Team Headed by Former CIA Officer Concludes JFK Was Killed by a Conspiracy

[Jon Banks]

In 2017, the History Channel aired a seven-part documentary titled JFK Declassified: Tracking Oswald produced by former CIA case officer Robert Baer. Baer and his team conducted an extensive investigation into the JFK assassination. Baer's team included a former LAPD detective (Adam Bercovici), a former FBI profiler (Steve Gomez), and a former Special Forces Army Ranger (Marty Skovlund). Baer and his team got many things wrong, but they also got many things right. WC apologists don't like Baer's documentary because it acknowledges too many facts that they reject and reaches too many conclusions that they reject, such as the following:

-- Oswald received intelligence training and had some kind of connection with the U.S. Government after he left the Marines.

-- Oswald associated with anti-Castro Cubans and even trained with them in New Orleans. Oswald also associated with Cuban intelligence operatives.

-- The owner of Henry's Market, aka Henry's Bar, in New Orleans said Oswald came to the bar many times, and that the day after the assassination two Cubans came to the bar and told him Oswald was innocent and that Oswald had been framed.

-- Oswald's job at the Reilly Coffee Company in New Orleans was a "cover for action," that his job was a "front," a "cover." Oswald could have found a job much closer to his residence in New Orleans. Reilly's was across the street from the Crescent City Garage, which was used by federal agents as a kind of motor pool for their vehicles.

-- Adrian Alba, the owner of the Crescent City Garage, was telling the truth when he reported that he saw an FBI agent hand Oswald an envelope in front of the Reilly Coffee Company.

-- Silvia Odio told the truth when she reported that Oswald and two anti-Castro Cubans visited her residence in Dallas weeks before the assassination, and that one of the Cubans phoned her a few days later and told her that Oswald was an expert marksman and that Oswald had said that anti-Castro Cubans should have already killed JFK over the Bay of Bigs.

-- A Dallas police report noted that Oswald was seen visiting a house used by Alpha 66 members in Dallas. Alpha 66 was a violent anti-Castro and anti-JFK group. The house, located on Harlandale Avenue, was rented by Manuel Rodriguez Orcaberro, an Alpha 66 member who was known to be virulently anti-JFK.

-- Oswald was trying to reach the Harlandale house after the assassination. The bus transfer allegedly found on Oswald hours after he was arrested could have taken him to a point very close to the Harlandale house.

-- Oswald conspired with anti-Castro Cubans to kill JFK. Oswald was the only shooter, but he was supported by Alpha 66 members and other anti-Castro Cubans. If Oswald had made it to the Harlandale house, Alpha 66 members would have helped him escape.

-- The Russians played no role in the assassination, and Oswald was not working for the Russians.

-- Castro was aware of the Alpha 66 plot to assassinate JFK but did nothing to stop it. He monitored it but did not intervene to prevent it.

For these and other reasons, WC apologists have been critical of Baer's documentary, even though Baer and his team argue that Oswald was the only shooter and that Oswald shot Tippit.

The documentary is available on Amazon Prime Video and on other platforms. Here are some sources on the documentary, some favorable and some unfavorable:

https://www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-reviews/jfk-declassified-tracking-oswald

https://sofrep.com/news/sofrep-exclusive-interview-with-army-ranger-marty-skovlund-jr-from-historys-new-show-jfk-declassified-tracking-oswald/

https://time.com/4753349/oswald-kennedy-declassified-documentary/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JFK_Declassified:_Tracking_Oswald

https://www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-reviews/jfk-declassified-tracking-oswald-part-6

Interesting series.

They made a convincing argument based on the bus routes in 1963 that Oswald was attempting to go to the alleged Alpha 66 house in Dallas before the Tippit incident.

The New Orleans and Mexico City episodes were very interesting too but they kind of danced around the issue of Oswald being impersonated in Mexico City.

I'm less convinced by the implication in the show that Castro was involved or had foreknowledge.

[Michael T. Griffith]

Interesting series.

They made a convincing argument based on the bus routes in 1963 that Oswald was attempting to go to the alleged Alpha 66 house in Dallas before the Tippit incident.

