Our review of whole page redactions continues with a look at the files of CIA career agent Ross Crozier. These include a five volume 201 file, a regular personnel file, and a C-file (collecting clearance information on Crozier).
In 2023, three volumes of the 201 file had a total of 18 whole pages redacted, as well as dozens of shorter redactions in most of the files. All of these files are now released in full. So what did this new material tell us? Read on to learn more!
Ross Crozier and the HSCA
Crozier worked for the CIA from 1949 to 1963, serving in Central America, Cuba, and Miami Station. Crozier was a “career agent,” a step above a regular contract agent, with some retirement and insurance benefits. As the evaluations in Crozier’s files show, his supervisors had uniformly high opinions of his abilities.
Why did the HSCA ask for Crozier’s files? The HSCA request cites his role as case officer for Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil (Revolutionary Student Directorate), aka DRE.
Crozier served as DRE case officer for somewhat under two years, from 1961-62. The HSCA request for information on Crozier is here.
DRE was made up of Cuban students who fled Castro’s Cuba, mostly in 1960. The group was one of the most activist exile groups in the early 1960s, and features prominently in the work of JFK researcher Jefferson Morley.
Morley’s claims about the DRE are complicated and have shifted over time. Tracy Parnell’s e-book, The Bishop Hoax, which I previously referenced in my post on David Phillips’ files, is an excellent source on the DRE; see especially Chapter 25.
Following are links to the 2023 and 2025 versions of Crozier’s files in the ARC:
| record # | 2023 link | 2025 link | record info |
|---|---|---|---|
| 104-10194-10009 | 2023 link | — | OP file |
| 104-10215-10129 | 2023 link | 2025 link | CI file |
| 104-10215-10215 | 2023 link | 2025 link | 201 file vol 1 |
| *104-10215-10246 | 2023 link | 2025 link | 201 file vol 2 |
| *104-10215-10214 | 2023 link | 2025 link | 201 file vol 3 |
| *104-10215-10096 | 2023 link | 2025 link | 201 file vol 4 |
| 104-10215-10099 | 2023 link | 2025 link | 201 file vol 5 |
Crozier’s personnel (OP) file was released in full in 2023, so of course there was no 2025 release. The three files marked with asterisks each had eight whole page redactions apiece. They also had the most regular redactions. By comparison, the other files were only lightly redacted.
Release of Crozier’s files
All of these files on Crozier were designated NBR (not believed relevant) by the ARRB, the Federal Board responsible for reviewing and releasing the documents in the ARC. That means that none of them were open for public inspection until 2017.
In addition, only two of these files were reviewed by HSCA investigators: the CI file and the personnel file. The five volumes of the 201 file have no log sheets, which usually means the HSCA did not review them.
That doesn’t mean that the HSCA lost all interest in Crozier. Parnell cites several HSCA docs about Crozier, and although the personnel file was judged NBR, several documents from the file were released by the ARRB in 1998. Nonetheless, it is odd that HSCA skipped review of so much.
One possible reason is that the 3-22-78 HSCA request for Crozier’s files also asked for information on 74 other people and organizations. This request covered most of the major anti-Castro groups and figures. It was probably the largest request the HSCA ever gave CIA, and a number of other files in this request didn’t get reviewed either.
Perhaps HSCA decided they had enough information to write the summary on DRE in their report, and stopped their review. Or perhaps they were simply swamped by all the material they requested and lost track of Crozier’s files. Given the attention DRE have since received, this is one part of the HSCA investigation I would like to revisit.
What was redacted in the files?
The whole page redactions in Crozier’s files are of two kinds. The majority relate to Crozier’s search for cover. Operating under non-official cover, Crozier took a very active role in finding plausible jobs that would allow him to carry out his work without drawing suspicion or attention. For instance, several pages relate to Crozier’s plans to establish a cover as a professional photographer. These pages date from his time in Cuba.
Other work included a career as a free lance writer. These date to Crozier’s time in Mexico City and Cuba. Crozier took this work quite seriously. He enrolled in a correspondence writing program and got several articles published in regular magazines. This, plus his photography, allowed him to function under cover provided by a CIA front, the Public Surveys Institute.
At times Crozier came close to functioning as a journalist in this role, which may have been one reason these pages were redacted. He did not, however, work for any major newspapers, American or otherwise.
Other whole page redactions relate to Crozier’s work in Costa Rica. Crozier played an important part in sabotaging the PPI, a Costa Rican Communist Party front which was organized to allow the Costa Rican CP to participate in the 1953 elections. He did this by stealing a good piece of the PPI archives and leaking it to the press and politicians. Eventually the PPI was banned from running in the elections, and their relations with other non-Communist groups thoroughly soured.
My two cents
The final releases in Crozier’s 201 files had little or nothing to do with his work with DRE. This is not because there was nothing about DRE in the file, but because that material was released in full long ago. It still puzzles me why the HSCA did not bother going over the 201s. I will get back to this question in a later note.
Crozier’s discussions of cover problems, as released in 2025, are interesting examples of how CIA actually evaluated the problems and solutions faced by agents like Crozier. CIA’s decision to redact this kind of material is not surprising, and has nothing to do with assassination related issues.
Will the release of such material damage CIA’s operational capacity in the future? This is the kind of question I am not qualified to answer.
Crozier’s files do provide data for more concrete discussions of the controversy over things like “journalist” cover. I don’t see how Crozier’s article in “Boy’s Life” (the official magazine of the Boy Scouts of America) actually falls into this category, but perhaps there are more subtle issues worth discussing elsewhere.
Overall, the final releases in Crozier’s files are similar to what we have seen in the files of people like Phillips, Posada, and WIROGUE. The ARRB’s decision to designate Crozier’s files as NBR was sound; there is nothing close to assassination-related here.