Nov. 27, 1963: CIA's Miami Station Investigates Cuban Exiles for JFK's Murder

In south Florida, top covert operators didn't buy the story of a 'lone gunman'

On Nov. 27, 1963, Donald Heath, an intelligence officer in the CIA’s Miami station, was summoned to a new assignment: investigate President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

While President Lyndon Johnson, J. Edgar Hoover and national news organizations were insisting that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, one arm of the CIA launched an investigation into whether the dead leftist Oswald was the pawn or patsy of JFK’s right-wing enemies among Cuban exiles.

The Miami station of the CIA did not believe the emerging story of a “lone gunman.” On orders from station chief Ted Shackley, the CIA men were ordered to query their sources about a right-wing plot against JFK.