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Newspaper Article: a Reporter at Large

Central Intelligence Agency · 1968-07-13 · 19 pages · text from the file's own layer

This CIA-held copy of a 13 July 1968 magazine article, "A Reporter at Large," was written by the author of the book "Inquest." It examines New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison's investigation into the Kennedy assassination and his arrest of Clay Shaw. The author concludes that Garrison mishandled evidence and decoded address book numbers without sound basis. It also says the only evidence the author saw connecting Shaw to the assassination was fraudulent. Flying saucers come up only in passing.

arrest of $l\erid.tn and alci
Ricliaul '|‘o\\"nlt-\_ woo had
assisted in the |irep.tr.tti<~|t of
the slmw, clutrgittg them
with attetnpted lirihery. Spe-
- cilically, G.trrison_ alleged
that they had otleretl Perry Russo
.1 free trip to C.tlifiit"tti.\. llut if this
oticr teelinieallr eonstitutetl an act nt
hrihery, Garrison himself liatl talten
cot|sitler;thle pains In hail the trap. lle
told me himself that he had directed
Russo to speak In the reporters over
_ a ntonitoretl phone and inquire
what protection they could ntft-r
him if he were to change-his testi-
mony. The purpose was, as he put it,
“tn give t\'.ll.C. enottglt rope tn hang
itself." ln his public statement on the
_ matter, Garrison chargetl that the
l\'.li.C. program “will probably stand
for many years to come as a symbol of
the length to which some powerful nut-
side interests are willing to go in order
to interfere with state governtni:nt."
The eases ‘are still pending.
Shortly after Garrison's skirmish
with i\'.ll.C., \\'illiant Gurvich rc-
.\iglll'&l as om: nf his ittvestigiitors,
alter telling Senator Robert l". Ken-
neily that there was no lvasis in fact
and no material evitlence in Garri-
son's C:\$e,. Qur\*i€lt's pri\'.'tte—tletective
age-|lc_t' had conductetl most of thc lie-
detector testsithat Garrison had or-
jtlt-red, and at the time of his resignation
‘tirvicli had in his possession a master
“
C:
m _Iile nf the principal evidence in the case.
This defection not only made for em-
h.'ll'|'Zl?l‘lll I headlines hut II N;|\t'\l ti i the
_ __ B _
‘ _ '
l l
possibility that (iarnson s fund of c_on-
fitlctttial ittformation--or "his laelt ofl
‘
such a fund-——woultl he made public.
ln a statement to the press, Garrison
described Uur\'icli's resignation as "the
latest lnnve from the Eastern head-
quarters of the Estaltlislllllcttt to at-
~tempt tn discredit our investig:ttion.” lt
was all part of a coiirilinateil plot
_ against him. ln another press release,
he said, “All they are doing is 'pro\'ing
two things: first, that we were correct
when we ttncovered the im'ol\'ement
uf the Central lntelligence Agency in
the asstssin.-ttion;-second, that there is
sonietliing very wrong today with our
goveritritent in \Va_shingt<in, l).C., in-
asmuch as it is willing tn use massive
cciinotttic power tn conceal the truth
from the people." Later, in his Plat-boy
intcr\'iew, Garrison iinplietl that Gur-
viclt had been a C.l..'\. infiltrator from
the start. He also charged.Gurvich
with ‘petty 'larcen_v, claiming theifilc
that he had was worth nineteen dollars.
.-\nd, for good measure, he charged on
the .-\.B.C. “Page One" television
show that Senator Robert Kennedy
"has made a real efiort to stop the in-
vestigation." -
i
l
°~
.
.<\ftrr it had hecomc quite ele.=t"th.ii \\'.\s arrestr-l in (‘hi--_ .\ftt"r -v~r.e ini-
“ ‘
. ‘
- 2-oi rclut'tA:\t‘e, Ljt-\t’tt\.~r lament-ontmt of (iartisvns cast t\~t.:t
med to generate .1 spectre of eon
-t-|.1\\ (_;\I'Il\\|I tool: the l--sit--ti |-it-\;
l he _ y
_ Rio-tlcs, ot (lhio, finally .i;|'enl to ex-
trrtdzte .\\i\'el to Loiaisianz if (;.\T‘l';\l|"t3. ~_-, . .
. .
step avttl started creatintl l\<eutlt»_,m;<tq vmitlil complete tl‘-e papers with=a sisty
on himself. \\'l\en reporters in Tokyo ‘J-\\§_ Garrison, ho\\-ever, did not talte
\ 1‘ the steps that were necessary. .-\s the
-\.~lt\‘tl Chief lusticc liarl \ '.trrett 15_ _ .- ‘ ‘ l .
_ _
o union of the Garnson tYl\‘\"_<2i<'_\li\\t\, his-lsvliine .tppr-uchrd. .-\s.s~.<tant Dstrietl .-
he replied, "l want to sltirt (hrs ten’ l.'\tt\-rney .-\le-\"X asked if he should re-
lti rtt the [Wis tn Ohio ,1;-|.,| (];"iq,"carefully, hec.-tuse the case could some-,
l
‘ I‘-' _
,
\\ l '
d_it' come ht-fore the Sopiettte Court. Mil hlln I1"! to hither. .-\nd ret in the
