Why would he have to learn Russian?

[Tom Graves]

If it’s true, as John Newman asserts in his 2022 book, Uncovering Popov’s Mole, that the Office of Security’s Bruce Solie was a mole, and that he sent future JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald to Moscow as an ostensible “dangle” in a (unbeknownst to Oswald) planned-to-fail hunt for “Popov’s U-2 Mole” (Solie) in the wrong part of the CIA, Newman was ironically correct in his 1995 book, Oswald and the CIA, that the reason a 201 file wasn’t opened on Oswald until December 1960, fourteen months after he’d defected, was because he was on a top-secret mission "for the CIA" (the KGB-controlled CIA).

The only problem I have with Newman’s theory is that after CIA officer (and probable mole) George Kisevalter told the CIA in April 1958 that Lt. Col. Popov had told him in Berlin about the U-2 leak, it took Solie eighteen whole months to screen for Oswald, recruit him, teach Russian to him, and send him on his way.

But why would former Marine U-2 radar operator Oswald need to speak Russian, anyway, if all he had to do was toss his passport onto Consul (and probable CIA officer) Richard Snyder’s desk, say he wanted to renounce his citizenship, and mention to him (and to the KGB microphones in the walls) that he planned to commit espionage against the U.S., including “something of special interest”?

If what I’ve said above is true (and there are plenty of reasons for believing Solie and Kisevalter were moles), then the only thing I can think of is that Solie wanted Oswald to stay in the USSR for a while – which is what he did for two-and-a-half years when he lived half-a-mile from a KGB school in Minsk.

[Michael T. Griffith]

If it’s true, as John Newman asserts in his 2022 book, Uncovering Popov’s Mole, that the Office of Security’s Bruce Solie was a mole, and that he sent future JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald to Moscow as an ostensible “dangle” in a (unbeknownst to Oswald) planned-to-fail hunt for “Popov’s U-2 Mole” (Solie) in the wrong part of the CIA, Newman was ironically correct in his 1995 book, Oswald and the CIA, that the reason a 201 file wasn’t opened on Oswald until December 1960, fourteen months after he’d defected, was because he was on a top-secret mission "for the CIA" (the KGB-controlled CIA).

The only problem I have with Newman’s theory is that after CIA officer (and probable mole) George Kisevalter told the CIA in April 1958 that Lt. Col. Popov had told him in Berlin about the U-2 leak, it took Solie eighteen whole months to screen for Oswald, recruit him, teach Russian to him, and send him on his way.

But why would former Marine U-2 radar operator Oswald need to speak Russian, anyway, if all he had to do was toss his passport onto Consul (and probable CIA officer) Richard Snyder’s desk, say he wanted to renounce his citizenship, and mention to him (and to the KGB microphones in the walls) that he planned to commit espionage against the U.S., including “something of special interest”?

A better question is, How do you explain the evidence that Oswald was fluent in Russian before he went to the Soviet Union?

I recommend you read Alaric Rosman's section titled "The Enigma of Oswald and the Russian Language" in the book JFK: Echoes from Elm Street, edited by Mark Bridger and Barry Keane (pp. 318-340). After documenting that Oswald spoke fluent Russian before he went to the Soviet Union, Rosman devotes several pages to refuting Bugliosi's false claim that Oswald's Russian language proficiency was mediocre at best.

Some of the evidence that Rosman presents is discussed in James Norwood's article "Oswald's Proficiency in the Russian Language," available online at https://harveyandlee.net/Russian.html.

I am agnostic about Armstrong's "Harvey and Lee" theory, but the evidence in Norwood's article and in Rosman's segment in JFK: Echoes from Elm Street is compelling.

[Michael T. Griffith]

A better question is, How do you explain the evidence that Oswald was fluent in Russian before he went to the Soviet Union?

I recommend you read Alaric Rosman's section titled "The Enigma of Oswald and the Russian Language" in the book JFK: Echoes from Elm Street, edited by Mark Bridger and Barry Keane (pp. 318-340). After documenting that Oswald spoke fluent Russian before he went to the Soviet Union, Rosman devotes several pages to refuting Bugliosi's false claim that Oswald's Russian language proficiency was mediocre at best.

Some of the evidence that Rosman presents is discussed in James Norwood's article "Oswald's Proficiency in the Russian Language," available online at https://harveyandlee.net/Russian.html.

I am agnostic about Armstrong's "Harvey and Lee" theory, but the evidence in Norwood's article and in Rosman's segment in JFK: Echoes from Elm Street is compelling.

Speaking of Armstrong's "Harvey and Lee" theory, some indirect support for the theory is provided in Mary Haverstick's 2023 book A Woman I Know: Female Spies, Double Identities, and a New Story of the Kennedy Assassination. Haverstick uncovered a wealth of evidence that the CIA used dual and triple identities in the case of CIA agent Jerrie Cobb.

