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

[Watson Phillips]

Sorry, that is not evidence of anyone monitoring "every move" that Oswald made. James Hosty HIMSELF said he didn't know where Oswald was living during the week. If he didn't know where Oswald lived - the N. Beckley rooming house - then how could he be monitoring Oswald at all? He didn't know he lived there.

So the FBI found where Oswald was gainfully employed everyday but that was of no help in finding where he went when he left the book depository because Oswald was just to smart for them ? :

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.

 So to your way of thinking the FBI could not figure out where Oswald disappeared to everyday after he walked out of the Book depository ?

Really ?

[Tom Graves]

So why do you think they decided not to record a word of what Oswald answered under questioning?

"So . . .  So . . . So . . . ."

The evil, evil, evil DPD didn't tape record interrogations back in the day.

Why not?

Answer: So evil, evil, evil DPD officers could torture completely innocent people into "confessing" and put words in their mouths!!!

(sarcasm)

[Steve M. Galbraith]

In fact, J. Edgar Hoover was so angry at the incompetence of the FBI in monitoring the Oswalds that he punished 17 agents including Hosty. This was more Keystone Cops than Gestapo. Conspiracy believers see an all powerful secret "they" working behind the scenes, controlling and manipulating events at will. Sorry, that's simply not how it was.

Oswald defected to the USSR during the height of the Cold War. He denounces the US and disappears. Then he returns with a Soviet wife. What happened when he was there? Of course the FBI would be keeping track of where the Oswalds (both of them not just him) went. But that's not "every move monitored." And their monitoring of the Oswalds was so incompetent that it infuriated Hoover.

[Lance Payette]

A couple of years ago, I read an excellent scholarly book - alas, I now can't locate the title - that surveyed conspiracy thinking throughout American history and was fairly sympathetic to the conspiracists. The author's point was that, IN EVERY CASE, there had in fact been incompetence, malfeasance and cover-up on the part of the supposed conspirators. IN EVERY CASE, however, the conspiracy theories that arose had NOTHING TO DO with the actual incompetence, malfeasance and cover-up. In other words, the supposed conspirators were simply typical bumbling bureaucrats who really had only themselves to blame for the wild conspiracy theories that arose out of their incompetence and malfeasance and efforts to cover up.

Insofar as the JFKA is concerned, the CIA, FBI, SS and DPD all had egg on their faces. All were engaged in CYA scrambling. This was the real cover-up; not a cover-up of their involvement in the JFKA but of their incompetence and malfeasance in failing to identify Oswald as a potential threat. The notion that they were "monitoring every move" of Oswald is precisely what the book describes as occurring with other historical events that gave rise to conspiracy theories: i.e., the notion isn't irrational, but it is 180 degrees off-base.

[Watson Phillips]

In fact, J. Edgar Hoover was so angry at the incompetence of the FBI in monitoring the Oswalds ...

How was the FBI incompetent ?
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.
They knew of his post-assassination escape plan thru his visit to the embassy in Mexico city

They knew that the Oswald's was working in a building that was literally a sniper's dream nest in terms plugging the president as his scheduled motorcade was to pass close enough for Oswald to spit on him.

What else did they need to know ?

Add to that they had the Secret Service completely informed and updated on the threat Oswald presented with his rifle purchase, escape plan, and his working in a dream sniper's nest high above the upcoming Presidential motorcade route.
How could they have Monitored all the threats that Oswald presented any better ?

[Watson Phillips]

A couple of years ago, I read an excellent scholarly book - alas, I now can't locate the title - that surveyed conspiracy thinking throughout American history and was fairly sympathetic to the conspiracists. The author's point was that, IN EVERY CASE, there had in fact been incompetence, malfeasance and cover-up on the part of the supposed conspirators. IN EVERY CASE, however, the conspiracy theories that arose had NOTHING TO DO with the actual incompetence, malfeasance and cover-up. In other words, the supposed conspirators were simply typical bumbling bureaucrats

How did they bumble, the FBI had obtained every critical fact with regard to the threat Oswald presented before the President passed like sitting duck underneath the workplace snipers nest Oswald had established for himself ?

How was the FBI Bumbling ?
Their investigation of Oswald told them 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 had obtained a rifle.
They knew of his post-assassination escape plan thru his visit to the embassy in Mexico city

They knew that the Oswald was working in a building that was literally a sniper's dream nest in terms plugging the president as his scheduled motorcade was to pass close enough for Oswald to spit on him.

How does obtaining all this critical information they had obtained on Oswald amount to "bumbling" on the FBI's part ?

Add to that they had the Secret Service completely informed and updated on the threat Oswald presented with his rifle purchase, escape plan, and his working in a dream sniper's nest high above the upcoming Presidential motorcade route, as it was customary for the Secret Service to be informed by local FBI of potential threats in any city the President was planning to visit .

[Watson Phillips]

In fact, J. Edgar Hoover was so angry at the incompetence of the FBI in monitoring the Oswalds that he punished 17 agents including Hosty. This was more Keystone Cops than Gestapo. Conspiracy believers see an all powerful secret "they" working behind the scenes, controlling and manipulating events at will. Sorry, that's simply not how it was.

Oswald defected to the USSR during the height of the Cold War. He denounces the US and disappears. Then he returns with a Soviet wife. What happened when he was there? Of course the FBI would be keeping track of where the Oswalds (both of them not just him) went. But that's not "every move monitored." And their monitoring of the Oswalds was so incompetent that it infuriated Hoover.

So with 17 FBI agents knowing Oswald had purchased a rifle with scope, was employed every day in the perfect snipers nest above the upcoming Presidential Motorcade route what was the reason these 17 agents all say they deliberately excluded Oswald's name from the list of local threats handed over to the Secret Service Advance Team ?

[Richard Smith]

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.