The Protected JFK Files
With Donald Trump re-assuming the Presidency in January, it is time to ask the question: What will or what can President Trump do about the 3,600 protected JFK assassination records?
I use the word “protected” for a reason. The ARRB had the authority under the JFK Records Collection Act of 1992 (JFK Act) to postpone the release of certain assassination records under very specific standards in the JFK Act. The ARRB made specific postponement and release decisions on each record that agencies sought to protect after 1998 when the ARRB’s work was done. Agencies do not have the right to protect those records in perpetuity, which is what we are facing today. This article will dissect the problem and what Trump and Congress can do about it. We will also discuss what information is likely found in the remaining protected records, which sheds significant light on WHY agencies are fighting so hard to maintain secrecy.
What will President Trump do? We do not know for sure. He has recently pledged to resist pressure from agencies and authorize the release of the remaining withheld records. Trump has Robert Kennedy, Jr. in his cabinet, who is no doubt committed to this effort. RFK, Jr. believes that the CIA is responsible for the assassination of his uncle, President John F. Kennedy. I agree, which is discussed in detail below. RFK, Jr.’s commitment is so serious that he is seeking to have Trump appoint his daughter-in-law as the new CIA Deputy Director. That might rattle some cages in Langley.
But in reality, all the CIA has to do is abide by the final decisions that the ARRB already made when it had the chance to negotiate with the ARRB on the final release date. In no event was any record to be withheld past October 26, 2017 under the clear language in the JFK Act. More than 7 years later, and 61 years after the JFK assassination, the agencies are still fighting harder than ever on this issue. The bottom line is that agencies, chiefly the CIA, cling to a fierce belief that it has the unrestricted power to break the law. The belief it has the authority to continue dictating to the President and to Congress the information that can be shared with the American public. That has to change, and the release of the protected JFK records would be a major step toward change in this power struggle on secrecy and transparency.
Understanding the Problem
Before we talk about the solutions that are available to President Trump and Congress, it is important to look at the reason for this problem. To examine the answer to the questions: Why is the CIA still willing to break the JFK Act and ignore the ARRB’s final decisions? Why did the CIA pressure both Presidents Trump and Biden to do the same between 2017 and today? I believe the answers lie with Lee Harvey Oswald and the 61-year cover up of his known assignments and activities and how they probably explain what happened in Dallas on November 22, 1963. At the very least, the protected records show that the CIA created a false identity for Oswald, used that to its advantage before and after the assassination, and has covered that up for 61 years.
Today, we have a very good idea of what information is likely in the CIA’s protected records, and only full public disclosure of those records can prove otherwise. Here is what we know today, and there is no legitimate dispute about it.
We know that the CIA sponsored an operation known as AMSPELL, which was designed to infiltrate leftist organizations in the U.S. that supported Castro’s regime in Cuba. The AMSPELL network included the DRE--Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil--an anti-Castro organization that operated in New Orleans in the summer of 1963. Its titular head was Carlos Bringuier, and according to Howard Hunt’s HSCA testimony, it was originated by David Phillips.
We know that the AMSPELL/DRE network had direct contact and involvement with Lee Harvey Oswald in New Orleans in August of 1963. Those activities resulted in a public and, in all likelihood, a staged altercation with Oswald, leading to his arrest. The result being that Oswald was detained in jail and paid a fine for receiving a punch from Bringuier.
We know also about operation AMSANTA, a joint FBI/CIA program designed to place willing Fair Play for Cuba Committee (FPCC) members into Cuba to collect intelligence. We also know that Oswald met at length with the FBI after his arrest—the visit lasted for well over an hour--while in police custody in New Orleans.
After Oswald’s arrest in New Orleans, the DRE leaders arranged for Oswald to appear on local TV and radio stations, where he flashed his fake Fair Play for Cuba Committee (FPCC) credentials and talked about his beliefs as a “pro-Castro Marxist”. The FPCC was the exact organization that these intelligence operations—FBI, CIA, DRE-- were targeting. And Oswald was in the middle of it all.
The evidence strongly indicates that a CIA operation was used weeks later in Mexico City. Done to further advance the legend that Oswald was a “Castro patriot” desperately seeking entry into Cuba. A bit over six weeks later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas by the alleged “lone assassin” Oswald.
In Chapter Two of The JFK Assassination Chokeholds, Oswald’s intelligence connections are discussed at length. To put it mildly, he was no “lone nut” assassin.
We know that within hours of the assassination on November 22nd, CBS broadcasted to the world Oswald’s radio and TV interviews from New Orleans, where he discussed his “work” with the FPCC and claimed to be a “Marxist”. Where did CBS get all of this information on Oswald so suddenly? Was it through the CIA’s AMSPELL/DRE network?
We know of a project known as “Operation Northwoods”, a Pentagon scheme designed to provoke war with Cuba by using a “spectacular” act of violence in the United States, utilizing covert CIA personnel to arrange for the blame to fall on Casto. Creating pretext and public support for the President to finally invade Cuba. Is this not similar to what happened in Dallas on November 22? With Oswald, the Castro sympathizer, in perfect position to take the immediate blame? Thus provoking an invasion of Cuba.
A complete release of the withheld JFK assassination files would likely disprove the above. Yes, the JFK Act authorized agencies to request continued withholding of sensitive assassination records that could or would disclose an intelligence “source or method.” Those requests (thousands of them) were made to the ARRB in the 1990’s, and the ARRB was the arbiter. Only the President had authority to continue postponement if there was still clear and convincing evidence that a record, if disclosed publicly, could still harm a current intelligence source and method.
