But the CIA's motive is much clearer Kennedy was a threat to the "national security" of the United States and, therefore, had to be eliminated. Kennedy betrayed the CIA and the anti-Castro Cubans during the Bay of Pigs invasion by not delivering the promised air support; this resulted in many of the invaders being killed or captured; and it also resulted in the humiliation of the CIA. Soon afterward, Kennedy fired Allen Dulles as head of the CIA (he would later be appointed to the Warren Commission) and his chief deputy Charles Cabell for the bungling of the Bay of Pigs invasion. Kennedy also promised to "smash the CIA into a thousand pieces." Kennedy promised Khruschev that there would be no further attempts to invade Cuba; and, pursuant to that promise, Kennedy forcibly closed down American anti-Castro training centers, which had CIA links. Kennedy entered into a nuclear test-ban treaty with the Soviets, thereby confining his being "soft on communism." And, just before his assassination, he ordered the withdrawal of 1,000 troops from Vietnam, thereby threatening to cause the fall of the Vietnam "domino" to the communists.
It is not difficult to see, then, that, in the mind of the high-level, paranoid CIA official, Kennedy presented a real threat to "national security," as the CIA defined that term — and that the nation needed protection from Kennedy's "irresponsible" acts.
