home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Software Vault: The Gold Collection
/
Software Vault - The Gold Collection (American Databankers) (1993).ISO
/
cdr11
/
jfk123.zip
/
APPENDIX
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1993-06-01
|
40KB
|
884 lines
Appendix
The Secrecy Oath the Author signed after Robert Blakey took over he
HSCA, and correspondence between the author and various ommittee
members.
Exhibit A
____________________________________________________________
Select Committee on Assassinations Nondisclosure Agreement
[Richard E. Sprague]
I, ____________________, in consideration for being employed by or
engaged by contract or otherwise to perform services for or at the
request of the House Select Committee on Assassinations, or any Member
thereof, da hereby make the representations and accept the obligations
set forth below as conditions precedent for my employment or engagement,
or for my continuing employment or engagement, with the Select
Committee, the United States House of Representatives, or the United
States Congress.
1. I have read the Rules of the Select Committee, and I hereby agree to
be bound by them and by the Rules of the House of Representatives.
2. I hereby agree never to divulge, publish or reveal by words, conduct
or otherwise, any testimony given before the Select Committee in
executive session (including the name of any witness who appeared or was
summoned to appear before the Select Committee in executive session),
any classifiable and properly classified information (as defined in 5
U.S.C. Section 552(b)(1)), or any information pertaining to intelligence
sources or methods as designated by the Director of Central
Intelligence, or any confidential information that is received by the
Select Committee or that comes into my possession by virtue of my
position with the Select Committee, to any person not a member of the
Select Committee or its staff or the personal staff representative of a
Committee Member unless authorized in writing by the Select Committee,
or, after the Select Committee's termination, by such manner as the
House of Representatives may determine or, in the absence of a
determination by the House, in such manner as the Agency or Department
from which the information originated may determine. I further agree
not to divulge, publish or reveal by words, conduct or otherwise, any
other information which is received by the Select Committee or which
comes into my possession by virtue of my position with the Select
Committee, for the duration of the Select Committee's existence.
3. I hereby agree that any material that is based upon or may include
information that I hereby pledge not to disclose, and that is
contemplated for publication by me will, prior to discussing it with or
showing it to any publishers, editors or literary agents, be submitted
to the Select Committee to determine whether said material contains any
information that I hereby pledge not to disclose. The Chairman of the
Select Committee shall consult with the Director of Central Intelligence
for the purpose of the Chairman's determination as to whether or not the
material contains information that I pledge not to disclose. I further
agree to take no steps toward publication until authorized in writing by
the Select Committee, or after its termination, by such manner as the
House of Representatives may determine, or in the absence of a
determination by the House, in such manner as the Agency or Department
from which the information originated may determine.
4. I hereby agree to familiarize myself with the Select Committee's
security procedures, and provide at all times the required degree of
protection against unauthorized disclosure for all information and
materials that come into my possession by virtue of my position with the
Select Committee.
5. I hereby agree to immediately notify the Select Committee of any
attempt by any person not a member of the Select Committee staff to
solicit information from me that I pledge not to disclose.
6. I hereby agree to immediately notify the Select Committee if I am
called upon to testify or provide information to the proper authorities
that I pledge not to disclose. I will request that my obligation to
respond is established by the Select Committee, or after its
termination, by such manner as the House of Representatives may
determine, before I do so.
7. I hereby agree to surrender to the Select Committee upon demand by
the Chairman or upon my separation from the Select Committee staff, any
material, including any classified information or information pertaining
to intelligence sources or methods as designated by the Director of
Central Intelligence, which comes into my possession by virtue of my
position with the Select Committee. I hereby acknowledge that all
documents acquired by me in the course of my employment are and remain
the property of the United States.
8. I understand that any violation of the Select Committee Rules,
security procedures or this agreement shall constitute grounds for
dismissal from my current employment.
