'Denied in Full': Federal Judges Grill CIA Lawyers on JFK Secrets

Lawyers for the Central Intelligence Agency faced pointed questions in a federal court hearing Monday morning about the agency's efforts to block disclosure of long-secret records about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Three appellate judges probed for explanations of the agency's rationale for withholding records concerning a deceased undercover CIA officer named George Joannides whose role in the events of 1963 remains unexplained.

For the past three and a half years, CIA has blocked the release of the Joannides files, denying my Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and spurning scholarly appeals for full disclosure. At stake is the viability of the 1992 JFK Assassination Records Act, which mandates the immediate review, and release of all government records related to Kennedy's murder in Dallas on November 22, 1963. One of the strongest open government measures ever enacted, the future of the JFK Act is now in question as the CIA seeks judicial permission to defy its provisions.

The three-judge panel, chaired by Judge Karen Henderson, heard oral arguments in the federal courthouse here about whether the FOIA requires release of the records, most of which are more than 40 years old. These records were never shared with any JFK assassination investigation.

"Do you know where the records are located?" Henderson asked CIA lawyer John Truong in reference to a series of monthly reports that the Joannides was supposed to file in 1963. Truong said he did not know. Judge David Tatel questioned Truong's contention that Joannides was not the subject of congressional investigation in the late 1970s. "Aren't these key records?" asked Judge Judith Rogers.

Joannides served as the chief of psychological warfare operations in the Agency's Miami station at the time of Kennedy's assassination. Using the alias "Howard," he was the case officer for a Cuban exile group whose members had repeated contact with accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in August 1963 -- rendering any records of Joannides' secret operations at that time potentially relevant to the JFK assassination story.

The JFK Records Act of 1992 was supposed to spur full disclosure on the much-debated subject. Approved unanimously by Congress and signed into law by President George H.W. Bush, the law sought to quell public doubt and confusion raised by Oliver Stone's JFK.

"All Government records concerning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy should carry a presumption of immediate disclosure," the Act declared, "and all records should be eventually disclosed to enable the public to become fully informed about the history surrounding the assassination."

To insure compliance, Congress created an independent civilian review panel, the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) to determine what documents would be made public and to oversee the public release those records. The five-member board -- not federal agencies -- were given final say over what should be declassified. Between 1994 and 1998, the ARRB, chaired by federal judge John Tunheim, oversaw the release of four million pages of once-secret JFK records.

These new JFK files not only illuminate the events that led to the gunshots that took Kennedy's life; they also provide an unprecedented glimpse of U.S. covert operations against Cuba, CIA propaganda and surveillance techniques, U.S. law enforcement action against organized crime figures, and efforts to assassinate Fidel Castro. The JFK Records Act, according to the watchdog group OMB Watch, "is the best example in existence of a successful targeted declassification effort."

The CIA, however, now appears to be evading a signed memorandum of understanding that it gave to the ARRB about the release of JFK records. On September 30, 1998 the Agency committed itself to releasing any newly discovered JFK records under the criteria established by the board. Today the Agency is ignoring the ARRB criteria and blocking the disclosure of records that meet the legal definition of "assassination related" records.

The National Archives and Records Administration has responsibility for maintaining the JFK Records Collection but limited ability to compel the Agency to turn over sensitive documents. Even though the JFK Act states that all assassination records must be made public by 2017, a top CIA official noted in a court filing that the Agency has the right to keep as many as 1,100 still-secret JFK records out of public view beyond that date.

In my admittedly subjective view, the JFK Records Act is being slowly repealed by CIA fiat. In defiance of the law and common sense, the Agency continues to spend taxpayers' money for the suppression of history around JFK's assassination. In the post-9/11 era, you would think U.S. intelligence budget could be better spent.

The ARRB established George Joannides' relevance to the JFK historical record in 1998 when it discovered and declassified five fitness reports from his personnel file. Those records revealed for the first time that Joannides had served as the chief of Psychological Warfare branch in the CIA's Miami station in 1963. He arrived in Miami in 1962 under U.S. Army cover, according to recently declassified records.

At the time of Kennedy's assassination his duties included handling the CIA's contacts with a militant Cuban exile group called the Cuban Student Directorate, known by its Spanish acronym, DRE. In CIA cables, the group was known by the codename AMSPELL.

JFK scholars consider documents relating to the DRE to be relevant to the history of events in Dallas. A series of encounters between DRE members and Lee Harvey Oswald in August 1963 have long provoked investigative interest and debate.

Oswald approached the DRE's delegation in New Orleans and offered to train guerrillas to fight the Castro government. He was rebuffed. When DRE members saw Oswald handing out pro-Castro leaflets a few days later an altercation ensued that ended with the arrest of all the participants. A week after that, the DRE's spokesman in New Orleans debated the Cuba issue with Oswald on a radio program. After these encounters, the DRE issued a press release calling for a congressional investigation of the pro-Castro activities of the then-obscure Oswald.

