Simpich writes: "About 30,000 JFK files were supposed to be fully released yesterday. The American people only got 2,800."
President Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963. (photo: Getty)
Trump Promised the JFK Files, but the Big Dogs Ate His Homework
27 October 17
bout 30,000 JFK files were supposed to be fully released yesterday. The American people only got 2800.
As repeatedly advertised in the media and the National Archives, about 3100 of these files had never seen the light of day. (The others had been released in part.)
By using the 2800 figure and comparing it to the touted 3100 figure, Trump�s people apparently hoped that the busy media would not realize how badly he had dropped the ball. I can assure you that The Washington Post and The New York Times completely missed it. Even the well-respected NBC News (and many other outlets) got it wrong, saying �2891 of at least 3140� were released, falling into Trump�s trap.
Almost 30,000 documents remain concealed from the American people.
How many of the touted 3100 got released yesterday? Jimmy Falls at WhoWhatWhy did a careful count and told me he came up with 52.
What has happened completely violates the JFK Act of 1992, which was designed to ensure that all the records of the assassination went into the hands of the people.
The JFK Act states that �each assassination record shall be publicly disclosed in full, and available in the Collection no later than the date that is 25 years after the date of enactment of this Act, unless the President certifies, as required by this Act, that
(i) continued postponement is made necessary by an identifiable harm to the military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or conduct of foreign relations; and
(ii) the identifiable harm is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in disclosure.�
Trump�s excuse was basically that the big dog ate his homework. You can read it here. He wrote that there is going to be a �temporary withholding� to find out if the documents qualify for continued postponement.
The law says �no later than 25 years� unless there is an identifiable harm. Trump had to resort to asking for an additional six months to see if there was an identifiable harm. Sorry. Time is up.
What�s in these documents? More things you can imagine. Here are a few quick examples:
This newly released 1975 CIA memo mentions how �one summary paper covers our involvement in research on techniques for influencing human behavior and on methods of protecting Agency personnel against hostile use of drugs or �brain working� techniques.�
Newly lifted redactions reveal that two weeks before the assassination, LITAMIL-9 (Luis Alberu Soeto) met with CIA officer Robert Shaw (known as �Lawrence Barker�). A Cuban embassy employee, Alberu monitored the compound for the CIA. Sylvia Duran was the secretary at the Cuban consulate who interviewed Oswald when he sought a visa to go to Cuba two months before the JFK assassination.
Sylvia is still alive, and perhaps the most important witness on the report that Lee Oswald tried to obtain a visa to visit Cuba in September 1963 in Mexico City. Sylvia has stated repeatedly that she did not place a tapped phone call with Lee Oswald to the Soviet consulate. If Sylvia is telling the truth, it would indicate that both her voice and Oswald�s voice were impersonated on the telephone, as documented in the wiretap transcripts. (Full disclosure: I wrote about this story in my online book State Secret).
Many have accused Sylvia of being a CIA agent. This document proves that she was not, as Shaw reported that LITAMIL-9 advised him that he thinks �Sylvia is a very intelligent girl. He thinks we might be able to gain her cooperation by getting a desirable male next to her � she is, according to L-9, �a little putita.��
The release of a redaction on a �Harvey Lee Oswald� document. �Harvey Lee Oswald� is an inversion of Lee Oswald�s name � many believe this was routinely done by various agencies so that the agency could truthfully say that it had no file on �Lee Harvey Oswald.� The CIA had a large number of �Lee Henry Oswald� files right up until that day in Dallas.
This 1972 �Harvey Lee Oswald� document needs some context. The CIA Director had issued a directive saying that no source or defector could be asked any questions about Oswald.
It reveals that Jane Curtis had to return any questions that she had about Oswald to her boss. Curtis had worked on the Oswald investigation since the time of the assassination. She was not allowed to pose them to defector Oleg Lyalin.