The New Orleans and Mexico City episodes were very interesting too but they kind of danced around the issue of Oswald being impersonated in Mexico City.

I'm less convinced by the implication in the show that Castro was involved or had foreknowledge.

The Harlandale Ave. house in Dallas was definitely used by Alpha 66.

Yes, they failed to address the evidence that Oswald was being impersonated in Mexico City. I'm not sure they were even aware of it, although they should have been if they read the HSCA's Lopez-Hardway report.

Regarding Castro's involvement/foreknowledge, if the Cuban intel defector whom they interviewed was telling the truth, his account indicates that Cuban intelligence had some knowledge of the plot, and it's hard to imagine that they would have kept this from Castro.

I know the series has a lot of deficiencies, but it shows that even intelligent people who began their research assuming that Oswald was the only shooter, and who continue to think Oswald was the only shooter, don't buy the arguments that WC apologists make against Oswald's intelligence ties, Silvia Odio's account, Oswald's ties with anti-Castro Cubans, and Adrian Alba's account.

[Jon Banks]

The Harlandale Ave. house in Dallas was definitely used by Alpha 66.

Yes, they failed to address the evidence that Oswald was being impersonated in Mexico City. I'm not sure they were even aware of it, although they should have been if they read the HSCA's Lopez-Hardway report.

Regarding Castro's involvement/foreknowledge, if the Cuban intel defector whom they interviewed was telling the truth, his account indicates that Cuban intelligence had some knowledge of the plot, and it's hard to imagine that they would have kept this from Castro.

I know the series has a lot of deficiencies, but it shows that even intelligent people who began their research assuming that Oswald was the only shooter, and who continue to think Oswald was the only shooter, don't buy the arguments that WC apologists make against Oswald's intelligence ties, Silvia Odio's account, Oswald's ties with anti-Castro Cubans, and Adrian Alba's account.

Agreed.

Objectively, one can't view all the conflicting evidence and witness accounts then conclude that there are no holes in the Warren Commission's narrative of the JFK assassination.

[Tom Graves]

In 2017, the History Channel aired a seven-part documentary titled JFK Declassified: Tracking Oswald produced by former CIA case officer Robert Baer. Baer and his team conducted an extensive investigation into the JFK assassination. Baer's team included a former LAPD detective (Adam Bercovici), a former FBI profiler (Steve Gomez), and a former Special Forces Army Ranger (Marty Skovlund). Baer and his team got many things wrong, but they also got many things right. WC apologists don't like Baer's documentary because it acknowledges too many facts that they reject and reaches too many conclusions that they reject, such as the following:

Robert Baer, the CIA-hating former CIA officer who strongly suggests in his 2022 book, The Fourth Man, that prickly CIA mole-hunter Paul Redmond was himself a KGB "mole"?

That Robert Baer?

LOL!

Vladimir Putin is jumping for joy!

[Lance Payette]

Robert Baer, the CIA-hating former CIA officer who strongly suggests in his 2022 book, The Fourth Man, that prickly CIA mole-hunter Paul Redmond was himself a KGB "mole"?

That Robert Baer?

LOL!

Vladimir Putin is jumping for joy!

I'll have to admit, I've never heard of Baer (did he play Jethro on the Beverly Hillbillies?) or Tracking Oswald. (Jesus, do I live under a rock? Do I know anything about ANYTHING?) However, I see that he and it were the subject of rather scathing criticism from within the CT community itself. I think if I were Niedernut over at the Ed Forum, I might strongly suspect Baer of being one of them there cognitive infiltrators with which the CIA floods the world. (Well, no, if I actually were Niedernut I'd be screaming "I need help!" and checking myself into a facility, but you get the point.)

In all of these discussions where Oswald is posited as The Most Interesting Man in the World, I always wonder: (1) how come all the people who knew him best - wife, family, friends, coworkers - had absolutely no inkling that he was anything other than a mixed-up goofball? (2) where did he find the time for all these extracurricular activities; and (3) since his finances were such that they kept baby June in a cardboard box and pretty much lived like impoverished Third World villagers, did he do all this stuff pro bono - and if so, why?

Perhaps I'm just not capable of thinking far enough outside the box, but none of this Most Interesting Man in the World stuff ever makes sense to me.

