Lee Harvey Oswald distributes "Hands Off Cuba" flyers in New Orleans. This photograph was used in the Kennedy assassination investigation. Photo: Corbis via Getty Images/National Archives
The CIA has tacitly admitted that an agent specializing in psychological warfare ran an operation that came into contact with Lee Harvey Oswald before President John F. Kennedy's assassination in Dallas.
Why it matters: This is the first time since the 1963 assassination that the agency has admitted its prior monitoring of Oswald.
"This is a big deal. The CIA is changing its tune on Lee Harvey Oswald," said Jefferson Morley, an author and expert on the assassination.
The big picture: The disclosure last week was nestled in a batch of 40 documents concerning agent George Joannides, a Miami-based CIA deputy chief who oversaw "all aspects of political action and psychological warfare."
The information comes to light under President Trump's order that the government meet its obligations to disclose all documents under the JFK Records Act of 1992.
Zoom in: Joannides' role with the CIA included covertly funding and directing an anti-communist student group opposed to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, commonly referred to as DRE for its Spanish-language initials.
Just over three months before the Nov. 22 assassination, four DRE operatives got into a scuffle with Oswald in New Orleans when he was passing out pro-Castro "Fair Play for Cuba Committee" pamphlets.
On Aug. 21, 1963, Oswald debated DRE activists on local TV, providing more media attention to him as a communist.
Until Thursday, the agency had denied that Joannides was known as "Howard," the case agent name for the CIA contact who worked with activists from the student group.
What they were saying: For decades after Kennedy's killing, the CIA falsely said it had nothing to do with the student group, which was instrumental in having Oswald's pro-Castro stances published soon after the shooting.
Yes, but: The new documents don't shed any additional light on Kennedy's shooting or settle the controversy over whether Oswald acted alone. Nor is there any evidence showing why the CIAcovered up Joannides' ties to DRE.
