cia historical review
Chief, Lincoln
Chief of Station, Waahlngton
AGE Dlapatoi. Submitted Under Cover of
1* It earnsonsiderable ahook to me tom upon reading PAGE'a dispatch referred to above that he mentioned Gyrus E. BURNETTE'a name to SWALLOW without clearing with this station whether or notaa desired that BURNETTE enter oon tact wt th SWALLOW.
onsiderk ar and definite violation of the agreement madi during the meeting heU by PAOI, NUTTING and BAIIISTER during rUTTIN< visit to GuatemalaIn tha aforementioned aaatlng It waa agreed tin Station Guatemala would ba in no way MfflSmmwIMkl for tn*which would be PAOB'a responalblllty but, on the other hand, the ati tlon wouU backstop PADS to tha Halt of its ability. Thla wa have done.m vary alarmed by tha fast that PAOH, without authorisation of or oonsult ation withat ion, did tha followii
indicated to SWALLOW that ha has clone OontSOtwho obviously nuat be engaged ln similar workof PAGE or, to tha contrary, would be in no positionsuch matters;
that ha has such oloaa contact that ha la abletha diplomatic pouoh and thua clearly Indicatedla oloaaly associated with BURNETTE *nd this station.with th* Embassy Itself,
5. By these steps PAGE oloaaly bound thla station withrogrant, concerning which It waa agreed wa had no responsibility beyond that of service support or baokatopping. onsideriolation of station seourlty, einoe he dlreotly implloated the atatlon in an operation over which we had no control and with which thla atatlon certainly did not wish to be identified at at mat to an unauthorized person.
y montlon of dUHHETTB'b name and with the ale ar implioatlon thereb given that BURNETTE is engaged in intelligence work, thlaillv nilly been nlaoed in a
JThia la another direct violation oftructlons regulating KUBARK atatlon procedure. True it la that th
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nay oxiosaibillty that SWALLOW may not have understood BOH> nette's name.fj'
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6. Attached is BURNETTB'a memorandum reply to my question us to whether or not he had athorlaad PAQK to mention him to SWALLOW or to bring himirective rathorarvlolng role inrogran.
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Eerie h. Bannlatop
Knoll aa4
Distribution!
nol fi-nol
suoc ess/s:
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Momorondura to: Earle H. Cyrus E. Burnette '
Swallow/Page Conversationuno
In compliance with your request, the undersigned is setting forth below his comments with regard to Graham L. Page's aontionetf writer's nemo to Swallow during Pago'a conversation with Swallow on Sunday, June 6,U.
On one or two occasions prior to Page's conversation with Swallow on that date, he had mentioned to writer it was his boll of he. Page, was more or less wasting tlmo in WSBURNT due to the recent-raid on Semantlc'a home and tho subsequent confiscation by WSBURNT authorities of inorlmlnating papers. Page atated due to the resulting arrests and due to tho flight from the country of Semantic it waa hia belief high ranking Army officers here would not consider defecting at the proaent time, Por that reason ho bollovod he waa practically Idle and waa considering returning to PBPRIME but would return if and when It waa doomed appropriate by PBSUCCESS officials in PBPRIME. Pago stated ho believed Swallow would prove toood source offor our station here and aaked If writer would or oould take Swallow over if and vaien he. Page, left the country. Writer atated ho personally saw advantagea to be gained In retaining Swallowfc
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Tho next tlico Page brought up this queatlon was at writer's home late in the afternoon ofuneImmediately subsequent to Page'a conversation with Swallow. Page atated he had mentioned writer naioo to Swallowriend in the local ODYOKii Embassy. Esqulro, whc had nctod as Pago's interpreter during tho conversation with Swallow, voluntoorod the statement that when he had mentioned writer's name to Swallow lie was quite convinced Swallow did not understand tho name one very probably would not reoognlse it again. Por that reason both Pag< and Kequlre suggested that wrltor coll on Swallow as soon es possible and remindla tter of his conversation with Page,t the sum tlmo ho, writer, la tile friend montlonod by Page. Wrltor mode no corxoont due to Esqulro'a preaonce. It was doomed wlae to cake as little corraaiit regarding our operations ln the presence of non-staff Individuals es possible. Esquire was with Page on two occaalona tho followin; dayo3uli- of which wrltor lid :iot bring the oubjoot uj
At no tioe did writer give Page permission to mention his nono to Swallow. Writer was of tho impression Page planned to evontuolly submit iiio idoa to Lincoln for (approval before he actually node any mention of writer's na'.ie to Swallow, In theage gal nod tho impression hethoritad to mention wrlter'3 name to Swallow It Is boon una Pago -uaunderatood writer's answer to the original quostlo: ns to whothor or not writer could tnko ovor Swallow if and whan Page loft. It is writer's undorataitdln; that such adeci3ion should bo decided by Lincoln.
Original document.
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