Jefferson Morley called Rolf Mowatt-Larssen's 2019 presentation at a JFK conference "the first significant development in the JFK story since October 2017." Morley thinks Mowatt-Larssen's twenty-plus-year CIA career gives him special insight that should be taken seriously.
What exactly is Mowatt-Larssen's theory of the assassination and is it credible? Or is he just another person pontificating at conferences?
Like most conspiracy theorists, Mowatt-Larssen doesn't give too many specifics. But Morley's account of the presentation provides enough detail to debunk his notions.
"I was struck by the intimacy and the smallness of the whole surroundings [in Dealey Plaza]" Mowatt-Larssen reportedly said. The purpose of this statement seems to be to convey the idea that the conspiracy would be easy to control. But is that true?
Mowatt-Larssen believes that "rogue CIA officers" in the JMWAVE station were behind the assassination. Their motive was JFK's "betrayal of Cuban anti-communist forces during the failed invasion at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961 and the missile crisis of October 1962." The number of people involved in the conspiracy "was probably quite small" according to Mowatt-Larssen.
The ex-CIA man continued, "... at least four people must have been involved, he said: 1) A mastermind with a deeply personal motivation to kill the president of the United States; 2) someone with the ability to recruit Lee Oswald into the role of patsy; 3) someone with the ability to recruit Jack Ruby to kill Oswald; and 4) a second gunman in Dealey Plaza."
As mentioned, Mowatt-Larssen does not get into too many specifics. But the "four" people appear to be really six:
- James Angleton.
- J. Walton Moore, George de Mohrenschildt and an unnamed third operative.
- William Harvey.
- An unknown second gunman.
Let's deconstruct Mowatt-Larssen's theory. We don't have to address all of his points to do this.
Addressing Mowatt-Larssen's theory of Angleton as mastermind, even Morley admits that his inclusion "tests the limits of Mowatt-Larssen’s theory that 'CIA rogue' ambushed Kennedy in Dealey Plaza. Angleton was one of the most powerful men in the agency. If he condoned a plot, then complicity in the assassination reached the highest levels of government and was not confined to the Miami station, as Mowatt-Larssen contends." However, Mowatt-Larssen evidently has not yet completely settled on the mastermind. At another conference, he tapped Jake Esterline, who headed the Bay of Pigs project, as the "mastermind" and "ringleader."
Mowatt-Larssen says the conspiracy started in "early 1963." Because of this his theory must deal with the coffee klatch. That impromptu gathering, which would necessarily add more conspirators to the mix, resulted in Ruth Paine calling Texas School Book Depository superintendent Roy Truly about a possible job for Lee Harvey Oswald. Under Mowatt-Larssen's scenario, Oswald's placement in the depository could not have been the spontaneous matter that it appears to be. Mowatt-Larssen would similarly have to explain several related issues that argue in favor of Oswald getting the job by chance. These include Oswald's unsuccessful job attempts at four other prospective places of employment.
Mowatt-Larssen's theory involves a second gunman. What first seemed to be credible evidence of a second gunman was developed by the House Select Committee on Assassinations. But that evidence turned out to be not credible at all and has been debunked for years. And the Warren Commission and the HSCA both said that Oswald fired the shots that killed JFK. The now debunked HSCA theory only said that the unknown second assassin had inexplicably missed even though he would have been firing from the grassy knoll which was just a short distance from Kennedy. All of this leaves Mowatt-Larssen with no second gunman.
Since Mowatt-Larssen, like Morley, believes Oswald was a patsy, he must also explain how the evidence against him was fabricated. Such a feat would necessarily involve members of the FBI and the Dallas police who were the investigating agencies. By my count, Mowatt-Larssen's "small" conspiracy is now over twenty people and growing. And it only takes one conspirator to spill the beans.
For these reasons, I don't find Mowatt-Larssen's theory to be credible.
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