CIA Makes Bombshell Admission About Lee Harvey Oswald Before JFK Assassination

In a development marking a significant shift in the official record of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, newly released government documents reveal that the CIA has acknowledged an officer involved in psychological operations was connected to Lee Harvey Oswald months before the president was shot in Dallas in November 1963.

The disclosure emerged Thursday as part of a batch of 40 documents related to CIA officer George Joannides, who oversaw covert political and psychological warfare operations.

Newly declassified documents reveal that a CIA officer had contact with Lee Harvey Oswald before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, contradicting decades of Agency denials.

The documents show that CIA officer George Joannides oversaw a covert anti-Castro group, the… pic.twitter.com/85wvq78LDm

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The documents were released under the requirements of the JFK Records Act, originally signed into law in 1992 and recently enforced more strictly under an order by President Donald Trump.

A central revelation comes from a CIA memorandum dated January 17, 1963, which directed Joannides to operate under the alias “Howard Gebler” and to obtain a fake driver’s license in that name.

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For decades, the CIA had denied that Joannides was connected to the alias “Howard” or that he had been the officer managing a Cuban exile group known as the Cuban Student Directorate, or DRE.

The group, which was funded and guided by the CIA, opposed Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and became entangled with Oswald months before Kennedy’s assassination.

In August 1963, Oswald had a physical and verbal confrontation with members of DRE while distributing pro-Castro literature in New Orleans.

The clash, as well as a televised debate between Oswald and DRE members later that month, brought Oswald public attention as a communist sympathizer.

Following Kennedy’s assassination on November 22, 1963, DRE’s publication portrayed Oswald as a pro-Castro radical.

This narrative was quickly picked up by the Miami Herald and the Washington Post.

Jefferson Morley, a longtime researcher and author on the JFK assassination, described the latest disclosure as a significant admission by the CIA.

“The cover story for Joannides is officially dead,” Morley said.

“This is a big deal. The CIA is changing its tune on Lee Harvey Oswald.”

Although the newly released files do not resolve the larger debate about whether Oswald acted alone, they further illuminate the agency’s concealment of Joannides’ role from multiple investigations, including the Warren Commission (1964), the Church Committee (1975), the House Select Committee on Assassinations (1977–78), and the Assassination Records Review Board (until 1998).

Joannides served as deputy chief of the CIA’s Miami station, where he managed psychological and political covert operations, including oversight of the DRE.

Despite his involvement, the agency later assigned Joannides as liaison to the House Select Committee on Assassinations, without disclosing his prior connection to the DRE or the Oswald encounter.

According to former committee chief counsel Robert Blakey, Joannides falsely claimed there was no record of a CIA officer named “Howard” working with the DRE.

Dan Hardway, a former investigator for the committee, testified before Congress last month that Joannides actively obstructed the investigation into Kennedy’s murder by withholding documents and misleading investigators.

In 1981, two years after the investigation concluded, Joannides was awarded the CIA’s Career Intelligence Medal.

He passed away in 1990.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), who is currently involved in congressional efforts to review newly released JFK assassination records, stated that Joannides was “1,000 percent” involved in a CIA cover-up.

While theories continue to vary regarding Oswald’s role and whether rogue elements of the CIA were involved, there is bipartisan agreement among researchers that the agency did not act transparently.

“It’s vintage CIA,” said author Gerald Posner, who supports the conclusion that Oswald acted alone.

“They never provide transparency. They don’t tell the truth. They obscure. They obfuscate. And when the documents come out, they look bad.”

A CIA spokesperson stated that the agency “has fully complied and provided all documents — without redactions — related to the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy to NARA consistent with President Trump’s direction in an unprecedented act of transparency by the agency.”

Looking ahead, Morley and Rep. Luna both credited CIA Director John Ratcliffe and National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard for pushing for greater transparency and suggested that more documents related to the assassination may be forthcoming.

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