ASSASSINATION ARCHIVES

AND RESEARCH CENTER

2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, and now, June of 2023; some things seem not to change

 Prescient, you say? Uh-huh.

Following is from my Malcolm Blunt book, The Devil is in the Details, Chapter Seven, Quilted Patterns, published November 2020. The conversation took place in late November of 2016:
MALCOLM BLUNT: … I think one of the most important things, Alan, when you check the records, you go through the Warren Commission records – the working papers and the working notes of John Hart Ely – you find in the subtext of some of the drafts where he discusses the fact that there may have to be material alteration in Lee Harvey Oswald’s biography.
ALAN DALE: Material alteration.
MALCOLM BLUNT: Material alterations, yep.
ALAN DALE: And his name is John Hart Ely.
MALCOLM BLUNT: Yep.
ALAN DALE: So why would there, why would there have to be material alterations?
MALCOLM BLUNT: Well, we get back to the same thing: because some things just don’t fit.
ALAN DALE: Time after – it’s not just one thing; it’s time after time after time after time.
MALCOLM BLUNT: Some things just don’t fit.
ALAN DALE: Well, that’s a drag, that’s a drag. I’m holding a document that you shared with me. It’s CIA document 104-10331-10129; it’s JFK document, Agency originator CIA, from…withheld – we’re not supposed to know, although you have an educated guess about the woman…
MALCOLM BLUNT: Mmhmm.
ALAN DALE: …responsible for writing this – and it’s addressed to J. Barry Harrelson. Now who was J. Barry Harrelson?
MALCOLM BLUNT: He was chief of the Historical Review Group.
ALAN DALE: Inside the Agency.
MALCOLM BLUNT: Inside the Agency. They were in charge of cooperating with the ARRB and getting stuff released.
ALAN DALE: Yeah. And some of them were proactive a little bit, or at least not completely, you know, obstructionist, right?
MALCOLM BLUNT: Yeah. I think there were people there who were generally trying to get stuff put out there, yeah.
ALAN DALE: Mmhmm. So, the piece of correspondence to which this cover sheet refers is from within the Agency to someone in the Historical Review Group of the Agency.
MALCOLM BLUNT: Mm.
ALAN DALE: And it’s dated December 21st 1995, so it’s towards the beginning era of the ARRB.
MALCOLM BLUNT: Mmhmm.
ALAN DALE: And – may I read this just for a moment?
MALCOLM BLUNT: Sure, yeah.
ALAN DALE: Just for the record, Senator.
MALCOLM BLUNT: For the record, yeah.
ALAN DALE: I want to read this into the record.
MALCOLM BLUNT: Yeah.
ALAN DALE:
SUBJECT: JFK – Postponed Release Dates.
I looked over the Board’s press release of December 20th 1995 which you faxed to me this morning. You asked me whether the Board had the power to set future “release dates” of postponed documents, as stated in the final paragraph of page 2.
Based on my review of the JFK Act, the Board’s statement that it is their responsibility to set “postponed released dates” is not quite accurate. When the Board decides to postpone a document, it also sets a date or condition for future disclosure (JFK ACT Sec 9(3)(B)). At that time the originating agency and the Archivist review the document again (JFK ACT Sec 5(g)(1)). Although it is obviously the Board’s hope that the document ultimately gets released in full, the Agency and the Archivist will have the power to continue to postpone release if necessary. Any decisions to continue postponement, however, must be supported by a written unclassified statement that will be published in the Federal Register.
As you are well aware, all records shall be released in full by 2017. However, even then, the Agency can always appeal to the President. Postponement is possible beyond 2017 if the President certifies that it is necessary to prevent an identifiable harm to military defense, intelligence, law enforcement or foreign relations and that harm outweighs the public interest in disclosure.
In sum, it would be more accurate to state that the Board is setting future “review” dates, and not “release” dates.
I hope this answers your question. If you have any further questions let me know.
MALCOLM BLUNT: I think that’s a very interesting communication, because it gives an insight into Agency thinking on the release of documents. They don’t quite see it the way that we see it. We think…
ALAN DALE: [laughing]. Yeah. No, they’re on a different side.
MALCOLM BLUNT: …that everything is going to be released in 2017 – there might be a few appeals to the President – but they see it slightly different.
ALAN DALE: Mmhmm.
MALCOLM BLUNT: Slightly differently, yeah.
ALAN DALE: So even though that was written – it’s in-house, from inside the Agency to another part of the interior of the Agency…
MALCOLM BLUNT: Yeah.
ALAN DALE: It’s from 1995, but it’s still relevant, you know, it still has meaning to us.
MALCOLM BLUNT: Sure.
ALAN DALE: Here we are on the threshold of 2017, but there’s nothing, no reason to think that the policy is…
MALCOLM BLUNT: Well, it just gives us, you know, an insight into their perspective.
ALAN DALE: Mmhmm.
MALCOLM BLUNT: You know, they don’t quite see it as, you know, 2017 releases, they see it as a possibility that the can could be kicked further down the road. That’s what I’m seeing there. For certain, for certain, you know, documents and certain materials.
[Note: This is exactly what happened. Following a successful appeal to President Donald Trump to postpone full release of all remaining JFK assassination records, there was a review date set for 6 months after the scheduled release date of 26 October, 2017; The next review of currently withheld documents is scheduled for 2023]
Transcript by Mary Constantine.