9. I hereby assign to the United States Government all rights, title
and interest in any and all royalties, remunerations and emoluments that
have resulted or may result from any divulgence, publication or
revelation in violation of this agreement.
10. I understand and agree that the United States Government may choose
to apply, prior to any unauthorized disclosure by me, for a court order
prohibiting disclosure. Nothing in this agreement constitutes a waiver
on the part of the United States of the right to prosecute for any
statutory violation. Nothing in this agreement constitutes a waiver on
my part of any defenses I may otherwise have in any civil or criminal
proceedings.
11. I have read the provisions of the Espionage Laws, Sections 793, 794
and 798, Title 18, United States Code, and of Section 783, Title 50,
United States Code, and I am aware that unauthorized disclosure of
certain classified information may subject me to prosecution. I have
read Section 1001, Title 18, United States Code, and I am aware that the
making of a false statement herein is punishable as a felony. I have
also read Executive Order 11652, and the implementing National Security
Council directive of May 17, 1972, relating to the protection of
classified information.
12. Unless released in writing from this agreement or any portion
thereof by the Select Committee, I recognize that all the conditions and
obligations imposed on me by this agreement apply during my Committee
employment or engagement and continue to apply after the relationship is
terminated.
13. No consultant shall indicate, divulge or acknowledge, without
written permission of the Select Committee, the fact that the Select
Committee has engaged him or her by contract as a consultant until after
the Select Committee has terminated.
14. In addition to any rights for criminal prosecution or for
injunctive relief the United States Government may have for violation of
this agreement, the United States Government may file a civil suit in an
appropriate court for damages as a consequence of a breach of this
agreement. The costs of any civil suit brought by the United States for
breach of this agreement, including court costs, investigative expenses,
and reasonable attorney fees, shall be borne by any defendant who loses
such suit. In any civil suit for damages successfully brought by the
United States Government for breach of this agreement, actual damages
may be recovered, or, in the event that such actual damages may be
impossible to calculate, liquidated damages in an amount of $5,000 shall
be awarded as a reasonable estimate for damages to the credibility and
effectiveness of the investigation.
15. I hereby agree that in any suit by the United States Government for
injunctive or monetary relief pursuant to the terms of this agreement,
personal jurisdiction shall obtain and venue shall lie in the United
States District Court for the District of Columbia, or in any other
appropriate United States District Court in which the United States may
elect to bring suit. I further agree that the law of the District of
Columbia shall govern the interpretation and construction of this
agreement.
16. Each provision of this agreement is severable. If a court should
find any part of this agreement to be unenforceable, all other
provisions of this agreement shall remain in full force and effect.
I make this agreement without any mental reservation or purpose of
evasion, and I agree that it may be used by the Select Committee in
carrying out its duty to protect the security of information provided to
it.
[July 19, 1977] [Richard E., Sprague]
Date: _____________________ _________________________________
[ I am submitting a list of
material and information
which has already been _________________________________
given to the committee, LOUIS STOKES, Chariman
or which I intend to Select Committee on Assassinations
give to the committee in
the near future. I intend
to publish some of this
information.]
Exhibit B
____________________________________________________________
193 Pinewood Road
Hartsdale, NY 10530
February 10, 1978
Mr. Louis Stokes
Chairman, Select Committee on Assassinations
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Louis:
As I am sure you know, I signed a non disclosure agreement for the
Select Committee, given to me on July 19, 1977 by Robert Blakey. Not
being a lawyer, I did not really appreciate some of the provisions of
that agreemont at the time I signed it, even though some things in it
seemed strange to me.
In the last fow months I have gone over the agreement several times,
with particular attention to those strange portions. The more I reread
the agreement, the more puzzled I have become.
I was finally triggered into writing you this letter by a conversation I
had with Richard A. Sprague. As you may recall I helped him and Bob
Tanenbaum from November 1976 forward with the photographic evidence in
the JFK case, and several other areas derived from my relationship with
Jim Garrison and the Committee to Investigate Assassinations. I had no
written agreement with the Committee at that time and did not ask for
compensation for the work I had been doing. I had signed no non
disclosure agreement and such an agreement had never been mentioned.
