(Testimony of James J. Rowley)
Mr. Rowley.
indication that they had made any threat toward the President or members of his family. Whenever there was a threat made, we were furnished promptly by the different agencies the information on the individual's name. And this was done in voluminous reports by the FBI, and the other agencies. When they got any information, they would notify the local office, notify their liaison, who notified us by telephone, and confirmed by memorandum. The same obtained with respect to the CIA.
Representative Boggs.
This fellow was interviewed by the FBI several he was interviewed in New Orleans when he allegedly had his Fair Play Committee. If my memory serves me correctly, Mrs. Paine was interviewed him shortly before the visit of the President, after he had gone to work at Texas School Book Depository. I agree that there had been no indication a threat on the President's life. But, obviously he was a person in the FBI files who was under some degree of surveillance. It would seem to me strange that the FBI did not transmit this information to the Secret Service.
Mr. Rowley.
The FBI, Mr. Congressman, are concerned with internal security. And I think their approach was internal security as it related to this whether or not he was a potential recruit for espionage, intelligence, or thing like that.
Their concern was talking to him in this vein, in the course of which there was no indication that he bore any malice toward anyone, and Particularly to the President of the United States. If someone said that Henry Smith didn't like the President, and we got his file, we would get to the point where you have 3 million names in the file. How effective are you going to be then?
Representative Boggs.
Well, that is right.
Mr. Rowley.
And then you get in the area of civil rights and all, if you start going into individuals----
Representative Boggs.
And if I remember correctly, there has never been--- we have had no testimony from anyone that Oswald ever threatened the President of the United States. Is that correct?
Mr. Rankin.
That is correct.
Representative Boggs.
That was the only question I had.
Mr. Dulles.
Along that line, I Just raise the question as to whether maybe too much emphasis is not put on the threat angle, because a clever fellow, if he is going to assassinate the President, the last thing he is going to do is go around and talk about it and threaten it.
Mr. Rowley.
That is right. Well, this has been so with loners, too.
As you say, you read the assassinations. Some of them just kept to themselves, and traveled, and the next thing you know they confronted their victim. Sometimes they were successful, other times they were not.
Mr. Dulles.
I recognize the difficulty of working out adequate criteria. But I just think you ought to do some more seeking, and there is more work to be done on that.
Mr. Rowley.
Yes, sir.
Senator COOPER. May I ask this question: It hasn't been clear to me. Is it correct that now a defector does come within the scope of your Service?
Mr. Rowley.
Yes, sir; we are furnished the names of defectors by the FBI. And they investigate these people. And then in their report, if it shows that the individual has emotional instability or propensity for violence, we pick it up from there. But all the reports on the known defectors in this country are submitted to us, and then we evaluate from the case history of the report whether or not he would be a risk for us subject to investigation.
Senator COOPER. I understood that was the procedure before. But my question is now, is the defector per se classed as one of those against whom you would take protective measures?
Mr. Rowley.
No, no, sir; not unless we had----
Senator COOPER. Since the assassination?
Mr. Rowley.
Not unless we had these three categories of factors we Just enunciated.
Senator COOPER I would suggest--first, I understand there are not many defectors who have returned to the United States.
Secondly, it seems to me a man who has defected from the United States to
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