David Morales Deep Dive, Pt. 5: Lethal Career, Untimely Death
After President Kennedy's assassination, Morales continued his deadly exploits. In retirement, he may have talked too much.
[This is the last in a five-part series on CIA officer David Morales, who boasted of complicity in JFK’s murder 10 years after the assassination. Read: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 ]
By the time of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, David Sanchez Morales had attained the civil service General Schedule (GS) rank of GS-15. This was the highest before the “super grades” of GS-16 to GS-18, which existed during Morales’ lifetime but were abolished in 1990. As noted in previous installments, Morales owed his rapid rise in large part to the recommendation of CIA assassinations chief William King Harvey.
Within the GS-15 grade, steps from 7 to 10 correspond to brigadier through full (four-star) general. Though Morales continued to receive high-level assignments after Nov. 22, 1963, his personnel file — declassified on Mar. 18, 2025 — has blacked-out sections on about half of its 61 pages. Half a dozen or so of these erasures appear to be substantive, including GS rank, CIA section, and geographic location. As the file features personnel action notifications only up to 1965, it is necessarily incomplete.
As far as the public record is concerned, after 1965 David Morales’ CIA career simply “leveled off” at age 40. Yet he continued working for the Agency in senior roles well into the 1970s, and his final pay grade likely remains classified to this day. A study of the period highlights his ongoing responsibilities — and his sheer capacity for killing.
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