The first time I had any idea that the Committee would want to pay me
for my assistance was some time after Dick Sprague resigned, when Mr.
Blakey approached me about it through Bob Tanenbaum, shortly before Bob
resigned. My recent meeting with Dick Sprague naturally led to
discussion about my continuing work for the Committee. He raised the
subject of the non disclosure agreement signed by each staff member,
saying that he would never have enforced such a document while he was
chief counsel because he believes it gives the CIA and other agencies
too much power to control the activities of the Committee. It was
because of that statement that I read the agreement again in the light
of what he said.
I know that you had a lot of faith in Richard A. Sprague and did not
personally want him to resign. For that reason I'm writing to you
rather than Mr. Blakey, seeking answers to my questions.
Encloged is a copy of the agreement with my signature. I have circled
on it the paragraphs in question, and underlined the key words. My
questions, Mr. Stokes are as follows:
1. Are paragraphs 2, 3 and 7 inserted for the purpose of giving the CIA
power over the Select Committee to investigate the CIA's role in the
assassinations or the cover up crimes following the assassinations of
President Kennedy or Dr. King? I believe those paragraphs could be so
interpreted, especially if each committee member and each staff member
signed a similar agreement.
2. If the purposes of paragraphs 2, 3 and 7 are not as questioned
above, then how can the Select Committee, its staff or its consultants,
*ever* discover whether the CIA was involved in the assassinations or
whether the CIA, as I maintain, is *still* involved in covering up the
conspiracies?
For example, paragraph 3 states that you as chairman, shall consult with
the Director of Central Intelligence--to determine whether or not the
material I might receive contains information that I pledge not to
disclose.
Assuming that all committee staff people signed that paragraph, it would
seem to me that you would really be hamstrung in investigating the CIA's
possible role. Your staff could not be working with any documents or
other materials pointing toward CIA agents' involvement in the
assassinations, without you personally having to show those documents to
the Director of Central Intelligence and to obtain his agreement to
disclose the information to the public.
The CIA Director has the power of judging what can be released.
Obviously, anything incriminating to the CIA, especially higher level
people who may have been involved, would be judged unreleasable.
None of this would take on the significance that it does, were it not
for my belief that the CIA itself has continued to cover up the original
conspiracy and that several CIA agents or contract employees carried out
the murder.
3. Is paragraph 12 really logical, or even legal? Can an agreement
with a body be extended ad infinitum after the body has dissolved?
4. Paragraph 14 bothers me. It seems to say that I agree to allow the
government to sue me and to bear the expenses of such a suit. Is it
really legal to ask me to agree to be sued as a condition of my
consulting contract? Couldn't the government sue me and collect
expenses anyway if I did something wrong, without such a clause?
Paragraph 16 seems to anticipate that Paragraph 14 may not stand up in
court. (Or some other paragraph.)
I want to make it clear that my concerns in this matter are not related
to any obligation I may have. Rather, I am concerned about the purposes
of those clauses in the agreement, as they affect the investigations. I
believe every staff member signed them.
I would appreciate hearing directly from you on these questions Mr.
Stokes, rather than referring this letter to Mr. Blakey.
Yours sincerely,
Richard E. Sprague
Exhibit C
____________________________________________________________
LOUIS STOKES, OHIO, CHAIRMAN
RICHARDSON PREYER, N.C. SAMUEL L. DEVINE, OHIO
WALTER E. FAUNTROY, D.C. STEWART B. MCKINNEY, CONN.
YVONNE BRATHWAITE BURKE, CALIF. CHARLES THONE, NEBR.
CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, CONN. HAROLD S. SAWYER, MICH.
HAROLD E. FORD, TENN.
FLOYD J. FITHIAN, IND.
