Was the JFK records release a dud? Is Conspiracy World on the brink?

[Jon Banks]

So here we are and they are all out and all of the conspiracy claims over the years by people like Morley about what they are hiding have shown to be wrong. Let's be clear here on what he is doing: He accuses people of murdering JFK, of conspiracy to murder, of framing Oswald, of obstruction of justice, of perjury. Essentially he says Angleton and Joannides and whatever latest name pops into his head of treason. Murder and treason. And he said there's evidence for this in the files and their release would show it. He didn't suggest it. He explicitly said it. Well, they were released and it doesn't show it.

Obstruction of investigations and perjury? Yes.

Murder and treason? No. I haven't heard Morley directly accuse any CIA officers of "murder" or "treason".

Please explain what Morley is wrong about on the obstruction and perjury accusations?

Even the CIA's historian admitted years ago that they covered up some things related to the JFK assassination, which is a form of obstruction. Do you reject the CIA's limited hangout?

Furthermore,

- Were Dick Helms and Angleton truthful when they denied that Oswald was the subject of CIA operations prior to 11/22/63? No in my opinion based on the documents.

- Should George Joannides have disclosed his relationship with Carlos Bringuer and the DRE to the HSCA? Yes in my opinion based on the documents.

I don't think accusing people of murder is something to be waved away. It's a serious charge.

Please cite specifically what you're referring to. I can't recall Morley doing what you're accusing him doing.

The fact that the only reason you could think they were withheld is because they indicate something illegal or wrong is really an indictment on your thinking, Jon.

I've never said that's the "only" possible reason. I'm open to other possible reasons.

But the anti-transparency crowd have run out of good excuses for rationalizing keeping most of these secrets after 60+ years.

[Jon Banks]

Jeff Morley's update on the JFK files as we reach Trump's 100th day in office:

What Trump Wrought

The March 18 release was the biggest breakthrough in JFK transparency since the JFK Records Act releases in the 1990s.

Back in 2023, I dubbed Arthur Schlesinger Jr.’s memo to JFK about the CIA, “the most important blank page” in the JFK files. When fully released for the first time on March 18, the Schlesinger Memo lived up to its billing. A long-censored passage documented the CIA’s “encroachment” on the president’s foreign policy authority as well as French suspicions that the CIA had plotted against President Charles de Gaulle.

Angleton’s Role

A newly declassified 1958 memo revealed Angleton’s purpose in putting Oswald, a 20-year-old ex-Marine, under mail surveillance in 1959. Angleton’s full 1975 testimony to the Church Committee disclosed how the deep-thinking spy chief deployed Israeli agents in U.S. intelligence operations, possibly including Reuben Efron, the CIA operations officer who read Oswald’s mail for the first 18 months of JFK’s presidency. And the release of Angleton’s 1978 testimony to the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) showed he lied about his surveillance of Oswald.

Key JFK Documents Still Unreleased

While most of the JFK records that federal agencies had previously turned over to the National Archives appear to have been released, other assassination-related records still in the possession of the agencies have not.

George Joannides’ personnel file remains “denied in full.” Joannides was a Miami-based undercover officer who played a double role in the JFK story. The 44 documents in his personnel file relate to the “intelligence methods” and “cover” (false identity) that he used in 1963. Joannides’ agents in the top-secret AMSPELL program generated propaganda about Oswald before and after Kennedy’s assassination. Fifteen years later, in 1978, Joannides was called out of retirement to serve as the Agency’s liaison to the House Select Committee on Assassinations. He then stonewalled investigators about his knowledge of Oswald.

Footnote: A newly disclosed organizational chart of the Miami station in 1963 shows the staffing of the CA (covert action) branch, which was headed by Joannides when his agents had contact with Oswald in the summer of 1963.

Miami Stories

A secret JFK investigation conducted by the CIA’s Miami station in 1963-64 remains largely out of view. As first disclosed in 2017, top station officials did not believe the story of a “lone gunman.” They ordered case officers to question their anti-Castro sources about possible Cuban involvement in the assassination.

JFK researchers are still seeking the Situation Reports (SITREPS) submitted by the officers in the probe, which reportedly lasted for much of 1964. The CIA has not yet produced any documents related to its internal JFK inquiry.

Nor has the CIA turned over the travel records of William K. Harvey, the chief of the Agency’s assassination program in 1963 and a good friend of Mafia boss Johnny Rosselli, who was involved in a CIA plot to kill Castro.

Trump’s Interim Grade

In sum, Trump has largely delivered on JFK files previously turned over to the Assassination Records Review Board and the National Archives while failing to obtain outstanding documents still in the possession of the CIA, FBI, Department of Defense, and Kennedy family.

For sweeping away thousands of unjustifiable redactions, Trump has torn much of the veil of secrecy from the historical record of JFK’s assassination. But the job is not yet done. In danger of failing six weeks after his executive order, Trump now deserves credit for substantial progress, though significant challenges remain.

Interim grade: B-minus.

Link - https://jfkfacts.substack.com/p/trumps-interim-grade-on-jfk-files

[Tom Graves]

Jeff Morley's update on the JFK files as we reach Trump's 100th day in office:
Link - https://jfkfacts.substack.com/p/trumps-interim-grade-on-jfk-files

IMHO, your "Jeff" Morley is a virtual (if not actual) KGB* agent.

As is anyone who rigorously defends false-defector-in-place-in-Geneva-in-1962 / rogue-physical-defector-to-the-US-in-1964 Yuri Nosenko.

*Today's SVR and FSB

[Jon Banks]

Great video clip from the Solving JFK Podcast