Mr. John Clement Hart

The committee calls Mr. John Hart.Mr. Hart, would you please stand, raise your right hand and be sworn.Do you solemnly swear the testimony you will give before this committee will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God? Mr. HART - I do, sir. Chairman STOKES - Thank you.You may be seated.
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Mr. KLEIN - Mr. Chairman, at this time I believe Mr. Hart would like to make a statement to the committee.
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TESTIMONY OF JOHN HART

Mr. HART - Thank you, Mr. Chairman, gentlemen.
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Mr. HART - Mr. Chairman, it has never been my custom to speak from a prepared text.I have tried, and I never succeeded.
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Am I to assume that this detailed outline consisting of a single page, listing four subtitles, is the summary of Mr. Hart's presentation?That is, as far as I can determine, the full extent to which we have any response relating to Mr. Hart's testimony at this juncture.What I would like to request at this point is that this committee take a 5- or 10-minute recess, and we have the benefit of examining your notes from which you are about to give your testimony, so that we could prepare ourselves for proper questioning of you, Mr. Hart.Mr. Chairman, I would make that request. Chairman STOKES - Does the witness care to respond? Mr. HART - Mr. Chairman, I will do anything which will be of help to the committee.
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It is not in any way designed to thwart the efforts of Mr. Hart or the Agency to make its presentation. Chairman STOKES - Would the gentleman be agreeable to providing Mr. Hart the opportunity to proceed with his testimony, and then in the event that you deem it necessary to have additional time to review his notes, or to prepare an examination of him after his testimony, that the Chair would grant you that time at that time.
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Mr. HART - Mr. Chairman, I also want to emphasize that in order to be of as much help as possible, I am perfectly willing to take questions as we go along.
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Mr. HART - Yes, sir.Is this all right?
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Mr. DODD - Mr. Hart, could you please speak up a little bit.
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Mr. HART - Insofar as I can tell, the assumption among the top leadership of the Agency was that during this period of incarceration Mr. Nosenko was being questioned or interrogated.
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Mr. HART - I can wind this up, Mr. Chairman, in about 15 minutes. Chairman STOKES - You may proceed then, sir. Mr. HART - As I was saying, the Agency attempted to give the examiner, Mr. Arther, as much data as they could, in order to make a meaningful analysis.
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Mr. HART - I used the term "the eventual disposal," yes, sir.
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Mr. HART - I want finally to address myself very briefly to the two reports which were turned out, one of which, both of which have been described by Professor Blakey.
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Mr. Hart, thank you for your statement this morning.Mr. Hart, let me ask you this question at the very outset.Would it be fair for me to conclude that it was the responsibility of the Central Intelligence Agency to find out, from whatever available sources between late 1963 and 1964, what the activities and actions of Lee Harvey Oswald were during his stay in the Soviet Union?TESTIMONY OF JOHN HART--Resumed Mr. HART - Congressman, I want to answer that by telling you that I do not know--- Mr. DODD - Let me say this to you, Mr. Hart.
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Mr. HART - Sir, I can't agree to that in an unqualified manner for several reasons.
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Mr. HART - In a telephone conversation between the then Director of Central Intelligence, John McCone, and Mr. J. Edgar Hoover, which took place on the 16th of November 1963 at 11:20 a.m., Mr. McCone said: I just want to be sure that you were satisfied that this agency is giving you all the help that we possibly can in connection with your investigation of the situation in Dallas.
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Mr. HART - Insofar as I am aware of them.Keep in mind please, Congressman, that I had nothing to do with this case.I do not know about. Mr. DODD - I am asking you Mr. Hart, for a comment about the activities of the Agency, not specifically your actions as one individual.
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Mr. HART - My response to that is that I believe that the Agency should have done everything that it could to assist the FBI.
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Mr. HART - Congressman, I have to repeat that there may have been agreements between the Agency and Mr. Hoover or other parts of the Government of which I am not aware.
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Mr. HART - Congressman, within the context of the total case, I would go further than that.I would say that the Agency failed miserably in its handling of the entire case, and that since the Lee Harvey Oswald question was part of that case; yes. Mr. DODD - And, Mr. Hart, I am not going to--I will ask you if you recall with me, basically, the conclusion or one of the conclusions of the Warren Commission report.
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Mr. HART - Well, Congressman, I do not like to have my rather specific answer extrapolated.
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Mr. HART - I do.
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Mr. HART - I said they failed miserably in the handling of this whole case.
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Mr. HART - It requires me to make a judgment, which I am not sure that I am willing to make, because I can think of possible other evidence which might come up which might show that there is a case to support the fact that the leader, top leadership of the Agency, may have thought they were bringing all their resources to bear.
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Mr. HART - I believe that there are important reasons why you should believe the statements of Mr. Nosenko.
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Mr. HART - No, sir.I am not asking you to believe anything in connection with his statements about Lee Harvey Oswald.I am only asking you to believe that he made them in good faith.
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Mr. HART - Are you speaking of the report which, the essence of which, Professor Blakey read today?
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Mr. HART - Yes, I have read that.
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Mr. HART - Yes. Mr. DODD - I am curious, Mr. Hart, to know why--it was my belief and understanding, and I am really curious on this point-why it was that you didn't address your remarks more to the substance of that report than you did?
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Mr. HART - The answer is a very simple one, Congressman.
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Mr. HART - Congressman, I fully appreciate the difficulty, but I must observe that it is not a difficulty which I created.
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Mr. HART - I personally would not draw that conclusion, but I think that is a matter best addressed to the Director of Central Intelligence rather than to me.
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Mr. HART - I can say this, and here you realize that I am entering into an area of judgment, it is my judgment that anything that he has said has been said in good faith.I base that judgment on an enormous amount of work on this case in which I see no reason to think that he has ever told an untruth, except because he didn't remember it or didn't know or during those times when he was under the influence of alcohol he exaggerated.
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Mr. HART - No, sir; I do not have it in front of me.
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Mr. HART - I have what we were given this morning, which is substantially the same thing, I believe, as the one we received.
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Mr. HART - Thank you. Mr. DODD - Is that a complete copy of the report that Mr. Hart has in front of him?
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Mr. DODD - Mr. Hart, just some of them.
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Mr. HART - Congressman, I think what this boils down to, if I may say so, is a question of how one would, faced with a choice as to whether to use this information or not, would do so.
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Mr. HART - I believe as a former intelligence officer in taking account of information of which there is some independent confirmation if at all possible, and there is no possibility of any information, independent confirmation of this, and on the face of it, it appears to me to be doubtful.Therefore, I would simply disregard it.
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Mr. HART - Yes, sir.
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Mr. HART - To the best of my knowledge, yes.
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Mr. HART - Yes, sir.
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Mr. HART - Yes, sir. Mr. DODD - Now in our report, at the bottom of page 4 and top of page 5, it states, and I will quote from the report: 'Statements by Nosenko at the ti

