He reviewed all proposed and active operations and the approval for recruiting agent assets. This did not engender trust or cooperation, but Angleton did not concern himself as he felt the intrusions were needed. One of Angleton’s former Chief of Operations, “Scotty” Miller, expressed the environment in which CI staff operated as one of a “watchdog” snooping around to sniff out either Soviet deception or manipulation.
Angleton and the MJ-12 Directive
Cold War hysteria accompanied the “duck and cover” scare that seemed to grip the nation. No real problems popped up until the 1960 presidential elections when Democratic presidential candidate Senator John F. Kennedy accused the Republican incumbent President Eisenhower of allowing a “missile gap” to exist and charged that the United States was getting too close to the Soviet Union.
Soon after Kennedy became president, he began to needle the CIA for information on UFOs (11) which was unnerving from the outset for Allen Dulles after he was just burned on the failed April 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of communist-enslaved Cuba. The once cordial relationship that had existed fell apart and Dulles knew his time as DCI was short (12).
Dulles knew of the explicit instructions contained in the 24 September 1947 Truman directive; it prohibits the DCI from making disclosures to a chief executive who obviously did not have a “need-to-know.” Disclosure without a “need-to-know” might not only compromise the CIA, but the lengthy and costly UFO program deemed so necessary to national security by all involved.
This simply could not be jeopardized for any one person, even for the president of the United States. Knowing the character of Allen Dulles and James Angleton, we can only speculate as to what kind of response Kennedy may have received. According to the DCI Top Secret/MJ-12 document, it leaves no doubt that Dulles was not going to fully cooperate with Kennedy’s request, but instead forwarded it to Angleton for review, consideration and feedback.
MJMAJESTIC TWELVE included spin-off projects that were obviously equally sensitive activities of the CIA such as PARASITE, PARHELION, ENVIRO, PSYOP, GREEN, SPIKE, and HOUSE CLEANING. Other sensitive and covert programs could be affected as well such as MK ULTRA, ARTICHOKE and DOMESTIC all of which appear to have been valid projects associated with MJMAJESTIC TWELVE. The full implications of the above are not clear at the present time, but it is obvious that the other projects were held in readiness for some kind of mass indoctrination and deception which would be undertaken in a national crisis.
Murder, INC.
The strain mounted on the CIA by Kennedy was reaching a flash point of wills and with the Noresenko affair (13) driving Angleton to obsession, a UFO leak crisis brought new strains on Angleton. He had learned of Hollywood screen star Marilyn Monroe’s phone conversation with a New York art dealer (14) discussing Kennedy’s secret visit to an undisclosed military base to see alien artifacts (this could have been Ft. Belvoir, Annex K or Wright-Patterson AFB). With that was her disdain over the soured relationship she had endured with President Kennedy and his brother, the United States Attorney General, Robert F. Kennedy, all of which had been recorded by CIA domestic electronic surveillance experts.
Since 1955, Monroe had been under surveillance by the CIA and the FBI. They had maintained a security dossier on her because of her marriage with a well-known American writer who was suspected of having communist affiliations. They also tracked her trip to Russia and the press coverage she received while there (15).
The wiretap report also mentions nationally recognized New York syndicated reporter Dorothy Kilgallen as having conversations with Monroe regarding the Roswell UFO crash of 1947 and President Kennedy’s politically motivated NASA Apollo moon program. Dorothy Kilgallen also made headlines in 1955 when she disclosed a private conversation with a British cabinet official that UFOs were real and that the U.S. and British authorities considered the matter of the highest national importance. The significance of the wiretap was that Monroe was murdered (or was it suicide?) the following day in her Brentwood condo.
