Important Disclosure about William King Harvey in Recently Released Document

[Michael T. Griffith]

A newly released document provides an important disclosure about William King Harvey, the incendiary CIA officer who was known for his passionate hatred of the Kennedys.

Harvey took part in the CIA-Mafia plots to kill Fidel Castro. In Italy, he recommended using Mafia hitmen to kill certain Italian officials. In a dangerous act of insubordination, when the threat of nuclear war was a real possibility during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Harvey disobeyed White House orders and recklessly sent three commando teams into Cuba. The Kennedys were furious when they learned about this, and Harvey was quickly shuffled off to Italy.

Mark Wyatt, who served as Harvey’s deputy, told a French journalist in 1998 that he saw Harvey on a flight to Dallas in November 1963. Wyatt found this strange because Harvey was stationed in Italy at the time. Based on Harvey’s flight to Dallas in November 1963 and on comments that Harvey made to him about JFK’s death, Wyatt told his children that he believed Harvey either had advance knowledge of the assassination or was involved in it. Wyatt’s daughter urged him to testify to the HSCA, but he could not bring himself to do so because of his sense of loyalty to the CIA.

The newly released document reveals that the CIA requested the FAA to give Harvey an FAA travel credential. The credential would have enabled him to travel under a false name. I quote from the JFK Facts substack article on this disclosure:

One of the new documents was a letter from the CIA, dated April 10, 1963. A CIA official, Nicholas R. Zubon, addressed a one-page letter to Charles Niles at the Federal Aviation Agency (now the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA). Zubon requested that Niles arrange for FAA records to reflect that “HARVEY, WILLIAM K.” had been “issued Federal Aviation Agency Credential Number 4883, on 2 January 1963.”

The newly discovered document, a one-page letter released with redactions in 2017, reveals for the first time, Niles’ name and the role of the FAA. Both had been hidden from public view as recently as 2022 — for reasons of “national security.”

Marked “Confidential,” Zubon’s letter states that “in the event of an inquiry, this information may be released to verify the authenticity of this credential.”

The document about Harvey’s FAA credential reveals two new facts about his involvement in the events of 1963, neither known previously.

-- Harvey was authorized to travel undercover in the United States while he was serving as chief of the CIA station in Rome.

-- The CIA did not disclose this arrangement to Senate investigators in the 1970s.

Now why would Harvey, the CIA chief of station in Rome, Italy, need an FAA travel credential so he could safely travel undercover in the U.S.?

If for some reason Harvey had been challenged about flying under a different name, he could have said, "Hey, I'm authorized by the FAA to travel under a different name. You can check with the FAA and verify my travel credential."

The CIA still has not released Harvey's travel records.


 

[Benjamin Cole]

MTG-

This makes no sense.

I do wonder why Harvey had issued to him "covert travel credentials" by the FAA back in the early 1960s. Back in those days anyone could board a commercial airplane flight with only a ticket. You could buy tickets for cash. Give any name you wanted.

I wonder what are, and why anyone would need, FAA "covert travel credentials." Was there such a thing?

AI Overview: There are no publicly known "FAA covert travel credentials" for CIA officers specifically, but in the 1960s, officers would likely have used forged passports and other identification documents from the State Department or created their own government-issued IDs for travel under their cover identities, a standard practice for intelligence agencies. While the FAA oversees U.S. aviation safety, it does not issue travel credentials for intelligence operations.

This whole topic is nutty. Harvey flying to Dallas sometime in November 1963 is hardly dispositive, and why any CIA officer using commercial aircraft would need "FAA covert travel credentials" (if there was such a thing) is doubly curious.

CIA officers would ask FAA bureaucrats for "covert travel credentials" ?

Maybe they asked the Interstate Commerce Commission for special Greyhound Bus badges too.

This sure is a funny one.

[Michael T. Griffith]

MTG-

This makes no sense.

I do wonder why Harvey had issued to him "covert travel credentials" by the FAA back in the early 1960s. Back in those days anyone could board a commercial airplane flight with only a ticket. You could buy tickets for cash. Give any name you wanted.

I wonder what are, and why anyone would need, FAA "covert travel credentials." Was there such a thing?

AI Overview: There are no publicly known "FAA covert travel credentials" for CIA officers specifically, but in the 1960s, officers would likely have used forged passports and other identification documents from the State Department or created their own government-issued IDs for travel under their cover identities, a standard practice for intelligence agencies. While the FAA oversees U.S. aviation safety, it does not issue travel credentials for intelligence operations.

This whole topic is nutty. Harvey flying to Dallas sometime in November 1963 is hardly dispositive, and why any CIA officer using commercial aircraft would need "FAA covert travel credentials" (if there was such a thing) is doubly curious.