But back to the ultimate problem today. It is already known that agencies were using operations like AMSPELL and AMSANTA to infiltrate the FPCC. It is already known that the AMSPELL/DRE network had direct and public involvement with Oswald in New Orleans. It is already known that CIA officer George Joannides managed the AMSPELL operation in New Orleans that utilized Oswald’s fake FPCC credentials. We already know about the CIA operation in Mexico City involving Oswald (or more likely an imposter). Is then the AMSPELL/DRE operation involving Oswald and the FPCC still a current source and method? No.
There is an undeniable conclusion here. The only plausible reason for the intelligence agencies to fight tooth and nail on the remaining withheld records is that all information on Oswald, AMSPELL, AMSANTA and Mexico City would finally be public. And those intelligence operations played a part in what happened on November 22, 1963 in Dallas.
Solutions for Trump and Congress
In November, I had the chance to speak at the CAPA conference in Dallas on the legal status of this case. I had the pleasure of presenting with Larry Schnapf and Jacob Hornberger. The Mary Ferrell Foundation is still working through its lawsuit seeking compliance with the JFK Act. Of course, the Department of Justice lawyers are still fighting very hard to confuse the Ninth Circuit in California regarding the scope and purpose of the JFK Act. The Appellate Court will ultimately decide whether that case will change the momentum on this historic issue.
However, regardless of what happens with that lawsuit, I believe that President Trump and Congress can independently solve the problem without the need for more lengthy lawsuits.
New ARRB
Representatives in Congress are working on new legislation that would create an extension of the JFK Act. If successful, this legislation would create a new independent panel that would finish the historical work of the ARRB from the 1990’s. The new legislation should reiterate that the ARRB was the final arbiter on postponements and that only the President has the authority to make record-specific determinations on which assassination records, if any, still pose an identifiable harm to a current person or a current source or method of the agencies. That is what the JFK Act of 1992 already says!
An “ARRB 2.0” would start by locating and reviewing all of the final decisions made by the ARRB in the 1990’s and ensure that agencies have complied with those postponement and release decisions. A new ARRB should also be empowered to locate any assassination records that are still withheld entirely by agencies or not even archived at NARA as they are required to be. The new ARRB should then have authority to make record-specific final decisions on those records, similar to what the ARRB did 30 years ago.
In concert with this, Congress this time can actually use its oversight authority to ensure that the agencies are fully cooperating with the new ARRB. To ensure that the President exercises proper authority over executive branch records that agencies still wish to protect. And in the rarest of cases where an agency could still seek protection on a record or group of records, the President must make a record-specific determination on postponement under the standards of the JFK Act, as extended by Congress now. Again, congressional oversight committees had that authority in the original JFK Act of 1992. They did not utilize it.
President Donald Trump
The problem with new legislation is that we do not know if it will succeed in Washington, or if it does, how long it will take to enact. Trump, however, can take immediate action and has pledged to do so when he resumes office. He can rescind President Biden’s executive orders that made the issue worse (if that was even possible). Biden’s “Transparency Plans” practically encouraged continued secrecy from the agencies and did not actually require transparency.
Trump also needs to address what happened in 2017 when he authorized delays on the assassination records, which eventually led to Biden’s orders. What happened there? Trump himself has hinted at it in a recent interview with Joe Rogan. He privately told trusted advisor Andrew Napolitano that he wanted to release the records when he was President but was under severe pressure from agencies (namely the CIA and director Mike Pompeo) not to do so. Trump was misled on what the JFK Act required, and he was convinced that the remaining protected records were still “too sensitive” to release. Too sensitive in terms of who Oswald actually was and what he was doing? Or too sensitive for the CIA to explain in terms of the 60-year cover up of the operations involving Oswald and how they resulted in Dallas?
Trump can also address the faulty legal advice he received from the DOJ at the eleventh hour in 2017, which essentially re-wrote the JFK Act without legal authority and set the stage for more secrecy and postponements. The DOJ is using that same legal strategy in the aforementioned lawsuit. A new attorney general can ensure that the JFK Act is properly interpreted and that its purpose and intent is finally carried out.
Finally, there is talk about Trump authorizing a new Presidential Commission to investigate assassinations. I support this as well. No doubt this Presidential Commission would not be another Warren Commission that was set up by President Johnson and J. Edgar Hoover to cover up both Oswald and his known domestic intelligence connections. It could lead to a new investigation of the JFK case, the RFK case and the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania on Trump himself.
Regardless, there is little doubt that Trump can have success on this issue if he orders compliance with the JFK Act of 1992, as currently written, and works with Congress on solutions it can provide. If he strikes the appropriate balance of following the JFK Act, while still protecting actual living persons and current sources and methods.
Conclusion
The agencies will not give up the fight. That is clear. We have discussed solutions. Perhaps the final withheld JFK records will not show much at all and that we are simply dealing with stubbornness and belief from agencies that they are above the law. Logic certainly dictates otherwise. All signs point to the withheld records containing a lot more information on Oswald and his assignments and activities in New Orleans, Mexico City and Dallas. And that various components of the CIA were sponsoring or guiding Oswald’s activities. Those records probably will not show a direct connection to the actual assassination operation in Dallas--but do they even need to at this point? We already know that the Joint Chiefs and the CIA-Mafia apparatus were itching to use a “Northwoods” type event to spark an invasion of Cuba. The intelligence operations connected to Oswald in New Orleans and Mexico City were probably the final piece to that plan. Regardless, it is time to let the records, already reviewed with scrutiny by the ARRB in the 1990’s, speak for themselves.
