Warren Commission (05 of 26): Hearings Vol. V (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (05 of 26): Hearings Vol. V (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
The FBI does have 10 legal attaches attached to 10 embassies abroad.
Their purpose is not operational. They don't investigate in those
countries any matters that have to be investigated. That, if it is to
be done, is handled by CIA. Our purpose in being there is to maintain
liaison with our opposite number such as the Surete Nationale in
France and with the national police in the Philippines, to exchange
information that is vital to our internal security, and also vital to
the internal security of the other country.
Senator COOPER. May I ask one other question?
Is there any, considering the number of defectors in the United States
to Communist countries, which cannot be large, I would assume----
Mr. HOOVER. I think there are about 36.
Senator COOPER. Which would indicate, I would think either a lack of
reliability on their part and stability or beyond that a dedicated
purpose to become Communists, then upon their return, wouldn't it seem
to you they should be given some special attention?
Mr. HOOVER. We have now----
Senator COOPER. To determine whether they are a risk to become Soviet
or Communist espionage agents or in fact become dangerous?
Mr. HOOVER. We have taken steps to plug that gap.
Prior to the assassination of the President, a defector, before he came
back was always cleared for return by a representative of the State
Department or the military abroad. When he came back we immediately
interviewed him if he was a civilian. It had to be done promptly to
determine whether he could be a potential intelligence agent.
Now, in December of last year, following the assassination, we expanded
the criteria of what should be furnished to the Secret Service, and all
defectors automatically go on the list to be furnished to the Secret
Service.
There are 36 defectors that we know of in this country who have been
under investigation. Some of those men may have changed their views
sincerely. Some of them may not have. But as a matter of general
precaution, as a result of the Oswald situation, we are seeing that all
go to the Secret Service.
Mr. DULLES. That includes military defectors, does it not?
Mr. HOOVER. Military defectors and defectors from any private agency,
after they return to the U.S. and become civilians. Some have defected
to China, to the satellite nations and to Russia.
Senator COOPER. Just one other question, because I have to go.
In the course of this investigation, as you know so well, there
have been a number identified who were very close, at least to Mrs.
Oswald, and a few, I can't say that were close to Oswald yet they had
association with him, such as the man who drove him back and forth,
Mrs. Paine, with whom Mrs. Oswald lived, and others, has there been
any credible, I won't say credible because if you had you would have
presented it to us in your report, has there been any claims by persons
that these people are in any way related to the Communist Party?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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