Cryptonym: AMCAPE-1
The Official History of Bay of Pigs Operation, Volume IV, mentioned the publication of The Cuban Invasion, by Tad Szulc and New York Times (NYT) correspondent Karl Meyer, in April of 1962. The book was described as indicting "the Joint Chiefs of the Staff and the CIA for the disaster. Both authors are close to Schlesinger and Goodwin of the White House staff and helped give 'the Real Dope.'"
A memo on February 7, 1963, by Lt. Col. Albert C. Davies, stated that "the main purpose of the meeting was to discuss an anti-Castro plan to 'split the regime' surfaced by AMCAPE-1 to the (Cuban) Coordinating Committee thru Mr. Hurwitch of (State Dept.)...AMCAPE-1, through Paul Bethel, then USIA station chief in Miami, procured a job for Volsky as a contract employee of USIA in their Miami office...AMCAPE-1 stated flatly that the LEONARDO PLAN was not sponsored by any one group. It owed no allegiance nor did it want contact with Miro Cardona and the CRC, and that it did not want to deal with KUBARKERS (CIA officers) in the Florida area."
After the JFK assassination, Szulc was suspected by CIA of being a hostile foreign agent, but no evidence supports this contention.
Re 1961-1963: "Comment: Possibly by George Lauder, acting chief of the Latin American Division: "SZULC reportedly had a standing invitation given to him for direct contact with President Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and McGeorge Bundy as of November 1961. SZULC reportedly kept abreast of all important AMTRUNK (operation for military overthrow of Castro's government in 1963, promoted within White House circles but distrusted by CIA. Aka Plan Leonardo) operational developments but took no active part in the operations. SZULC was in touch with George VOLSKY, one of the operations planners, who was in touch with Manuel PINEIRO/REDBEARD (DGI) at the time of the missile crisis in 1962. Aldo Vera Serafin, then in Miami, formerly with the Department of Technical Investigation (of the DIER - Department of Investigations of the Revolutionary Army), was considered for use in the AMTRUNK Operation. (VERA was assassinated in October 1976 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.) VERA reportedly was receiving financial aid from Santos TRAFFICANTE and the Mafia for arms and ammunition, but there is no indication that such activity was related to the Agency."
On 4/17/62 Praeger publishes The Cuban Invasion, where Tad Szulc and NYT correspondent Karl Meyer indict the Joint Chiefs of the Staff and the CIA for the disaster. Both authors are close to Schlesinger and Goodwin of the White House staff and helped give "the Real Dope". Hal Hendrix's reviews were too unsympathetic, so the New York Times went looking for a more favorable critic. Goodwin is described in the book as "the President's chief adjutant in Latin-American matters".
104-10103-10097: AMTRUNK OPERATION - INTERIM WORKING DRAFT
This 1977 CIA draft review of the AMTRUNK program, in summarizing its origin, states "The proposal was presented to Mr. Hurwitch, the State Department Cuban Coordinator, by Tad Szulc (AMCAPE-1) of the New York Times."
104-10102-10234: MEETING OF 6 FEBRUARY 1963
2/7/63, Memorandum for the Record by Lt. Col. Albert C. Davies, Military Detail officer for WH/4 (Cuba): "The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss an anti-Castro plan to 'split the regime' surfaced by AMCAPE-1 to the (Cuban) Coordinating Committee thru Mr. Hurwitch of (State Dept.)...AMCAPE-1, through Paul Bethel, then USIA station chief in Miami, procured a job for Volsky as a contract employee of USIA in their Miami office...AMCAPE-1 stated flatly that the LEONARDO PLAN was not sponsored by any one group. It owed no allegiance nor did it want contact with Miro Cardona and the CRC, and that it did not want to deal with KUBARKERS (CIA officers) in the Florida area."
104-10103-10107: MEMO FOR THE RECORD RE MEETING ON 6 FEBRUARY 1963
2/7/63 Memorandum for the Record by Colonel Albert Davies re meeting with AMCAPE-1 on 2/6/63: "The purpose of the contact was to discuss an anti-Castro plan to 'split the regime' surfaced by AMCAPE-1 to the Cuban Coordinating Committee thru Mr. Hurwitch of ODACID/State Department...he considered (George) Volsky one of the most informed exiles on Cuban internal affairs...(after Volsky escaped from Cuba in 1961) AMCAPE-1, through Paul BETHEL, then USIA field station chief in Miami, procured a job for VOLSKY as a contract employee for USIA in their Miami office...AMCAPE-1 stated that VOLSKY is masterminding the LEONARDO PLAN and is mainly assisted by Dr. MORENO...AMCAPE-1 stated flatly that the LEONARDO PLAN was not sponsored by any one group. It owed no allegiance nor did it want contact with MIRO CARDONA or the CRC, and it did not want to deal with (CIA officers) in the Florida area. AMCAPE-1 stated that he would explain to VOLSKY and to DR. MORENO that the operational professionalism needed in support of their plan would, of necessity, be furnished by (CIA)." The adjoining document on the LEONARDO PLAN states that contacts within Cuba include Dr. Jorge Vals, Comandante Jose Duarte, and Miss Juanita Castro Ruz. (p. 8 of 12).
"In early 1963 there were Cuban exiles who wished to change the direction that events seemed to have taken in Cuba. Two of them, Nestor Antonio Moreno Lopez and Enrique Cayardo Robera, developed an operational concept to overthrow the Castro government, which came to be known as the Leonardo Plan. Cayardo had been a public figure in Cuba, who had no apparent role in the activity following original inception of the plan. Moreno was the son of a Cuban senator and Minister of Public Works; as a lawyer in Cuba he had been involved in only a minor way in the anti-Baptista movement...Cayardo and Moreno discussed the Leonardo Plan with (Jorge) Volsky/AMTRUNK-1. He, in turn, discussed it with Tadeus (Tad) Witold Szulc/AMCAPE-1, a reporter with the NY Times.
104-10103-10363: DISPATCH: OPERATIONAL PROGRESS REPORT AMTRUNK TEAM, PERIOD 1-30 SEPT 1963
10/18/63 dispatch from Chief of Station, JMWAVE to Chief, SAS: "...a newspaper article on changing trends among high-level personnel within the (Castro) government written by AMCAPE-1 appeared in a major daily newspaper. AMCAPE-1 reportedly told a high level (US) official that AMICE-27 (Dr. Nestor Moreno), the AMTRUNK team leader, was the source of his information. The debriefing of AMICE-27 had produced information at considerable variance to that in AMCAPE-1's article."
HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (staff notes): 180-10141-10251
5/23/64, DIR to JMWAVE: "Request Reuterman/Shackley inform AMCARBON-1/Al Burt that he has checked with headquarters and Ray is not receiving CIA support...since Bay of Pigs, AMCAPE-1 has been serving, in effect, as public relations man and lobbyist for Ray...AMCAPE-1 must be credited with single-handedly placing the entire Cuban nation on alert and causing withdrawal of masses of conscripted workers from cane fields merely by articles playing on theme of threat of infiltration of Ray and a few men. Tell AMCARBON/1 that CIA would not become party to Ray operation knowing close relationship to AMCAPE-1, particularly since latter well known to be less than friendly to CIA.