Who was Lyalin? A Soviet specialist on �wet affairs� (assassinations). Lyalin told the US that the �Department 13 assassination program� had ended as early as 1959. This was extremely damaging to the notion that Oswald had gone to the Soviet embassy in Mexico City to speak with KGB agent Valeriy Kostikov, who was supposedly an active member of the �wet affairs� at Department 13. It was this story that convinced Chief Justice Earl Warren to lead the Warren Commission � LBJ told him that a war with the Soviets would result in 40 million American dead.
There are many more stories like these waiting to be explored. The Mary Ferrell Foundation has scanned more than a million of these documents with walkthroughs that take the reader through the various Cold War histories and controversies. It�s a fascinating process. Students in New Jersey have drafted a Cold Case Act to study the civil rights murders of the 20th Century using a similar approach.
There was nothing fascinating about what happened yesterday. Today�s media decision makers were massively unprepared for the clash between Trump and the intelligence agencies.
The intelligence agencies won. They generally do. They are the big dogs.
The mass media, like the intelligence agencies, realize how badly they blew it in 1963. Both sectors continue to justify their institutional failure. They can�t tell the story straight. It�s like reverse muscle memory.
Lessons learned? Interested in analyzing the problems with intelligence, then and now? Thanks to Trump, we have a six-month window to conduct a clinic on how to do your homework. Let�s try to get it right.
Bill Simpich is an Oakland attorney who knows that it doesn't have to be like this. He was part of the legal team chosen by Public Justice as Trial Lawyer of the Year in 2003 for winning a jury verdict of 4.4 million in Judi Bari's lawsuit against the FBI and the Oakland police.
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It wouldn't be much better if the Trump Wall went up. Then U.S. employers would simply use the absence of cheap illegal-immigra nt labor to moan louder about how overpaid American workers are and do even more to smash unions, strip workers of benefits and drive down wages for everyone but the executive caste.
http://www.alternet.org/21-questions-donald-trump
I support Bernie for his ideals, so much like my own, but if Hillary is the candidate I will not take my ball and go home in pique.
There will be no revolution. The expansion of police surveillance under the Reps. will see to that.
Meaningful change occurs through changing what people think and believe, not through any kind of violence.
Not voting at all is in a way a vote as well.
It is not a question of insisting on only getting your own way, but of seeing which possible alternative will give the best results for the future and a world in which the change we need can occur.
Sometimes it is far down the road.
I voted for Nadar in 2000, never thinking that W might get elected, and think of what a different world we would have had had Gore been President after 9/11.
How many people in the Middle East would still be alive and have their homes and no ISIL to contend with.
And, no stock market collapse of 2008, destroying so much of the middle class.
If you really think that a President Clinton is no better than a President Trump, Walker, Carson, JEB, etc., think again.
Given the involvement of Jeb Bush, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and others closely associated with the 2001-2009 Cheney/Bush administration with the Project For A New American Century, many of whom signed the manifesto "Rebuilding America's Defenses", in which a desire was expressed for an event that would transform public support in favor of a more militarily aggressive foreign policy, a "new Pearl Harbor", doesn't is seem likely that these very same people may be strongly suspected of actualizing such an event? In an Al Gore administration, none of these people would have been in positions to promote such activity or to cover up their involvement if it happened. My logical conclusion is that no Cheney/Bush in 2001 = no 9/11 attacks.
My apologies to G. W. Bush for promoting "an outrageous conspiracy theory", but the logic seems inescapable.
Why?
Because their ethnicities have all been overshadowed and made irrelevant by the Mexican illegals and their advocacy groups: LaRaza and Pueblos Unidos come to mind. American Spanish people are finally starting to call into the talk radio stations and inform the hosts that they are "American" and they're sick and tired of the media stating LaRaza speaks for all those of Spanish heritage because they don't speak for them. (That's from an actual phone call - I heard it after a friend called me and told me to turn it on).
I'm not espousing the white victimhood school of thought but I don't notice Trump doing so either. He's making an issue of illegal immigration.
If the illegals can't vote (as we're told) nobody should be upset over the loss of support from the illegals right?
He's just New York. Everyone I know (white, black and various shades of brown) watch him and laughs like hell although they don't want a "wall" per se but towers and electronic monitoring in order to protect wildlife migratory routes *lol*
As far as lies - look eastward to Washington, DC, home of some of the best liars in the world.