Pressed as to \\'hi:ther Garrison pos- r".-‘at-5n_\~ interview Garrison irtisted,
sessed any evidence that rniglit contra-
diet the findings of the Comntissitin he
had headed. the Chief Justice an-
sweretl, "l't"c heard that he claims to
have such information, hut l haven t
"The reason we were unable to nhuin
.\'o\‘el's extmdition from Ohio . . . is
that there are powerful fr rces in
\\'ashington who find it imperative tn
'
conceal from the .-\me|ic.tn public the
seen any." Gartisott innneeliatel_r eh~\r- l truth about the ;t§1\<in.'\Kit\fl.“ He went
acterized this “new emntteratt.tclt" as; on to iittlieate that Novel w.ts_now .1
"he.t\"\' artillery whistling in from ntatcrial witness in his ease and, ac-
‘ “ eorilingi to attorneys for Novel, implied
'1
'l'ok)"o," and said in a press rtlease, lt
is a little disconcerting to find the Chief
justice of the United States on his
hands and knees trying to tie some
sticks of dynamite to the ease. How-
ever, the Chief justice is a practical
min at-id l expect he knows wlut he is
that his former "investigator was
sunehnw connected with the eon-
’.s;~ir;tc_\‘. (t\'o\-el is suing Garrison and
P.'.:_rfto_t' for ten million dollars in
punitive and compensatory tlatnages)
.-\nd in a speech to the Radio and
(ltllflg. ‘.
._
. 'l‘llC_vl;l5( lilltk‘ lit W;l_$ CI\llk‘\l_ 1-(‘lC\'i§l(\fl ,\'g\\'-5 ,-\_\s<v(i_\tinn of
into action to perform -1 $<‘r\‘h‘v \\'-\$ Southern California, in Los .-\ng\-les,
when the llresident of the United
hcett connected with thi. Ltntral ln
Garrison cited hrs failure to 0l\t.un
lSt.1tt‘$ was assassinated hy men who had ,\'t\\'t-I've t-_et;_1tliti.\n as evidence that'
. ‘. _ tr- ‘
.
'
tiestdent Johnson was putting pres-
'lelligence' .*\gr"ttc_\'.”'(.i:trrison predicted sure on local otlicials to secrete wit-
t
a new hrtiatlsitlc from-the federal au
_ 4 0 I
thonties: “_ludgtng from the careful
nes\es from l\l|I\_ Hi went on to at
etise President lohnson of preventingi l
“the people in this country from seeing
co?-rtlittzitton which the hstahtislttttettt
ease, it is safe zo expect that other ele-
ments of the federal government and
~T_;i,..wt~.| in its last ofll-nsit-e against the the evidence," and asserted, with the
logie of mi I~onn. “. . . the fact that he
has profited from the ass\s<in:tt~Zoq
ttalinnill nress will now follow up Will‘; most, more than any other man, makest
a new effort tn tliscredit the case and
l the prosecution."
i Another example of Garrison's ti:ch- that he is not involved . . ."
I
I
I
J
nique involvetl Gordon t\'nvel, the
electronics expert, who had told him
ahout l-'errie's participation in a "pick
advising Garrison on anti-ea\'e$drop-
ping techniques, the business that had
first hruttgltt him tit Garri-
son's attention, to become a
witness against l"errie and. at
l . . . .
least in (_varnson's mind, an
"investigator." Then, ac-
cording tonne account, Gar- _
f'i$<tn was told that his inves-
tigator had been furnishing
information to t\'.B.C. re-
porters, and Novel was Suh-
poettacd to appear l\_t.-fore a .
granel jury. lnstead of ap-
pearing. Novel left the state
and went to Ohio. Garrison filed hur-
glary charges against i\'ovel, alleging
that he had participated in the conspir-
acy to steal arms from the $Chlumt\'r-
ger _\\’ell company in-Houma, and he
-13..
'
it imperative that he sec that the evi-
dence is released. so that we can know
t-\nitt$0N's technique in espounding
the so-talletl second conspiracy is
nip" of munitions from the Schlflllv typical of what Richard l*lofst:\-.lter has
herger \\'i.-ll company, in Houma. Li“!-E classified as “the paranoid style in
Lsiana. t\'ttvel rapidly -‘atlvanced irom_ ,-\m¢riq_m pofltiee-" to which "the (K1-
ing of persecution is centr::l."
and which is “systematized in
gramliose theories of conspir-
.
ac_\'." $till, the fact that Gar-
rison expresses his id-ras in .1
paranoid st_\"le does not oi it-
self rtile ou: the possihilit_\'
'
that there is substance to he
claims ls the C_l..-\.. for <.\_
ample, really concealing some
in\'ol\-ement of its :t;ents in
the asmssination, as Garrison
has claimed? ln .\la\. Wan’,
Garrison declared on the .-\.B.C. “ls-
sues and .-\nswet‘s“ television program,
“Oi course the Central lno:iligen\\'
Agency had no role in the planning or
-intending the assasination_ of President
Kennedy. I think that would be at
ridiculous position for anyone tn take.”
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 19 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.