shot at him?

S: Yes, he did, and naturally it was a terrible responsibility, and for years when I drove past the underpass I literally had to cry because, you know. But I exonerate myself completely because I had the best intent, embarrassed Kennedy, and I certainly didn’t tell him to take a pot shot at him...I may have triggered it. Actually, a few days after I talked with him, he bought his weapons.

As for Volkmar Schmidt's association with those in the plot to kill Hitler, Schmidt mentions Professor Kuetemeyer, who "...was certainly, and many of his friends were in the circle of those who tried to kill Hitler, Stauffenberg, and several of his close friends were executed, and one of the sons of his friends, lived at his house and became and is still a very close friend of mine. Fritz from Holland...Fritz first name Frederick, Von - the symbol of nobility, Von Halen. He was actually arrested before the plot came out. He knew about the plot and was tortured to death. And another gentleman who was involved was Von Trott, a friend of Kuetemeyer." (4)

Also heavilly involved in Valkyrie was one Dr. Hans Bernd Gisevius. A Gestapo officer assigned to Switzerland, Gisevius tried to get Allen Dulles, the OSS chief of Bern, to eleminate Hitler, broker a separate peace between Germany and the Western Allies, and fight the Russians together. This plot evolved into the July 20th bomb explosion at the Fuhrer’s “Wolfschanze” bunker headquarters near Rastenburg, Germany. (5)

Col. Claus Schenk Grav von Stauffenberg planted a briefcase bomb under the map table next to Hitler, left the bunker, witnessed the explosion and the flew back to Berlin where he met with Gisevius. Together they drew up press releases to counter Goebel’s propaganda, but when it became clear that the bomb failed to kill Hitler (the heavy wooden table leg saved his life), those responsible were rounded up and executed. Many hundreds, some say thousands were eventually implicated, but somehow, Gisevius went underground and eventually escaped using false identification provided to him by Allen Dulles, though his personal assistant Mary Bancroft. (6)

Mary Bancroft, the stepdaughter of the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, was also Dulles’ mistress at the time, and served as a intermediary between Dulles and Gisevius. As related in her own Autobiography of a Spy Mary Bancroft was a close personal friend of Michael Paine’s mother Ruth Forbes Paine Young. Their close friendship dated from the 1920s when Ruth Forbes Paine was married to New York architect Lyman Paine, one of the founders of the Trotyskite movment in the U.S. and father of Michael Paine. Bancroft and Ruth Forbes Paine traveled extensively overseas and were together on board an ocean liner when Bancroft met her future husband, a Zurich businessman. Once set up in Switzerland, she hooked up with Dulles.(7)

And once set up in Texas, back from the USSR, Oswald met Volkmar Schmidt and Ruth Hyde Paine at the same party. Schmidt would give Oswald a history lesson, applying the Hitler assassination analogy to General Walker, and Ruth Paine would become Oswald's benefactor.

Just think, Schmidt asked Oswald, how history would have changed if Hitler had been assassinated?

VALKYRIE - The Movie

Now with the Hollywood version of the conspiracy up on the big screen and a certifiable superstar playing the romantic hero Von Stauffenberg, in what's reputed to be a historically faithful script, there's suddenly new interest in this once obscure, failed assassination attempt, and how it's changed history.

July 20, 1944 just doesn't ring as true as December 7th or September 11th, but that was the date Hitler was suppose to die, and because he didn't the world has never been the same. Just think how things would be as equally different today if John F. Kennedy slouched down on his wife's lap instead of taking a bullet to the head, and got out of Dealey Plaza alive? How many people would have been implicated in the conspiracy?

Well, after July 20, 1944, hundreds if not thousands of Germany's elte, often nobel class, including Gen. Rommel, were implicated in the conspiracy, and in some cases, their entire families executed. It is telling that both Wolf's Lair and Dealey Plaza operations were not only political assassinations, but coup d'etats designed to take over the administrative powers of government and change policy, with one being successful and the other not.

