Transcript of 104-10110-10245.pdf
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14-Q0000 104-10110-10245] 2025 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F_ KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992
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MMORANDUM FOR: Chief , Support Branch DATE: 1 July 1963
FROM Mr _ Ramon Ra Hart
SUBJECT Manuel F_ ARTTME Buesa
#210 838
1. On 24 June 1963, Mr _ Charles Matt, SAS /MOB extension
6188 , was referred to me by the SAS Security Officer, Mr _ George
Iadner , and visited me In Room 4 E 21 to request gome operetional
support beginning 1 July 1963. Mr = Matt advised tbet tvo Leaders
of the Cuban Extle Group vere coming to Washington, Da On tbat
latter date to 'confer vith CIA and other Government officlels ,
Including probebly Robert F Kennedy , the Attorney General, concern-
T n Ing the 'new progrem for the exile8 ,
Mr . Matt explained thet covert site (#302 922) located
at 9218 Aldershot Drive, Bethesda Maryland , hed recently been
procured to billet these exlles and to Berve 88 the meeting plece
for these sensitive discussiong to take place. Mr . Matt seid thet
SAS 18 vitelly Interested in wbat these two exlle8 say to eech other
when the U. S, Government officiels heve departed after 8 dey'8
discussions_ He , tberefore, requested thst microphones be concealed
in tbe hoube to monltor their comente _
3. Mr _ Matt beid that the tvo men vould arrIve On 1 July &nd
vould be in Weshington at the hou8e for ebout 8 week or ten
The &ud10 coverage vag requested for this entire tIme. Mr_ Matt
DES}IOz al8o said tbat the bouge vould be reteIned for severel more months
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and thet the tvo exlles vould return to Washington severel more
times in that period and thet an audio surveillence vould probably
40j05 be requested for these letter visits elso.
cit?
4. Mr _ George Iadner supplied the true nane of tbe leeder of
the two the captioned Subject_ Heving been informed by Mr ,
Mett tbat the covert s1te wab a privete dweLling place in an
expensive neighborhood, I essumed that there vould be only tvo
methods of making &n eudlo penetretion of the premises :
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#210 838
(e.) Concealing a tape recorder In the attic, base-
ment, Or gerage , and 48 8 voice-operated
reley to actuate thbe recorder.
(b.) With the use of directories, seerch the
environs of tbe gefebouse for the purpose
of loceting 8 potential ligtening post where
redio trangml8gons could be monltored.
5. After checking with Mr < Jogeph Iangen, Acting Chief
Operetionel Support Dvislon, I ass1gned the case to the District
Field Office &nd directed gome agents to case the house end the
ne:ghborhood to determine which method of penetration should be
used. Mr _ Jobn Cryer wes designeted regponsible agent et tbe
Dstrict Fleld OffIce, end efter a quick gurvey , he reported thet
the concealment and 8ervicing Of 8 tape recorder On the premises
vould be impo8sible and that the method vould be the use of
8 trengnttter and 8 nearby Listening post.
6 Using the directories In SRS I ran the names Of all the
residents of the houges vithin & quarter-mtle Of gthe_ covert site
through SRD Indices and found one Ered C Thomag ; Jr (#57 328) ,
of 9127 McDnald Drive, Bethesde_ Marylend; to 2 Staff employee _
Through telephone InfornatLon, I Located Mr &t the: Langley
Heedquarters Building_&nd personally contacted hin the fjrgt thing
in the mornlng Of 25 June 1963. I indiceted to Mr _
maagjthe
fact
tbet there Ves: 8 gafehouse in his nelghborhood whlch ve wanted to
"bug" end that he was the oly Staff employee who Lived vIthin range
of our covert transmtters . I a8ked hl # it would be too mch Of
an {2outtex 04 hlm for 48 to set up a listening post In his house _
Mr DexplaIned thet he wes gcheduled to depart for [Karachl, 4 0
PekLstan On a PCS es8Lgnent in approximately 8 month but that be
vould be gled to make hls home aveilable 88 listening posts He
confided thet hi8 primary misslon in Keracht ia8 to be tbe. audiol
penetretion of thel_ Cominist Chinese EubegsyJend 80_he would lo2k
forwerd to the next week 8 operations in his home 88 veluable
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treining_ Tbe next I took wa8 to set up a meet_ among
George Iadner , Charles Sam Halpern, Executive Officer of
