From: mshack@juno.com (Martin R Shackelford) Subject: COPA Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 04:11:20 EDT ====================================================================== COPA 1996 by Martin Shackelford The conference included the usual overlaps, which is frustrating, so I skipped around a bit, knowing that the main presentations will be available on videotape, thanks to the efforts of Bob Groden and David Starks. I didn't learn as much as at past conferences, as there was more discussion of procedures for getting the files out than of what the new files contain. Still, there was some information of interest, and opportunities for networking. I had good conversations with John Armstrong (Oswald's twin biographies), Gerry Satterfield (a presenter and COPA volunteer worker), Stephanie (a COPA staffer), and Josiah Thompson (about his transition from professor to detective). Informally, I was told that a former FBI official said upper level FBI officials believed LBJ was involved; Dan Rather was a boyhood friend of LBJ aide Cliff Carter (Dan Alcorn). A woman who said she was the wife of the former Marine Commandant (Kay Riggs, or Hunt-Bell--she told me Riggs, I heard her use Hunt-Bell) talked about a Marine-Mossad connection for assassin training from the 1950s on; said this was well-known in upper-level Marine circles. At the press conference on Friday, Walt Brown asked the government to simply allow us the truth. Patricia Davis spoke of the political assassinations/death squads in Guatemala. Dan Alcorn spoke of drug-related political assassinations (as in Mexico). John Newman noted that President Clinton is not complying with the Records Act, having sat on "30-day" FBI appeals from as long ago as March; he also talked about the CIA and crack cocaine issue, noting the press was trying to turn it into a racial issue; adding that reporter Walter Pincus has written about being a former CIA informant ("How I Traveled Abroad on CIA Subsidy"); he called for a Cocaine Contra Records Act (which he is helping draft). Dick Gregory gave a strong, and eloquent talk; Alcorn, his attorney, noted that Dick had refused to return a call from CIA Director John Deutch, who had asked Dan for Dick's home number (Dick asked who he was kidding, claiming that the director of the nation's top intelligence agency couldn't come up with Dick Gregory's home phone number). On Saturday,in the Photographic Evidence Working Panel, Bob Groden said the Kodachrome Zapruder film is definitely the camera original, with the bas-relief effect characteristic of Kodachrome film (a feature I've noted in my Kodachrome slides). He said CBS now owns one of the original Nov. 22, 1963 bootleg Zapruder copies. During the Medical Evidence Working Panel, Vince Palamara noted that Secret Service followup car driver Sam Kinney mentioned that brain matter splattered on the windshield in front of him; en route back to Washington, in the C-130 with the limousine, Kinney said he found a large skull piece from the back of JFK's head. Kinney thought very highly of his good friend Dr. Burkley. Review Board staff notes: Tom Samoluk has taken a job in Boston, and married. Eileen Sullivan is temporarily filling his role. A panel that first evening focused on "CIA, Crack Cocaine and the Contras," with Peter Dale Scott discussing past CIA drug involvement. John Newman reviewed recent developments. Dick Gregory talked about the politics of the battle. He defined a liberal Ku Klux Klan member as one who lynches you from a short tree. On Saturday, John Armstrong continued his important research with a talk on "Oswald's Possessions," the early FBI seizure of Oswald's things, the seizure of his records from two Fort Worth schools; he played an HSCA audiotape of Gus Rose on the searches (the Minox was found in Oswald's seabag; Ruth Paine identified it as belonging to Oswald); outlined the attempted concealment of Oswald's Minox, as well as other evidence as the FBI substituted its own evidence photos for those of the Dallas Police (210 DPD photos weren't returned); the HSCA audiotape of Robert Stovall (they found a Minox camera, not a lightmeter); he also discussed the phony W-2 forms from Oswald's New Orleans employers, with tax I.D. numbers assigned in January 1964. Walt Brown outlined the development of the Warren Commission from the LBJ transcripts; John McCloy is described in one call as a "publicity hound"; LBJ tells Sen. Russell "the CIA