The CIA was passing money to the DRE leaders at the time, according to an agency memo dated April 1963, found in the JFK Library in Boston. The document shows that the Agency gave the Miami-based group $250,000 a year -- the equivalent of about $1.5 million annually in 2007 dollars.

The secret CIA files on Joannides may shed new light on what, if anything, Joannides and other CIA officers in anti-Castro operations knew about Oswald's activities and contacts before Kennedy was killed.

In a July 2003 FOIA request, I asked for all records on Joannides' contacts with and responsibilities for the DRE in 1962-64, as well as records on his stint as liaison to the congressional investigation in 1978. In the course of the lawsuit, the CIA admitted the existence of 33 still-secret documents in Joannides' administrative file. The CIA refuses to release them in any form, claiming that the release of even a single word would harm national security or violate someone's privacy. Those records have been "denied in full."

The CIA denies any obligation to release JFK-related documents in the Joannides files. "The JFK Assassination Records Act has no applicability" to a FOIA request, according to a brief filed by the agency this summer.

The agency also asserts that its operational files are exempt from being searched under the terms of the 1984 CIA Information Act -- even though the JFK Records Act supersedes that law and contains no exemption for the searching of operational files.

"The JFK statute is quite clear," stated Anna Nelson, a former ARRB member and a professor at American University. "Every agency had to search every file system for records relating to the JFK assassination. Nothing in the statute excludes operational files. Furthermore, the board guidelines are clear that files like the Joannides file are a part of the assassination record. So the CIA is legally bound to search those files and to report on what they found, even if the documents aren't released."

In affidavits filed in support of the lawsuit, Nelson and John Tunheim, federal judge and former ARRB chair, called on the CIA to release the withheld documents. Former ARRB general counsel Jeremy Gunn stated that the Joannides' material meets the ARRB's definition of "assassination-related."

Last year, federal judge Richard Leon upheld the CIA's decision to withhold the records. In a September 2006 decision, Leon declared there was "not one scintilla of evidence" that the information in Joannides' files is related to Kennedy's assassination. Attorney Truong urged the appellate court to uphold Leon's decision, saying the agency's record search was "reasonable and responsive."

In March 2007, twenty-two authors published an open letter in the New York Review of Books, calling on National Archivist Allen Weinstein to take possession of the Joannides files from the CIA, review them for genuinely sensitive and private information, and release them to the public. Echoing similar open letters in 2003 and 2005, the JFK writers declared that Joannides' role in the assassination story required full disclosure of his files.

The signatories included novelists Norman Mailer and Don DeLillo, filmmaker Stone, anti-conspiratorial authors Vincent Bugliosi and Gerald Posner and pro-conspiracy journalists Anthony Summers and David Talbot -- an unusual display of consensus in such a hotly contested subject.

In response, Weinstein said that the Archives staff has met with the CIA and discussed concerns related to the Joannides files that remain at the agency. "We expect to receive a response from the CIA in the near future," he wrote in August. Two months later, the request is still pending. When it comes to obeying the law on JFK records, the CIA is still considering its options.

A decision in Morley v. CIA is expected before the end of the year.

Comments

[WIDESTANCE]

'When it comes to obeying the law on JFK records, the CIA is still considering its options.'

CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL ME WHEN 'OBEYING THE LAW' BECAME OPTIONAL????????

[chabuka]

Of course Oswald, a crazed, lone shooter, trained by the KGB (wasn't he?) a communist.­.(shot another communist.­.as some of the nut cases in the south would have you believe) is the official story..if it were true it sure as hell wouldn't be top secret, state secret (a cover-up).­.for the murder of a beloved President, who just happened to be a Democratic­..just like jet fuel that burns at 700 degrees can melt steel girders that require upwards of 2000 degrees to actually melt..anot­her fairy tale...did you hear the one about the Gulf of Tonkin...t­he U.S.S. Liberty...­?

[Maschine]

Wow, this got me re reading JFK stuff. this is amazing, you can't make this up. About the bush's , and how this thing was engineered. I mean , you read something about the mayor of Dallas suddenly changing the route of the car, ok, that stinks, then half an hour later, you read he's the brother of a top CIA agent who was fired by JFK after the bay of pigs fiasco.

If you think Geroge Jr here is wrapped up in oil, back in the 50's and 60's , they were wrapped up in Cuba.

I really urge you to reread the stuff, to think, if its true that there was a conspiracy, it would be like aliens landing.

Can you imagine the revolt.

http://www.jfkmurdersolved.com/presentation.htm


I have also reread everyone who refuted the allegations. one thing stands out, when they can;'t explain something they usually try and denigrate the witness.