While the movie does not appear to be a box office sensation, it is in the popular mainstream, and has garnered favorable reviews, including one by Kurt Loder at MTV News, and the other, by Phil Villarreal.

Loder incorrectly asserts that the Day of the Jackel is fictional, as there really is Carlos the Jackel and there were covert attempts to assassinate DeGaul by the OAS over Algeria. (8)

In his review of the movie, Phil Villarreal notes that "There is a certain satisfaction in watching the plot come together. Amazingly it was actually Hitler who signed off on his own potential death warrent by authorizing changes in a contingency plan that set reserve troops into action to suppress a government takeover. Von Stauffenberg and his confederates wanted to use the troops to stifle the SS after Hitler's death." (9)

Indeed. Besides the characters involved in both Valkyrie and Dealey Plaza, an attribute of the Valkarie plot adapted into the Dealy Plaza plot was a Northwoods false flag variation to blame the assassination on the opposition (the SS and Castro), and having the intended victim actually administratively approve the operation.

They convinced Hitler to alter the contingency plan in a national emeregency, what we now know as the Continunity of Government (COG) to allow for the change in leadership in the event of Hitler's assassination, thus getting him to sign his own death warrent, which he escaped.

Kennedy wasn't as lucky once he was convinced to approve certain (maritime) covert actions against Cuba that were originally congingency plans, and evidently used against him at Dealey Plaza. These specific operations were administratively approved by JFK, but also personally exposed to RFK as the director of the Cuban operations, so he was effectively blackballed from responding to his brother's assassination. (10) [See: JFK Assassination - The Administrative Details ]

Former Pennsylvania Senator Richard Schewiker once said that "there are fingerprints of intelligence" all over the assassination of President Kennedy, and some of those fingerprints are found in other, similar operations. Valkyrie had only been a decade prior to Dealey Plaza, so its quite understandable how the same players could be involved in both, but it also fits nicely into the historicial glove.

Both Valkyrie and Dealy Plaza included getting the victm to sign off on the operations used, and a false flag, Northwoods angle to blame the assassination on the opposition, the SS in Hitler's case, and Castro by framing Oswald as the assassin.

That these facits were built into the Dealey Plaza operation show how complicated it really was, and their similarities give us clues to who was behind it, and shows how it is still effecting us today. Now we have to deal with the contemporary continuation of the same psychological warfare oprations, like those posed by Brothers In Arms and Legacy of Secrecy, both new books about the assassination that mention the Valkarie plot.

In her (January 6, 2008 column) Liz Smith gave Lamar Waldron's Legacy of Secrecy a thumbs up write up, in which she wrote, "YOU MAY WONDER why the FBI and CIA withheld information from the committee. By the time of JFK's murder, dozens of (Carlos)Marcello associates had infiltrated a CIA operation code-named AMWORLD, a project started by JFK himself. Writer Waldron revealed this back in 2005. This was the CIA's top-secret plan to cooperate with Cuba's army commander, Juan Almeida, to stage a coup against Fidel Castro on Dec. 1, 1963. That was 10 days after JFK's trip to Dallas. (The CIA and the Joint Chiefs of Staff even referred to the World War II plot to kill Hitler as their role model for getting rid of Castro. You can see that story told by Tom Cruise in the new movie 'Valkyrie.')" (11)

Now I'm looking for that reference in Legacy of Secrecy, but it jumped right out at me when I was reading Brothers In Arms.

Knowing there was something going on between Valykrie and Dealey Plaza, I was still taken aback when I read the following passage in Gus Russo's new book Brothers In Arms.

