For Weeks Before Assassination Oswald's Every Move Monitored By FBI/CIA

[Steve M. Galbraith]

At most, the FBI knew Oswald was politically suspect and occasionally kept tabs on him.  They had no basis until 11.22.63 to believe that Oswald was violent or might commit an act of violence.  He was just one of thousands of similar loons that they monitored.  The DPD apparently did not record interrogations at the time.  That was not a standard practice.  They started asking Oswald questions that they already knew the answers to see if he lied and to get him talking.  It is revealing to see what he would admit and what he might lie about.  You are making Mt. Everest out of a molehill.

The "tabs" they kept on him were poorly done, half-measures, off and on. I'm repeating myself but it seems to be necessary: Hosty, the agent assigned to keep track of the Oswalds, said he never knew where they lived from October 3 to October 30. Again: he didn't know where they were. On October 30th, he finds out they are living on weekends with the Paines. But he doesn't know where Oswald was living during the week.

Again, from October 3 to the day of the assassination the agent assigned to keep track of Oswald never knew where he lived on weekdays and evenings. Even when Hosty was told about the Mexico City visit and the meeting at the Soviet Embassy with Kostikov he doesn't interview Oswald. In his defense, he said his attention at that time was on watching the Birchers and Far Right, the Walker people. They were considered (rightly) a more serious threat.

The claim that "Oswald's every move was monitored by the FBI/CIA" is simply not supported by what we know. It didn't happen. I don't know how many times one has to say this.

In conspiracy world the FBI and CIA and "thuh government" are always on top of things, everyone is a brilliant on the ball agent, a cog in this smoothly running and controlled machine. In reality stupidity and laziness and sloppiness and bureaucratic inertia is how it really works. But that's what the CIA told me to write (ahem).

[Watson Phillips]

At most, the FBI knew Oswald was politically suspect and occasionally kept tabs on him.  They had no basis until 11.22.63 to believe that Oswald was violent or might commit an act of violence.  He was just one of thousands of similar loons that they monitored.  The DPD apparently did not record interrogations at the time.  That was not a standard practice.  They started asking Oswald questions that they already knew the answers to see if he lied and to get him talking.  It is revealing to see what he would admit and what he might lie about.  You are making Mt. Everest out of a molehill.

The FBI knew Oswald had purchased a rifle with scope, as well as the fact he was employed in the book depository close enough to the proposed presidential motorcade route to spit on the president .
In what alternate universe are you referring to where Oswald would not be at the top of the list of local nuts handed from the FBI to the Secret Service's Advance team ?

[Watson Phillips]

The "tabs" they kept on him were poorly done, half-measures, off and on.

What detail  was the FBI lacking I ask for the second time  ?
They knew exactly where Oswald worked everyday :

Mr. HOSTY. Yes; that is my recollection that we looked it [where Oswald was working] up in her telephone book to show it at 411 Elm Street, Dallas, Tex.

They knew he obtained a rifle with scope
They knew of his post-assassination escape plan thru his visit to the embassy in Mexico city
They knew that Oswald was working everyday in the book depository that was literally a sniper's dream nest in terms of shooting the president , like shooting fish in a barrel  as his upcoming scheduled presidential motorcade was to pass close enough for Oswald to spit on him.

Exactly what monitored moves were they unaware of that caused 17 FBI agents to not include Oswald on the list of local threats handed over to the Secret Service's Advance team ?
It must have been very important detail they neglected to Monitor , please tell me what detail it was that had they only known would have caused the  FBI to list Oswald in their report to the Secret Service's Advance team , and would have prevented the president from getting his head blown off , I can't stand the suspense , do tell what the critical detail was that their "poorly" conducted investigation kept them in the dark about ?

[Charles Collins]

All the ridiculous claims about what the FBI knew are simply not true. Making ridiculous claims without any supporting evidence and jumping to even more ridiculous conclusions is nonsense.

