How would any Oswald accomplices have found out that Brennan had identified Oswald in the lineup anyway? Brennan's identity would have been sealed and protected until trial discovery began, as the police and the feds surely explained to Brennan when he hesitated and eventually declined to positively ID Oswald.
Here is what is written in Howard Brennan's book "Eyewitness to History" that might give you a clue about what was going on in Brennan's mind on 11/22/63:
“About 7:15 p. m., the phone rang. The voice on the other end identified himself as Agent Lish with the F.B.I. He said, 'We'd like to have you come down to make an identification .' 'Mr. Lish' I asked, 'will this be confidential?' He assured me that it would. I wanted to protect my identity especially from the news media. 'We'll do everything possible to protect your identity,' I was told. Within a few minutes there was a knock at the front door and one of the F.B.I agents who had been watching the house usered me to the car for a ride to City Hall. As we drove through the night, I looked out the window at the city lights wondering what would happen next. I was feeling anxiety and was hopeful that my privacy could be preserved. Already my picture had been on TV several times, although without being identified. We had also heard a report that there was one unidentified witness who could link Lee Harvey Oswald to the killing of John Kennedy.
When we reached City Hall, I was let out to enter alone and go to the third floor where I would meet with Mr. Sorrels and others. When I reached the third floor, the hall was jammed with reporters and media people everywhere. They were all trying to get some sort of lead on what was happening and I had no problem in walking past them Not one reporter knew who I was and that suited me just fine. If they had known my connection with the assassination, I am sure I would have been mobbed right there but time was still on my side.
Pushing my way through this mob I found the office I'd been instructed to go to. Mr. Sorrels was there and another man who identified himself as Agent Robert C. Lish of the F.B.I. Lish was a short man of a medium weight and build who curiously wore his hat most of the time. I remembered talking to him earlier on the phone. I told Mr. Lish, 'I'm not at all satisfied with this situation!' Lish looked a bit puzzled, 'What do you mean?' he said. 'My picture has been on the television several times today without my permission and I know someone is going to recognize me and put two and two together. I want it taken off and I want it taken off right away!' Mr. Lish nodded and said something to another man who was in the room who immediately left. From that moment, my picture never appeared on that television channel again. 'I want to keep my identity a secret!' I told them. 'We'll do all we can to help you do that' Lish said. 'We want you to look at a lineup and see if you can find someone in it who resembles the man you saw on the sixth floor.' I said, 'I'll be glad to cooperate, but I don't think it's fair for me to make an identification. Anyone of a million people who saw him on television a while ago could make the same identification.' Lish smiled diplomatically.
I was led into a darkened room with lights at one end. When we arrived, a group of several men, perhaps as many as seven, were led in and made to stand in line with numbers over them. As soon as I saw him, I think he was number two, I knew without any doubt whatsoever that they had captured the man whom I saw fire the shot that killed President Kennedy. I felt a surge of emotion, a sense of outrage at this young man who had literally thrown the whole world into chaos. As I was looking at each of the men in the lineup I saw a face that I recognized. It was a Dallas Detective that I knew. He was perhaps the most well-known of all the Dallas Police and his picture had been in the papers many times. If he was there, that meant only one thing. My privacy had been broached. I felt sick and a little betrayed. I'd come to City Hall with the understanding that I would be dealing only with the FBI and/or the Secret Service, not the Dallas Police.
The officer walked over to me sticking out his hand to shake. He greeted me by name and I knew if he knew who I was and what my connection with the case was, then others must know. He asked me, 'Does the second man from the left look most like the man you saw?' He was talking about Oswald and I knew what he wanted me to say.
I felt even more angry and betrayed. I hadn't agreed to make an identification to the local authorities. I knew that there were ways my identity could become known through the leaks in the police department and I didn't want any part of it. I knew that they had Oswald on enough charges that he wasn't going anyplace. He had been charged with resisting arrest and carrying a firearm without a permit. There was overwhelming evidence that he had killed Officer Tippit and so my identification in that moment wasn't absolutely necessary. If they needed me later, I knew I could identify him.
Brennan doesn't write anything about his last name appearing in the next day's Dallas Morning News. But in my opinion there is a good possibility that Brennan's name was leaked by the Dallas Police. Or that a reporter (both Aynesworth and Biffle were there) overheard Brennan talking to the Police and overheard his last name that way. I haven't seen any evidence that Brennan gave his name to reporters on 11/22/63. Only Mark Lane's assumption.
And you think this hogwash story is believable? I suspect if Brennan said a Martian showed up at the police station and told him not to ID Oswald, you would repeat the tale as if it were credible.
Brennan's claim about fearing retribution from Oswald accomplices makes no sense given his conduct at the time. Again, he spoke with reporters and gave his name to them earlier in the day, and that afternoon he told the Dallas police, in writing, that he believed he could ID the man in the window if he saw him again. Those are not the actions of someone who feared retribution from accomplices. He made up that story later to explain why he refused to positively ID Oswald that night, even though he had seen pictures of him.
Furthermore, on the evening of 11/22, there was not "overwhelming evidence" that Oswald had killed Tippit. How could Brennan have believed this just hours after Oswald was arrested? If the feds told him this, then they surely also told him that Oswald acted alone and that there was no plot of any kind.
If one is going to assume that Brennan was blessed with exceptional distance vision and that therefore he could clearly see the person's face clearly from a distance of nearly half a football field (40 yards), then one must explain why Brennan said the man fired while standing up, which would have been impossible because the window was partially open (no higher than about waist level).
One must also explain why Brennan said the man was wearing “light-colored” clothing when we know Oswald wore a brown/reddish shirt to work, the same shirt that Officer Baker saw him wearing no more than 90 seconds after the shots were fired.
One must further explain why Brennan said the gunman remained at the window for a time after firing, that he was not the least bit rushed, and that he then eventually casually walked away, which agrees with James Jarman's testimony and which is further evidence that Oswald could not have gotten from the window to the second-floor lunchroom in time to be seen by Officer Baker.
Look at this montage of photos and a diagram. It gives you a good idea of the view that Brennan had of the sixth-floor window. You'll need to scroll back and forth horizontally because the image is rather large.