It read John Hart would like you to call him. I couldn't remember who John Hart was until sometime that evening.He was a student who hung around with our circle at the University of Chicago after the War.

He was here now chief of the C.I.A. in Vietnam , which was a kind of private government with its own agents , troops , allies , air line and communications with the other countries around and with Washington.I did nothing with John save to make dates for tennis that never came off , and to have lunch in his heavily fortified villa.

But the encounter had not gone unnoticed by the Director of the Special Defense Office by which I was serviced and I discovered an increase in interference with my tasks that was probably traceable to jealousy of the relationship.He probably hated the C.I.A. ; they could get away with murder.

When I next returned to Washington , I was told by our Defense contractors that some trouble with security clearance had come up.It may have been based on a hostile letter I had directed at this aforesaid Colonel who was overseer of various Defense Research Contracts.Surely it had nothing to do with security clearance.

It passed over , but , even while someone was unraveling the problem , I resigned , after launching a report on deficiencies in psychological operations and firing off that scheme on how to win the war in Vietnam.

HART SHARP VIDEO: Hart Sharp Video was founded in 2003 by Joe Amodei and Hart Sharp Entertainment partners John Hart and Jeff Sharp to develop, acquire, market and distribute home video and DVD product in the feature film, special interest and sports categories.

This surprise meeting brings her face to face with CIA agent Jack, who vows to help her reclaim her past by eliminating Madame M.

ABOUT HART SHARP

Hart Sharp Video was founded in 2003 by Joe Amodei, John Hart and Jeff Sharp to develop, acquire, market and distribute home video and DVD product in the feature film, special interest and sports categories.

John Hart The death at 81 of John Hart, once the Central Intelligence Agency's head of station in Vietnam, has awakened memories of one of the CIA's most damaging internal feuds....(The Times, London, obituary, 7 June 02)

Hart Sharp Video was founded in 2003 by Joe Amodei and Hart Sharp Entertainment partners John Hart and Jeff Sharp to develop, acquire, market and distribute home video and DVD product in the feature film, special interest and sports categories.

CIA Agent John Clement Hart testifies at Blakey's Committee.

The CIA has made available to the committee John Clement Hart as its official representative to state the agency's position on the committee's Nosenko report.Mr. Hart is a career agent with the CIA, having served approximately 24 years.He has held the position of chief of station in Korea, Thailand, Morocco, Vietnam, as well as several senior posts at CIA headquarters in Virginia. Mr. Hart has considerable experience with Soviet intelligence and counterintelligence activities while serving in various capacities in the United States and abroad.He has written two extensive studies on Soviet defectors, one of which, dated 1976, dealt with the handling of Yuri Nosenko by the CIA. Mr. Chairman, it would be appropriate at this time to call Mr. Hart.
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The committee calls Mr. John Hart. Mr. Hart, would you please stand, raise your right hand and be sworn.Do you solemnly swear the testimony you will give before this committee will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God? Mr. HART.
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Mr. Chairman, at this time I believe Mr. Hart would like to make a statement to the committee. Chairman STOKES.You are recognized, sir.

TESTIMONY OF JOHN HART