◆ SpookStack

Deputy Director for Plans, Richard Bissell; Bissell's principal deputy, C. Tracy Barnes; Col. J. C. King, Chief Western Hemisphere Division; Jacob D. Esterline, Chief of . . WH/4, the anti-Castro task force; Edward A. Stanulis, Deputy Chief, WH/4; and Col. Jack Hawkins (USMC}, Chief, WH/4/Para- military Staff. This meeting might best be described as chaotic. There were no designated witnesses, and everyone apparently said his piece as the spirit moved him. This is the only meeting of the Taylor Committee for which there are known to be two separate reports--a verbatim transcript of four reels of the testimony and the "official" Memorandum for the Record--the latter would be used as the format for all subsequent meet~ngs. The verbatim testimony indicates the numerous interruptions--telephone calls for Jack Hawkins, Allen Dulles, and Dick Bissell; incoming reports about on- . going operational problems in the Caribbean; and notes the high level of noise. from aircraft which made it impossible for the verbatim transcript to be totally accurate--but it is by far the most valuable of the two records. As in the official memoranda of the CSG meetings, even this verbatim transcript failed to identify each of the individual speakers. 26