Could Powell be the unidentified agent who picked up something from the grass?
Hard to say. I was under the impression that after he was released from the schoolbook building's lockdown he made a call and went straight back to his office. His testimony never rang true for me.
** Why was he not working that day?"I asked for time off, a leave of absence from my regular duties so I could see the motorcade, so I could go out to the airport and see the President. And I was hoping to get a few pictures. But I don’t remember specifically how long before. I’d say in the neighborhood of a week probably."
** Did anyone else in his office ask for time off that day?"To be very honest with you, no. That’s surprising when I think about it. I know others were there, they were on duty, or they were working the normal things that they do and did not ask for time off to do this."
** What did he do at Love Field?Took pictures. “Probably three or four as they came off the plane. And I was a pretty good distance away, and unfortunately without a telescopic lens.”
** Why did he leave Love Field and go to Dealey Plaza?"I wanted to get downtown. The motorcade route had been published in the papers so you knew where the President was going to go. So I went downtown and I think I…Well, I’m trying to remember where I parked. If I’m not mistaken, I parked in the regular parking lot where we parked our government cars, which was near the Rio Grande Building, and then walked a few short blocks away to where the motorcade was going to be coming down Elm Street. I stationed myself there waiting for the motorcade to come by.
** Was he driving his own car that day?"That’s a good question. I honestly can’t say. Probably was."
** Where was he when he started taking pictures?"When I took the pictures I was back here – again, I honestly can’t remember if these things have published the main streets, but it was one of the east-west streets. The motorcade was coming down, I was approximately a block away, over here which is off this sketch, okay, taking photographs of the motorcade as it went by. Once it went by me, I…You know I WAS on Main because I went one block back to Elm Street and I was coming down this way and I was almost at this intersection when the motorcade came around and started down Elm Street, down the hill. I was probably half way down the block when I heard the shots fired."
** Why did he suspect that the shots came from the TSBD?"I knew that when I got to this intersection, there were people pointing up at the TSBD indicating that they had heard shots coming from there."
** Did more than one person indicate that shots came from the TSBD?"People, yes. More than one person. A couple. At least one pointed up at the building, and another standing near that person – I think this gentleman corroborated that. I crossed the street to the TSBD and walked on down."
** Where did he go first?"There were, there were police officers, a few police officers there that had just been around the area, plus some – at least a couple – from the sheriff’s department that were there. Sheriffs. In group, we kind of went to the parking area behind because there were, again, a lot of civilians standing around watching the motorcade coming down who’d said they thought they heard someone running through that area. So we all went together back there but didn’t see anything obvious, other than the stampede…So I left the group and went back to the TSBD, it being the closest building that looked like it might have a phone in it, and went in there to call my office.
** Does he recall whether he showed (ID) to anyone in the time he was walking around behind the TSBD in the vicinity of the railroad yard?"I recall that I, basically recall that I did. Because the officers were curious as to why I was joining them and I just flashed my credentials to show them and that was sufficient at the time and I put them back. I had my camera and so forth. We all sort of walked together back to that area behind the building. But then I left them in place."
** So he might have said “I’m James Powell, I’m a special agent?"I’m a special agent with military intelligence. And show my credentials. It seemed like the logical thing to do at the time. It worked that time. It didn’t work the second time, but anyway, when I was coming out the building, but that’s something else altogether."
** What happened next?"I went back to the TSBD and I went inside to use the phone to call my office and tell them what had happened. I went in there, made one phone call, came back out. There was a gentleman standing there who claims to have seen shots fired from a window above and I talked to him briefly. But then another policeman came up – he looked like a fairly high ranking policeman, he got out of a car, like a chief or whatever – and literally took the guy away from me. I told him I was interviewing him, showed him my credentials, but he had authority which superceded mine because this was his town."
"After that I went back into the TSBD to call my office again and when I came back down there were more police and sheriffs there with firearms, with shotguns, and they were detaining everybody that was in the building at that point. They were pretty well convinced that something had happened directly from that building and they wanted to make sure they had everybody who came out of there."
*** How long after the last shot was the (TSBD) picture taken?"I’d say less than five minutes. A few minutes. Because I was only a hundred feet or so away from that intersection, and ran down there after I heard the shots. And someone pointed at the building and I wheeled around and took the picture, so it was a matter of moments."
** When he was interviewing the person outside the TSBD who was then taken away by the police, did he take notes?"Yes. I started taking notes. I did. Don’t ask me what happened to them. At this moment I don’t know. We didn’t get very far along. Didn’t even get the gentleman’s name.
** Did he recall someone from local law enforcement, named Jack Revill?"This is interesting. I’ll be again very candid with you, I don’t recollect the name."
To sum up, James Powell was trained in military investigations, surveillance of spies and performing detail-oriented work.
And yet -
He doesn't remember where he parked his car.
He doesn't remember if he was driving his own car or a government car.
He doesn't remember exactly how long after the final shot he took the famous photo.
He doesn't remember what happened to notes he took from a vital witness.
Also, it's curious that he drove all the way to Love Field to snap photos - and then drove all the way to Dealey Plaza to snap more photos. But at neither place did Powell, who took photographs for a living, position himself at an advantageous location to take the best photos. Rather, his locations at the airport and in DP seem haphazard and particularly ineffective.
AND...
There has only been ONE photo of his released. What happened to the others he took at Love Field and in Dealey Plaza?