ROBERT W. EDGAR, PA.
------------
(202) 225-4624
Select Committee on Assassinations
U.S House of Representatives
3331 HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING, ANNEX 2
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20515
MAR 16 1978
Richard E. Sprague, Esq.
193 Pinewood Road
Hartsdale, New York 10530
Dear Mr. Sprague:
In response to your letter of February 10, 1978 concerning the
nondisclosure agreement which you signed with the Committee, I wish to
first remind you that the agreement was explicitly explained to you
provision by provision by Mr. Blakey, and that you were given the
opportunity to ask any questions that you desired prior to your signing
the agreement. I want to assure you that the intent of the agreement is
not to prevent information from ultimately being disclosed to the
American public. The non-disclosure agreement only governs the timing
of disclosure of information to the public. In response to your
specific questions:
I. Paragraphs 2, 3 and 7 obviously are not for the purpose of giving
the CIA power over the Select Committee to investigate the CIA's role in
the assassination. If you read these paragraphs carefully, they clearly
provide that the Select Committee, during its existence, will be in full
control and have access to all information. The paragraphs do prevent
you from disclosing the information, without the authorization of the
Select Committee.
Paragraph 3 does state that I, as Chairman, will consult with the
Director of Central Intelligence to determine whether or not material
contains information which you pledge not to disclose. I, however,
retain ultimate authority and I only consult with the Director of
Central Intelligence - I am not bound by his opinion.
II. Paragraphs 12 and 14 are indeed legal. Should you have any
specific questions concerning the legality of any of the provisions, I
suggest you consult your own attorney.
I assure you that the very purpose of the nondisclosure agreement is to
give the Select Committee full control over the conduct of the
investigation, including the ultimate disclosure of information to the
American public. In no manner should it be construed as the Committee
being restricted in its investigation by the CIA or any other federal
agency or department.
In closing, I remind you of paragraph 13 of the non-disclosure agreement
which provides that you may not "indicate, divulge or acknowledge" the
fact that you have been retained as a consultant until after the Select
Committee has been terminated. I have seen a press release concerning
yourself issued by Mr. Altmans in conjunction with a new article in
Gallery magazine. I note that while you technically did not violate the
non-disclosure agreement which you signed, by carefully wording the
release to describe the work you had done for the Committee in the past,
this is the exact kind of exploitation of a consultant relationship that
the Committee desires to avoid during its existence.
If you have any other questions or comments on the non-disclosure
agreement, they should be addressed to Mr. Blakey as Chief Counsel.
Sincerely,
[Louis Stokes]
Louis Stokes
Chairman
LS:jwc
Exhibit D
____________________________________________________________
193 Pinewood Road
Hartsdale, NY 10530
April 5, 1978
Representative Louis Stokes
U.S. House of Representatives
Raybur House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Louis,
Thank you for your most reassuring letter of March 16, 1978. As you
know I have great faith in your own personal integrity and your goals as
discussed with you at lunch nearly a year ago. I understand the
necessity for non disclosure and sensitive discretion in the way the
Select Committee is proceeding. I believe I understand it more than
most researchers because of my close working relationship with the staff
and the committee ever since it started.
You can rest assured that it is my intention to continue to assist you
and to support your efforts right up to the finish line. I want to
avoid as much as you do any exploitation of my relationship to the
committee that would cause problems for you or for me, especially with
the media.
In this regard, the press release you mentioned in your letter from
Gallery magazine was initially prepared by their public relations
department, and included a statement taht I am a consultant to the
Select Committee. I asked them to delete the statement and they
insisted on retaining something about my assistance to the committee in
order to help establish my credibility with their readers. After some
discussion I was able to get them to modify the statement to apply to
the past work for Richard A. Sprague and Henry Gonzalez.
There will be another article in the June 1978 issue using this same
statement. I believe I mentioned the article to you several months ago.
