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

“Some hungry black hole in the CIA,” Newman wrote, “seemed to be consuming every
scrap of paper on Oswald in the days immediately following his defection.” 660
Newman also described how the CIA probably kept track of Oswald through
other “human assets” in the Soviet Union and its top-secret HT/Lingual program to open
mail going between the United States and the Soviet Union. The FBI also interviewed
Oswald’s mother and brother about the defection and Marguerite’s intention in January
1960 to cable money to her son. The FBI has never explained how it came to know
Marguerite intended to send the money. During the interview, Marguerite told an FBI
agent that she believed Oswald had taken his birth certificate with him. This set off a
round of memos, including one from J. Edgar Hoover himself. On June 3, 1960, Hoover
asked the State Department to investigate Oswald’s whereabouts in the Soviet Union
because “There is the possibility that an imposter is using Oswald’s birth certificate.” 661
Apparently J. Edgar Hoover himself was worried about the possibility of a double
Oswald.
Like Melanson, Newman also noted the anomalous handling of Oswald’s
passport, his efforts to repatriate himself, and his return to the United States. Newman
pointed out that by 1961 there were two reasons for CIA interest in the former Marine:
“his decision to marry a Soviet citizen and his cumulative experience in the Soviet
Union.” 662 The FBI also had a compelling interest in Oswald upon his return to Dallas
and Fort Worth, Texas, but showed a strange ambivalence about the former Marine. He
660 Newman, 27.
661 Newman, 144.
662 Newman, 219.
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