Mr. Coleman. In Commission Exhibit No. 927, you make the statement that the Embassy has no evidence that Oswald has expatriated himself other than his announced intention to do so "and the Embassy is, therefore, technically in a position to institute an inquiry concerning his whereabouts through a note to the Foreign Office."
Do you recall that statement in the operations memorandum?
Mr. Snyder. Yes, sir.
Mr. Coleman. Was it your thought, then, that based upon all the documents you had and what transpired on October 31, 1959, and the subsequent letter that Oswald sent, that in your judgment he had not renounced his American citizenship?
Mr. Snyder. The statement which I made in that letter—to be quite accurate, as to its content—was made not for the—that is, the statement wasn't directing itself to the question has Oswald lost his citizenship or not, but rather to the question would we have the right in Soviet eyes to ask about the whereabouts of this man. The Soviet authorities took a very strict line that no foreign government had the right to inquire about any resident of the Soviet Union unless he was their citizen. So that my statement was merely—was meant there to support my conclusion that the Embassy, as far as we could see, would have the right in Soviet eyes to ask about the whereabouts of Oswald—because we had no reason to believe he was not our citizen, and, therefore, we had a perfect right to ask about where he might be.
Representative Ford. In other words, in your own mind, at that point, he had not renounced his citizenship?
Mr. Snyder. There is no question he had not renounced his citizenship; yes, sir.
Mr. Coleman. You considered that he was still an American citizen as of March 28——
Mr. Snyder. No evidence to the contrary.
Mr. Dulles. That is, he hadn't taken the procedures required under the law to renounce his citizenship?