Valkyrie at Dealey Plaza

[Linda Minor]

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, "Briefing 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 conveniently posted on line.

http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/05...05463.html
Seventeen years ago, Thom Hartmann and I began writing a book about the battles of President Kennedy and his brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, against the Mafia and Fidel Castro. Drawing on new information and exclusive interviews with those who worked with the Kennedys, in addition to thousands of recently declassified files, we discovered that John and Robert Kennedy had devised and were executing a secret plan to overthrow Fidel Castro on December 1, 1963.

“The Plan for a Coup in Cuba” (as it was titled in a memo for the Joint Chiefs of Staff) would include a “palace coup” to eliminate Castro, allowing a new Cuban “Provisional Government” to step into the power vacuum, and would be supported by a “full-scale invasion” of Cuba by the US military, if necessary.[1] The “Plan for a Coup in Cuba” was fully authorized by JFK and personally run by Robert Kennedy....
Robert Kennedy put the invasion under the control of the Defense Department because of the CIA’s handling of 1961’s Bay of Pigs disaster. The “Plan for a Coup in Cuba,” as written by JFK’s Secretary of the Army Cyrus Vance with the help of the State Department and the CIA, called for the coup leader to “neutralize” Cuban leader “Fidel Castro and . . . [his brother] Raul” in a “palace coup.” Then, the coup leader would “declare martial law” and “proclaim a Provisional Government” that would include previously “selected Cuban exile leaders” who would enter from their bases in Latin America.[6] Then, at the invitation of the new government, after “publicly announcing US intent to support the Provisional Government, the US would initiate overt logistical and air support to the insurgents” including destroying “those air defenses which might endanger the air movement of US troops into the area.” After the “initial air attacks” would come “the rapid, incremental introduction of balanced forces, to include full-scale invasion” if necessary. The first US military forces into Cuba would be a multiracial group of “US military-trained free Cubans,” all veterans of the Bay of Pigs.[7] Upon presidential authorization, the US would “recognize [the] Provisional Government . . . warn [the] Soviets not to intervene” and “assist the Provisional Government in preparing for . . . free elections.”[8]

...It was not until 2004 that Joseph Califano, assistant to Secretary of the Army Cyrus Vance in 1963, briefly hinted at the sensitive operation that Robert Kennedy had managed and had withheld from the Warren Commission. Califano wrote: “No one on the Warren Commission . . . talked to me or (so far as I know) anyone else involved in the covert attacks on Castro. . . . The Commission was not informed of any of the efforts of Desmond FitzGerald, the CIA and Robert Kennedy to eliminate Castro and stage a coup” in the fall of 1963.[36]

1. Army copy of Department of State document, 1963, Record Number 198-10004-10072, Califano Papers, Declassified 7-24- 97. CIA memo, AMWORLD 11-22-63, #84804, declassified 1993.
6. Army document, Summary of plan dated 9-26-63, Califano Papers, Record Number 198-10004-10001, declassified 10-7-97.
7. Army copy of Department of State document, 1963, Record Number 198-10004-10072, Califano Papers, Declassified 7-24-97.
8. Army document, Summary of plan dated 9-26-63, Califano Papers, Record Number 198-10004-10001, declassified 10-7-97.
36. Joseph A. Califano, Jr., Inside: A Public and Private Life (New York: Public Affairs, 2004), p. 125.

http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.ph..._Sacrifice
CIA's AMWORLD operation is not clearly defined by the documents, except to the extent that it definitely involved Manuel Artime and was related to the movement of his operation to Nicaragua in 1963. However, tantalizing information in reports about Cuban exiles includes talk of a "PLAN JUDAS," the December 1 date in at least one instance, and other supportive details. Ultimately, evidence for the existence of such a coup plan relies mainly on the interviews conducted by the authors.

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archiv...ocId=10154
This CIA dispatch to the Mexico City station chief (Win Scott) confirms arrangements to have AMBIDDY-1 (Manuel Artime) arrive and be put up in a safe house, as discussed with Michael C. CHOADIN (David Phillips). From there would be effected a "dry-run, designed to test AMBIDDY-1's capability to enter and exit Mexico securely, i.e., without coming to the special attention of the Mexico authorities." The dispatch is tagged with an AMWORLD designation.

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archiv...eId=794036
Very tight security as though they suspected something...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...02434.html
CIA to Air Decades of Its Dirty Laundry
Assassination Attempts Among Abuses Detailed
By Karen DeYoung and Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, June 22, 2007; Page A01
..."I never knew about it at the time, although it was a full 24 hours a day with teams of people following me, looking for my sources," Getler said. He said he went to see Colby afterward, with Washington lawyer Joseph Califano. Getler recalled, "Colby said it happened under Helms and apologized and said it wouldn't happen again."