It is about the CIA weapon system developed by Charles Senseney at Fort
Detrick, Maryland using rocket propelled flechettes carrying paralyzing
poison launched by an umbrella. I described in the article the evidence
pointing toward the use of this weapons system in Dealey Plaza. The
article will appear on May 2 on the newsstands.
I read your March 16 letter, on March 22, upon my return from a trip to
Japan and a vacation. I contacted Gallery asking them to delete
entirely the statement about me and the Select Committee.
They told me it was too late, that the issue had already gone to press.
However, they did agree to delete the statement from any
[the remainder of this letter was missing from the copy of the edition
used to make this on-line version. --Editor]
Exhibit E
____________________________________________________________
LOUIS STOKES, OHIO, CHAIRMAN
RICHARDSON PREYER, N.C. SAMUEL L. DEVINE, OHIO
WALTER E. FAUNTROY, D.C. STEWART B. MCKINNEY, CONN.
YVONNE BRATHWAITE BURKE, CALIF. CHARLES THONE, NEBR.
CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, CONN. HAROLD S. SAWYER, MICH.
HAROLD E. FORD, TENN.
FLOYD J. FITHIAN, IND.
ROBERT W. EDGAR, PA.
------------
(202) 225-4624
Select Committee on Assassinations
U.S House of Representatives
3331 HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING, ANNEX 2
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20515
May 15, 1978
Mr. Richard Sprague
193 Pinewood Road
Hartsdale, NY 10530
Dear Mr. Sprague:
Thank you for your thoughtful letter of April 5 and I hope that you will
excuse my delay in responding.
I appreciate your expression of confidence in me and your reassurance of
your continued support. With regard to the matter of the press release,
I understand your situation and it was most thoughtful of you to advise
me in advance about the article in the June issue of Gallery magazine.
Your letter has been sent on to the Committee staff in order that they
might share your recommendations about Richard Case Nagell.
Thank you again for your continuing support.
Sincerely,
[Louis Stokes]
LOUIS STOKES
Chairman
LS:thn
Exhibit F
____________________________________________________________
193 Pinewood Road
Hartsdale, New York 10530
September 22, 1978
Representative Yvonne Burke
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Mrs. Burke:
I don't know whether you recall our meeting on July 21, 1977 when Jack
White, Robert Groden and I made presentations to the J.F.K. subcommittee
of the Select Committee on Assassinations. You may remember my showing
a summary of photographic evidence of conspiracy in the Kennedy
assassination. You asked some very pertinent questions which I answered
about how to obtain films and photos from media organizations that were
stonewalling at the time.
I am truly sorry that you have missed the first three weeks of the
J.F.K. hearings because I feel that your presence would have created at
least a minority of one against the carefully orchestrated cover up that
is now takinq place. I had great faith in the committee, especially
after a luncheon meeting with Louis Stokes in 1977 and after the
presentation to you.
I want you personally to know that I have now lost all of that faith.
The farce that is going on is really almost unbelievable to an honest
researcher. All witnesses (except Cyril Wecht), all panels employed by
the committee, the staff and the committee members doing the
questioning, obviously made up their minds a long time ago that Lee
Harvey Oswald was the lone assassin, that there was no conspiracy and
that the Warren Commission was right.
I cannot understand how this came about. As the most likely committee
member to still keep an open mind, I would like to ask your opinion.
How did the committee staff ignore all of the evidence of conspiracy. I
am speaking not only about the photographic evidence, but about the
information that Clifford Fenton and his team uncovered in New Orleans.
I know you know about that from my conversations with Ted Gandolfo and
Jim Garrison.
Do you believe there was a conspiracy? If you do, will you say so when
you return to Washington? Will you insist that the committee hear from
the important New Orleans witnesses as well as the others I recommended
long long ago. Specifically, will you insist that the committee call as
witnesses: James Hosty, Warren du Bruys, Regis Kennedy, Richard Case
Nagell, Harry Dean, Ronald Augustinovich, Mary Hope, Guy Gabaldin,
Frenchy, William Seymour, Emilio Santana, Jack Lawrence, Jim Braden, E.
