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It was followed, however, by several other arrangements, TIME has learned. For example, the agency supplied information about Maheu in connection with his successful defamation suit against Hughes for calling him a thief. For their part, Hughes' employees kept the CIA informed about the activities of White House Plumber E. Howard Hunt. Among other things, they reported that he had interviewed ITT Lobbyist Dita Beard and planned to rifle the files of Las Vegas Publisher Hank Greenspun in search of information that might embarrass Democratic Presidential Candidate Edmund Muskie. At the time, ex-CIA Agent Hunt was also working for Robert R. Mullen & Co., a now defunct public relations firm in Washington that provided cover for CIA agents in Europe and the Far East. The firm was headed by Robert Bennett, who also worked for Hughes.
Then there is the puzzle of why so many reporters for major newspapers, magazines and TV networks simultaneously stumbled upon the Jennifer trail. On the morning after, some journalists got the feeling that the CIA had actually been helpful all along in getting the story out, while at the same time it apparently tried to suppress the story. There are several theories, including the reasonable possibility that the agency effort was just what it seemed to be. Another is that, battered by a lot of bad publicity of late, the agency felt that it was time for some good news. Jennifer was a clean, highly creative enterprise that had served its purpose.
A third and by no means improbable theory has it that in fact Jennifer wholly succeeded: the entire submarine, missiles, codes and all, was raised intact and gleaned. But with the story beginning to leak out, it was decided to make one final effort to deceive the Soviets on the extent of the coup by floating a version of only partial success. The last theory goes off into the wild blue yonder, suggesting that raising a Soviet submarine was not Jennifer's mission at all, but the supreme cover for a secret mission as yet safely secure.