"...But the (Cubala/AM/LASH) plot hurtled forward in hopes of success before the 1964 elections in the U.S. Joseph Califano, of the Pentagon's Cuban Coordinating Committee, was being pressed by Des FitzGerald for all the Defense Department intel he could get on the key Cuban military officers, scoping for a 'mole' within the regime. 52 FitzGerald was about to brief the Joint Chiefs and, although Califano was excluded from the meeting on September 25, Des and the Agency were, according to memos later released, studying how German generals had plotted to kill Hitler, in order to develop a way to organize high-ranking Cuban officers to kill Castro. 53.
(12)

Russo Notes: #52. Califano. p. 124. #53. Califano citing: JCS Memo for the Record, Walter Higgins, "Brifing by Mr. Desmond FitzGerald on CIA Cuban Operations and Planning," JFK Collection, JCS Papers, J-3, #29, 202-10001-10028, NARA, which Rex Bradford over at the Mary Ferrell Archives has conviently posted on line.

The memo, written by a Col. Higgins, deputy to the late Gen. Krulak,concerned a(Sept. 25, 1963) briefing on Cuban operations given to the Joint Chiefs of Staff by Desmond Fitzgerald. "He commented that there was nothing new in the propaganda field. However, he felt that there had been great success in getting closer to the military personnel who might break with Castro, and stated that there were at least ten high-level military personnel who are talking with CIA but as yet are not talking to each other, since that degree of confidence has not yet developed. He considers it as a parallel in history; i.e., the plot to kill Hitler; and this plot is being studied in detail to develop an approach." (13)

In the assassination of President Kennedy we find that covert anti-Castro Cuban operations, approved by JFK, and intentionally exposed to RFK, were utilized in the assassination of President Kennedy, thus blackballing RFK from retaliation after the death of JFK.

Looking closely at the specific CIA authorized attacks against Castro that were connected directly to what happened at Dealey Plaza I came up with the June, 1963 Bayo-Pawly raid and the Halloween night attack by the raider mother ship Rex.

[See: JFK Assassinaiton - The Administrative Details ] http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=5762

On April Fool's Day, April 1, 1963, those responsible for covert operations against Cuba, the Cuban Coordinating Committee, suggested a number of specific plans to be directed against Castro, some of which were later approved by the President. Some of these specific operations approved by the President, which involved maritime attacks against Cuba from Florida (Bayo/Pawley-Operation Red Cross/the Rex), included agents and operatives who later became entwined in the events of that took place in Dallas.

Lamar Waldron argues that the Mafia dons redirected the plan for a coup in Cuba to kill JFK, while Gus Russo contends that Oswald acted on behalf of Cubans who retaliated in response to the JFK/RFK plots to kill Castro.


(1) Valkyrie the movie. [http://valkyrie-trailer.blogspot.com/]

(2) July 20, 1944-November 22, 1963 [See below]

(3) January, 1995 telepone interview. [http://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2008/01/volkmar-schmidt-interview.html]

(4) According to Schmidt, Keutemeyer was also associated with Herr Von Halen and Dr. Adam von Trott zu Solz, both of whom were captured, tortured and executed because of their roles in the failed assassination and coup of July 20, 1944. (For details of their roles Peter Hoffman’s the History of German Resistance, 1933-1944, MIT Press, 1977).

(5) Autobiography of a Spy (William Morrow, 1983), Mary Bancroft

(6) She also helped Gisevius translate his history of the Third Rich, later published as “Bis zum bittern Ende.” (two volumes, Fretz & Wasmuth, Zurich, 1946, 1954; To the Bitter End,” Richard and Clara Winston, Jonathan Cape, London, 1948; Rutten & Loening, Hamburg, (1964).

(7) Autobiography of a Spy, Bancroft.

(8)Kurt Loder Review of Vaklyrie movie [http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1601846/story.jhtml]

(9)Phil Villarreal review of Valkyrie [http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/39380]

(10)See: JFK Coup - The Administrative Details (See below)
[http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=5762 ]

(11) [http://www.nypost.com/seven/01062009/gossi...htm?&page=0]

(12) Gus Russo, Stephen Molton, Brothers In Arms - The Kennedys, The Castros, and the Politics of Murder, p. 294 (Bloomsbury, 2008)

(13)Higgins memo on FitzGerald briefing [http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=10246&relPageId=5]

(14)






Original article:
JULY 20, 1944 – NOVEMBER 22, 1963

The July 20, 1944 plot to kill Adolph Hitler and the November 22, 1963 assassination of President Kennedy are separated by nearly two decades in time, yet they are entwined by a number of common attributes, indeed some of the same individuals were involved in both dramas.