Mary Haverstick's background should cause any serious researcher to give her a fair hearing. She is a successful film director and writer. She has directed four movies, including the 2008 movie Home starring Oscar winner Marcia Harden and the 2018 movie The Last Horsemen of New York starring Oscar winner Liam Neeson.

Another thing that makes her JFK research worth a fair hearing is that she had no interest in the JFK case for most of her life and only became interested in the case accidentally as a result of her work on a film about Jerrie Cobb’s aviation career.

Haverstick proves that Jerrie Cobb was the CIA agent who used the identities of June Cobb and Catherine Taafe.

She proves, with photographic evidence, that Jerrie Cobb had the same “26” scar on her left forearm that two of Castro’s thugs carved into Catherine Taafe’s left forearm in February 1960.

She proves, again with photographic evidence, that Jerrie Cobb had the same circular, two-ring leishmaniasis scar on her left clavicle that June Cobb had on her left clavicle.

She proves that CIA records and other sources show an amazing activity overlap and checkerboard-like synchronicity between the lives of Jerrie Cobb and June Cobb and Catherine Taafe. These are just some of the remarkable similarities between Jerrie Cobb and the CIA June Cobb:

Both came from Ponca City, Oklahoma. They were the same height and weight. Both lived for a time in Norman, Oklahoma. Both were in the Civil Air Patrol, a rare thing for women back then. Both were fluent Spanish speakers. Both lived extensively in Latin America. Both left home in their twenties for South America. Both visited the isolated Andes mountains in the early 1950s, when almost no white people had ever been there. Both exited the jungle from their expeditions with a lifelong jungle-borne disease (leishmaniasis).

Both traveled the same geographic circuit of cities in perpetual motion. Both had indications of wealth but no visible means of support. Both disappeared for extended periods of time during their lives. Both were well connected to the national and international press. Both opposed some of John F. Kennedy’s policies. Both were in Mexico City six weeks before Kennedy was killed. And both intersected with events surrounding Kennedy’s death.

Haverstick interviewed a person who knew the CIA June Cobb well, Fortuna Calvo-Roth. She showed Fortuna nine photos that included one alleged photo of the CIA June Cobb and two photos of Jerrie Cobb. Fortuna identified the two photos of Jerrie Cobb as the CIA June Cobb. When Haverstick asked her about the alleged photo of the CIA June Cobb, she said it was not June Cobb.

Haverstick discovered that Jerrie Cobb was an experienced target shooter, and that she had excellent marksmanship skills.

Haverstick makes a strong case that Jerrie Cobb was the CIA assassin codenamed QJWIN. No other proposed candidate for QJWIN comes close to Cobb’s qualifications for being QJWIN.

Haverstick makes a plausible case that Jerrie Cobb was the Babushka Lady who appeared to film the motorcade in Dealey Plaza.

Haverstick’s ID of Jerrie Cobb as the Babushka Lady is strengthened by Cobb’s admission to her that she was the pilot of the suspicious plane at Redbird Airport on 11/22/63. The ID is also strengthened by Jerrie Cobb’s statement to Haverstick that June Cobb knew who killed JFK.

Even if one rejects Haverstick’s Cobb-Babushka identification, she makes a very good case that the Babushka Lady’s conduct during and after the shooting was unusual and suspicious.

Haverstick’s theory that the Babushka Lady was holding a gun disguised as a camera is entirely plausible and feasible.

Haverstick’s research on Cobb’s use of multiple identities and on Cobb’s pretending to be pro-Castro and pro-Soviet provides us with useful insights into Oswald’s pro-Castro and pro-Soviet posturing.

Haverstick makes a credible case that the ZR/Rifle program’s primary target was JFK, and that high-ranking CIA officers William Harvey and Arnold Silver were two of the main drivers behind it.

Haverstick's segments on Oswald's activities in Mexico City, Ruth Paine, Michael Paine, and false defectors are valuable and insightful.

On a technical note, the book is very well written. It reads at a steady pace and holds the reader's interest from page to page. When I had to take a break from reading it, I was anxious to get back to it.

Both newcomers and researchers will find the book interesting and informative. I dare say that many researchers will find the book to be ground-breaking and historic.

I remain essentially agnostic about Armstrong's "Harvey and Lee" theory. The startling evidence that Oswald was fluent in Russian before he went to the Soviet Union does not necessarily prove Armstrong's theory, and the evidence cannot be dismissed via guilt by association with the theory. Whether or not shadowy intel figures were running two Oswalds long before the assassination does not change the fact that Oswald's remarkable fluency in Russian cannot be explained by lone-gunman theorists.