I suggest that if you want to know what actually happened, start reading what the people who were there and in a position to know these things have written. James Hosty wrote a book (“Assignment Oswald”) in which he provides many details. Here’s a snip or two from his book:

The first thing I did on Monday morning [11/4/63] was to send an Airtel to the New Orleans office asking them to transfer the files on the Oswalds, as I had now reestablished my jurisdiction.
I didn’t want to conduct an interview with Marina until I ascertained what New Orleans had done or not done. For all I knew, the Bureau might have conducted a series of in-depth interviews of both Oswalds. I decided I had to wait for New Orleans to send me all of its reports on the Oswald case. I didn’t get the file, and the official transfer of the cases, until early on November 22, 1963. All New Orleans sent me was a New Orleans Police Department mug shot of Lee. No reports on any interviews or anything else.

This is only one example of the bureaucratic inefficiencies and delays typical of the FBI in those days. Even though Hosty had sent an air tel message on 11/4/63 requesting the Oswalds files, it wasn’t until 11/22/63 that he received them (along with official transfer of their cases).  That is an eighteen-day time span.

Watching LHO’s every move? Nope!

Knew he had a rifle with a scope? I haven’t seen any evidence that they knew this.

[Watson Phillips]

All the ridiculous claims about what the FBI knew are simply not true. Making ridiculous claims without any supporting evidence and jumping to even more ridiculous conclusions is nonsense.

I suggest that if you want to know what actually happened, start reading what the people who were there and in a position to know these things have written. James Hosty wrote a book (“Assignment Oswald”) in which he provides many details. Here’s a snip or two from his book:


Watching LHO’s every move? Nope!

Does James Hosty say that not just the FBI but the CIA were monitoring Oswald as well.
Exactly WHY does Agent Hosty say both the FBI and CIA were obsessed with monitoring Oswald ?
Was it because considered Oswald to be a non-threating individual of no significance ?
Please tell me why Agent Hosty says both the FBI & CIA felt a need to follow Oswald ?
What was it Hosty says they were trying to discover ?

"The CIA Was Monitoring Oswald in the Months Before JFK's Murder
Lee Harvey Oswald defected to the Soviet Union in 1959 before returning with his Soviet-born wife, Marina, to the United States in 1962. The CIA was monitoring Oswald on his September 1963 trip to Mexico City—a mere month before the shooting. While in Mexico, Oswald visited the Soviet and Cuban embassies and even voiced plans to kill Kennedy. The CIA downplayed their knowledge of Oswald’s travels to the Warren Commission.

“They lied outright to the Warren Commission,” says Shenon. “The whole cover story from the CIA and FBI after the assassination was that Oswald was this lone wolf who could never have been foreseen as a threat before the assassination. The truth is the FBI and CIA were closely surveilling Oswald in the weeks and months before the assassination. Both agencies were terrified that their failure to subdue Oswald would be revealed publicly and they missed evidence that could have allowed them to preempt Kennedy’s murder"  - Jessica Pearce Rotondi

[Charles Collins]

Does James Hosty that not just the FBI but the CIA were monitoring Oswald as well.
Exactly WHY does Agent Hosty say both the FBI and CIA were obsessed with monitoring Oswald ?
Was it because considered Oswald to be a non-threating individual of no significance ?
Please tell me why Agent Hosty says both the FBI & CIA felt a need to follow Oswald ?
What was it Hosty says they were trying to discover ?

"The CIA Was Monitoring Oswald in the Months Before JFK's Murder
Lee Harvey Oswald defected to the Soviet Union in 1959 before returning with his Soviet-born wife, Marina, to the United States in 1962. The CIA was monitoring Oswald on his September 1963 trip to Mexico City—a mere month before the shooting. While in Mexico, Oswald visited the Soviet and Cuban embassies and even voiced plans to kill Kennedy. The CIA downplayed their knowledge of Oswald’s travels to the Warren Commission.

