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

[Lance Payette]

We do know, of course, that the SS in Dallas was not notified BY THE SS ITSELF of the statements by Joseph Milteer ("From an office building with a high-powered rifle") or the arrest of Thomas Arthur Vallee, both of whom were "just a bit" more obvious of a threat than was Oswald. We do know, of course, that the SS in Dallas made no attempt to screen buildings in Dallas, despite the statements of Milteer, and that during the motorcade SS agents were instructed to watch the crowd rather than the windows of buildings. We do know that the HSCA found there was no reason for special concern in Dallas that would have triggered the SS criteria to screen specific buildings. We do know these things - don't we? If not, read the HSCA report: https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/select-committee-report/part-1d.html.

Vallee, who was free man on 11-22-63, was "outspokenly opposed to President Kennedy's foreign policy." Chicago police "found an M-1 rifle, a handgun and 3,000 rounds of ammunition in his automobile." Before JFK's trip to Dallas, the SS learned "he was a Marine Corps veteran with a history of mental illness while on active duty; he was a member of the John Birch Society and an extremist in his criticism of the Kennedy administration; and he claimed to be an expert marksman."

Now THAT, one might think, is what an obvious threat to JFK looked like. Nevertheless, "The committee also learned that the information the Secret Service obtained on Vallee was not forwarded to the agents responsible for the President's trip to Texas on November 21-22, although it was transmitted to Protective Research Section upon receipt on October 30."

Again, the SS ITSELF did not notify the SS in Dallas of Milteer, Vallee or the need to be concerned about rifles in tall buildings. Any failure on the part of Hosty in regard to Oswald looks like rather small potatoes in comparison - except in ad hoc retrospect, of course, where hindsight is always 20-20 even if it makes no sense.

[Charles Collins]

Let’s set the stage for the FBI’s role in JFK’s visit to Dallas on 11/22/63. This is a snip from “Assignment Oswald” by James Hosty, these are the very first few paragraphs in chapter one:

Monday, November 18, 1963

 TIME: 8:15 A.M.

 “Okay, let’s have some quiet and get started.”

Gordon Shanklin, the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Dallas-Fort Worth FBI office, had called an impromptu meeting of the forty or so agents present in the squad room. I closed a file I was reviewing at my desk and gave my attention to Shanklin.

“As you probably all read over the weekend in the Dallas Morning News, President Kennedy and Vice President Johnson will be coming to Dallas this Friday,” Shanklin said. “Frankly, this is news to me, and I confess it ticks me off to learn it first in the press. I just called headquarters and was told the Morning News story was the first they knew of Kennedy’s visit to Dallas, too. It seems everyone was told except the FBI. I have to assume the FBI liaison with the White House isn’t what it used to be.

 “At any rate, I called this meeting to remind you all of a few things. As you probably know, the Secret Service wants no help from the FBI in protecting the president or his party. Vince Drain here” — Shanklin nodded toward Drain, who was sitting across from me at another desk — “has already made contact with the Dallas Secret Service office, but was politely rebuffed. He was told in so many words they needed no help from us.

 “Because of all this, we’re going to do everything by the book, which means if any of you know of any threats of any kind to the president or vice president, refer them to the Secret Service. I want you all to err on the side of caution. If you have any doubt about whether to report a piece of information to the Secret Service, go ahead and report it. Let’s be on the safe side.... Okay, that’s it. Let’s get back to work.”

I think it is interesting that the FBI wasn’t informed of the visit earlier. Also that Vincent Drain was told that the Secret Service needed no help from the FBI. Perhaps the rumors that JFK and JEH didn’t like each other very much have some merit.

[Charles Collins]

Now for some comments from James Hosty (in his book “Assignment Oswald”) regarding who their concerns were focused on just after the meeting on 11/18/63 described in the above post:

My caseload in the four-man counter-intelligence squad in the Dallas office was dominated by right-wingers. I spent much of my time tracking the movements and actions of both Klan members and members of former U.S. Army General Edwin Walker’s radical militia group, known as the Minutemen. Convinced there was a Communist hiding under every bush, the Minutemen had been quietly and discreetly arming themselves with an impressive arsenal of weapons. In the eyes of the Minutemen, Kennedy was at best a dupe of the Communists, at worst a Communist collaborator.

 Among the agents this morning, everyone was discussing this right-wing element in Dallas and the fact that in all likelihood a threat to the president would come from that direction.

[Charles Collins]

Let’s continue with James Hosty’s account for the following day from his book “Assignment Oswald”:

Tuesday, November 19, 1963

 TIME: 7:00 P.M.

 After finishing supper with my family, I sat down to read the evening newspaper, the Dallas Times Herald. There under the bold headline, KENNEDY virtually INVITESCUBAN COUP, the story began: “President Kennedy all but invited the Cuban people to overthrow Fidel Castro’s Communist regime and promised prompt U.S. aid if they do. Kennedy’s encouragement of a Cuban coup was contained in a major foreign policy speech before the Inter-American Press Association Monday in Miami Beach, Florida. The President said it would be a happy day if the Castro government is ousted.”