Howard Hunt, Richard Helms and the others listed in the document I gave
Louis Stokes in 1977. If you can't or won't, God help this country.
Yours sincerely,
Richard E. Sprague
P.S. In the case of key witness Richard Case Nagell, Mr. Stokes assured
me this spring that the committee would contact him. As of this
date, he has never been contacted. He knows who killed President
Kennedy.
Exhibit G
____________________________________________________________
LOUIS STOKES, OHIO, CHAIRMAN
RICHARDSON PREYER, N.C. SAMUEL L. DEVINE, OHIO
WALTER E. FAUNTROY, D.C. STEWART B. MCKINNEY, CONN.
YVONNE BRATHWAITE BURKE, CALIF. CHARLES THONE, NEBR.
CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, CONN. HAROLD S. SAWYER, MICH.
HAROLD E. FORD, TENN.
FLOYD J. FITHIAN, IND.
ROBERT W. EDGAR, PA.
------------
(202) 225-4624
Select Committee on Assassinations
U.S House of Representatives
3331 HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING, ANNEX 2
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20515
October 10, 1978
Mr. Richard Sprague
193 Pinewood Road
Hartsdale, New York 10530
Dear Mr. Sprague:
I was greatly disturbed by your letter of September 23, 1978 in which
you stated that, "I have one last hope that what we are witnessing in
your hearings is a charade meant to fool the FBI and the CIA. If it is,
you have fooled me. If it is not, your statements to me over the past
year about getting at the truth were all meaningless. I have lost all
faith in you and the committee."
I must say that I deeply regret the fact that you have lost faith in the
performance of my committee. We have attempted to do a thorough,
competent and professional job which would be a source of pride for you
and other concerned Americans.
I should state here for the record, Mr. Sprague, that I find nothing
inconsistent in my statements to you over the year indicating that the
committee would be seeking the truth and nothing but the truth during
the course of the investigation and the testimony that the committee has
received during its public hearings. Perhaps you are confused because I
did not explicitly state that the truth the committee is seeking is not
your truth or my truth, but truth supported by the weight of the
evidence.
Thanks again for your past and current concerns. I assure you that the
committee will make every effort to tell the whole story to the American
people.
Sincerely,
[Louis Stokes]
Chairman
LS: icmj
Exhibit H
____________________________________________________________
193 Pinewood Road
Hartsdale, NY 10530
October 30, 1978
Representative Louis Stokes
Select Committee on Assassinations
U.S. House of Representatives
3369 House Office Building, Annex 2
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Louis:
I appreciate your responding to my September 23 letter. I am truly
sorry to be so disturbing to you concerning the committee's hearings. I
wish I could be more complimentary and positive about your work.
I could not agree with you more that the "truth supported by the weight
of the evidence" is what we are all after. I'm enclosing for your
information one more copy of the document I gave to Henry Gonzalez,
Richard A. Sprague, Bob Tannenbaum, and you in 1976 and 1977.
Unless you call the witnesses listed on pages 4-6 of this document,
Louis, you have not dealt with the most important evidence of all. How
can you possibly claim to have unearthed anything approximating the
truth, unless you and the rest of the committee interrogate with
strength, the following important witnesses that you missed:
Richard Case Nagell, James P. Hosty, Louis Ivon, Victor Marchetti,
Gorden Novel, Ronald Augustinovich, Mary Hope, Manuel Garcia Gonzalez,
William Seymour, Emilio Santana, Guy Gabaldin, Major L.M. Bloomfield,
Harry Williams, Sylvia Odio and Jim Garrison.
The document explains how each of these witnesses was involved in the
assassination of investigations of it. It is based, not just on my
research, but on painful hours of investigative efforts of many, many
people, including Jim Garrison's professional staff, the Committee to
Investigate Assassinations and others.
