Lee Harvey Oswald---a U.S.
Presentation by
Hal Verb
"Let me begin by first making a couple of quotations," Hal Verb
began, adding that collecting quotations was something of a hobby for him.
"There are two: 'We see what we see because we miss all the finer
details,'...and 'There is only one thing that moves government on any level,
and that is utter, stark fear.'" The first quotation was attributed to
someone who was unintelligible on my tape recording, unfortunately---although
Mr. Verb added that the man was the founder of general semantics. The second is
by the late William Kunstler. "I'm talking about the fear when they see the people mobilized, who have truth on their side, and then do something about it," Verb continued. "That's why I'm here [at COPA], and I hope that's why you're here."
Verb said, before getting to the body of his talk, that he did not know Lee Harvey Oswald, but Oswald knew of him, at least indirectly. Verb said in the early sixties, he---Verb---participated in distributing a Fair Play for Cuba Committee pamphlet, "Cuban Counter-revolutionaries in the
"Many of the theories that are bandied about say that [Oswald] was an agent of the FBI or the CIA...but I say he was an agent of the ONI...Office of Naval Intelligence...Since the Marine Corps is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Navy, and since his Marine Corps discharge was handled by the Navy, there's no way that you can have this discharge, and his conduct---before, during and after---unless the ONI started it."
This association of Oswald, however, with ONI, does not by
any means prove or disprove that if there were a conspiracy in the murder of
President Kennedy it follows that ONI is directly involved in that conspiracy.
It can be argued, however, that a failure to completely uncover and thoroughly
understand this Oswald-ONI relationship would, without doubt, prevent us from
reaching any final conclusions as to the nature of the conspiracy: no other
avenue of pursuit is possible unless this fact is recognized.
There are three distinct and substantive reasons to conclude that Oswald was an ONI agent. Of these three the first is logical and quite apparent and the other two relate to my own personal and direct experiences in tracking down, examining and analyzing the data in Oswald's short-lived career as an intelligence agent.
The first of these reasons is, in my view, an obvious one. I would cite here what the American philosopher Alfred Whitehead's observation that "it takes an unusual mind to see the obvious." What is "obvious" here applies to the necessary fact that while Oswald was in the Marine Corps if there were any questions arising during his tour of duty about his "conduct" during (and after) his Marine Corps service it would come automatically to the attention of the ONI. That is because [as noted] the Marine Corps is under the jurisdiction of the Navy Department. Oswald's "discharge" status, thus, involved ONI vis-a-vis the Marine Corps and US Navy branches.
The other two reasons involving my own experiences occurred in 1965 and 1966. The latter date I will cite here as it relates more directly to the first reason discussed above: Oswald's ONI links principally those immediately before his release from the Marine Corps.
In December 1966 I appeared on a radio interview program in
"He [the caller] engaged in a recreational activity
which I'm not going to mention, because it gives a clue as to who he is,"
Verb told his rapt COPA audience. "At least who I think he---who
I've tracked down---think he is. In fact I tracked him down. I refused to give
his name to any individual, and I finally gave his name to Harold Weisberg
yesterday [October 21, 1995 ,
presumably---Ed.] in a handwritten note. I did not want to put this in the form
of a letter, or even mention his name. When Harold saw it, he said, 'That name
seems familiar.' Now, I don't know what he's going to do with it. But, I have
tracked this person down."
Essentially, the caller, who was stationed at El Toro Marine
Corps base when Oswald was there, knew Oswald and was a barracks roommate of
his. Oswald, he asserted, had a "crypto clearance" and during
Oswald's remaining two weeks before receiving his "hardship"
discharge was constantly in the base's "C.I.D." (Criminal
Investigation Division) HQ being "briefed" for a "mission."
As we all know, Oswald went to Russia
"Now, the obvious implication is that Oswald was on a
mission," Verb stated, "as an agent of the ONI. Now, like I say, I
tracked down that person---and that's one of the reasons---that's my personal
experience with showing that he is an agent."
In testimony before the ARRB (the presidential Assassination
Records and Review Board) in Dallas, November 1994, I cited this particular
1966 call and urged the Board to review this matter and interview not only
those in the CID but also the ONI as well. I pointed out that if Oswald were
briefed by the CID it could not escape the notice and attention of the ONI. To
date (July 1995) there is no indication or prospect that the ARRB has or will
look into this but, at least, now it is a matter of historical record. [Note:
The ARRB is not an investigative body---Ed.]
My interest in this record, however, was not the propaganda content but rather in a discovery I made of a "slip" Oswald made on that tape while defending his stay in
"When I heard that record, I went ballistic. Of course,
in those days you didn't use the term 'ballistic.' But I did go
ballistic. I said, my God! The guy has slipped and made an admission---to
me---which represents that he is representing the U.S. Government!..."So I immediately went to the [Warren Commission] volumes...and they left
out the part where he says 'I was under the protection of---' and they leave in
the 'I was not under the protection of.'
"I just spoke recently to John Newman and I said, 'You know, John, why did you publish in your book, Oswald and the CIA---I'm a stickler for details. I mean, I probably find errors in virtually all the books, it's just something I do because I want to get the record straight---I said, 'Why did you publish that?' And he said, 'Hal, I just didn't know about that.' Of course, he's learned about it. So, all he did was reprint what's in the volumes. But the volumes didn't get it straight. You start questioning, why didn't the volumes publish it? That's another story."
Forgetting for the moment [that] the Warren Commission
"transcript" did not print Oswald's "slip," for myself, it
again offered a clear and strong indication that Oswald was, indeed, a U.S. Russia U.S. U.S.
Articles by Hal Verb
TheMysterious Deletions of the
Warren Commission’s “Top Secret” Transcript of January 22, 1964
PRISCILLA JOHNSON: Witness for the Prosecutionby Hal Verb Article
originally appeared in The Third Decade, Volume 8, No. 2-3
(January-March, 1992).
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