According to internationally recognized private investigator and director of the Nick Harris Detective Agency, Milo Speriglio Monroe was the victim of a national security management hit by the CIA and the MAFIA (16). The suggestion that somehow the CIA was involved in a domestic murder of an American citizen is not too far fetched when considering the past abuses coming from Angleton’s CI program of ‘absolute-security-at-any-cost’ philosophy. Whether Angleton authorized the hit is not known, but the modus operandi of the way her body was found and moved around and the fashion in which the autopsy records were changed to reflect suicide plus the theft of her secret red diary one day after her autopsy is similar to the past methods used by Angleton’s covert CIA counterintelligence operators.
Active Measures
The final straw for Angleton came when President Kennedy fired off a top-secret memorandum to him outlining a previous discussion concerning a classification review of all CIA UFO files that could affect national security. It was dated 12 November 1963, just 10 days before he would be gunned down on the streets of Dallas, TX. Kennedy informed Angleton (17) that he was setting things in motion to actually share sensitive CIA UFO intelligence data with the Russians through the director of NASA (18). This request was made on the same day he requested James Webb (19) to begin Kennedy’s peace overture to the Russians via joint space exploration.
Webb, a board member of the intelligence community, likely interpreted Kennedy’s program to mean the sharing of classified UFO data under which the current directive was forbidden. In Kennedy’s top secret memorandum (20), he outlined for Angleton specific items he wished to have disclosed to Webb, such as “[to] have the high threat cases reviewed with the purpose of identification of bona fide as opposed to the classified CIA and USAF sources (21).” Also, “that we make a clear distinction between the known and unknowns in the event the Soviets try to mistake our extended cooperation as a cover for intelligence gathering of their defense and space programs (22).”
Finally, Kennedy wanted Angleton to, “arrange a program of data sharing with NASA mission directors in their defensive responsibilities (23).” This was unprecedented and totally unacceptable to Angleton and the CIA. Here Kennedy was requesting the Central Intelligence Agency, the agency that he swore he would “break into a thousand pieces” to just hand over the most guarded secret ever.
This memo was passed on to William Colby (24) who indicated to someone in Angleton’s staff using a hand written note that said, “Response from Colby, Angleton has MJ directive” and is dated November 20, 1963, just two days before Kennedy died. It seems that Kennedy’s request bounced around from Angleton’s desk possibly seeking consensus on the request or passing the buck back to Angleton.
Aside: What really drove JFK? Did JFK already know in July 1947 as a freshmen congressman? See Footnote on last page under references.
In either case, it was a hot potato for which Angleton had to deal with. It is also significant that Kennedy’s NSAM No. 271 was the last coming from Kennedy’s desk just before he left Washington for Dallas.
What the real significance of this remains buried somewhere within the CIA, and Angleton spent many a day trying to figure out who ordered Kennedy’s execution. Was Angleton set up, or did he unintentionally supply the needed ingredient for the murder of the century (25, 26)? In either case, the secret(s) remained safe largely in part because of his relationships with Allen Dulles and Richard Helms (next chapters) who allowed him “knock-on-the-door” access thereby circumventing the structured CIA hierarchy.
The legend of James Jesus Angleton--and his “wilderness of mirrors” as he often referred to as his daunting task of protecting vital state secrets--faded into obscurity on May 11, 1987. Perhaps Jim was not the real bad guy in the counterintelligence game but, who knows (27)?
Addendum
Blast from the Past: 08-29-2000
Below is the feedback received from a list of names given to Rick Doty and myself by Tim Cooper
who received them from an 'anonymous source, (Anon)' claiming that a number of people/organizations were very upset over Tim Cooper's Angleton article/Chapter in book which pointed to a UFO connection (Dulles was then CIA Director and later headed the Warren Commission, very doctored evidence) for the JFK assassination.
It was very surprising to find that many of the names given to us seem to match important positions within the Intelligence Agencies.
Carl Ogelsby - Karl Ogolsby: Medical Doctor who works for the NSA in the Medical Technology Division.
Arthur Goldberg: There is a special agent Arthur Goldberg, who works in the Foreign Counterintelligence Division of the FBI, assigned to the Washington, DC field office. He was involved in the arrest of Richard Aimes, the former CIA official.