“They lied outright to the Warren Commission,” says Shenon. “The whole cover story from the CIA and FBI after the assassination was that Oswald was this lone wolf who could never have been foreseen as a threat before the assassination. The truth is the FBI and CIA were closely surveilling Oswald in the weeks and months before the assassination. Both agencies were terrified that their failure to subdue Oswald would be revealed publicly and they missed evidence that could have allowed them to preempt Kennedy’s murder"  - Jessica Pearce Rotondi

So, where exactly does Hosty say what you just claimed that Hosty said? You apparently quoted someone named Jessica Pearce Rotondi. I don’t know who that person is.

For your information here is what Hosty actually wrote about this:

The day the president arrived in Dallas, I gave no thought to the connection between Lee Oswald and the fact that one of the Texas School Book Depository’s two warehouses was on the parade route for the presidential party. At the time I had no information to indicate that Lee was violent or capable of killing anyone, much less the president. Lee had made no threats that I knew of. To me Lee and Marina were just routine espionage cases. All I was trying to find out was whether either one of them was a spy for the Soviets. Period..

According to someone who knew, the reason both the CIA and FBI were interested in the Oswalds was for a potential for espionage. That is all.

[Watson Phillips]

So, where exactly does Hosty say what you just claimed that Hosty said? You apparently quoted someone named Jessica Pearce Rotondi. I don’t know who that person is.

For your information here is what Hosty actually wrote about this:

The day the president arrived in Dallas, I gave no thought to the connection between Lee Oswald and the fact that one of the Texas School Book Depository’s two warehouses was on the parade route for the presidential party. At the time I had no information to indicate that Lee was violent or capable of killing anyone, much less the president. Lee had made no threats that I knew of. To me Lee and Marina were just routine espionage cases. All I was trying to find out was whether either one of them was a spy for the Soviets. Period..

This makes Hosty negligent  liar based on his failure to act on what he says he knew , negligence & lies on his part that directly resulted in the president getting his head blown off.
 Hosty says he knew Oswald worked at the Book depository , a virtual snipers nest looking down on the Presidents upcoming motorcade :

Mr. HOSTY. Yes; that is my recollection that we looked it [where Oswald was working] up in her telephone book to show it at 411 Elm Street, Dallas, Tex.


And yet Hosty failed to inform the Secret Service Advance team preparing the route for the President's motorcade of what he suspected could be a Russian asset with a documented violent history with firearms sitting in a 6th floor snipers nest looking down on the President like shooting fish in a barrel.

[Lance Payette]

So, where exactly does Hosty say what you just claimed that Hosty said? You apparently quoted someone named Jessica Pearce Rotondi. I don’t know who that person is.

For your information here is what Hosty actually wrote about this:

The day the president arrived in Dallas, I gave no thought to the connection between Lee Oswald and the fact that one of the Texas School Book Depository’s two warehouses was on the parade route for the presidential party. At the time I had no information to indicate that Lee was violent or capable of killing anyone, much less the president. Lee had made no threats that I knew of. To me Lee and Marina were just routine espionage cases. All I was trying to find out was whether either one of them was a spy for the Soviets. Period..

According to someone who knew, the reason both the CIA and FBI were interested in the Oswalds was for a potential for espionage. That is all.

It appears to me that Watson may be misunderstanding what he is reading.

Jessica Pearce Rotondi ("Roto" to close friends like me) is a young woman who writes about anything and everything in her quest for a writing career. The article Watson quotes seems to be the only thing Roto has ever written about the JFKA. It's a short piece, "8 Facts About the John F. Kennedy Assassination" at the History Channel website, https://www.history.com/articles/kennedy-assassination-facts-oswald-warren-commission. The quote she attributes to Shenon is found nowhere else. Even AI steers you to Roto's article.

That being said, Shenon has long emphasized that the CIA and FBI were less than candid with the WC about their own malfeasance in regard to Oswald. His point is exactly the one that I and others have been making: their cover-up was of their own malfeasance, not of some role in the JFKA. He has never suggested that they were "closely monitoring" Oswald in the weeks and months before the JFKA. Watson, it appears to me, is expanding Shenon's point into something more dark and sinister than simple bureaucratic incompetence and the inevitable attempt to hide it. Surely what the CIA and particularly FBI did know about Oswald should have been communicated to the SS before the JFKA.