I understand that James P. Hosty is finally ready to tell his real
story, at the risk of physical harm to himself and his family. You have
not called him. Richard Case Nagell has been ready to testify for a
long time. Despite my requests to Dr. Blakey and to you, he has not
been called and no effort has been made to locate him through the only
person who knows where he is, Dick Russell.
If you will pardon my saying so Louis, something about just those two
failures stinks, not to mention all of the others.
It is not too late to save your reputations. You can still call those
witnesses in December. I hope you do.
Yours Sincerely,
Dick Sprague
Exhibit I
____________________________________________________________
193 Pinewood Road
Hartsdale, NY 10530
November 24, 1978
Representative Louis Stokes
Select Committee on Assassinations
U.S. House of Representatives
3369 House Office Building, Annex 2
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Louis:
I am still waiting for a reply to my letter of October 30, 1978. I
thought I should write again to remind you that the witnesses you should
call in December are not going to be around much longer. I'm afraid
that Gorden Novel, Richard Case Nagell, James Hosty and Warren de
Brueys, in particular may go the same way that Regis Kennedy, William
Sullivan, and George de Mohrenschildt went. You really must call them
before they die.
Regis Kennedy reportedly died of natural causes the day before you were
to talk with him. I do not believe that. How many more key witnesses
have to die before you would be convinced? Kennedy, du Brueys and Hosty
were Oswald's points of contact in the FBI, receiving his reports on the
conspiratorial group planning JFK's assassination. I have known this
since 1971 directly from Hosty's own lips via Carver Gaten and Jim
Gochenaur. Regis Kennedy also knew why the FBI was searching for Clay
Shaw under his alias Clay Bertrand in New Orleans, *before* Dean Andrews
received that phone call from him about defending Oswald. Kennedy may
also have been one of the three agents who took the Babushka lady's film
away from her. At least she told me he was one of them from his photo.
So Regis Kennedy had to die. So do Warren du Brueys and James Hosty.
If they die of "natural causes" in the next month or two, don't say I
didn't warn you.
Nagell and Novel are in even greater danger. Nagell may now be safe.
He fled the country recently. However, the CIA has tentacles
everywhere, so he will not really be safe wherever he is. Novel could
easily be killed, since he is in prison. That is one of the easiest
places for the death squad to catch up with him.
As I have had told you in previous letters, the reason you *must* call
Novel is that there is a very strong possibility that he is the umbrella
man. If you laugh at that and try to tell me that you found the
umbrella man, Mr. Witt, I'll laugh right back at you and tell you that
farce you put on for the American public didn't fool anyone with his
eyes even half way open. In addition to the obviously planned sequence
of events and the way in which Mr. Witt surfaced, his umbrella was
certainly not the one used in Dealey Plaza. It was the wrong size, had
the wrong number of ribs, and was missing the two round white bulbs on
either end when folded up.
No, Louis, Mr. Witt was either planted upon you or else your staff
planted him. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for the moment and
assume that you do not know he was a plant. If you let it go as is, you
and Mr. Preyer and the rest of the committee are going to look pretty
silly.
You absolutely must call as witnesses, Gorden Novel, and at the other
end, Charles Sensenay and the CIA people associated with Fort Detrick,
Maryland, where that umbrella launching system was made. Incidentally,
two Bulgarian intelligence agents have recently been assassinated in
England with an umbrella weapon using poison flechettes, very similar to
the one used on JFK.
I would appreciate a response to this letter telling me what you plan to
do about those witnesses.
Best regards,
Dick Sprague
Exhibit J
____________________________________________________________
LOUIS STOKES, OHIO, CHAIRMAN
RICHARDSON PREYER, N.C. SAMUEL L. DEVINE, OHIO
WALTER E. FAUNTROY, D.C. STEWART B. MCKINNEY, CONN.
