- Info
A Look Back … Counterintelligence and the JFK Assassination
After President John F. Kennedy's assassination on Nov. 22, 1963, the U.S. government briefly suspected that the Soviet Union might have perpetrated the crime. Fears of Moscow's involvement were
revived in early 1964 because of a convoluted counterintelligence (CI) episode
involving CIA's legendary James Angleton and KGB defector Yuri Nosenko. No case
in the Agency's history was more fraught with potential for conflict.
When news of President Kennedy's assassination reached CIA Headquarters, Richard Helms – then the head
of CIA operations – recalled that "[w]e all went to battle stations over
the possibility that this might be a plot – and who was pulling the
strings."
Since assassin Lee
Harvey Oswald was murdered two days later, officials speculated that Oswald may
have been a Soviet or Cuban hit man. Agency officers ruled out that possibility
in mid-December.
Nosenko Defects
But, suspicions of KGB
involvement were revived in late January 1964 when Nosenko contacted the Agency
and soon defected. (Two years earlier, Nosenko – a mid-level KGB officer –
volunteered to work for the CIA as an agent in place.) At the January meeting,
Nosenko made a startling disclosure: he had been assigned to watch Oswald
during his defection to the Soviet Union
(1959-1962). Nosenko said the KGB declined to work with Oswald after
determining he was unstable.
Nosenko's surprise
decision to defect and his news that Oswald was not a KGB asset seemed too
convenient to Angleton and other Agency officials. Moreover, Nosenko
contradicted Angleton's key source on the KGB, defector Anatoly Golitsyn.
Golitsyn asserted that
the Soviets had a mole inside the CIA. Golitsyn also claimed that Nosenko was a
disinformation agent sent both to discredit him and to hide Moscow's hand in President Kennedy's death.
Trying to Find the Truth
If Nosenko was found to be a dispatched agent, it would suggest that Moscow had ordered the murder of an American president – probably
a casus belli for the United
States. Consequently, Nosenko was detained
for several years when it appeared to CIA officials that he might be hiding a
Soviet role in the assassination.
With so many questions
raised, senior Agency leaders knew it was essential to elicit the truth from
Nosenko. Helms later said, "If it were shown that Oswald was acting as a
Soviet agent when he shot President Kennedy, the consequences to the United States
and to the world would have been staggering."
Despite being detained
for more than three years, Nosenko never changed his story. Nosenko was
eventually released and compensated.
Angleton’s Molehunt
Meanwhile, Angleton was compelled to find the mole
inside the CIA, as asserted by Golitsyn. Along the way, this hunt damaged many Agency
officers' careers and tarnished Angleton’s reputation.
Acting on Golitsyn's
vague leads, Angleton did find a mole. But because he was not as senior or as
damaging as Angleton had thought, and was no longer working for CIA, Angleton
continued to search for the "primary mole" supposedly still inside Langley.
Along the way, 40
Agency officers were put on the suspect list and 14 were thoroughly
investigated. Although innocent, all had their careers damaged by the
"security stigma."
Angleton was fired in
December 1974 amidst the "Family Jewels" scandal, and as details of
the Nosenko case and the molehunt became widely known inside and outside the
Agency, his theories and methods fell into disrepute.
Historical Document
Posted: Nov 21, 2007 07:07 AM
Last Updated: Jun 20, 2008 08:56 AM
Last Reviewed: Nov 21, 2007 07:07 AM