WEBVTT - Withheld Documents [BONUS]

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<v Speaker 1>Four thousand, six hundred eighty four. That's the number of

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<v Speaker 1>documents related to the JFK assassination that as of November

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<v Speaker 1>twenty twenty three, still remain fully kept from the public eye.

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<v Speaker 2>For those of us who want to know the truth

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<v Speaker 2>of who killed JFK, why after sixty years are documents

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<v Speaker 2>still being withheld.

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<v Speaker 1>In December of twenty twenty two, the CIA released a

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<v Speaker 1>statement that the withheld information quote consists of intelligence sources

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<v Speaker 1>and methods, the release of which would currently do identifiable

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<v Speaker 1>harm to intelligence operations.

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<v Speaker 2>The common refrain of protecting sources and methods gets harder

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<v Speaker 2>and harder to accept the further we get from nineteen

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<v Speaker 2>sixty three, with virtually all the people that were involved

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<v Speaker 2>no longer with us. Many of the documents that are

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<v Speaker 2>being withheld are from the CIA, which only increases suspicions

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<v Speaker 2>about their role. To discuss the JFK files, what might

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<v Speaker 2>be in them, why they're still being hidden, and what

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<v Speaker 2>we've learned from recent files that have been released, we

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<v Speaker 2>asked Jefferson Morley to join us again. If we want

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<v Speaker 2>to understand the story of these withheld documents, where do

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<v Speaker 2>we begin?

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<v Speaker 3>Okay, So, the JFK Records Act called for the disclosure

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<v Speaker 3>of all government related records, and as a result of it,

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<v Speaker 3>we got a huge body of records, mostly in the

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<v Speaker 3>nineteen nineties, and a steady stream ever since. The law

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<v Speaker 3>had a twenty five year sunset provision in it, which

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<v Speaker 3>said after twenty five years all the records should be

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<v Speaker 3>made public.

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<v Speaker 1>To make the timeline clear, the JFK Records Act that

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<v Speaker 1>passed in nineteen ninety two required that all government agencies

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<v Speaker 1>send any records concerning the JFK assassination to the National

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<v Speaker 1>Archives and Records Administration. These records would then be held

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<v Speaker 1>by the National Archives twenty five years before being released

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<v Speaker 1>to the public on October twenty six, twenty seventeen, that is,

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<v Speaker 1>unless the President sees a quote identifiable harm coming from

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<v Speaker 1>their release. Between twenty seventeen and twenty eighteen, more than

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<v Speaker 1>thirty four thousand records were released by the National Archives,

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<v Speaker 1>but on April twenty six, twenty eighteen, then President Trump

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<v Speaker 1>decided that government agencies could have until April twenty six,

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<v Speaker 1>twenty twenty one, to review the remaining documents to determine

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<v Speaker 1>whether withholding those documents from the public is still necessary.

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<v Speaker 3>The CIA went to President Trump and said, we couldn't

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<v Speaker 3>possibly release all of these records. And Trump's CIA director

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<v Speaker 3>Mike Pompeo agreed with the agency and the government in

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<v Speaker 3>twenty seventeen requested the withholding of about fifteen thousand documents,

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<v Speaker 3>eleven thousand of which were CIA records. Well, when that happened,

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<v Speaker 3>the press start paying attention, and the press attitude towards

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<v Speaker 3>the JFK story started to change a little bit because

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<v Speaker 3>this level of secrecy after twenty five years just struck

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<v Speaker 3>people as kind of crazy. And the people who had

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<v Speaker 3>been in charge of the JFK records said, you know,

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<v Speaker 3>when we started this process, we thought in twenty seventeen

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<v Speaker 3>there might be one hundred records. We never expected fifteen thousand.