Califano was General Counsel to the Secretary of the Army in 1963.
http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archiv...eId=223382

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archiv...elPageId=2

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archiv...eId=326460

http://www.ctka.net/pr199-russo.html
...I encountered Russo in person a couple of times at the end of 1992 and the beginning of 1993. I attended the ‘92 ASK Conference in Dallas where I exchanged some materials with him and at which he did an ad hoc talk with John Newman. I did not actually attend that dual presentation but I heard that Russo’s part centered on some aspects of military intelligence dealing with the assassination. Specifically it concerned Air Force Colonel Delk Simpson, an acquaintance of both LBJ military aide Howard Burris and CIA officer David Atlee Phillips, about whom some significant questions had been raised. And since he was coupled with Newman, I assumed that Russo was investigating the possibility of some form of foreknowledge of the assassination in some high military circles. My other encounter with Russo in this time period was even more direct. Toward the end of 1992, I had reason to visit Washington to see a research associate and examine a new CIA database of documents that was probably the best index of assassination-related materials available at the time. We decided to call up Russo and we arranged to spend a Saturday night at his home....He had secured a letter written by Jim Garrison to Jonathan Blackmer of the House Select Committee on Assassinations that examined the significance of two seemingly obscure suspects in his investigation, Fred Lee Crisman and Thomas Beckham. Russo had a letter from Beckham to a major magazine that was extraordinarily interesting. It discussed the young man’s relationship with Jack Martin, the CIA, the Bay of Pigs, a man who fit the description of Guy Banister, and a personal acquaintance of his, "this double agent, Lee Harvey Oswald." (Significantly, none of the above material appears in Russo’s book.)...

http://utip.gov.utexas.edu/jg/archive/1994/STRIKEF2.pdf
This is Gen Thomas F. Hickey about whom Howard Burris was reporting back to LBJ for whom he was back channel.

http://www.protectthetruth.org/josephcalifano.htm
In April 1961, Mr. Califano became Special Assistant to the General Counsel of the Department of Defense. In July 1962, he was appointed Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Army. On July 1, 1963, he was appointed General Counsel of the Army. He also served as Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Army for Civil Functions, supervising the Corps of Engineers' Civil Works Program and was a member of the President's Appalachian Regional Commission. In early 1964, Mr. Califano was selected to serve as the principal legal advisor to the United States Delegation to the Investigating Committee of the Organization of American States on the Panama riots of January 1964....Mr. Califano was appointed Special Assistant to President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 26, 1965. In this position, Mr. Califano served as LBJ's top domestic aide, developing the President's legislative program as well as helping coordinate economic policies. He also worked on a variety of domestic problems, including labor-management relations, balance of payments, health care, education, environmental and urban issues, and civil rights. He served in this position until January 20, 1969. While in this post, The New York Times called him "The Deputy President for Domestic Affairs." Mr. Califano was a member of the Washington law firm of Arnold & Porter from March 1969 until May 1971. He was a member of the Washington law firm of Williams, Connolly & Califano from June 1971 until January 1977....

http://www.arcent.army.mil/history/com_b...hickey.asp
Hickey was Commanding General, Third U.S. Army, from August 15, 1955 to April 30, 1958.

http://www.pattonhq.com/textfiles/thirdhst.html
In September of 1945, General Patton turned over command of the Third Army to an old friend of his, Lieutenant General Lucien K. Truscott....In 1947, the Third Army returned to the United States and occupied the military installation which is today Fort McPherson, located in Georgia. In 1973 the Third Army was inactivated, the official date being 1 October, 1973....
Third Army Commanders...
22 Aug 1952 - 31 Jul 1955 LTG Alexander R. Bolling
1 Aug 1955 - 30 Apr 1958 LTG Thomas F. Hickey

Gen. Bolling, who was succeeded as Commander of Patton's Army by Gen. Hickey in 1955, was the officer who was instrumental in the careers of Henry Kissinger and Fritz Kraemer:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.ht...A9659C8B63
"Born in Essen [Germany] in 1908, Fritz Kraemer was the son a prosecutor and an heiress. A man of conservative instincts, with a veneration for history and culture and a devotion to his Lutheran faith, he acquired doctorates in economics and law. During the turbulent early 1930's he often joined in street battles against both black-shirted Nazis and Communist toughs, holding high the flag of the old Hohenzollern monarchy.
In 1933, he left Germany to work as a legal adviser for the League of Nations in Rome, and he wrote eight books on international law. Having observed fascism in both Italy and Germany, he fled to the United States in 1939 on the eve of war.
Once in the American Army, he cut an eccentric figure, habitually wearing a monocle and carrying a riding crop while speaking loudly in a strong German accent.
At Camp Claiborne in Louisiana, his demeanor attracted the attention of [B]Maj. Gen. Alexander R. Bolling, the commanding officer of the 84th Division,[/B] who assigned him to his headquarters."

