[Sample B: Approval/Signature Sheet] - George Mason University

Oswald acted alone. Some conspiracy theorists, however, would claim that Oswald was
actually an undercover operative posing as a left-wing extremist – thereby creating what
intelligence agencies call a “legend,” or cover story. Once again, things may not be as
they seem in the twilight struggles of the Cold War.
In his memoir, Passport to Assassination, former KGB counter-intelligence
operative, Colonel Oleg M. Nechiporenko, compared the rivalry between the Cold War
intelligence agencies as like a water polo game. When one watches the game from above
one does not see underneath the surface, but a camera under the water would show much
“thrashing and dunking” not visible otherwise. 240 Yet, Nechiporenko reaffirmed the
Warren Commission findings that Oswald was not of interest to either Soviet or U.S.
intelligence. Nechiporenko was among several former law enforcement or intelligence
operatives to defend the finding that Oswald acted alone in the Kennedy assassination.
Perhaps members of U.S. law enforcement have a built in bias to accept the
findings of the FBI and the Warren Commission, and as it turns out, both Cold War
adversaries had a vested interest in denying having any involvement with Oswald.
However, even if this was true, Oswald became the subject of much intelligence concern
and activity.
Following the end of the Cold War when much Soviet material on Oswald
became public, Colonel Nechiporenko, wrote about his experiences in Passport to
240
Oleg M. Nechiporenko, trans. Todd P. Bludeau, Passport to Assassination: the Never-
Before-Told Story of Lee Harvey Oswald by the KGB Colonel Who Knew Him, (New
York: Birch Lane Press, 1993), 6.
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