and myself in M Halpern 's Office. I advised Mr Helpern that the
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eudfo survelllence appeared to: be technlcally feesible SInce I
bad Located 8 _ pos8ible listening post. Hovever , I adltted
to hin that , even though the Office of Security has: the "cherter"
to conduct the survelllance, TSD controlg the necessary expensive
equlpent; Mr _ Helpern mIst errange for TSD to transfer thls
equLpment to the Office of Security. Mr. Halpern declered thet
the procurement of the necegsery equlpment should pose no problem
after he would make 8 fev telephone ceLls. I then returned to
my Office and made out 8 list Of the equipent whlch I felt
would be necessary , end awelted advice from hlm &8 to whom to
contact In TSD to obtain It. 03
7 After checking with Mr.(E. T. Pent of the Audio Opera -
tions Branch Of TSD &8 to approprTate equipment and after cbeck-
through the specificatlons In the "Audio Manual" of TSD,
I Belected the following:
Ivo voice-operated relays, QSC-2, 82,200.00
81,l00 eech
Tvo Transmltter Red1o8, FM, 130
L
140 550.00
SRT-6E, @ $275 eech
Tvo Battery Packs , 130 hrs. op8 . , 50.00
UWB-T , $25 each
Tvo Battery "A"
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1.5 volts, Burgess 2 F
$ 54 eech
One Bettery "B" 45 volts, Burgess 4-30 1.87
81.87 each
TCJAL 82,802.95
83 About Noon on 25 June I received a telephone caLl from
Mr _ John W_ McBee , extengion
"2481 ,
of TSD, wbo told me tbat every-
thing bad been laid on by SAS for me to obtain from TSD any
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equipment necessary for this operetion. Mr _ McBee directed that
I fill out & Form #88 &nd have the technicians band carry it to
the Franconie Depot in order to obtain the equipment . The use of
the Form #88 disturbed me in this matter because I bed assumed
from Kr _ Helpern tbat he vould errange it s0 tbet TSD vould turn
over the eguipment 48 vithout charge to anyone - Thbe u8e Of
the Form #88 implies tbet 8 divislon 18 eLlocating funds for the
purchage of equlpuent _ Eowever , I filled out the Form 4#88 ,
listing the ebove equipment _ end walked It dow to SAS, where I
gave it to Cherles Mett to heve 81gned. The form, beering the
SAS Cost Center #3132-5455-3h00, #e8 completed and returned to
me within an hour, whereupon I It to DFO Agent Stan Iach,
who drove wIth It Imediately to the Frenconie Depot _ I celled
ahead to Bob Hoode and Charlle Beall Of the T & I et Franconla
8nd requested that 8 little brlefing concerning the
operation of thls equipment to Mr, Iach and Mr _ Cryer, vho was to
meet Mr_ Iach there. Neither Cryer nor Iach hed ever bed any
experience with any Of the pieces Of equipment On the list. Mr .
Woodg &nd Mr. Beell were qulte cooperative In thlg request.
9. Several problemg kept eppearing &nd d1gappearing vhile
the DFO technclens were transport_ Instelling, and testing
the equlpnent . One problem ves the payment Of the equipent . I ,
recelved a telephone cell from Mr Dayton 8. "Doc") Barrows of
TSD, informing me thet SAS had reneged on paying the $2,802.95 for
the equlpment , but thet i I vould tell hin whet equipment Te
wanted, he nlght be able to errange to Lend It to uS _ I told Mr.
BarrowB tbat 88 far 88 I knew , we bad Indeed obtained the equipment
wIth the Form 488 , but tbet ff ve needed enything elge, I vould
contact him. Another problen whlch eppeared web the ruor thet
It weg not two Cuban exlleg who voula be residing In the gefehouse ,
but only the captioned Subject and 8 Spanish speakIng Staff employee.
If the rmor were ectually true, It would seem tbat an audio
survelllance Of the safehouse vould not be necessary I called
Charles Matt for en explenation, and he informed me that Senor
Artime vas going to be the person LIving in the house after
each dey'8 dlscussiong were coupleted no Staff employee vould
be Living wIth him. I a8ked Mr _ Matt to whom Senor Artime voula be
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holding the conversations vhich we vere to record, He replied
that he wes interested in any visitors wbich the Subject might
recelve and any telephone calls which hbe night make. I suggested
tbet possibly e telephone might be sufficlent uder these
circumstances . Mr _ Matt dsegreed and st1ll requested a micro-
phone installetion to cover the whole house 1f possible.