ORDER THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS HERE

Publication Spotlight: Scorpions’ Dance — The President, the Spymaster, and Watergate

For the 50th anniversary of the Watergate break-in: The untold story of President Richard Nixon, CIA Director Richard Helms, and their volatile shared secrets that ended a presidency.

Scorpions’ Dance by intelligence expert and investigative journalist Jefferson Morley reveals the Watergate scandal in a completely new light: as the culmination of a concealed, deadly power struggle between President Richard Nixon and CIA Director Richard Helms.

Nixon and Helms went back decades; both were 1950s Cold Warriors, and both knew secrets about the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba as well as off-the-books American government and CIA plots to remove Fidel Castro and other leaders in Latin America. Both had enough information on each other to ruin their careers.

After the Watergate burglary on June 17, 1972, Nixon was desperate to shut down the FBI’s investigation. He sought Helms’ support and asked that the CIA intervene―knowing that most of the Watergate burglars were retired CIA agents, contractors, or long-term assets with deep knowledge of the Agency’s most sensitive secrets. The two now circled each other like scorpions, defending themselves with the threat of lethal attack. The loser would resign his office in disgrace; the winner, however, would face consequences for the secrets he had kept.

Rigorously researched and dramatically told, Scorpions’ Dance uses long-neglected evidence to reveal a new perspective on one of America’s most notorious presidential scandals.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

Editorial Reviews

Review

“In this, his third biography of a senior CIA official, Jefferson Morley’s pen is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, his prose honed by years of sifting through information citizens were never meant to see. He gives us hidden history.”
—Anthony Summers, author of The Arrogance of Power and Pulitzer Prize finalist for The Eleventh Day

“Just when you think you’ve read everything there is to read about Watergate, along comes another analysis seen through a different lens. This is particularly true of Jefferson Morley’s new book Scorpions’ Dance: The President, the Spymaster, and Watergate. Mr. Morley’s lens is the relationship between President Nixon and Richard Helms, CIA Director through all but a few months of the Nixon presidency and it reveals a number of unexploded hand grenades previously undiscovered. The central issue is whether these two men enabled each other. No doubt, there is still more to be learned.”
–Gary Hart, United States Senator (Ret.)