IG Farbin -This is a German Company that manufacturers a large assortment of merchandise.
Don Smoot: No information.
George Murphy: There is a person by this name employed by the DIA in DC. He works in the technology security division.
Oshner? There is a Henry Oshner, employed by the CIA. But we have no further information on him.
It was also stated by Tim Cooper's 'anonymous source' that if Tim's Angleton report should reach certain people that a 'dirty tricks' campaign would be started against him.
References/Footnotes
(1) September 25, 1943 OSS memo released through the FOIA in September 1989.
(2) U.S. Senate Select Committee to Study Government Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Final report, Book VI, April 23, 1976, pp. 154-55.
(3) JJA personal records. Angleton took a seven-month leave of absence to remain in Tucson, AZ, for unspecified reasons not substantiated by the need to be with his wife and family as is believed by other writers; see Angleton’s absence from CIA Washington headquarters during May through December 1947; COLD WARRIOR JAMES JESUS ANGLETON: THE CIA’S MASTER SPY CATCHER by Tom Mangold, Touchstone Book published by Simon & Schuster, 1991, p. 361.
(4) The National Security Council on December 12, 1947, had adopted measures to counter the espionage and counterespionage threat as specified in NSCID 1 and later amended in NSCID 5 that authorized the Director of Central Intelligence to “conduct all organized Federal espionage and counterespionage operations.” According to CIA historian Arthur B. Darling, atomic weapons research became an overriding issue and coordination within the Office of Scientific Research and Development. With the AEC, through CIA consultant Dr. H.P. Robertson and using General Vandenberg’s directive containing an agreement between Dr. Vannevar Bush and others, facilitated the transfer of Manhattan Engineering District files to the Director of Central Intelligence for proper collection of foreign atomic energy research. Secret OSO activities in this area was not allowed to fall into administrative control of the AEC nor the FBI which Vandenberg thought should always remain within CIA intelligence operations: THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY: AN INSTRUMENT OF GOVERNMENT To 1950 by Arthur B. Darling, Penn State Press, 1990, pp.197-239.
(5) The term “U.F.O.” as defined by Air Force intelligence directives is used to reflect unconventional aircraft and missiles and not interplanetary spacecraft.
(6) CIA FOIA response letter dated March 26, 1976 to July 14, 1975: FOIA request made by Ground Saucer Watch of Phoenix, AZ, in which it stated that the NSC tasked the CIA a requirement to determine the actual UFO threat. The CIA responded through the Office of Scientific Intelligence by creating the Intelligence Advisory Committee to study the threat aspects. Military members of the IAC fought vigorously to maintain participation in areas relating to AEC intelligence collection and the Joint Chiefs of Staff represented by General Todd (who is mentioned in a FBI memo regarding JSC ignorance of flying saucer data in 1947) was at odds with the CIA about the duplication of efforts by the military intelligence division in producing UFO intelligence data for the IAC: THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY: AN INSTRUMENT OF GOVERNMENT To 1950 by Arthur B. Darling. Penn State Press, 1990, pp. 349-356.
(7) The KGB, the Committee for State Security; a non-military arm of the Soviet Intelligence Service. The GRU was the military arm. The KGB received its title in 1954. When mentioning the Russian Intelligence Service, LGB and GRU are referenced genetically to include both organizations.
(8) This remarkable fact is substantiated in the mistaken downgraded Top Secret Canadian Department of Transport Intra-Department Correspondence from Wilbert B. Smith to Dr. Robert I. Sarbacher, an American physicist and Science Consultant in the Guidance & Control Panel, Dated 21 November, 1950. Smith acknowledge that UFO studies were “considered by the United States authorities to be of tremendous significance,” and that the “matter is the most classified subject in the United States Government, rating higher that the H-bomb.
