the cast off in a week or ten days,” Lunsford said.
“I mean right now?”
“Well, sir, he’s on crutches,” Lunsford said.
Felter took a sheet of paper from his inside pocket and handed it to Hanrahan, who read it, then passed it to Lunsford, who passed it to Portet.
SECRET
Central Intelligence Agency Langley, Virginia
FROM : Assistant Director For Administration
FROM: 18 February 1965 1805 GMT
SUBJECT : Guevara, Ernesto (Memorandum #58.)
TO: Mr. Sanford T. Felter
Counselor To The President
Room 637, The Executive Office Building
Washington, D.C.
By Courier
In compliance with Presidential Memorandum to The Director, Subject: “Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara,” dated 14 December 1964, the following information is furnished:
(Reliability Scale Five) (From CIA Dar es Salaam Tanzania) SUBJECT met with Demo KABILA, Tanzanian Foreign Minister and offered 30 (thirty) Cuban instructors and “appropriate arms” to “wage war against U.S. imperialism.” KABILA accepted.
(Reliability Scale Five) (From CIA Dar es Salaam) In Dar es Salaam interview 16 February 1965 by Spanish language newspaper, Prensa Latina, SUBJECT was quoted as saying, “I am convinced that it is possible to create a common front of struggle against colonialism, imperialism and neocolonialism. ”
Howard W. O’Connor
HOWARD W. O’CONNOR
SECRET
“There seems to be no question that Guevara’s going over there,” Felter said. “The only question now is when, and in what strength. I’m afraid we’re going to have to play the old Army game of hurry up and wait. I want to send Father, Portet, Thomas, and Johnny Oliver’s friend. . . . What’s his name?”
“Captain Darrell J. Smythe,” Lunsford furnished. “Aunt Jemima.”
Felter nodded. “Smythe,” he said. “He jumped too?”
“Yes, sir,” Lunsford said.
“. . . over there as soon as possible. I don’t want to give Mobutu a chance to change his mind, for one thing, and I want to get Thomas together with Colonel Supo.”
He turned to Jack Portet.
“I spoke with your father on the way down here this morning,” he said. “He apparently put the Intercontinental Air 707 through a 100-hour check, and found some things that have to be repaired. But he’ll have the airplane ready by the time the team comes back from leave. On reflection, it made more sense to fly everybody and everything over there at once, rather than infiltrate the men a few at a time and rely on the Air Force to get the equipment to us when they can find the space. I’d rather save our priority until we need it.”
“Yes, sir.”
“So you charm Mobutu, decide where you want the 707, et cetera. You’ll be the advance party, so to speak.”
“Yes, sir,” Jack said.
“Lowell told me he told you you would be here at least a month,” Felter said. “Sorry, Jack, but it just can’t be helped.”
“I understand, sir,” Jack said.
Felter looked as if he was going to say something else, something serious, but changed his mind.
“I want to tell you guys about Peters,” he said, smiling. “He came over to my office from the White House and asked if he could speak to me personally. I said sure. He’s always gone out of his way to take care of me.”
“What was he doing in the White House?” Hanrahan asked.
“Making sure the President’s communications don’t break down,” Felter said. “He had twenty guys working for him.”
“So what’s he doing here?” Hanrahan asked. “Why would he give that up for this?”
Felter smiled.
“He wants to be a real soldier,” Felter said. “He said that when he came in the Army, he wanted to go Infantry, maybe even go to jump school. But he made the mistake of telling them he had a radio amateur’s license. ASA is always looking for guys passing through reception centers who can read Morse and know about radios. So they put him in the Signal Corps and the ASA, and that’s all he’s done in the Army. Every time he applied for transfer, they told him he was essential. If he really raised hell, they promoted him. You know how few Spec7s there are in the Army? Probably less than a couple of hundred, and he’s the youngest. Anyway, he told me he’d been reading my mail, knew what’s going on with Operation Earnest, and knew that I levied the ASA for communications people. So he volunteered, and was told, again, he was essential. He said he knew I had the authority to levy him by name, and would I please do so, because I was his last chance of ever getting out of the ASA and ‘back in the Army.’ So I levied him by name, and the head of the ASA called me