The following is from the REPORT of the HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE ON ASSASSINATIONS. ----------------------------------------------------- (16) Alleged intelligence implications of Oswald's military service-- The committee reviewed Oswald's military records because allegations that he had received intelligence training and had participated in intelligence operations during his term of Marine service.(179) Particular attention was given to the charges that Oswald's early discharge from the corps was designed to serve as a cover for an intelligence assignment and that his records reflected neither his true security clearance nor a substantial period of service in Taiwan. These allegations were considered relevant to the question of whether Oswald had been performing intelligence assignments for military intelligence, as well as to the issue of Oswald's possible association with the CIA. Oswald's Marine Corps records bear no indication that he ever received any intelligence training or performed any intelligence assignments during his term of service. As a Marine serving in Atsugi, Japan, Oswald had a security clearance of confidential, but never received a higher classification.(180) In his Warren Commission testimony, John E. Donovan, the officer who had been in charge of Oswald's crew at the El Toro Marine base in California, stated that all personnel working in the radar center were required to have a minimum security clearance of secret.(181) Thus, the allegation has been made that the security clearance of confidential in Oswald's records is inaccurate. The committee however, reviewed files belonging to four enlisted men who had worked with Oswald either in Japan or California and found that each of them had a security clearance of confidential.(182) ----------------------------------- FOOTNOTE: John E. Donovan, Oswald's commanding officer, did have a security clearance of secret. ------------------------------------- It has been stated that Oswald claimed to have served in Taiwan. (183) The committee's review of his military records, including unit diaries that were not previously studied by the Warren Commission, indicated, however, that he had not spent substantial time, if any, in Taiwan. These records show that, except for a 3 1/2 month period of service in the Philippines, Oswald served in Japan from September 12, 1957, until November 2, 1958.(184) Although Department of Defense records do indicate that MAG (Marine Air Group) 11, Oswald's unit, was deployed to Taiwan on September 16, 1958, and remained in that area until April 1959, an examination of the MAG 11 unit diaries indicated that Oswald was assigned at that time to a rear echelon unit. (185) The term rear echelon does not, on its face, preclude service with the main unit in Taiwan, but the Department of Defense has specifically stated that "Oswald did not sail from Yokosuka, Japan on September 16, 1958. He remained aboard NAS Atsugi as part of the MAG-11 rear echelon." {29} (186) Oswald's records also reflect that on October 6, 1958, he was transferred within MAG 11 to a Headquarters and Maintenance Squadron subunit in Atsugi, Japan. (187) He reportedly spent the next week in the Atsugi Station Hospital. (188) On November 2, 1958, Oswald left Japan for duty in the United States. (189) Accordingly, based upon a direct examination of Oswald's unit diaries, as well as his own-military records, it does not appear that he had spent any time in Taiwan. This finding is contrary to that of the Warren Commission that Oswald arrived with his unit in Taiwan on September 30, 1958, and remained there somewhat less than a week,(190) but the Commission's analysis apparently was made without access to the unit diaries of MAG 11.{30} -------------------------------------- FOOTNOTE {29} This is contrary to statements attributed to Lieutenant Charles R. Rhodes by Edward Epstein in his book, "The Secret World of Lee Harvey Oswald." Rhodes maintains, according to Epstein, that Oswald did make the trip with the main unit but was sent back to Japan on October 6, 1958. FOOTNOTE {30} Similarly, a message sent on November 4, 1959, from the Chief of Naval Operations concerning Oswald, which states that he had "served with Marine Air Control Squadrons In Japan and Taiwan, (191) may have been issued without checking unit diaries which indicated that Oswald had not been so deployed. ------------------------------------------------- REFERENCES (179) See R. Anson, supra ref. 90, pp. 156-159; The Assassinations, supra ref. 112, p. 474. (180) Folson Exhibit 1, XIX Warren hearings, 665; see also CE 1961, XXIII Warren hearings, 795-796. (181) Testimony of John E. Donovan, May 5, 1964, VIII Warren hearings, 298. (182) Outside contact report, file review of department of Defense files of Robert Royce Augg, Richard Call, Nelson Delgado, John E. Donovan and Zack Stout, Dec. 1, 1978, House Select Committee on Assassinations (JFK Document 013677). (183) CE 1385, XXII Warren hearings, 705; see also CE 2682, XXVI Warren hearings, 41. (184) Department of Defense unit diaries, Dec. 5, 1978, House Select Committee on Assassinations (JFK Document 013485). (185) Id. at 183, 184. (186) Letter and attachments from Department of Defense to House Select Committee on Assassinations, june 22, 1978, p. 20 (JFK Document 009383. (187) Folson Exhibit 1, XIX Warren hearings, 658, 704. (188) Unit diaries, supra ref. 187, pp. 351, 356. (189) Folsom Exhibit 1, XIX Warren hearings, 668. (190) Warren report, p. 684.f