“No historian today understands the Cold War White House better than Jefferson Morley. His decades of research into the Kennedy assassination, the intelligence agencies, and national security policy-making in the Vietnam era make him especially well equipped to untangle the complex of narratives, overlapping and conflicting, that comprise the Watergate scandal. Plumbing archival documents and other new evidence, Morley brings sensitivity and probity to his examination of the ill-fated Nixon-Helms relationship, and thereby makes Scorpions’ Dance a must read for students of those tumultuous times.”
–James Rosen, Newsmax chief White House correspondent and author of The Strong Man: John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate

“Jefferson Morley has written a fascinating account of the relationship between President Nixon and CIA Director Richard Helms. The book enriches our perspectives on Watergate while explaining how these two towering American Machiavelli’s aided each other’s corrupt ventures, to their own downfall and the disgrace of the high offices they held. It’s a warning to the governing elite in any era.”
–Larry J. Sabato, author of The Kennedy Half-Century and A More Perfect Constitution

“Jefferson Morley’s taut, descriptive prose transports us back in time to relive the momentous events of the 1960s and 1970s, entering the minds of the colorful characters who shaped history to feel what they felt and to reimagine for ourselves the decisions they made and why. His purpose is evident in his open-minded yet relentless pursuit of the truth about the corrosive impact of intelligence covert action on individuals and organizations, and on democracy itself―and to reflect on the consequences of sacrificing truth for the sake of power.”
–Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, former CIA operations officer and senior fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

“Jefferson Morley has captured, in all its surreal conspiratorial glory, the last sinister tango of a pair of wicked Richards. A riveting story that will make you chuckle and shiver.”
— John Aloysius Farrell, author of Richard Nixon: The Life

“A work that sheds new light on Watergate half a century after the fact.”
— Kirkus

“Eye-opening…Packed with lucid analyses of complex geopolitical events, this is a vital reconsideration of recent American history.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Thoroughly researched…With a complex cast of characters, Cold War espionage, and tense courtroom drama, Morley’s timely book will appeal to readers seeking an in-depth understanding of both Watergate and CIA history.”
—Library Journal

“Morley (The Ghost: The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton, 2017) shares more of his insights into the role of the CIA in America’s recent history….The centrality of Nixon and Helms to so many pivotal moments in history makes Morley’s revelations about their sparring even more intriguing.” ―Booklist

“Morley adds rich context to Helms’s half-truth, offering new and fascinating details to what he calls a decades-long ‘clandestine collaborative’ relationship between [Helms and Nixon] … Scorpions’ Dance thoughtfully explores the relationship of the presidency to the intelligence community.” —SpyTalk

About the Author

JEFFERSON MORLEY is a journalist and editor who has worked in Washington journalism for over thirty years, fifteen of which were spent as an editor and reporter at The Washington Post. The author of Our Man in Mexico, a biography of the CIA’s Mexico City station chief Winston Scott, Morley has written about intelligence, military, and political subjects for Salon, The Atlantic, and The Intercept, among others. He is the editor of JFK Facts, a blog. He lives in Washington, DC.

Professor Gerald D. McKnight, author of Breach of Trust: How the Warren Commission Failed the Nation and Why has died

31 January, 2021|Alan Dale

Professor Gerald D. McKnight, author of Breach of Trust: How the Warren Commission Failed the Nation and Why, has died at a Health Center/Retirement Home in Lawrence, Kansas. Professor McKnight was a Korean War veteran serving in Graves Registration, a career educator, a distinguished researcher and author, and a close associate of the prolific litigator and JFK assassination scholar, the late Harold Weisberg. Professor McKnight was an influential teacher and historian, an exceptional person whose friendship, generosity, and depth of understanding was a gift to all who knew him.

Gerald D. McKnight was emeritus professor of history at Hood College, where he had served as chair of the History and Political Science Department.

