Morley and COINTELPRO

Jefferson Morley believes that his "Oswald operation" was a "COINTELPRO style [project] against the FPCC." But his evidence supporting this allegation is thin indeed.

Morley begins his argument with a demonstrably false assertion. Morley says that COINTELPRO was "a joint CIA-FBI program to harass and disrupt leftist groups that US policy makers considered an obstacle to their goals."

While Morley is correct that the purpose of COINTELPRO was the disruption of certain groups in the US that were seen as subversive, he is the only person who believes that COINTELPRO was a "joint CIA-FBI program." It was really an FBI operation conducted from 1956 to 1971.

Why does Morley misstate the facts in this case? Because he wants to tie COINTELPRO to his perpetual villain the CIA. Morley points to a document that he says proves a CIA-COINTELPRO style connection in an operation against the FPCC. But the document only says that the CIA was "giving consideration to countering activities" of the FPCC in foreign countries. There is no proof they ever actually did this overseas and they had no mandate to do it in the US.

Morley also believes that the CIA official who reported the prospective operation, John Tilton, is significant. That is because Tilton once contacted Joannides about the DRE. But while the context of their conversation is unknown, the simple connection is good enough for Morley.

Morley is also suspicious because of the fact that FPCC founder Richard Gibson, who knew of Oswald's interest in the group, later became a CIA agent. Just as mysterious to Morley is the fact that William Harvey was copied on memos regarding Gibson and Tilton was looped in when mobster/CIA asset Richard Cain contacted DRE leader Juan Manuel Salvat. But again, Morley has no proof that any of these connections lead to a CIA-managed "Oswald operation."