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14-00000 104-10250-10199 2025 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992

TO : Deputy Chief, SSD 22 June 1954

FROM : Chief, Special Referral Branch

SUBJECT: HIDALGO, Balmes, Jr.

65077

The Subject is a covert employee of this Agency now in the United States for four weeks training and being considered for use by Staff C/ICB in a highly sensitive assignment. Immigration authorities may submit questions through this Agency which will be answered by the Subject, but requests to have the Subject tes- tify in open court hearings must be refused.

DETAILS

  1. Reference is made to the letter received by the Alien Affairs Staff from the Immigration and Naturalization Service and reference to your request of 15 June 1954 to ascertain the details of the Subject's status with this Agency and prepare a reply to I&NS.

  2. On 17 June 1954 Special Agent Chester R. HOATSON of this office interviewed Mr. Robert DAHLGREN, Acting Chief, WH/FT, Room 1128 "T" Building, and Mr. John BONNET, Chief, WH/Panama, Room 220 "Quarters "J", 156, regarding the Immigration request. The following information was obtained during this interview.

a. The Subject is still a covert employee of this Agency, is now in the United States (New York City) on home leave, and is scheduled to report to Washington, D.C., to commence four weeks of covert training on 6 July 1954.

b. The Subject is presently under consideration by Staff C/ICB for an assignment with a highly sensitive project under the supervision of Staff C/ICB. Under this proposed assign- ment any publicity or notoriety that the Subject would receive from testifying publicly on questions of Communist associations of which he may have knowledge would ultimately preclude his future use with the Staff C project and would probably jeopar- dize his future as a covert employee of this Agency.

c. If the Staff C assignment does not materialize, the Subject will return to (Balboa Canal Zone) on approxi- mately 15 August 1954 as a case officer, and this position would also be jeopardized by undue publicity.

GIRU

  1. Mr. DAHLGREN and Mr. BONNET indicated that from a WH standpoint only there would be no objection to a controlled inter- view with the Subject if the interview could be afforded the Sub- ject while he is still in New York City. This, however, would have to be coordinated with Staff C for possible objections that they might raise in view of their proposed use of the Sub- ject. Mr. DAHLGREN requested that he be informed of any action taken in this matter and any public testimony or open court tes- timony would have to depend on the seriousness of the case being prepared by the Immigration authorities.

  2. Any contact with the Subject during his period of covert training from 6 July to approximately 15 August 1954 would have to also be coordinated with Mr. Peter HOWELL, Covert Training Officer, OTE, whose office is located in Building --31.

  3. In June 1954 Special Agent HOATSON contacted Mr. Paul BIRKE, Staff C/ICB, 1613 "E" Building, x668, to discuss the Sub- ject's future position and also the request received from INS. The following factors were obtained from Mr. BIRKE

a. The Subject's use in the proposed Staff C project is still in the planning stage, but the assignment that the Sub- ject is being considered for is a highly sensitive one and any further publicity which the Subject may receive would ultimately disqualify him for consideration on this project.

b. Any approval for INS contact of the Subject would have to be determined after carefully considering the impor- tance of the INS case for which the Subject's testimony may be required. Mr. BIRKE indicated that the Subject could still be considered as an employee of Division regardless of whe- ther or not the proposed Staff C/ICB assignment materializes and any action in the request received from INS should be closely coordinated with both Staff C and WH.

  1. Mr. PENNINGTON, Alien Affairs Staff, SO, contacted William A. HOGAN, Special Assistant to the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization on 18 June 1954 requesting further information re- garding their memorandum of 9 June 1954 on the Subject. Mr. HOGAN explained that INS has a list of possible informants which contains the Subject's name. The people on this list are being contacted for use on a continuing basis when specific cases arise which might fall in their particular area of knowledge. At the present time, INS has no specific case for which they want to contact the Subject, but they just want to know if he would be available in the future for use as an informant regarding various Communist activities of which the Subject has personal knowledge.

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  3. After his conversation with Mr. HOGAN, Mr. PENNINGTON indicated that contact of the INS request would not be con- sidered out of order, but recommended cooperating to the extent that WH could submit specific questions to this Agency which could be presented to the Subject and the answer forwarded to INS. The refusal of their original request should be based on the sensitivity of the Subject's position which could be jeopar- dized by undue publicity and also on the fact that the Sub- ject moves frequently and it would be difficult to locate him and such contact was undesirable.

  4. Dr. James STROUSE, Alien Affairs Staff/SC, stated on 18 June 1954 that Mr. HOGAN, Special Assistant to the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization, had indicated in a conversation with Dr. STROUSE on 8 June 1954 that INS had been able to locate the Subject's location and affiliation with this Agency through the Subject's father who told the inspector that the Subject was "employed by this Agency in Balboa, Panama, Canal Zone," which appears to reflect a security flap on the part of the Subject's father.

  5. Mr. John BONNET, Chief, WH/Panama, was recontacted on 18 June and informed of the nature of the INS request and also notice of the apparent security flap on the part of the Subject's father. On the basis of this further information, it was suggested to Mr. BONNET that the INS authorities be requested to submit any questions through this Agency which would, in turn, be presented to the Subject and his answers be returned to INS. Mr. BONNET agreed to the proposal of having the INS people contact the Subject through this Agency and also indicated that the reported security breach on the part of the Subject's father would be taken into consideration and an attempt would be made to determine the extent of the Subject's relatives or acquaintances know of the Subject's employment by this Agency. Mr. Paul BIRKE, Staff C/ICB, also agreed to the proposed procedure and requested that any and all action taken be coordinated with WH and Staff C.

ACTION

It is recommended that the attached memorandum to INS and to the Chief, WH Division, with a carbon copy to Staff C/ICB, be for- warded and that no further action be taken pending a report from Mr. BONNET regarding the seriousness of the security flap from an oper- ational standpoint.

Charles W. Fane

Attachments 1 - Letter to INS 1 - Letter to WH with cc to Staff C/ICB

6/23/54 GWF

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