Professor McKnight quoted for an interview in September, 2005:

I think there are several telltale evasions: 1) The WC’s failure to launch a real investigation into Oswald’s Mexico City trip. This, I believe, is a key to what forces or interests were behind the murder of JFK. 2) The destruction of JFK autopsy materials and the writing of a second autopsy protocol after it was learned that Oswald was murdered—in short, the fabrication of the JFK autopsy protocol. 3) Lastly, the fact that the FBI and the WC had the Atomic Energy Committee (AEC) run sophisticated Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) on Oswald’s paraffin casts and other forensic materials and then failed to include those results in the final Commission Report. The fact that some of the best evidence in the case was never disclosed in the Warren Report leads to one inexorable conclusion: that results exonerated Oswald.

Some people, especially those born after the assassination, seem to think this is “old news.” How do you explain to them that the unanswered questions surrounding that event are still incredibly relevant more than 40 years later?

A president is assassinated—there can be no more de-stabilizing crime in our system of government—and there is no good-faith effort to uncover the facts. What does this say about the legitimacy of our government? Moreover, once JFK was removed, there followed possibly history-altering changes in our foreign policy. Had Kennedy lived, would he have liquidated our involvement in Vietnam? Many credible historians speculate that he would have ended our involvement by the end of 1964. Kennedy’s tentative steps toward a rapprochement with Castro’s Cuba ended with Dallas. Once LBJ heated up our Vietnam involvement, the Soviet-American detente growing out of the peacefully resolved 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis was terminated. This raises the foreboding question: Was JFK’s assassination a coup d’etat?

Professor McKnight is the author of the books, The Last Crusade: Martin Luther King Jr., the FBI and the Poor People’s Campaign (1998) and Breach of Trust: How the Warren Commission Failed the Nation and Why (2005, republished for a 2013 edition).

My JFK Conversations interview with Professor McKnight may be found here:

LISTEN to Alan Dale’s 2014 conversation with Professor McKnight HERE. Duration: 01:09:17

READ a transcript of the above conversation may be read HERE.

WATCH C-Span: Professor McKnight speaking at the 2012 Mid-America Conference on History in Springfield, Missouri.

CIA’s 1963 Study of Hitler Plots is Back in the News

29 January, 2021|The District of Columbia Circuit amended its Judgment to correct an error and the AARC is petitioning for rehearing en banc.

In 2017, AARC filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act in Washington D.C. to obtain documents from the CIA related to its study of the July 20, 1944 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler to develop a plan to overthrow Fidel Castro in Fall 1963.  The basis of the request is a formerly Top Secret Joints Chiefs of Staff memo dated September 25, 1963 found by Bill Kelly.

Memo for the Record, 202-10001-10028, page 3: Joint Chiefs of Staff meeting of 25 SEPTEMBER, 1963. Briefing by Mr. Desmond FitzGerald on CIA Cuban Operations and Planning

The memo records a briefing by Desmond Fitzgerald, CIA’s head of anti-Castro operations.  Fitzgerald tells the Joint Chiefs that CIA is studying the plot to kill Hitler in depth to come up with an approach to dealing with Castro. The timing of this study is contemporary to the lead-up to President Kennedy’s assassination, and government bodies that have investigated the JFK assassination have been concerned that such activity may have caused or been linked to the President’s assassination. Doc 1, pg. 3 JCS Briefing, 25 September, 1963

AARC filed a FOIA request in 2012 with CIA asking for information related to the CIA’s study of the Hitler plot to deal with Castro.  CIA initially stated they could find no records, then retracted, and said they were still looking.  After lengthy delays, CIA reverted to its earlier position and stated it could find no records.  AARC filed suit in federal court.

