David Atlee Phillips

David Atlee Phillips (born October 31, 1922 Fort Worth , Texas , † July 7, 1988 Bethesda , Maryland ) was an American officer in the CIA , he served 25 years.

Childhood and youth

Phillips attended William and Mary College and Texas Christian University. His relations with the intelligence services developed during World War II when he was in Germany as a prisoner of war.

CIA career

Phillips joined the CIA in 1950 as a part-time agent in Chile , where he was the owner and editor of the South Pacific Mail, an English-language newspaper that was read throughout South America and on some islands in the Pacific. In 1954 he became a full-time employee and rose to head of all operations in the Western Hemisphere. He served primarily in Latin America, including Cuba , Mexico, and the Dominican Republic. Some researchers claim that Phillips used the code name "Maurice Bishop" (not to be confused with former Prime Minister of Grenada , Maurice Bishop ). He used the pseudonym while working with Alpha 66 , an anti-Castro Cuban organization. Alpha 66 founder Antonio Veciana claimed that Lee Harvey Oswald was also present at one of his meetings with "Bishop" . Some observers noted that Philipps was the CIA officer in charge of Mexico City when Oswald visited the city.

Gaeton Fonzi, an investigator on the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA), is convinced that Phillips was "Bishop". The organisation's 1979 report states: “The committee suspects that Veciana was lying when it denied that the retired CIA officer was a 'bishop'. The committee believes that Veciana had an interest in renewing its anti-Castro operations, which may have prompted it to expand its collaboration with 'Bishop'. The retired officer aroused the committee's suspicions when he said he did not know Veciana as the founder of Alpha 66, especially since the officer was deeply involved in the CIA's anti-Castro operations. In addition, a former CIA officer who worked in Miami said that the retired officer was actually 'Maurice Bishop'. The committee also interviewed a former assistant to the retired officer who could not remember his former supervisor ever using or being referred to as 'Bishop'. "The report goes on to Veciana's testimony of the meeting:" In the absence of one Confirmation or independent justification, the committee can therefore not say whether Veciana's description of a meeting with Lee Harvey Oswald is correct. "

Philipps has published four books, which, however, leave many questions unanswered.

Works

• The Night Watch: 25 Years of Peculiar Service , New York 1977
• The Carlos contract: a novel of international terrorism , New York 1978
• The Great Texas Murder Trials: A Compelling Account of the Sensational T. Cullen Davis Case , New York 1979
• Careers in Secret Operations: How to be a Federal Intelligence Officer , Frederick 1984

Individual evidence

1. ↑ United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (1979), HSCA Report , p. 136, footnote 23
2. ↑ Ibid., P. 137.