How can the same guys always be present , Bay of pigs, Che 's murder, Robert kennedy's murder, Dallas....­what the fck is going on.

[ThomasDoubting]

This government was involved in the cover-up, and apparently it continues. The corporate Media will tell you that "Oswald did it alone". This is no surprise, they work very well, with the regime that took over in 1963. LBJ named the members of the infamous Warren Commission, Chief Justice Earl Warren led the commission, FBI Director J Edgar Hoover led the investigation. Future president Gerald Ford, sat on the commission, as a mole for Hoover. Hoover then kept LBJ posted. This cover-up involved government officials at the highest levels. Other members included a former CIA Director, and trusted members of the U.S. Congress. The record shows that the purpose of the Warren Commission, was to assure the American people, that no other government was involved, and that it was the act of a lone nut. They said that Jack Ruby was also a lone nut. It worked for awhile, in fact they used the lone nut theory, for the other assassinations that followed. . Why does our government always say it was a lone nut? . . Why do these 'Lone Nuts' only kill the good guys?

[Maschine]

to be fair, democrats and republicans have both stopped the files from being opened. this started at the top of the democratic ladder. Robert Kennedy removed items from the file including the brain and photographs of the autopsy room. This was all done in 63.

Something is not right when even your brother conspires to hide the evidence.

This one , sorry to say, stinks.

[larstein]

All one need do is look at the Zapruder film. If one is capable of understanding what is plain to seen, a man shot from the front after being hit from behind, without the filter that says "believe what we say even though your eyes see the opposite", then the truth is as visible as the nose on one's face. Amazing how we still believe what vested interests say, instead of using our own eyes and thinking for ourselves.

[Maschine]

this was expalined away by experiments on goats and how they reacted when shot from behind and they still moved backward. not sure if the experiments were conclusive, but the hole behind kennedy's head was either an exit , large massive hole, or entry, small hole.


To me, like you, it looks definetly like he got hit in the front.

[JewishJesus]

Why not put that lying cretin, Sen. Arlen Specter, under oath and ask him how , as a member of the Warren Commission, he could have bought into the bullshit lie of "the magic bullet theory"??? This asshole is part of the greatest cover-up of all time in American history...­which makes him a traitor and criminal!!!!

[Maschine]

Specter did ask alot of questionsd, but being a lawyer, the Best Evidence he had was what was presented to him. For a lawyer, thats all he could go with.

The auhtor of best Evidence contends that the body was altered before the official autopsy, so no matter what came of it, the results were flawed.

There definetly was a period when the body was able to be "stolen". Far Fetched perhaps, but how do you explain the rest of it.

[mommadona]

"Busy Bee, Busy Bee, That our Georgie...­"
http://www.namebase.org/cgi-bin/nb01?Na=bush%2C+george

[Shanti]

LET ME ASK YOU: I DO NOT KNOW WHAT HAPPENED IN DALLAS IN 1963 OR IN N.Y.ON 911,BUT I DO KNOW ONE THING FOR SURE: YOU CANNOT BELIEVE ANYTHING OUR GOVERNMENT TELLS YOU! I DO NOT THINK IT IS NATIONAL SECURITY THAT CONCERNS THEM SO MUCH AS------THEIR SECURITY!!

[dobberdoss]

Oh, you hit the nail on the head there! question is what is anyone in the working classes going to do about it?

[Atheo]

Stop and think. If the assassination of JFK was really carried out by Oswald, there would be no need for any secrecy. Every bit of factual evidence would support the official story, so there would be no need to conceal anything, certainly after all these years.

[CharliePfromHB]

It's sad , after 44 years, that the government can supress information regarding JFK. The public heard alot worse. Let's say that Stone was partially wrong...Os­wald was the lone shooter. Let's say Oswald shot JFK in collusion with Castro or his people. It's already on the public record that our government tried to kill Castro. So, after 44 years, the USA is going to invade Cuba? Cuba doesn't have any oil. No chance! So, our intelligence agency insists on being stupid!

[Kajur]

Only this administration can use such an absurd,
idiotic arguments. It is very obvious, that mafia,
Hoovers FBI and Bushes CIA collaborated
to same extend in that assassination.

[MrLiberal53]

The nation deserves to see the JFK files.

[easyrider1969]

There are no files. And the nation CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH. We like our numb lives.

[alipes]

thanks for raising awareness of this and for your efforts mr. morley. i hope things open up.

[guajiro]

This particular angle of cover-up probably has more to do with the political power the Cuban-American bloc holds over our judiciary. The power the fascists hold in our government was evidenced by the Supreme Court doing corporate's bidding in installing bush. So, as any servile dog would do, these judges do their master's bidding in denying the american people the truth. 50% of this country is made up of minorities from third world backgrounds, and the behavior of these judges, while incredible and unbelievable to Americans, is glaringly evident to these people.