 

BACKGROUND: UPDATE: AARC FOIA suit on CIA’s 1963 study of plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler

2021  UPDATE: AARC v. CIA13 Petition for rehearing en banc with attachments as filied(1)

APPELLANT’S PETITION FOR REHEARING OR PETITION FOR REHEARING EN BANC
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT
D.C. Cir. No. 18-5280
======================
ASSASSINATION ARCHIVES AND RESEARCH CENTER,
Appellant/Petitioner,
v.
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY,
Appellee/Defendant.
==========================
On Appeal from the United States District Court for the
District of Columbia, Hon. Trevor N. McFadden, District Judge, Cv. no. 17-0160
==========================
Daniel S. Alcorn
D.C. Bar No. xxxxxx
xxxx xxxxxxx xxxxx xxxx
McLean, VA 22101
Phone (xxx) xxx-xxxx
Email: xxxxxx@xxxx.xxx
Counsel for Appellant
James H. Lesar, #xxxxxx
xxx xxxxx xxx
Unit xx
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Phone: (xxx) xxx-xxxx
Email: xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx
Counsel for Appellant
Dated: January 29, 2021
USCA Case #18-5280 Document #1882637 Filed: 01/29/2021 Page 1 of 22

 

 

8 June, 2020 Update on AARC’s Petition for Certiorari to the United States Supreme Court

Case no. 19-1273, Assassination Archives and Research Center v. CIA

On June 8, 2020 the Solicitor General of the United States, Noel J. Francisco, filed a waiver of response in AARC’s petition to the United States Supreme Court seeking documents related to new information related to the assassination of President Kennedy.  AARC seeks documents related to a briefing of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on September 25, 1963 by CIA Cuban operations head Desmond Fitzgerald.  Fitzgerald informed the Joint Chiefs that CIA was studying in detail a parallel in history to develop an approach to dealing with Fidel Castro- the July 20, 1944 plot by German military officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler.  One-time CIA Director Allen Dulles was in close contact in 1944 with the German plotters from his position as head of European operations for OSS in Bern Switzerland.  CIA denies finding any such records and instead has pointed to the National Archives as a possible source for information.  Clear Supreme Court case law holds that federal agencies cannot shirk their duties under the Freedom of Information Act by pointing requesters to another agency of the government, as CIA has done.

Solicitor General Francisco’s waiver of a response is another instance of CIA failing to address troubling facts related to the assassination of President Kennedy. A copy of the waiver is attached.  The Supreme Court is likely to take up AARC’s petition before its summer adjournment at the end of June.

AARC v. CIA12 CIA Waiver Letter 19-1273 AARC v. CIA12 CIA Waiver Letter 19-1273

Related:

Relevant to the AARC’s efforts to seek the release of critical assassination-related materials being withheld by the U.S. federal government:

In the Supreme Court of the United States. ____________________

Assassination Archives and Research Center,

Petitioner,

-v-

Central Intelligence Agency,

Respondent. _____________________

On Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit _____________________

PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI ____________________

This Court granted of a writ of certiorari on February 28, 2020 in case # 19-547, Fish and Wildlife Serv., et al. v. Sierra Club, Inc. That case presents an issue closely similar to one in Petitioner’s case involving the deliberate process privilege under Exemption 5 of the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(5). The results of the two cases arising from different circuits are in conflict. The Fish and Wildlife Service case presents an issue of compelled release under the FOIA of draft documents for which the government asserts a deliberative process privilege under FOIA Exemption 5. Petitioner AARC’s case involves the Central Intelligence Agency’s successful assertion of the Exemption 5 deliberative process privilege for information reflecting CIA’s search activities in responding to Petitioner’s FOIA request. Petitioner’s FOIA request relates to a matter of public importance- new information about the circumstances of the assassination of President Kennedy.

AARC v. CIA12 cert petition

AARC v. CIA12 final appendix

 

RELATED:

AARC FOIA suit on CIA’s 1963 study of plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler

Doc. 26. Reply in Support of AARC’s CMSJ & Opp. to CIA’s MSJ (180220)

Doc. 26-2. AARC FOIA suit on CIA’s 1963 study of plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler

 

RELATED:

CIA Responds to AARC FOIA suit on CIA’s 1963 study of plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler

 

RELATED:

Center Seeks CIA Documents on Plots to Kill Hitler, Castro