Walter Isaacson, a Kissinger biographer, said that Privates Kissinger and Kraemer first met at the camp, when Private Kraemer, speaking from his jeep, delivered a lecture on the philosophy of the Nazi state and the necessity of its defeat to men who had just finished a 10-mile march. The 20-year-old Private Kissinger was stirred and wrote Private Kraemer, saying: 'I heard you speak yesterday. This is how it should be done. Can I help you in any way?' ''

Mr. Kraemer looked up the younger soldier and, impressed by his intelligence, gradually inspired and abetted him. As Mr. Isaacson wrote: ''Kraemer's patronage was to prove momentous. During the next three years, he would pluck Kissinger out of the infantry, secure him an assignment as a translator for General Bolling, get him chosen to administer the occupation of captured towns, ease his way into the Counter-Intelligence Corps, have him hired as a teacher at a military intelligence school in Germany and then convince him to go to Harvard. Kraemer is often described as 'the man who discovered Kissinger.' He thunders: 'My role was not discovering Kissinger! My role was getting Kissinger to discover himself.' '' ]

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/arbolling.htm
GENERAL BOLLING DEAD; LED INTELLIGENCE
Figured in Army-McCarthy Hearings – In 2 Wars
COCO BEACH, Florida, June 3, 1964 – Lieutenant General Alexander R. Bolling, former Chief of Army Intelligence, who became a controversial figure during the Army-McCarthy hearings, died today at the Patrick Air Force Base Hospital. He was 68 years old.

General Bolling ended his 38-year Army career in 1955 as commander of the Third Army. Later he became an executive of the Carling Brewing Company. He retired from that post in 1960.

He is survived by his widow, the former Mary Josephine Moyer; a son, Lieutenant Colonel A. R. Bolling, Jr.; and two daughters, Josephine, wife of Brigadier General Roderick Wetherill, and Barbara, wife of Lieutenant Colonel Clarence L. Thomas, USA, retired.

While General Bolling was head of Army Intelligence, a “secret” government document turn up, presented by the late Senator Joseph R. McCarthy at a hearing of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

The Wisconsin Republican was involved in a dispute with the Army in 1954. When the Senator offered in testimony a “letter” from J. Edgar Hoover, head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to General Bolling, there was uproar about a breech of security, since the “letter” was clearly marked “secret.”

According to Senator McCarthy, the “letter” proved that the Army had disregarded FBI security warning about various civilian employees at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. Senator McCarthy said he had received the “letter” from a young Army Intelligence officer.

Later testimony tended to show that the FBI “letter” was a part of a 15-page FBI secret document.

Attorney General Herbert Brownell, also a Republican, later riled that Senator McCarthy had not been entitled to have a copy of the report and that anyone involved in the dissemination of the document could be prosecuted.

The Senate later censured Senator McCarthy. The contents of the report were never disclosed.

As Intelligence Chief, General Bolling was involved in a number of security cases. In 1952, General Robert W. Grow, then attached to the United States Embassy in Moscow, was convicted by an Army court-martial of improperly keeping a diary while serving in a maximum security area.

The trial had stemmed from the supposed theft of the diary by a Soviet agent, and it was charged that General Grow’s personal comments had been a security risk.

After the incident, General Bolling called for the reinstatement of wartime regulations against high-ranking officers’ maintaining diaries. However, he also praised General Grow and defended the policy of selecting high officers with excellent combat records to serve in diplomatic posts around the world.

General Bolling, who was born in Philadelphia, entered the Army in 1917 as a Reserve Lieutenant. He served with the Fourth Infantry Regiment during five campaigns in France and won the Distinguished Service Cross for heroism.

In later campaigns he also won the Distinguished Service Medal with Oak Leaf cluster, the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

During World War II, General Bolling commanded the 84th Infantry Division – known as the Railsplitters because of its Illinois background – and directed its operations from the Siegfried Line to the Elbe River. He often appeared at division reunions and spoke rousingly of its victories.

After the war, the General was transferred to staff duty at the Pentagon and soon rose to Assistant Chief of Staff G-2 (Intelligence).

By 1958 Hickey was in charge of the Net Evaluation Subcommittee that briefed Pres. Eisenhower and later Pres. Kennedy about nuclear war capabilities.

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAE...SIOP-1.pdf
Mr. Gray reminded the President [Eisenhower] and the Council that this
was General Thomas' last appearance as Director of the Subcommittee
Staff, and that his successor, General Thomas F. Hickey, was present
this morning. Thereafter, Mr. Gray presented a recommendation in
substantially the following language:
"You will recall that the 1957 report involved a retaliatory attack confining itself to a primarily military target system. For 1950, the President directed that the exercise concern itself with the retaliatory objective of immediately
analyzing the Russian nation, rather than concentrating on targets of a military character although not entirely ruling out particular military targets which the Subcommittee believed would significantly contribute to paralysis of the Russian nation."
...Secretary McElroy expressed his agreement to the action recommended by Mr. Gray and the President brought the meeting to a conclusion with an expression of warm congratulations to General Thomas and his associates and also a welcome to General Hickey who would be taking over henceforth from General Thomas. The National Security Council:
a. Noted and discussed the Annual Report for 1958 of the Net Evaluation Subcommittee, pursuant to NSC 5816, as presented orally by the Director and other members of the Subcommittee Staff.