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Warren Commission Hearings: Vol. V - Page 376« Previous | Next »

(Testimony of Frances G. Knight)

Mr. Coleman.
In other words, there would have been no card in the files relating to repatriation loan at the time Oswald made his application for a passport at the New Orleans Passport Agency on June 24, 1963.
Mr. Coleman.
Miss Knight, when Oswald was issued the June 1963 Passport, I take it that there was no reference made to his passport file, is that correct?
Miss KNIGHT. No reference was made to his passport file. When he made his application at the New Orleans agency it was handled in a routine manner which I believe has been described to the Commission in some documents we prepared for you. Oswald's name was included in a list of applicants sent by teletype from New Orleans to Washington for clearance over the lookout file.
It was cleared within a day. There was no card relating to the repatriation loan because Oswald had made his final payment on the loan 6 months prior to his application for the passport.
There was no lookout card relating to loss of nationality because it had been determined by that time he had committed no expatriative act and therefore did not lose his citizenship. There was no lookout card on Oswald indicating that he was under indictment or wanted by an investigative agency or by the police. There was no fraud committed, and there was no evidence that he was a member of the Communist Party or active in it. In other words, there was nothing on record in our files in June 1963 which would have given the Passport Office any reason for delaying or denying Lee Harvey Oswald a passport.
Mr. Coleman.
Is it your testimony that if when the teletype had come in from New Orleans, and someone in your office had gone and looked at the passport file, and found out that Oswald attempted to defect in 1959 and had made the statements that he made at the Embassy in 1959, that nevertheless you feel that under the existing regulations you would have to issue him a passport?
Miss KNIGHT. Yes; we would. We wouldn't have had a lookout card based on that at the time of his application for a passport because all the situations we mentioned were resolved by that time.
Mr. Coleman.
I would like to show you a Commission document which has already been marked as Exhibit No. 951, which is the standard operating notice of the passport office, dated February 28, 1962, and ask you are you familiar with this document?
Miss KNIGHT. Excuse me for a second, please. There is one subsequent to this.
Mr. Coleman.
Yes; but that is the one that was in effect as of June 1963, isn't it?
Miss KNIGHT. Yes.
Mr. Coleman.
Attached thereto is a list which indicates the various categories for the lookout card.
Miss KNIGHT. That is right.
Mr. Coleman.
Would you look at category K, and I would like to ask you whether the information which was in the file on Mr. Oswald, including the FBI reports, which were in the file of June 1963, should have caused Oswald to be put in category K?
Miss KNIGHT. No; I don't think so.
Mr. Coleman.
How about category R?
Mr. Dulles.
Could you read category K?
Miss KNIGHT. Yes; certainly. "K" is "Known or suspected Communist or subversive". And "does not include those falling within categories O and P".
Mr. Coleman.
Would you tell me what "O" and "P" categories are?
Miss KNIGHT. "O" is a category of cards in which the FBI has special interest. And "P" is also a project of the same sort.
Mr. Coleman.
Has the FBI ever put defectors in that category?
Miss KNIGHT. Yes; we are given the names and we put a lookout card in the file. But we are not told the reason why. We simply advise the agency involved.
Mr. Coleman.
In other words, if the FBI merely sends you a report on a
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