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

Posner conducted his own interviews of certain witnesses, most significantly
Soviet defector Yuri Nosenko, who claimed to be one of the KGB officials who followed
the Oswald case when the former Marine was in the Soviet Union. Nosenko defected to
the United States after the assassination, but some top CIA officials were skeptical of his
claims that there was no KGB connection to Oswald. But Posner accepted Nosenko’s
story and his bona fides as a true defector. Nosenko told Posner that the KGB had
“absolutely no interest in Oswald,” who was considered a useless intelligence source. 302
The defector contended that the KGB already had better information than Oswald could
provide regarding the U-2 spy plane and other matters. However, Nosenko confirmed the
KGB kept this supposedly harmless and worthless defector under tight surveillance.
Posner’s account was in line with the official version of Oswald’s life: a rootless
malcontent and adherent of Marxism that failed at everything he tried. After becoming
disenchanted with the Soviet Union, the 22-year-old Oswald returned to the United States
and “began thinking beyond mere criticism.” Posner cited some of Oswald’s writings to
argue that Oswald’s “rebellious convictions against government and authority were
slowly evolving toward violence and revolution.” 303 Posner highlighted Marina’s
testimony and others before the Warren Commission that Oswald lashed out at those
trying to help the young couple, rejected the materialistic values of American society,
admitted trying to kill General Walker, yearned to defend Fidel Castro and the Cuban
revolution, compulsively lied, and adhered to extreme left-wing beliefs. Marina testified
302 Posner, 49.
303 Posner, 76.
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