YVONNE BRATHWAITE BURKE, CALIF. CHARLES THONE, NEBR.
CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, CONN. HAROLD S. SAWYER, MICH.
HAROLD E. FORD, TENN.
FLOYD J. FITHIAN, IND.
ROBERT W. EDGAR, PA.
------------
(202) 225-4624
Select Committee on Assassinations
U.S House of Representatives
3331 HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING, ANNEX 2
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20515
December 4, 1978
Mr. Dick Sprague
193 Pinewood Rqad
Hartsdale, New York 10530
Dear Mr. Sprague:
Thank you for your letter of November 24, 1978.
I am aware of the amount of time you have spent analyzing the
assassination of President John F. Kennedy and your interest in the work
of the Select Committee on Assassinations since its inception.
However, I regret that under our Rules, it is impossible for us to
respond to your letter in a manner which would reveal the substance or
procedure of our investigation, or the names of those persons who will
be called to testify before the committee.
The committee is, of course, grateful for your suggestions and those of
the many other concerned citizens who have taken the time to write.
Sincerely,
[Louis Stokes]
LOUIS STOKES
Chairman
LS:jl
Exhibit K
____________________________________________________________
LOUIS STOKES, OHIO, CHAIRMAN
RICHARDSON PREYER, N.C. SAMUEL L. DEVINE, OHIO
WALTER E. FAUNTROY, D.C. STEWART B. MCKINNEY, CONN.
YVONNE BRATHWAITE BURKE, CALIF. CHARLES THONE, NEBR.
CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, CONN. HAROLD S. SAWYER, MICH.
HAROLD E. FORD, TENN.
FLOYD J. FITHIAN, IND.
ROBERT W. EDGAR, PA.
------------
(202) 225-4624
Select Committee on Assassinations
U.S House of Representatives
3331 HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING, ANNEX 2
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20515
JAN 16 1978
Richard E. Sprague, Esq.
193 Pinewood Road
Hartsdale, New York 10530
Dear Mr. Sprague:
In response to your letter of January 9, 1978, I have reviewed your
proposed article "The CIA Weapon System Used in the Assassination of
President Kennedy." It is my opinion that the article is derived from
your own sources of information, and contains no information that has
come into your possession by virtue of your consulting work with the
Committee. Accordingly, your proposed publication of the article does
not violate the terms of your nondisclosure agreement. As I am sure you
can appreciate, further comment by myself upon the article or its
proposed publication would be inappropriate, and consequently I decline
to express any review or comment upon it.
Thank you for your continuing cooperation with the Select Committee.
Sincerely,
[G. Robert Blakey]
G. Robert Blakey
GRB:jwc
Exhibit L
____________________________________________________________
193 Pinewood Road
Hartsdale, NY 10530
August 3, 1978
Mr. Robert Blakey
Select Committee on Assassinations
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Bob:
Following our telephone conversation on Tuesday August 1, I checked with
Bob Cutler, my co-author on the Umbrella Weapon System article in
Gallery June 1978. Bob told me he left with Mr. Preyer and with you,
photographic material showing that The Umbrella Man (TUM) was quite
probably J. Gordon Novel.
Your news photo of him reinforces that belief for both of us. I did not
have that portion of the Couch film from WFAA and so had never seen
TUM's face as clearly as it appears there. The Bothun photo of him has
a light reflection around his nose, as I'm sure you know.
We have a 1962-3 photo of Novel taken from the same angle as the Couch,
film of TUM and a photo comparison convinces us more than ever that
Novel is TUM. Mr. Preyer no doubt told you back in April that Novel is
in a jail in Georgia, framed for a crime he and Jim Garrison, his former
lawyer, both claim he didn't commit.
Best regards,
Dick Sprague
DS/mc
P.S. I am still waiting for a response to my letters to Louis Stokes
about attending the hearings beginning August 14.
cc: L. Stokes
R. Cutler