is worried." Phil Melanson talked about the Robert Kennedy case, and the Scott Enyart lawsuit over his photos of the assassination scene. All is not clear in the case, as Enyart's best friend testified he and Scott weren't in the panty at the time of the shots. William Pepper gave an impressive outline of the case presented in his book Orders to Kill. He added that other witnesses have come forward since the book was published. He knows who Raoul is, and has talked with him on the phone; James Earl Ray knew nothing about guns; Marcello mobster Frank Liberto hired Lloyd Jowers to assist Raoul; Raoul fired the shots; Jowers hid the rifle in his business, Jim's Grill, observed by his waitress-mistress, who recently came forward (two corroborating witnesses, plus Jowers talked on TV in December 1993, seeking immunity). A witness reported smoke rising from the bushes. The Army photographed the assassination and the assassin. Ray's attorney Percy Foreman knew Raoul from Houston; Raoul was involved the the sale of Army guns to Marcello. The Memphis intelligence officer who bent over King's body was on loan from Army intelligence, and later became a CIA employee. In the Medical Evidence Panel, Art Smith discussed his interview with Dr. John Ebersole, Bethesda radiologist, who said they called Dallas that night. Kenneth Rahn noted that Neutron Activation Analysis can prove dissimilarity, but can only indicate a possible common source, not prove it; he suggested the probability of the single bullet theory. In the New Files from Archives II Topic Research Group, John Newman noted that Archives II is terribly understaffed. E. Howard Hunt was asked about the DRE in his HSCA deposition, and blurted out:"Dave Phillips ran that." He discussed diagraphs, the two-letter prefix to CIA operational names. ZR represented communications intelligence and storage; came out of Staff D; also included tightly held operations like ZR/RIFLE, the assassinations program. (Note: Clay Shaw was cleared for a program called ZR/CLIFF, according to a recently released document). Staff D was "a good place to hide things." The meaning of QK (Shaw was also cleared for QK/ENCHANT) is unknown at present. The CIA is covertly attacking the Review Board in Washington. An group member who had recently visited Harold Weisberg had learned from him that Kerry Thornley had been identified by several employees of Jones Printing as the man who picked up Oswald's leaflets. The next panel discussed opening the files. John Newman called the Records Act "a model that works." Peter Dale Scott expressed concern that some agencies would wait out the Review Board, as they had the Warren Commission and HSCA; he noted the potential importance of Marine G-2 (intelligence) files, and the FBI's Mexico City file. Jim Lesar noted new information on George DeMohrenschildt and the Paines. The Oswald 201 file is available; 250-300,000 pages from the CIA Segregated Collection; an the 250 page "John Scelso" deposition; very little from the National Security Agency or Army; the Board needs to ask for an extension from Congress, as half their time was spent just getting organized. John Judge recommended putting pressure on the agencies (faxing, letters, etc.), and publicizing new data as it becomes available. Newman added that the military has released only 3 boxes of files (last month alone, the FBI released 40); another oversight hearing is needed. Scott noted the repeated involvement of counterintelligence officers with Oswald, and a Marine G-2unit at New River, North Carolina which included Buck Revell (later FBI assistant director, and Dallas field office chief). In the Panel on JFK and Castro, Peter Dale Scott discussed Paulino Sierra Martinez of Chicago, his ties of RFK ally Harry Williams, Howard Hunt, James McCord, Alpha 66, Bernard Barker, Carlos Prio, John Martino and the Minutemen; some, including Frank Sturgis, were reporting on the group to the CIA. Hitman Richard Cain was promised a career in the CIA if he provided information on Sierra's group. Mario Garcia Kohly (see Robert Morrow's books) was backed by Meyer Lansky. The U.S. government protested Castro's deportation of Jake Lansky. The DRE bought guns from John Masen in Dallas. During the Topic Research Group on Oswald, a participant indicated that David Ferrie sent his CAP cadets to Tulane University for mind control experiments. The New York Branch of CAP was founded by Cord Meyers Sr, father of the