The CIAs private investigation of the JFK assassination

[Gerry Down]

Dr Michael Kurtz made the following point at his ARRB testimony:

"The Crisis Years," by Michael Beschloss, struck me as very odd, and I'd like to quote the passage from page 682 of that book.
"Richard Helms, who at the time was Deputy Director of Plans for the CIA" -- this is in early 1964 I might add, the context -- "found Johnson distracted well in 1964 by his worry that Kennedy had been assassinated by conspiracy. As Helms recalled, the Agency was" -- and here Beschloss is quoting Richard Helms -- ""very helpful to Johnson on this" and met the new president's request for an independent CIA study. Motion pictures of the Dallas motorcade and autopsy photographs were sent to the agency."
In his footnotes, or I should say endnotes, Mr. Beschloss cites a personal interview with Richard Helms as the source of this statement. I urge the Board to pursue this matter, if, in fact, the CIA did conduct its own investigation of the assassination simultaneously with that of the Warren Commission, all records pertaining to that investigation should, of course, be included in the JFK Records Collection in the National Archives.
As far as I know, nothing pertaining to that special CIA investigation that Helms mentioned to Beschloss has ever been made public. Certainly nothing in the existing assassination documentation refers to the CIA's having received access to autopsy photographs. I recommend that the Board exercise its legal authority under the Act and, if necessary, subpoena Mr. Helms and interview Mr. Beschloss about this subject and require the CIA to release unedited any and all of its records concerning this 1964 investigation.
LINK TO KURTZ ARRB TESTIMONY: https://www.jfk-assassination.net/arrb/index28.htm

Does anyone know anything about this claim that the CIA conducted a private investigation of the JFK assassination?

[Charles Collins]

Dr Michael Kurtz made the following point at his ARRB testimony:

"The Crisis Years," by Michael Beschloss, struck me as very odd, and I'd like to quote the passage from page 682 of that book.
"Richard Helms, who at the time was Deputy Director of Plans for the CIA" -- this is in early 1964 I might add, the context -- "found Johnson distracted well in 1964 by his worry that Kennedy had been assassinated by conspiracy. As Helms recalled, the Agency was" -- and here Beschloss is quoting Richard Helms -- ""very helpful to Johnson on this" and met the new president's request for an independent CIA study. Motion pictures of the Dallas motorcade and autopsy photographs were sent to the agency."
In his footnotes, or I should say endnotes, Mr. Beschloss cites a personal interview with Richard Helms as the source of this statement. I urge the Board to pursue this matter, if, in fact, the CIA did conduct its own investigation of the assassination simultaneously with that of the Warren Commission, all records pertaining to that investigation should, of course, be included in the JFK Records Collection in the National Archives.
As far as I know, nothing pertaining to that special CIA investigation that Helms mentioned to Beschloss has ever been made public. Certainly nothing in the existing assassination documentation refers to the CIA's having received access to autopsy photographs. I recommend that the Board exercise its legal authority under the Act and, if necessary, subpoena Mr. Helms and interview Mr. Beschloss about this subject and require the CIA to release unedited any and all of its records concerning this 1964 investigation.
LINK TO KURTZ ARRB TESTIMONY: https://www.jfk-assassination.net/arrb/index28.htm

Does anyone know anything about this claim that the CIA conducted a private investigation of the JFK assassination?

This seems to me to rather odd considering what James Hosty wrote in his book:

When Johnson ordered the CIA to shut down its Mexico City investigation, the CIA agents went into near mutiny: they had been going gangbusters on some very hot leads. The CIA station chief, Winston Scott, had to threaten to fire his agents and send them back to the States if they did not stop their investigations. It really wasn’t until Bobby Kennedy seconded Johnson’s order that the agents finally settled down. The U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Thomas Mann, has also come out publicly saying he, too, was furious about Johnson’s orders to cease and desist.

[Gerry Down]

This seems to me to rather odd considering what James Hosty wrote in his book:

When Johnson ordered the CIA to shut down its Mexico City investigation, the CIA agents went into near mutiny: they had been going gangbusters on some very hot leads. The CIA station chief, Winston Scott, had to threaten to fire his agents and send them back to the States if they did not stop their investigations. It really wasn’t until Bobby Kennedy seconded Johnson’s order that the agents finally settled down. The U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Thomas Mann, has also come out publicly saying he, too, was furious about Johnson’s orders to cease and desist.

I'd imagine the CIAs Mexico city investigation would have encroached on FBI territory down there (the fbi had an office there in the US embassy along with the CIA) and so hoover probably put pressure on Johnson to stop any investigation down there.

[Charles Collins]

I'd imagine the CIAs Mexico city investigation would have encroached on FBI territory down there (the fbi had an office there in the US embassy along with the CIA) and so hoover probably put pressure on Johnson to stop any investigation down there.

Yet, the FBI’s intended main thrust is domestically oriented. And the CIA’s intended main thrust is internationally oriented. And there is no evidence that Hoover did any such thing.