.
.
.

The newspaper also reported that on Friday, when Kennedy visited Dallas, he would speak at a luncheon to be held at the Dallas Trade Mart just off the Stemmons Freeway, also known as I-35E. The article also included a general description of the route Kennedy would take through downtown Dallas.


Several of LHO’s coworkers testified that LHO usually read newspapers that were left in the break room (aka: Domino Room). So, we have reason to believe that LHO probably saw and read these and was probably aware by Wednesday 11/20/63 that JFK was going to be in town and his motorcade was going to be traveling in the vicinity of the TSBD. The article that was apparently published in the Tuesday evening Dallas Times Herald paper, regarding JFK’s desire for a coup against Castro, I believe could have angered LHO to an extent that he might begin to contemplate taking a shot at JFK.

Meanwhile, even though LHO and Marina are on the FBI’s radar due mostly to his continued interest in communism (and especially her potential for being a sleeper agent), the FBI apparently has had no indication that LHO was potentially violent or a threat to JFK.

[Watson Phillips]

Now for some comments from James Hosty (in his book “Assignment Oswald”) regarding who their concerns were focused on just after the meeting on 11/18/63 described in the above post:

My caseload in the four-man counter-intelligence squad in the Dallas office was dominated by right-wingers. I spent much of my time tracking the movements and actions of both Klan members and members of former U.S. Army General Edwin Walker’s radical militia group, known as the Minutemen. Convinced there was a Communist hiding under every bush, the Minutemen had been quietly and discreetly arming themselves with an impressive arsenal of weapons. In the eyes of the Minutemen, Kennedy was at best a dupe of the Communists, at worst a Communist collaborator.

 Among the agents this morning, everyone was discussing this right-wing element in Dallas and the fact that in all likelihood a threat to the president would come from that direction.

    Looking for "Right Wingers" under every rock is a convenient excuse for Hosty's  "Squad" being supposedly completely ignorant and oblivious to the more recent multi-level threats to Kennedy's life due to his Bay Of Pigs Debacle generated.
Both from violent communists like Oswald , New Minted Anti-Communist Cuban Americans whose captured loved ones were being Brutalized ever day by Castro , The CIA over Kennedy placing the blame on them and firing their leader Dulles.
With Hosty and "squad" looking for farmers dressed in White Sheets , The real threats were drawing straws to see who got the first shot.
 Hosty's confessed "Right Wing" wild goose chase & his absolute ignorance concerning the threat  Kennedy's Bay Of Pigs presented on several levels explains how Hosty & his squad paved a clear path for the real assassins.

Bay of Pigs: Scattering the CIA to the winds
"How could I have been so stupid as to let them proceed?" President John Kennedy asked his advisers following the CIA's infamous fiasco at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961. Beyond the fact that the U.S. invasion of Cuba was an egregious act of aggression — violating international law and Cuba’s sovereignty — its failure was a catastrophic embarrassment for JFK, only weeks into his White House tenure.

Kennedy held CIA director Allen Dulles, and his deputy for covert operations Richard Bissell, personally responsible for deceiving him on the prospects for success of the ill-planned paramilitary assault. Indeed, as he processed the implications of the failed invasion, Kennedy vented his desire to “splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds.”

[Dan O'meara]

What happened to the threatening note that Oswald sent to Hosty just before the assassination?

[Charles Collins]

What happened to the threatening note that Oswald sent to Hosty just before the assassination?

Are you trying to indicate that you believe that it was a threat against JFK?

It happened well before the JFK Texas trip was announced.

And Hosty says it was not a threatening note.

So, I don’t believe that Hosty would have considered that a threat against JFK.

[Charles Collins]

Moving on along the timeline to Thursday evening James Hosty writes in his book “Assignment Oswald”:

Thursday, November 21, 1963

 TIME: 9:00 P.M.

 Reading the Times Herald that evening, I noted a front page diagram of the parade route Kennedy would take at noon the next day through downtown Dallas. I examined it casually, only interested in where I could position myself so that I could catch a glimpse of the president. At no time during my examination of the diagram was I interested in determining whether or not any of my case subjects might be located along the motorcade route. It had been beaten into me, by both the Secret Service and the FBI, that this was not of my concern.

My only obligation for the security of the president’s trip was to report to the Secret Service anyone who had made a threat against the president or the vice president. In fact, just the day before, I had hand-delivered a report on one possible threat. I had picked up information from a source that a local Klan member had remarked that his group would have a “little reception” for Kennedy when he visited Dallas. I wrote up this information in a one-page report, including a physical description of the Klan member, and attached his photograph to the report. I walked the few blocks over to the Secret Service’s office in the U.S. Courthouse and handed the report to one of their agents. I later learned that the Secret Service briefly interviewed the man, but took no action to detain him or monitor his whereabouts on Friday during the president’s visit.


So, here we have Hosty describing what his obligations were and that he fulfilled them. Yet the title of this thread indicates that they were monitoring LHO’s every move. Nothing could be further from the truth.