Janet,
You are one seriously confused lady if you believe what you have written in your two posts above. You are so far off base that no response would do these posts justice.
But then, I expect you just might be one of those typical tRump admirers who can't see the forest through the trees. You certainly sound like one.
As someone who lived in New York City for 26 years, I understand people like you very well.
Actually, (aside from the raping part) this "commingling" idea would certainly end the racism problem. If everybody looked the same, had the same DNA, etc., racism would be gone. Can't have that happen, ya know!
Of course, the real problem is psychological. It is "I'm better 'n you," however you phrase it. Racism, class, religion etc. are just the surface issues we see and have to deal with. It is the basic idea of equality, and whether it should exist or not.
Sadly, the human race is mired in the fear based "survival mode" of the cave man days. The idea of cooperation being a better solution than competition, is still in the early stage of happening. Emotions still rule, while thought only modifies them.
Your response is a typical rejection of history and psychology. Additionally you are "reading comprehension challenged." I did not blame our ancestors as you choose to imagine. But that is what a non thinking, emotionally reactive person would do. Are you one of those?
Candidates should be concerned about lack of support from the millions of American Citizens, both white and those of Hispanic descent, disgusted by the racist rants. That's what the Reps have lost, maybe for good. The illegals don't vote. They avoid any sort of governmental authority, including election workers. Duh!
Single issue politics will be the downfall of this country.
He is not doing a Nader. He is running as a Democrat. And he is rising while Hillary is floundering.
So, despite my desire to run all over Matt's essay - just one key point.
Matt, you show yourself typical of the Left in a bullying labeling tactic yourself.
You say that Trump (whom I can take or leave) kicked Jorge Ramos out of the conference with a sneer.
YOU FAILED TO BE HONEST.
When it came to be Ramos' turn in line, Trump brought him back from the interviews - AND - gave Ramos more time for interview than any of the other reporters. Why would you leave out those two facts, Matt? C'mon now, why?
that's a simple truth, waadoo, why complicate it with bullsh*t? Try listening to your kids.
It is not bullying to point out the manifold inconsistencies , the appalling ignorance, and the moral flaws of a man who perceives himself as a leader and savior of this country's beleaguered government. Once upon a time, the people of the Weimar Republic in Germany thought Hitler was a joke, a buffoon. Those who said so were summarily dispatched to concentration camps. The laughter ended and became fear; and those with the means to do so left the country as soon as they could. "It Can't Happen Here" wrote Upton Sinclair in 1935, a book about a con artist with Hitler-like appeal. Matt Taibbi, a journalist, is pointing out that in CAN happen here--if we remain unaware, and forget the lessons of history. That is not bullying, and it's not "typical left" as you say--it's journalism. It makes us think.
Good grief! Right idea! Wrong choice. Unless, of course, you understand what Libertarianism stands for in its entirety, and if that is the case I am sorry for you.
Bernie offers the only real choice.
Nicely put!
Trump and the Clintons laughed at the wedding party and later in Bill's 'private' suggestions on Republican involvement.
Being the Trojan Horse candidate promoting virtually every bigoted, racist, egocentric, anti-government , homophobic, insensitive, misogynistic, supremacist will attract the entirety of the Republican base into a lemming-like school of suicidal fist shakers and end the GOP once and for all.
Well said Dale
But you insult Donald Duck here!
When I was young he was my favorite! (Mickey Mouse was not even close.) There was not a mean bone in Donald Duck's body, and every misguided thing he did, he did his own way, he was his own duck, and his own worst enemy. He never hurt anybody else. He was always the one who suffered from his dumb ideas.
Donald Duck was a truly brilliant figure, who like the great vaudeville comedian, Jack Benny, allowed us to laugh at our selves, along with him.
But, seriousness aside, yes, I expect a full written apology to Donald Duck, for even mentioning his name alongside tRumps. I would vote for Donald Duck in a minute, over tRump!