Dr. Wilhelm Keutemeyer, Dr. Hans Bernd Gisevius, Mary Bancroft and Allen Dulles were four participants in the July 20, 1944 attempt to kill Hitler who also became players in the Dealey Plaza tragedy.

When Lee Harvey Oswald was identified as a suspect in the assassination, it was immediately determined that he had spent the previous night at the home of Ruth Hyde Paine. How did the Oswalds come to meet the Paines? We learn they met through the seemingly innocent, yet suspicious efforts of a German immigrant, Volkmar Schmidt.

Volkmar Schmidt was at the time an employee of Magnolia Oil Labs and was a friend and associate of George DeMohrenschildt, who encouraged Schmidt to meet Oswald. A party was set up at Schmidt’s house, which he shared with two other young men who worked in the same business, Everitt Glover and the son of one the founders of Radio Free Europe, Richard Pierce.

Schmidt was recruited in Germany by Magnolia Labs, a branch of the Magnolia Oil Company that was originally founded by a man (Little), whose rich widow was bilked by Jim Braden and his sidekick (Pierria.) They were branded “The Honeymooners” when Braden was kicked out of Dallas for vagrancy by Sheriff Bill Decker, when Braden was living at the widow’s Turtle Creek home, and then again when he was taken into custody as a suspicious person at Dealey Plaza. Magnolia was bought up by a bigger fish – Mobil Oil.

Schmidt arranged a party at his place so Michael Paine could meet Oswald, but neither Schmidet nor Michael Paine were there (though Marina did meet Ruth Paine), so a second party was held (February 20) at DeMohrenschilt’s apartment.

According to E. J. Epstein (in Legend, McGraw-Hill, 1978 p.204) and a telephone interview with Volkmar Schmidt (Bill Kelly interview with Volkmar Schmidt – Jan. 1995), it was a monumental meeting for both men.

Sitting across a table from Oswald, Schmidt had a three hour conversation with him and later said that “almost from the moment Oswald began talking about his experiences in the Soviet Union” Schmidt was impressed by Oswald’s “burning dedication” to what he considered “political truth.”

During the course of their conversation Schmidt said he used a “reverse psychology” technique that he had learned in Germany from Professor Wilhelm Kuetemeyer.

“When the conversation turned to the subject of the Kennedy administration, Schmidt expected Oswald would express the usual liberal sentiments about the President’s attempt to bring about constructive reform. Instead, Oswald launched into a violent attack on the President’s foreign policy, citing both the Bay of Pigs in April, 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis of October, 1962 as examples of ‘imperialism’ and ‘interventions.’ He suggested that Kennedy’s actions against Cuba had set the stage for a nuclear holocaust and further, that even after the Soviet missiles had been withdrawn from Cuba, American sponsored acts of sabotage and ‘terrorism’ against Cuba were continuing.”

So Schmidt changed the subject, using a psychological technique learned from Err Professor Kuetemeyer, “He could see that Oswald had extreme and unyielding positions and realized it would do no good to argue with him. Instead, he tried to win his confidence by appearing to be in sympathy with its political views and making even more extreme statements.”

“In an intentionally melodramatic way Schmidt brought up the subject of General Edwin A. Walker, who had been forced to resign from the Army because of his open support for the John Birch Society and other right wing extremist causes. (Schmidt) suggested that Walker’s hate-mongering activities at the University of Mississippi, which the federal government was then trying to desegregate, were directly responsible for the riots and bloodshed – including the deaths of two reporters on that campus. He compared Walker with Hitler and said that they should be treated as murders at large.”

