Spycraft - Melton [158]
The CIA’s other solution to the Castro problem drew TSD into the ultimately objectionable policy of sanctioned assassination. Both TSD’s chemistry branch and its explosive devices branch had the expertise to create lethal materials and delivery mechanisms. TSS had previously developed poisons as part of the U-2 program in the mid-1950s and impregnated needles for pilots to carry as an alternative to capture and torture. The so-called suicide needle was created by the devices branch of the Special Operations Division of the U.S. Army Chemical Corps at Fort Detrick Maryland, a military research organization with whom the CIA, through TSD, worked closely. The poison on the needle was saxitoxin, a naturally occurring toxin found in contaminated shellfish and one of the most lethal substances known.43
L-pills had been part of the OSS defensive inventory for issuance to agents on particularly dangerous and sensitive assignments. TSD continued to make those available for CIA operations. Little imagination was required to envision that the same or similar potions could be used offensively as well. Likewise, the guns, bullets, darts, and camouflaged explosives in the TSD inventory for covert paramilitary operations could be considered for use against a specific individual.
After the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, President Kennedy and Attorney General Robert Kennedy admonished senior CIA official Richard Bissell, the Deputy Director for Plans, for “not doing anything to get rid of Castro.”44 As a result, in November of 1961 Bissell instructed CIA officer William Harvey to direct a program called ZR/RIFLE, focused on the Cuban problem. 45 From the outset of the Kennedy administration, the CIA had been urged by the White House to create new assassination capabilities, referred to as “executive action,” the “magic button,” or even the “last resort beyond last resort and confession of weakness.”46
The CIA attempted to assassinate Castro at the time of the Bay of Pigs invasion, but it disintegrated into a Keystone Kops comedy.47 The plot involved the CIA’s Office of Security engaging a former FBI special agent turned private detective, Robert Maheu, to recruit members of organized crime to carry out the assignment. Maheu contacted a former member of the Capone crime syndicate, who hired two Mafia members judged to “have experience.”
The plotters faced numerous complications, and TSD’s chemists struggled to find the correct weapon—a lethal but slow-acting pill that would give the agent time to slip away before taking effect. The first batches of poison capsules failed to dissolve adequately in water, but the second batch worked in trials on monkeys and was issued to a Cuban “official” for the attempt.48 The official later returned the pills after getting “cold feet.” 49
From 1960 through the end of 1965,50 various schemes, some whimsical and some serious, were discussed and evaluated to eliminate Castro. Of the conceived and planned attacks on Castro that encompassed public embarrassment as well as assassination, none came close to succeeding.
The variety of plans that were considered to undermine Castro’s charismatic appeal by sabotaging his speeches was reminiscent of William Donovan’s admonition to Stanley Lovell to “raise merry hell.” These included:
Hallucinogenic Spray: One TSD scientist and bioorganic chemist proposed spraying Castro’s broadcasting studio in Havana with a chemical to induce LSD-like hallucinations. TSD eventually found out, however, that the chemical was unreliable.51
Hallucinogenic Cigars: Since the method of introducing the spray into the room was not possible, Schieder suggested impregnating Castro’s cigars with a special chemical to produce temporary disorientation during one of his long, rambling speeches, which were broadcast live to the Cuban people.52
Contaminated Shoes: A plan was evaluated to attack Castro’s famous beard when he was traveling abroad by contaminating his