John Paisley
Encyclopedia
John Arthur Paisley was an employee of the Central Intelligence Agency
and has been linked in later years to both the John F. Kennedy assassination
and the Watergate scandal
.
In 1971 while he was Director of the CIA's Office of Security he became the CIA liaison to the White House
Special Investigations Unit, commonly known as the "Plumbers
". Paisley's continued interaction with the Plumbers is supported by White House memoranda. Despite these facts the Senate Watergate Committee did not follow up on the CIA connection further.
Paisley's link with the Kennedy assassination did not come about until the time of his death. On September 24, 1978, Paisley took his 31-foot sloop
Brillig for a sail on Chesapeake Bay
. He had radioed in requesting that lights at the dock be left on so he could return later in the evening. His boat never arrived. The next day the boat, containing Paisley's personal effects including an attaché case filled with classified documents, was recovered by the Coast Guard
. They notified the OS who took possession of the documents. Paisley had retired from the CIA in 1974, the fact he had such documents later led the New York Times to do its own investigation and conclude the retirement was a sham and the CIA was misrepresenting Paisley as a low-level analyst when in fact he was involved in numerous high-level clandestine operation
s.
Several days later Paisley's body was found floating in the bay. The body had a single gunshot wound to the left side of the head and had been strapped and weighed down with diving weights. Eventually the death would be deemed a suicide.
At the time of his death the House Select Committee on Assassinations was hearing testimony on the defection of Yuri Nosenko
. Nosenko claimed he had personally evaluated Lee Harvey Oswald
for service in the KGB
.
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
and has been linked in later years to both the John F. Kennedy assassination
John F. Kennedy assassination
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
and the Watergate scandal
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...
.
In 1971 while he was Director of the CIA's Office of Security he became the CIA liaison to the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
Special Investigations Unit, commonly known as the "Plumbers
White House Plumbers
The White House Plumbers, sometimes simply called the Plumbers, were a covert White House Special Investigations Unit established July 24, 1971 during the presidency of Richard Nixon. Its task was to stop the leaking of classified information to the news media...
". Paisley's continued interaction with the Plumbers is supported by White House memoranda. Despite these facts the Senate Watergate Committee did not follow up on the CIA connection further.
Paisley's link with the Kennedy assassination did not come about until the time of his death. On September 24, 1978, Paisley took his 31-foot sloop
Sloop
A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....
Brillig for a sail on Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
. He had radioed in requesting that lights at the dock be left on so he could return later in the evening. His boat never arrived. The next day the boat, containing Paisley's personal effects including an attaché case filled with classified documents, was recovered by the Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
. They notified the OS who took possession of the documents. Paisley had retired from the CIA in 1974, the fact he had such documents later led the New York Times to do its own investigation and conclude the retirement was a sham and the CIA was misrepresenting Paisley as a low-level analyst when in fact he was involved in numerous high-level clandestine operation
Clandestine operation
A clandestine operation is an intelligence or military operation carried out in such a way that the operation goes unnoticed.The United States Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms defines "clandestine operation" as "An operation sponsored or conducted by governmental...
s.
Several days later Paisley's body was found floating in the bay. The body had a single gunshot wound to the left side of the head and had been strapped and weighed down with diving weights. Eventually the death would be deemed a suicide.
At the time of his death the House Select Committee on Assassinations was hearing testimony on the defection of Yuri Nosenko
Yuri Nosenko
Lt. Col. Yuri Ivanovich Nosenko was a KGB defector and a figure of significant controversy within the U.S. intelligence community, since his claims contradicted another defector, Anatoliy Golitsyn, who believed he was a KGB plant...
. Nosenko claimed he had personally evaluated Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
for service in the KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
.