CIA officers would ask FAA bureaucrats for "covert travel credentials" ?

Maybe they asked the Interstate Commerce Commission for special Greyhound Bus badges too.

This sure is a funny one.

One, the fact that the CIA requested the travel credential from the FAA is proven in the document.

Two, on the off chance that Harvey was detained or questioned about traveling under a false name, the FAA travel credential would have instantly cleared him.

Three, the CIA was not in the habit of asking other agencies for credentials for a named CIA officer unless it was for a good reason.

[Benjamin Cole]

In 1963, Bill Harvey could have had an authentic US passport with whatever name he wanted.

This whole topic mystifies me.

The FAA, a civil agency, has no authority to arrest and detain people, and no authority to issue a credential that would prevent arrests by other law enforcement agencies.

No CIA officer would need any authority or credential from the FAA to travel incognito. This makes no sense. No ones ID was checked pre-boarding in the 1960s.

Morley calls this a "bombshell," but then maybe a chimerical molehill is a mountain.

[Lance Payette]

I hate to burst Michael's and Morley's bubbles so quickly, but it took me about 15 seconds to determine that this was an authorization to carry a firearm.

See paragraphs 4 and 5 of the attached.

Jesus, you CTers are too easy. Give me something hard, willya?

https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80B01676R003100260070-5.pdf

[Benjamin Cole]

LP--

I think you have added the likely explanation. Harvey, who was apparently an alcoholic nut, wanted to carry a firearm on a commercial airliner in the early 1960s.

A great story is the drunk Bill Harvey receiving the CIA Director John McCone, a very devout Catholic and a Knight of Malta, at his Rome apartment, and then drinking even more during McCone's visit. It went downhill from there.

I have mixed sentiments if LHO was ever a CIA asset. Larry Hancock and David Boylan say he was not.

But the CIA was not averse to having unstable kooks on the payroll (witness Harvey), or embedded in allied groups such as Alpha 66.

Who knows?

[Lance Payette]

The complete absurdity here, folks, is that it took me literally 15 seconds to solve this mystery. Precisely ONE Google search, and the solution was the FIRST document that popped up. Yet look at the dark and sinister, completely NONSENSICAL speculation that Michael, Morley and others have launched into with this nothingburger. There are TWO pieces at JFK Facts on this, and Morley refers to it as a "bombshell."

A bombshell? A BOMBSHELL??? ARE YOU KIDDIN' ME??? (Jim Mora voice) 

15 SECONDS, PEOPLE. ONE GOOGLE SEARCH.

This is the problem with factoid-busting. You aren't just battling dubious factual assertions that prove to be false. You're battling the schmucks who pose as serious researchers, the credulous goofballs who believe and defend them, and the schmucks and goofballs who continue to assert, believe and defend them after they've been exposed.

Think Morley and Michael are going to acknowledge the egg on their faces and publsh a big "Oops"? Hell, no. They'll dig in their heels and insist their "bombshell" document is talking about something else, something dark and sinister.

This game is so stupid it's not even entertaining anymore. If you folks think it's a productive use of your time engaging with the likes of Dan and Michael, complete and utter loons, you deserve and can have them.

[Michael T. Griffith]

In 1963, Bill Harvey could have had an authentic US passport with whatever name he wanted. This whole topic mystifies me. The FAA, a civil agency, has no authority to arrest and detain people, and no authority to issue a credential that would prevent arrests by other law enforcement agencies.
No CIA officer would need any authority or credential from the FAA to travel incognito. This makes no sense. No ones ID was checked pre-boarding in the 1960s. Morley calls this a "bombshell," but then maybe a chimerical molehill is a mountain.

Yes, Harvey could have used a U.S. passport with a different name, which would have been traveling under a false name. So, in the event that was ever caught doing this and was questioned about it, he could cite his FAA travel credential.

Why do you suppose the CIA suppressed this memo for so long and failed to disclose the arrangement to the Church Committee?

I hate to burst Michael's and Morley's bubbles so quickly, but it took me about 15 seconds to determine that this was an authorization to carry a firearm. See paragraphs 4 and 5 of the attached. You CTers are too easy. Give me something hard, willya?

https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80B01676R003100260070-5.pdf

This memo has nothing to do with the CIA Zubon memo on an FAA credential for Harvey. As you yourself note, the memo you're citing is about authorization to carry a gun onto a commercial plane and mentions several agencies, not just the FAA. The Zubon memo says nothing about carrying a firearm.

I repeat my questions: Why did the CIA suppress the Zubon memo? Why did CIA not disclose this arrangement to the Church Committee?

Also, if it was merely an arrangement with multiple agencies to carry a gun while flying, why the decades-long suppression? Why the redactions for "national security"? Why withhold this from the Church Committee if it was just about carrying a gun on a plane?