CIA official. At the Sylvia Meagher Awards Dinner, four people were honored: the late Bud Fensterwald, and his AARC co-founder Jim Lesar; Peter Dale Scott; and Robert Groden. Patricia Davis delivered a lon, but compelling account of the Jennifer Harbury case and related issues in Guatemala, where the military opposed "subversion by electoral means," using CIA and School of the Americas training to torture and kill political opponents. On Sunday, the Paines research team (Carol Hewett, Steve Jones, Barbara Lamonica, Bill Kelly) noted that Michael Paine's mother was a close friend of Allen Dulles' mistress Mary Bancroft. His stepfather, Arthur Young, founded Bell Helicopter, but was upset when they were converted in Viet Nam for use as "gunships," instead of used for medical evacuation as in Korea. Ruth Paine visited the Youngs before going to pick up Marina in New Orleans. Oswald seemed to have many "connected" friends. 300 cubic feet of files on Ruth's sister remain classified (she worked for the Air Force and CIA); their father, like George DeMohrenschildt, worked for the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) and AID. Phillip Corso said the Paines were agents. Ruth's husband Michael and brother Carl both seemed to have been mistaken for Oswald at times. The Paines collaborated in the FBI's charade about Oswald's Minox camera. Michael Paine had numerous previous contacts with FBI agent Bardwell Odum. In 1979, Ruth Paine was seen examining documents at the Archives (after HSCA); she now lives in Florida, Michael in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A Review Board update was given by Executive Director David Marwell. The Board hasn't yet decided whether to ask for more time; they have released 4000 documents, and gotten the agencies to release another 4000 by consent. The HSCA and FBI records are nearly completely reviewed. An HSCA FBI group of files and the CIA's HSCA sequestered collection are both large. They obtained the Dave Powers film, taken from the followup car. In New Orleans, they got the Metro Crime Commission files, and have copied all of the Harry Connick files--they are in Court seeking the originals. There is no trace of Richard Case Nagell's records. They have received J. Lee Rankin's related papers, David Lifton's interviews, and may get Priscilla Johnson McMillan's papers. They are seeking more records from the Secret Service (more were opened last week), other governments and the military; the NSA turned out to be very cooperative, after initial delay. The CIA released 36 boxes of HSCA staff notes; the FBI, documents on Johnny Rosselli, Carlos Marcello and E. Howard Hunt; 41 boxes of Church Committee documents; Passport Office files; Postal Service files; McClellan Committee files. They have asked for media out-takes. Medical witnesses, and the family of White House photographer Robert Knudsen (who printed the color autopsy photos) have been interviewed. Hal Verb talked about the missing shot. Roger Feinman discussed the lawsuits of Mark Lane and Robert Groden against the Posner attack ad Random House placed in the New York Times, filed under the Lanham Act, which governs commercial speech. Posner editor Robert Loomis called undermining faith in the government "a crime." The Lane court appeal was heard by a former law clerk of Earl Warren. Roger made the somewhat exaggerated claim that the critics have not misled anyone. Charles Robbart discussed the conflict between the Lodges and the Kennedys. The Kennedy limousine was driven by former Lodge driver William Greer. Gerry Satterfield and David Krall proposed a theory that the media contained hidden messages announcing the assassination shortly beforehand, and offered assorted examples, which were at least thought-provoking--their research is ongoing. Vince Palamara noted that during WFAA's coverage of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce breakfast, the reporter began to talk about the McKinley assassination. At the close, Walt Brown announced the COPA Board planned to hold next year's conference in May or June, on a campus where lodging would be less costly. John Judge noted that it has been a rough year for COPA; only about 100 attended the conference. John himself is facing possible heart surgery in the near future, and he is the glue that holds COPA together. The future, as usual, is difficult to predict. ------------------------------ end -----------------------------------