NODULE X7 OSWALD IN MINSK AND THE U2 DUMP: JANUARY ...

There is no indication in the diary or elsewhere in OSWALD'S papers of
his having written to the Embassy in December 1960 as mentioned in the
letter as set forth above. Furthermore, the diary refers to his February 1,
1961, letter as his first request concerning return to the United States. One
possible explanation for reference to a spurious letter may be that
OSWALD wished to give the Embassy the impression that he had initiated
the correspondence regarding repatriation before having renewed his
identity document on January 4, 1961.
OSWALD'S letter may have been intercepted by the KGB and not delivered to the
American Embassy in order to give him time to reconsider his decision to re-defect.
D. E. BOSTER
D. E. Boster suggested the American Embassy, Moscow, mail him his passport directly.
Secretary of State Dean Rusk vetoed this: "If the Embassy is fully satisfied that he has
not expatriated himself in any manner...his passport may be delivered to him on a
personal basis only, after being [illegible] valid for direct return to the United States. For
security reasons, the Department does not consider that it would be prudent for the
Embassy to forward OSWALD'S passport to him by mail." [DOS A-273, 4.13.61] In
August 1961 a State Department passport analyst wrote a Memorandum for the Record
in which he expressed incredulity that the decisions regarding OSWALD'S passport had
been "routed to D. E. Boster of SOV." [DOS Memo Johnson to White 3.31.61; WCE
24A]
MICHAEL JELISAVCIC