</s>104-1024-100000 2025 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992 SECRET HALPERN, SAM Interview by Brian Latell, Michael Warner 7 APRIL 1998 MM: This is the interview with Sam Halpern, done by Brian Latelle and Michael Warner in the spaces of the Center for the Study of Intelligence on the 7th of April, 1998. BL: Sam, you told me that you read recently the IG report on the Bay of Pigs. SH: I did, and the responses ... BL: Which were recently declassified by the Agency, and you told me that they had never seen it before, and that had you seen it when you were running Operation Mongoose you would have learned some critical lessons. You said that it was a shame that you had not seen it. SH: That's right. Neither did Bissell, I mean, neither did Harvey and neither did Shackley, Harvey's dead so I couldn't ask him, but I asked Ted the other day whether he had ever seen the report, and he said so how he had been seen in the report. And he said him about it. He had so you have the man in charge of a new Cuban Bay of pigs Operation, although we weren't in going to send you one million troops. And you have you have a new going to see in 1,000 troops. You have the course the DDP himself, Dick Helms. Helms is that time. When we were doing Mongoose, by one of the three going to spend it, we were going Mongoose. None of the damn thing. I think McConne was wrong not to let the three people, at least those three people, see the thing, because the sections dealing with the operation had lessons for what we were Doing in operation had less than one of them. Mongoose, and we were running the same kind of operation in terms of trying to overthrow a foreign government. BL: What is particular, in particular, would you have done differently? What specifically, what lesson specifically applied to Mongooses? 1 SECRET

Summary:  
The document discusses U.S. intelligence operations targeting Cuba, including the Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961) and Operation Mongoose (1962), with emphasis on inter-agency coordination challenges. It references CIA case officers such as Charley Ford and Angie Novella, their interactions with Mafia networks in Canada, and internal disputes over intelligence reporting practices. Mentions include the Schweizer Subcommittee, Church Committee investigations, and debates about potential assassination plots against Fidel Castro. The text also notes the role of the Defense Intelligence Division (DDI) in analyzing reports and references declassified documents like the Kirkpatrick report and Bissell rebuttal. Discussions highlight personnel decisions, such as selecting qualified officers for operations, and internal CIA conflicts over operational transparency.  

Key People:  
- Charley Ford (CIA case officer)  
- Angie Novella (case officer, maintained appointment logs)  
- Bobby Kennedy (allegedly involved in Mafia-Castro intelligence efforts)  
- Marshall Carter (DDCI, aware of Ford's activities)  
- Seymour Hersh (journalist, referenced in discussions about declassified documents)  
- Sam (participant in the conversation, former CIA operative)  
- John F. Kennedy (President, mentioned in context of U.S. leadership)  

Key Locations:  
- Cuba (target of operations against Castro)  
- Canada (Ford’s meetings with Mafia contacts)  
- Washington D.C. (CIA headquarters and Task Force W offices)  
- Toronto (Ford’s travel for assignments)  

Key Events:  
- Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961, referenced as a prior operation)  
- Operation Mongoose (covert efforts to destabilize Cuba)  
- FBI/Justice Department interactions with CIA case officers  
- Schweizer Subcommittee testimony and Church Committee investigations  
- Discussions about Black Leaf 40 pesticide and its potential use in covert operations  
- Internal CIA disputes over reporting practices and operational secrecy  

Key Organizations:  
- Central Intelligence Agency (CIA, including DDCI Marshall Carter)  
- Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)  
- U.S. Department of Justice  
- Church Committee (investigated intelligence activities)  
- Task Force W (CIA office handling operations)  
- Defense Intelligence Division (DDI)

JFK Declassified Files

104-10324-10000.pdf

Document Summary

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