“Oswald instantly seized on the analogy between Hitler and Walker to argue that America was moving towards fascism. As he spoke, he seemed to grow more and more excited about the subject. Schmidt could see he finally got through to Oswald. As he listened to Oswald define more closely his political ideas, he began to work out his ‘Psychological Profile,’ as he called it. Oswald seemed to be a ‘totally alienated individual,’ obsessed with political ideology and bent on self-destruction. Even then, he reminded Schmidt of a Dostoevskian character impelled by his own reasoning towards a ‘logical suicide.’”

Though unknown to Schmidt, within days of their conversation Oswald would order the rifle that was allegedly used to shoot at Walker and kill the President.

“When he returned home that night, Schmidt thought that he might be able to help Oswald if he could ‘get him out of his shell,’ He thought of arranging a small party for him where he could meet and talk with other people interested in political ideas. He particularly wanted (Oswald) to meet Michael Paine, an inventor and ‘creative genius’ at Bell Helicopter (whose father, George Lyman Paine, had been one of the leaders of the Trotskyite movement in the United States), and the two men with whom he shared a house in Dallas: Everett Glover and Richard Pierce.”

So they have a party, and while neither Schmidt nor Michael Paine were present, Ruth Paine met Marina Oswald and became fast friends, though it would take a while longer for Michael Paine to meet Lee Harvey Oswald.

In a footnote, (p. 353), Epstein notes: “Kuetemeyer had been experimenting, according to Schmidt, on a group of schidoids during World War II. The experiments had been interrupted in 1944, when Kuetemeyer had become involved in the plot to assassinate Hitler and had been forced into hiding from the Nazis.”

Dr. Whilhelm Keutemeyer was a professor of psychosomatic medicine and religion at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Keutemeyer’s son was Volkmar Schmidt’s best friend, and Schmidt looked to Keutemeyer as a surrogate father figure. Keutemeyer was also a colleague of Swiss psychoanalysist Carl Jung, who attempted to use his professional associations in attempts to influence Hitler’s behavior. When that failed they just tried to kill him.


Also involved was one Dr. Hans Bernd Gisevius, a Gestapo officer assigned to Switzerland, who tried to get the OSS chief of Bern, Allen Dulles, to broker a separate peace between Germany and the Western Allies, without Hitler, to fight the Russians together. This plot evolved into the July 20th bomb explosion at the Fuhrer’s “Wolfschanze” bunker headquarters near Rastenburg, Germany.

Col. Claus Schenk Grav von Stauffenberg planted a briefcase bomb under the map table next to Hitler, left the bunker, witnessed the explosion and the flew back to Berlin where he met with Gisevius. Together they drew up press releases to counter Goebel’s propaganda, but when it became clear that the bomb failed to kill Hitler (the heavy wooden table leg saved his life), those responsible were rounded up and executed. Many hundreds, some say thousands were eventually implicated, but somehow, Gisevius went underground and eventually escaped using false identification provided to him by Allen Dulles, though his personal assistant Mary Bancroft.

Mary Bancroft, the stepdaughter of the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, was also Dulles’ mistress at the time, and served as a intermediary between Dulles and Gisevius. She also helped Gisevius translate his history of the Third Rich, later published as “Bis zum bittern Ende.” (two volumes, Fretz & Wasmuth, Zurich, 1946, 1954; To the Bitter End,” Richard and Clara Winston, Jonathan Cape, London, 1948; Rutten & Loening, Hamburg, (1964).

As related in her own “Autobiography of a Spy” (William Morrow, 1983), Mary Bancroft was a close personal friend of Michael Paine’s mother Ruth Forbes Paine Young. Their intimate friendship dated from the 1920s when Ruth Forbes Paine was married to New York architect Lyman Paine, one of the founders of the Trotyskite movment in the U.S. and father of Michael Paine. Bancroft and Ruth Forbes Paine traveled extensively overseas and were together on board an ocean liner when Bancroft met her future husband, a Zurich businessman.

