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Certainly, the nature of Oswald's relations with both the CIA and the FBI, as well as his movements in Russia and Mexico City, is the most formidable lingering question about the assassination. It should be vigorously pursued by congressional committees.
But Oswald was much too unstable a personality for any government to have used him for serious undercover work. He seems to have provoked fights with government officials wherever he went. He was not, as once rumored, a paid FBI informer with a badge number (the FBI does not issue badges to informers). As a returned defector, however, he quite possibly was queried periodically by FBI agents; they may have asked him about pro-Castro activities in New Orleans and the Russian-speaking community in Dallas. His note threatening to blow up Dallas FBI offices—which was destroyed by FBI officials—indicated that any relationship was hostile. Even if he was an informer for either the CIA or FBI, that would be no indication that either agency was a part of any plot. Only in the unlikely event that congressional investigations provide evidence of a conspiracy would there be any purpose in reopening the entire assassination inquiry.
Robert Kennedy often said that he was satisfied with the Warren Commission's conclusions. During the investigation, he was Attorney General and the boss of J. Edgar Hoover, and he was often consulted by Chief Justice Warren. If dissatisfied, he could readily have shaken up both the FBI and the commission with demands to find out more. Now Senator Edward Kennedy has spoken publicly about the painful topic for the first time in years. Interviewed by TIME Correspondent Hays Gorey, he said: "My brother is gone. He cannot be brought back. With us that has always been the thought that completely filled our minds." As for the Warren investigation: "There were things that should have been done differently. There were mistakes made. But I know of no facts that have been brought to light which would call for a reassessment of the conclusion. I'm fundamentally satisfied with the findings of the Warren Commission."