Chronology of Key Events in ARRB-ONI Interface

March 10, 1998
LCDR R. BASTIEN
Office of Naval Intelligence
Dear LCDR Bastien: The purpose of this letter is to memorialize for the record the meeting held on January 29, 1998 between yourself,...the Assassination Records Review Board staff....in which we requested to meet with the ONI official most knowledgeable about ONI records management..First, ...I provided a two-page synopsis of my understanding of the chronology of events between ONI and the ARRB up to January 29, 1998, (the day of our meeting)...Following your review of attachment, you pointed out an error of fact,...quoted her saying that ONI searches would include district offices....

Going back over the records that indicate the intention all along was to search all Navy records centers in the continental United States, they tried to nail LCDR Pike for not being tasked with locating all ONI records relevant to the assassination, and find that this intention was mentioned in every meeting between ARRB staff and ONI team and recorded in every meeting report. Here they circle the statement, "...but would later include district offices within CONUS," and in quotes write, "INCORRECT." Apparently they went back and tried to correct the records, but there were too many of them. But they still charged her with exceeding her "tasking," and branded it "travel fraud."

19 Aug 1997 ARRB staffer Doug Horne called Terri Pike and requested that ONI look for "119 Reports" covering an alleged ONI investigation of Lee Harvey Oswald's October, 1959 defection to the Soviet Union. LCDR Pike accepted the tasking, but the ARRB never received any feedback on its results...