(9) September 24, 1947 Top Secret/MAJIC EYES ONLY “Project WHITE HOT” Preliminary Estimate in Five Parts (Unacknowledged by the U.S. Government): THE MAJESTIC DOCUMENTS by Dr. Robert M. Wood, Ph.D. and Ryan S. Wood, Wood & Wood Enterprises, 1998, pp. 43-81.
(10) 25 November, 1955 Top Secret memorandum from Rear Admiral Edwin T. Layton, Deputy Director for Intelligence, The Joint Staff, to the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, ref. J.C.S. 1712/5. This report deals with the Burgess-MacLean defection after it was learned that sensitive weapons research information had been sent to Moscow through diplomatic means and the CIA was informed of the defection in which Angleton was devastated to learn that Kim Philby, a long standing friend of British intelligence, was part of the spy ring.
(11) Unacknowledged June 28, 1961 Top Secret National Security Memorandum from President John F. Kennedy to Allen Dulles, Director of Central Intelligence; Subject: Review of MJ-12 Intelligence Operations as they relate to Cold War Psychological Warfare Plans. It is a one line request that says, “I would like a brief summary from you at your earliest convenience.”
(12) Unacknowledged CIA Top Secret/MJ 12 Counterintelligence carbon copy draft directive from Director of Central Intelligence to MJ 1-7 with eight tabs on government watermark onion skin paper (circa 1961).
(13) Yuriy Ivanovich Norsenko was a Soviet KGB officer who defected in 1962 and Angleton had him detained, then emotionally tortured for three years believing the warning given by another KGB defector Anatoliy Mikaylovich Golitsyn. Golitsyn said that Norsenko was ordered to defect and act as a disinformation plant to spread misleading information to the CIA regarding Soviet capabilities and intentions. Later CIA analysis suggested that it was Golitsyn who was the real mole planted within the CIA, not Norsenko. Angleton was convinced that Golitsyn was a bona fide defector and Golitsyn’s information was then used by Angleton and the subsequent CI mole hunt virtually destroyed the CIA’s covert operations for some time.
(14) Top Secret CIA wiretap report dated 3 August, 1962 between Howard Rothberg and Marilyn Monroe with references to Project 40, MOON DUST, 5412, and MJ-12. The report was given to James Angleton and has his signature at the bottom right hand portion of the document establishing that CI was aware of Monroe’s desire to blackmail the Kennedy’s with their indiscretions made to her while they were engaged in a sexual affair with her prior to August, 1962.
(15) FBI File Number 105-40018-1, formerly classified “Secret.” CIA is copied on 19 August, 1955, FBI document from Mr. Dennis A. Flinn, Director, Office of Security, Department of State and copy sent to Director, Central Intelligence Agency with attention: Deputy Director, Plans, SECRET; declassified on 11 November 1978. Subject matter was redacted.
(16) Crypt 33: The Saga of Marilyn Monroe-The Final Word, by Adela Gregory and Milo Speriglio, Birch Lane Press, 1993.
(17) This would be amazing since no one in government knew that James Angleton worked for the CIA much less his existence since there were few pictures of Angleton and very few within the agency knew who he was and what he did. It is also interesting, that until his appearance before the Church Committee in 1975, the public did not know about Angleton nor his counterintelligence position at the CIA. His identity was kept secr
et for 20 years.
(18) National Security Action Memorandum No. 271 dated November 12, 1963 to the Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Subject: Cooperation with the USSR on Outer Space Matters. President Kennedy instructs James Webb as Administrator of NASA to “assume personally the initiative and central responsibility within the Government for the development of a program of substantive cooperation with the Soviet Union in the field of outer space, including the development of specific technical proposals. I assume that you will work closely with the Department of State and other agencies as appropriate.” Kennedy had requested an interim report on NASA’s progress in this adventure by December 15, 1963. Of course, after he was killed, this program was never acted upon.
The Black World of UFOs: Exempt from Disclosure Page 4