Hans Bernd Gisevius was called to testify for the defense at the Nurenberg trials, but instead of aiding them, he helped send the Nazis to the gallows. He then came to America where Allen Dulles provided him with a $5,000 a month retainer and set him up in the home of his CIA deputy Tom Braden. At the time Braden was head of the International Organizations Division (IOD), and his assistant was Cord Meyer, Jr., who would later take his place. Cord Meyer, Jr. was the co-founder of the World Federalists, which also included it’s Philadelphia adherents, Michael’s mother Ruth Forbes Paine Young and Priscilla Johnson McMillan, when she was a student at Bryn Mawr.

So there you have it - Dr. Wilhelm Keutemeyer, Dr. Hans Bernd Gisevius, Mary Bancroft and Allen Dulles, four direct participants in the July 20, 1944 Hitler assassination attempt and failed coup d’etat, who also became associated with the events that culminated in what happened at Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963.

The main difference between the two events is that the July 20, 1944 plot failed, and those responsible or even remotely associated with it were rounded up and executed without trial, while the November 22, 1963 succeeded and those responsible assumed command.

(3) See: Volkmar Schmidt Inteview.


JCS Memo For The Record - Sept. 25, 1963

Russo Notes:
#52. Califano. p. 124.
#53. Califano citing: JCS Memo for the Record, Walter Higgins, "Brifing by Mr. Desmond FitzGerald on CIA Cuban Operations and Planning," JFK Collection, JCS Papers, J-3, #29, 202-10001-10028, NARA.

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=5

OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL ASSISTANT FOR
COUNTERINSURGENCY AND SPECIAL ACTIVITY

25 September 1963

MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

Subject: Briefing by Mr. Desmond FitzGerald on
CIA Cuban Operations and Planning

• 1. At the JCS meeting at 1400 on 25 September, Mr. Desmond FitzGerald briefed the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

• 2. Except for General Taylor and Admiral McDonald, the Joint Chiefs were present, as were the Directors and Secretariat. Colonel Higgins from SACSA was the only other officer in attendance.

• 3. General LeMay opened the meeting by referring to papers recently discussed by the Joint Chiefs on policy and actions concerning military support of the CIA for operations against Cuba. General LeMay expressed the JCS position as had been reflected in the memoranda to Mr. Vance which in effect is that the Joint Chiefs do not believe that the operations to date are of a size and importance enough to justify the use of military support for protection.

• 4. Mr. FitzGerald then discussed his personal feelings as to changed conditions in Cuba. Essentially, he believes that Castro's hold in Cuba has been seriously weakened since last July. He believes that the minor raids conducted by the CIA have contributed to this deterioration in Castro's influence and stability. He is firmly convinced that Castro will fall at some future, not too distant, date, and that such actions as the CIA are conducting, as well as those of exiles, are contributing to unrest and unsettlement.

• 5. Mr. FitzGerald, in commenting upon criteria as to when the military support should be provided, offered the following. The greatest danger from his point of view is that the mother ships may be captured rather than be sunk. This will result in the capture of crewmen who have too much information and which could result in dangerous publicity for the United States. The location of these raids contributes to the possibility of capture. Hence, only when the raids are conducted in the more vulnerable areas from that point of view, is it likely that the CIA will request military support. He further stated that CIA has no intention of requesting aid for the coming raid.

• 6. General LeMay questioned the danger of capture in view of the capabilities of Cubans and ridiculed the idea that small motor boats should have the capability of such a ship.

• 7. General LeMay and others gave opinions concerning such technicalities as the capability of radar both on land and in the air, capability of ship radar of the U.S. and Cuba, the speed of the mother ship, which was cited as 10 to 12 knots, and other related items.

• 8. Mr. FitzGerald made much of the Cuban volatile nature. He cited that many Cubans are now walking with their heads up and alert because of the realization that there are possibilities of raids and other outside supports, such as the light aircraft raids. He voiced the opinion that Castro would probably take desperate measures as his situation further deteriorates and would turn to creating revolutions in Latin America. He stated that even though his operations may be considered only minor, he thought they were doing about as much as could be done under the present policies. One of his problems was that he felt there was only a total of 50 logical targets and if he conducted as many as 10 raids a month, he would be unable to sustain the build-up of Cuban hopes. He further stated that there were times when certain types of raids were more favorable than others; for instance, on sugar centrals.