[Jon Banks]

I'll have to admit, I've never heard of Baer (did he play Jethro on the Beverly Hillbillies?) or Tracking Oswald. (Jesus, do I live under a rock? Do I know anything about ANYTHING?) However, I see that he and it were the subject of rather scathing criticism from within the CT community itself. I think if I were Niedernut over at the Ed Forum, I might strongly suspect Baer of being one of them there cognitive infiltrators with which the CIA floods the world. (Well, no, if I actually were Niedernut I'd be screaming "I need help!" and checking myself into a facility, but you get the point.)

In all of these discussions where Oswald is posited as The Most Interesting Man in the World, I always wonder: (1) how come all the people who knew him best - wife, family, friends, coworkers - had absolutely no inkling that he was anything other than a mixed-up goofball? (2) where did he find the time for all these extracurricular activities; and (3) since his finances were such that they kept baby June in a cardboard box and pretty much lived like impoverished Third World villagers, did he do all this stuff pro bono - and if so, why?

Perhaps I'm just not capable of thinking far enough outside the box, but none of this Most Interesting Man in the World stuff ever makes sense to me.

A high school dropout who taught himself Russian (allegedly), worked at the U2 plane base in Japan, traveled through Europe to the Soviet Union, came home with a Russian wife, befriended George DeMorenschildt (elite socialite and friend of Jackie Kennedy and George Bush), and traveled to the Soviet embassy in Mexico City two months before 11/22/63, isn't interesting to you?

How exciting is your life then? As you noted, he was poor for most of his life. Which makes his accomplishments and travel before the age of 25 all the more impressive.

Bob Baer, like several retired CIA officers who have weighed in on the Kennedy assassination believes Fidel Castro, or Cuban agents loyal to Castro, were involved in the JFK assassination. I'm familiar with the "Castro did it" theories.

[Tom Graves]

A high school dropout who taught himself Russian (allegedly), worked at the U2 plane base in Japan, traveled through Europe to the Soviet Union, came home with a Russian wife, befriended George DeMorenschildt (elite socialite and friend of Jackie Kennedy and George Bush), traveled to the Soviet embassy in Mexico City two months before 11/22/63, isn't interesting to you?

How exciting is your life then? As you noted, he was poor for most of his life. Which makes his accomplishments and travel before the age of 25 all the more impressive.

Bob Baer, like several retired CIA officers who have weighed in on the Kennedy assassination believes Fidel Castro, or Cuban agents loyal to Castro, were involved in the JFK assassination. I'm familiar with the "Castro did it" theories.

As related in Richard Russell's book, The Man Who Knew Too Much, DeMohrenschildt was determined by a CIA Counterintelligence analyst by the name of Clare Edward Petty -- by reading some WW II VENONA decrypts in the early 1970s -- to very probably be a long-term KGB "illegal."

Specifically, the "illegal" mentioned (but not named) in the decrypts:

1) Was a real wheeler-dealer who had

2) been born in or near Poland, had

3) emigrated to the U.S. before the war, and who had

4) lived in Mexico during the war.

[Michael T. Griffith]

Robert Baer, the CIA-hating former CIA officer who strongly suggests in his 2022 book, The Fourth Man, that prickly CIA mole-hunter Paul Redmond was himself a KGB "mole"? That Robert Baer? LOL! Vladimir Putin is jumping for joy!

Says the guy who claims the West lost the Cold War. 

Now, why don't you grace us with your explanation for why you think it's laughable that Baer suggests Redmond was a KGB mole? Robert Hanssen was a senior FBI counterintelligence officer whose job was to study and identify Soviet spies and intelligence operatives, yet he turned out to be a KGB mole. I notice you said nothing about the reasons that Baer provides for his suspicions about Redmond in The Fourth Man, such as the profile developed by the CIA's SIU office on the suspected fourth mole? (FYI, Baer interviewed two of the SIU members.) I also notice you failed to mention that other CIA officials, along with some FBI officials, suspected Redmond was the fourth mole.

"CIA-hating" No, he is not. Where do you get this? I suspect this is based on your extremist brand of patriotism.

And, BTW, in his book, Baer condemns Putin as a murderous thug.