First-Hand Witness Richard Billings on CIA-Backed Mission to Cuba in Summer of '63

Secret operation to infiltrate Cuba involving LIFE Magazine five months before the assassination of JFK exemplifies need for thorough declassification

Photos taken by British photographer Terry Spencer of the ill-fated CIA-backed “Bayo-Pawley mission” to Cuba in June 1963 (Credit: Dealey Plaza UK)

Malcom Blunt’s recent piece in JFK Facts refers to the “Bayo-Pawley mission,” a sort of hybrid, public-private partnership in June 1963. The operation, supported by the CIA, aimed to exfiltrate rumored Russia…