Jefferson Morley recently appeared on the “Ciphered Past” podcast
and gave an informative update on the Luna Task Force and related
matters. The bottom line appears to be that the Luna Task Force has
other business to attend to and is unlikely to return in a major way to
the JFK case. Jeff is halfway through writing a book on his frequent
subject, George Joannides. Jeff says his book will focus on James
will tell a story how multiple CIA operations interacted on November
22. Jeff referred to Joannides as a junior participant.
AARC has done considerable research using open source information
in addition to government documents. Use of open source intelligence is
the norm in government intelligence agencies. Jeff and the Luna Task
Force have limited themselves to use of government records and have not
emphasized open source intelligence.
The story AARC has uncovered is that the owner of the Texas
School Book Depository building, D. Harold Byrd, was in association with
a convicted Nazi assassin at the time of the JFK assassination. This
German assassin, Werner von Alvensleben, was in Dallas in late 1963 as a
guest of Byrd. Byrd was reported to have been at von Alvensleben’s
safari camp in Portuguese East Africa at the time of the assassination,
however a photograph identified as Byrd at the camp is not Byrd. Also,
Byrd was a major defense contractor with close ties to the US Air Force
and General Curtis LeMay.
Surprisingly, Byrd was a substantial friend and safari partner of
Gen. James Doolittle. Doolittle advised President Eisenhower in 1954 on
enhancing CIA covert operations. Doolittle served both Eisenhower and
Kennedy on the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB).
Kennedy turned to PFIAB after the disastrous Bay of Pigs operation in
April 1961. Doolittle chaired the CIA subcommittee of PFIAB. Despite
Kennedy’s effort to reform CIA, by June 1963 these reforms has been
blocked by CIA and PFIAB turned to Doolitttle to find out what was
happening. This task was pending in November 1963 when President
Kennedy was assassinated.
In light of the link to the Texas School Book Depository
building, one must consider whether Byrd and his friends may have been
knowledgeable of the assassination. Theirs was a level of power above
civil servants- the power of the owners of America’s assets.
Dan Alcorn
AARC President