1O, In addition to the equipment obtalned from TSD, the DFO
egents took thelr Owm SRR-4 tuneable recelver and the SRR-4 charged
to the WFO. Thege recelvers vould be used In the listening post to
up the radletion8 from the two SRT-6 transmitters. It wes
suggested to the DFO agents to borrow the two WFO transceivers to
be u8ed to comnicete during the InstaLlation betreen tbe llstening
post and the safehouge; hovever
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the agents choge not to u8e them
and relled solely o telephonic communicetiong . Thbe "A" and "B"
betterieg plcked up et Franconia were to be used In the SRR-4
recelver s0 thet checks coula be made from an eutoobLle to Bee
Just bov far the radiations extended around the trangmitter8 . A
report on the area covered by the trangmitters vas requested of
the DFO agents .
1la The first test Of the SRI-6H from the safehouse to the
Iistenlng post wa8 8 fellure. Ite 50 millivatt output, ordinerily
for & quarter mtle, wasn 't bufficient to reach the receiver ,
2/1oth'g Of 8 mlle eway. Ite fallure wa8 blamed partly On the
distence, partly On the brick construction Of the listening post ,
gnd pertly On the hilly contour8 of the houging development , which
deflected tbe 135 megecycle, line-of-8ight radiations
12. When this dlsheartening news arrived, I imediately
telephoned Mr _ Barrovs Of TSD and requested 8 of the more
poverful 150 millivett SRT-7 trensmitters . I telephoned Mr _
Barrows rather then filling out another Form #88 to evoid 8
pos8Ible furor withln SAS. Mr Berrows congented to loan two of
these transmittere vith their proper recelvers On a band receipt
to u8 , and Stan Iach was dispatched to Franconie to pick then up.
An to test it On 28 June 1963 wes tbwerted beeause
Mr _
jpponjj+ts
wes beving foreign visitors In for cocktails
tbet afternoon. But the equipment was installed and tested the
next Saturday, 29 and appeered to vork gatisfectorily.
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#21o 8388
133 At:1330 hours on 1 July 1963; Mr" Cryer: telephoned Head
quarterg tokannounce thatione"SRT-T transmitter bad been: instaLled
inutber ce Lngtover ithesper 3 and telephore ninthe pasement of ithe
0 6afehouse { aud tbatathe SRRST was picking
#pehe #ranz
GISgious; ~PX Betisfectortly InaM
{ena8ze8
4e besement 34 'benosc-2 Yoice
9 6xHeene: XU8 rAJK Opereted Sehy6t28 Eiso Zet Eractor ly actuet the Azpez
Tecore 0 # derazher {pr # conve58et_O3S 1*i begani Xme to take piace irethe safehouse
6 The-AC-powered FM"transmitter 13 erystal controlled to operate
et 8 frequency of 157:4 megecycles in the VHF Band: It8 operating
range 1s supposed to be approximately_ One milea
24
14 The DFO agents also fitted tbe"transmitter witb;& hiaden
switch-Ihich; vould_enable,the case officers to turn tbe transmitter
Off when they are present at the house bolding the sensitive dis -
cussions and .to: turn it. on :when they Leave_
1586, Mri Tbomagand his wife bgve consented to do most of the
operating of the tape. recorder themselves in their own basement
Withther-use-of: the yoice-opereted_relay tbe monitoring will be:
amost:1OOb eutomaticranyiiey No more than; one-VISit; 2: by 2
7 ZleldeofEtce agent Ehould be
necegsary pick Upethe sntake
and to hake Gzortadjusthents
1
erepalrs
Or
corrections torthe
recelver , actuator, and recorder. Mr
pbasjji8 vell-know
to bls
friends_ Ag423lht_f+ bug T andtthe: presence of the;new: equipment ix
6 #s basement Nouldwnot Taise:; the teyebrowskon any ofzhig Visttorg
30me Of whom ere to be foreigu dignitaries Mr TThomas
be}going tozKza
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under;pDepartnenteoftStete Jcover
Un
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Ramon R: Hart
Cc; #574328
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