Ferrie and Oswald question

[Richard Coleman]

I may be behind the curve on this, but I don't quite get why Ferrie suddenly became panicked about his library card being used by Oswald AFTER the assassination. Did he forget that he had lent his library card to Oswald (if he did)? Did he forget that Oswald had been in his CAP group? Did he think no one would remember that?

If Ferrie was involved in setting Oswald up as a patsy for the assassination (or anything else) he had to know that even a half-assed investigation would turn up a prior association with Oswald. Was he unconcerned about this until after the event when he had a sudden realization that it wasn't such a great thing to have known Oswald?

Or...is it possible that he didn't know the real purpose behind whatever he was doing with Banister and Shaw concerning Oswald? That would make Ferrie a kind of secondary patsy, a scenario I haven't heard of before. Might explain why he had to be murdered though...::

[Tracy Riddle]

I've never understood why LHO would borrow Ferrie's library card since he had his own (according to the official story, which provided us with a list of books he borrowed).

[Jim DiEugenio]

I have always thought that the people involved in this thing, that is most of them, were all working on a need to know basis.

They had a general idea of what was happening, in other words, they were working with Oswald on a project. But not what the end game was.

This is why Shaw made that call to Andrews. He did not know it was superfluous, that Oswald was about to be knocked off.

The people involved in the cover up, like the Paines, did know what they were doing.

[Tracy Riddle]

Oh yes, the compartmentalization was a huge factor. It's how you can maintain a fairly large conspiracy, by keeping most of the players in the dark until it's too late.

[Lauren Johnson]

I have always thought that the people involved in this thing, that is most of them, were all working on a need to know basis.

They had a general idea of what was happening, in other words, they were working with Oswald on a project. But not what the end game was.

This is why Shaw made that call to Andrews. He did not know it was superfluous, that Oswald was about to be knocked off.

The people involved in the cover up, like the Paines, did not what they were doing.

Not that I know enough to make an intelligent argument. Not by a long shot. My question is around for what purpose were these people kept in the dark. My suspicion is that the people running the operation were laying some false tracks just in case there was some impertinent investigator that got off script. Run him out into a swamp and wear him down.

[Jim DiEugenio]

You never want to let people know what they are involved in since they might blow the operation in advance.

I mean, look at the film The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.

ALec Leamas does not really know what he is doing.

LeCarre used to work for MI 5. So he knew what he was writing about.

[Tracy Riddle]

It's SOP (standard operating procedure) everywhere in the military, intelligence agencies, defense industry (and the Mafia, incidentally) - the "need to know." People follow orders, and they understand that they won't be allowed to see the whole picture - they can only read the files they have a reason to access, they can only talk to the people they need to talk to. This is mostly to maintain security, also to insulate higher-ups if people lower down on the food chain start to talk. They know only a smart part of the picture, and can only implicate the few people they are in contact with.

The Manhattan Project was run this way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project#Secrecy

A 1945 Life article estimated that before the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings "[p]robably no more than a few dozen men in the entire country knew the full meaning of the Manhattan Project, and perhaps only a thousand others even were aware that work on atoms was involved." The magazine wrote that the more than 100,000 others employed with the project "worked like moles in the dark". Warned that disclosing the project's secrets was punishable by 10 years in prison or a $10,000 ($128,000 today[SUP][1][/SUP]) fine, they saw enormous quantities of raw materials enter factories with nothing coming out, and monitored "dials and switches while behind thick concrete walls mysterious reactions took place" without knowing the purpose of their jobs.[SUP][229][/SUP][SUP][230][/SUP][SUP][231][/SUP][SUP][232][/SUP]

Everyone, including top military officials, and their automobiles were searched when entering and exiting project facilities. One Oak Ridge worker stated that "if you got inquisitive, you were called on the carpet within two hours by government secret agents. Usually those summoned to explain were then escorted bag and baggage to the gate and ordered to keep going." Nonetheless, despite being told that their work would help end the war and perhaps all future wars,[SUP][233][/SUP] not seeing or understanding the results of their often tedious dutiesor even typical side effects of factory work such as smoke from smokestacksand the war in Europe ending without the use of their work, caused serious morale problems among workers and caused many rumors to spread. One manager stated after the war:[SUP][232][/SUP]

Well it wasn't that the job was tough… it was confusing. You see, no one knew what was being made in Oak Ridge, not even me, and a lot of the people thought they were wasting their time here. It was up to me to explain to the dissatisfied workers that they were doing a very important job. When they asked me what, Id have to tell them it was a secret. But I almost went crazy myself trying to figure out what was going on.[SUP][232][/SUP]