◆ SpookStack

~p SECREr "direct positive action" against the Castro brothers and Che Guevara, WH/4 records reveal interest, and possibly limited, direct participation, in a number of such activities.* For the most part, however, the various pieces of evidence that seemed to implicate WH/4 in assas- sination plots against Castro or other of the Cuban leaders proved to be cold trails. The peripatetic Howard Hunt claimed, even prior to the Senate inves- .. ~ tigations, that after a visit to Havana in the spring of 1960, he prepared a report recommending among other things that the Agency should: Assassinate Castro before or coincident with the inva.sion (a task for Cuban patri- ots) .•• Barnes and Bissell read my report ..• and said it would weigh in the final planning ... So far as I have been able to determine no coherent plan was ever developed within CIA to assassinate , * As the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, Cabell pointed out to Mr. Merchant that such action was highly dangerous both in conception and execution, and, further, he indicated that it. was beyond the Agency's capability. 7/ The Senate Select Conunittee chased its tail at some length over the interpretation of the term "direct positive action," as used by Merchant. OnlY,someone (even a Senator) who consist- ently engaged and in omphaloskepsis would have a problem understanding the meaning to be anything other than assassination. - 282 - T-er 3EClZET ,