• 9. In responding to the question concerning the non-attributality of U.S. equipment, he stated that all equipment they use could be bought on the open market in many countries, even though it was of American origin. He stated that intelligence was not as good yet as they would like to have; however, they are having greater success in having agents enter and depart Cuba.

• 10. General Wheeler injected that he sympathizes with such planners as Mr. FitzGerald because he realizes that many good ideas are never accepted by the cautious policy makers. However, Mr. FitzGerald reported that he believes he had a clearer go-ahead on these operations than he has ever had in his past experience.

• 11. Mr. FitzGerald said that over the next two or three months his plans include critical targets of three classes: electrical systems, sugar centrals, and oil. He cited that electrical systems, although a top priority and a key to the economy, were very difficult targets. The sugar centrals were only of a seasonal nature because unless hit at the peak season, they could be repaired without difficulty or loss of time. In regard to oil, the refineries are most important but were also toughest to hit.

• 12. In response to a comment by General Shoup regarding the sabotage of mines Mr. FitzGerald said there had been a recent case of internal sabotage in a mine. He then explained how the success of his operations can only be measured when internal sabotage is increased. In response to a question, he admitted that there was not any coordination as yet with the internal sabotage program.

• 13. He commented that there was nothing new in the propaganda field. However, he felt that there had been great success in getting closer to the military personnel who might break with Castro, and stated that there were at least ten high-level military personnel who are talking with CIA but as yet are not talking to each other, since that degree of confidence has not yet developed. He considers it as a parallel in history; i.e., the plot to kill Hitler; and this plot is being studied in detail to develop an approach.

• 14. General LeMay then questioned the advisability of utilizing a communication technique to install a radio capability which would permit break-in on Castro broadcasts. He stated that an Air Force officer named McElroy was available to talk to Mr. FitzGerald on the matter, and Mr. FitzGerald accepted this offer.

• 15. The conference closed with General LeMay directing that Mr. FitzGerald's planners meet with General Krulak's people and work out the details as to how the military can assist in supporting these operations. After Mr. FitzGerald departed, General LeMay gave added directions to Colonel Higgins to initiate necessary steps for planning.

• 16. After the JCS meeting Admiral Riley called Colonel Higgins into his office and read a letter from Mr. McGeorge Bundy which discussed secrecy measures necessary related to Cuba CIA operations. Admiral Riley directed Colonel Higgins to have the nature of this letter put out through SACSA control to SACSA contact points to insure an adequate system for secrecy within the military services. Admiral Riley stated he was returning the letter to Mr. Gilpatric as he did not want written communication by SACSA, but to put this out orally. This was transmitted to Colonel Wyman who will take the action to prepare an appropriate memorandum for the record to be filed with General Ingelido in accordance with further direction by Admiral Riley.

• 17. General Wheeler, Chief of Staff of the Army, called and questioned us concerning SACSA's access for the knowledge of such operations as mentioned in the McGeorge Bundy letter. I advised him that our Pendulum system was in being but that I would look into it in greater detail to determine that it met the letter as well as the spirit of the memorandum. I stated I believed this was so but had not had reason to do it until this date and therefore did not give him a positive answer at that time.

WALTER M. HIGGINS, JR.
• Colonel, USA




Posted by Bill Kelly at 10:20 AM
1 comments:
Tim Fleming said...
Fascinating stuff, but you left out one other diabolical connection--Walter Dornberger, head of Hitler's V-2 rocket program at Peenemunde during WWII. He escaped to America through the auspices of Dulles' Operation Paperclip, and, lo and behold, got a job with Bell Helicopter, working for Micahel Paine. It is widely suspected that the call to Dallas Police fingering Oswald, just 15 minutes after the gunfire died down at Dealey Plaza's Valkyrie, came from someone at Bell Helicopter.

Tim Fleming
author "Murder of an American Nazi"
eloquentbooks.com
leftlooking.blogspot.com

November 28, 2008 2:42 PM