Vote Donald Duck!
matt, white workmen see themselves as victims because government tries to give minorities and even our majority, women, rights equal to theirs - the nerve! white culture and white religion always told them they are the man!
bernie is key because he communicates the solidarity, brotherhood and sisterhood all workers must feel for each other, in order to throw off their billionaire masters and win-back democracy
those dems who do "mostly" what billionaires want spend 2/3 of their time begging reelection campaign funds from the rich, listening to them and doing their bidding
bernie plans to get private funds out of elections - he proposes "political revolution", a constitutional amendment for public funding, only, of federal, state and local elections - to overthrow our ruling class, make welfare billionaires pay their fair share of taxes, tax those who ship jobs abroad, tax profitable corporations that pay none
what is life without hope for democracy, ending corruption by our ruling elite? matt, try to find your inner bernie!
- bernie is not about pointless gestures that elect zomblicans!
marge's pure acid post is written by someone who sees no difference between parties, whose only hope for the future is bernie, SOMEONE WHO PAYS NO ATTENTION TO WHAT BERNIE SAYS - JUST DOESN'T LISTEN!
bernie hates zomblicans!, caucuses with dems, votes with dems and runs for prez as a dem, for good reason - for example in 2013, with needed dem support from congress, obama ended bush 2's 2001 tax cuts for the rich, in 2014 OBAMA AND THE DEMS cut the capital gains loophole, that allows billionaires to pay much lower tax rates than their secretaries - boner cried tears twice, you can look it up!, a sure sign that dems are not in full lockstep with their billionaire masters or their masters' zomblican puppets
bernie founded his own grassroots group and does not endorse any campaign to pledge to write him in, and so, throw away your progressive vote and elect a zomblican! START LISTENING TO BERNIE AND HEAR WHAT HE SAYS, YOU ZOMBLICAN TROLL!
"I am so glad that there is so much enthusiasm for Bernie. But why do so many here assume that his attempts at change will not be obstructed in the same way as Obama's were by the same forces that obstructed them?
"I would love to see Bernie elected but he cannot change much unless Progressives, liberals and Dems start taking back the House and keep the Senate too. That means getting excited in the midterms and getting the base to the polls between presidential races something we do not seem to be motivated enough to do.
"We can get public funding of federal elections if we do this. That is the only thing will bring big change short of violent revolution."
- thank you, thank you, thank you, bee, for listening to bernie, and his demand for public funding, only, of all federal, state and local elections (if you followed his comments after rahm emanuel bought the chicago election, outspending his progressive opponent 4 to 1, i believe you will get why public funding, only, should extend to state and local elections, too!)
most folks here support bernie but don't bother to pay attention to what he says -
it's like marge, above, who doesn't get why bernie caucuses with dems, votes with dems, runs as a dem, and so, marge wants us to pledge to write-in bernie, to help elect a zomblican - begone zomblican troll!
too many here listen to bernie until he demands public funding or hates pointless gestures that get zombies elected!
Do the people who fund elections really and seriously not understand the insanity they've spent time and money supporting in order to get votes? REALLY? Are they that oblivious? Do they not understand that in time, the craziness will reach out to destroy even them? How many rhetorical questions can be asked in a row?? O.o.
I do not like to be grouped as a Mexican voter because I am no more Mexican than any Anglo voter..I am an American
with my ancestors here long before many Anglos..I feel
insulted by ignorant people who do not know the difference. NB
"Trump appeals to the America I knew growing up. Americans are optimists. They take initiative, they have a can-do attitude, they can solve and create anything, and they admire achievement. Americans are independent, proud, and generally happy. America is the home of the self-made man, where money is made, not looted or obtained through political favor and plunder. Americans are not blindly obedient, and they are defiant and will not be pushed around. That is the attitude that Donald Trump has captured.
What America needs is not conservatives, as there is nothing left to conserve. America needs radicals for capitalism who have a conviction that not only does capitalism work, but it is moral. We also need to return to a constitutional republic as originally intended by our Founders."
We appear to be at another crossroad. The last this vital was in 1857, when the issue was slavery. Good luck all.