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<v Speaker 3>So the CIA took that loophole in the law and

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<v Speaker 3>they drove a giant truckload of documents through it. So

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<v Speaker 3>Trump gave the CIA what they wanted and said, we'll

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<v Speaker 3>revisit this issue in four years. So in October twenty

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<v Speaker 3>twenty one, now Biden's president, and the same question comes

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<v Speaker 3>to Biden. What Biden did was he issued an executive

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<v Speaker 3>order which effectively negated all of the deadlines and all

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<v Speaker 3>of the criteria of the JFK Records Act. From now on,

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<v Speaker 3>the CIA and the NSA will decide when JFK documents

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<v Speaker 3>can be public, So those four thousand documents are effectively

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<v Speaker 3>classified indefinitely. There is now no provision in the law

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<v Speaker 3>for them to ever be made public except when the

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<v Speaker 3>CIA and the NSA decide they want to.

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<v Speaker 2>So the agency in charge of the decision is now

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<v Speaker 2>the agency that likely has the most to hide. It's

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<v Speaker 2>dullest on the Warren Commission and George Joanned's on the

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<v Speaker 2>House Select Committee all over again. You can't let us

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<v Speaker 2>suspect have control of potential evidence.

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<v Speaker 1>Is it safe to say we're never going to see

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<v Speaker 1>those files?

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<v Speaker 3>There is no schedule for their release.

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<v Speaker 2>In the past, whenever a batch of documents would get released,

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<v Speaker 2>researchers would scramble to make sense of it.

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<v Speaker 3>I'm thinking of this example of a document that came

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<v Speaker 3>out in December. This guy writes a detailed memo. His

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<v Speaker 3>name didn't come out until twenty twenty two, you know,

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<v Speaker 3>And when we get the name, you going, look, the

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<v Speaker 3>guy died in twenty seventeen. If we'd had document in

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<v Speaker 3>twenty seventeen, that would have been a very important interview.

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<v Speaker 3>The CIA knows what they're doing. The point of this

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<v Speaker 3>secrecy is that witnesses die and they can't talk about it,

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<v Speaker 3>and the story becomes harder to get.

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<v Speaker 2>It's so frustrating. I mean, it's the greatest murder mystery

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<v Speaker 2>in the history of this country, and with so much

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<v Speaker 2>disinformation amplified by the Internet, it's becoming almost impossible to

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<v Speaker 2>get the truth out.

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<v Speaker 1>What's come out in recent releases and what else might

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<v Speaker 1>still be in there.

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<v Speaker 3>Another document that came into view last a year ago

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<v Speaker 3>was a story that we had never known before, which

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<v Speaker 3>was the CIA station in Miami. At a time when

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<v Speaker 3>the White House, the FBI, the Dallas Police, and the

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<v Speaker 3>Secret Service were saying one man alone did it. The

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<v Speaker 3>CIA station in Miami rejected that idea and began to

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<v Speaker 3>investigate anti Castro exiles for a possible role in Kennedy's assassination.

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<v Speaker 3>The people who hated him the most, so the people

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<v Speaker 3>who knew the Cuban exiles the best, did not believe

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<v Speaker 3>the loan gunman theory, not for a second. They investigated

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<v Speaker 3>the alternative hypothesis that Kennedy had been killed by his

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<v Speaker 3>enemies who were trying to lay the blame on Cuba.

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<v Speaker 3>We never knew about that investigation before, and the results

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<v Speaker 3>of that investigation were never shared with the Warren Commission

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<v Speaker 3>and have never been made public.

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<v Speaker 1>This is another one of those moments where you think,

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<v Speaker 1>how is this possible? People within the CIA were so

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<v Speaker 1>suspicious of the Cuban exiles that they conducted their own

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<v Speaker 1>investigation and their results remain hidden.

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<v Speaker 2>The fact that the CIA did their own investigation into

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<v Speaker 2>the assassination and wanted to hide it from us is

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<v Speaker 2>a perfect example of why there's been such a loss

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<v Speaker 2>of trust in our government.

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<v Speaker 1>Do we know anything about what might be in that

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<v Speaker 1>report from the Miami CIA office?

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<v Speaker 3>Their premise was that it was not a loan gunman,

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<v Speaker 3>and they never released the results. They have never released

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<v Speaker 3>the results of that investigation to this day.

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<v Speaker 1>What else should we know about these records?

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<v Speaker 3>I talked before about the CIA was reading Oswald's mail,

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<v Speaker 3>the story about Ruben Ephron. We knew that they were

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<v Speaker 3>reading Oswald's mail. We didn't realize how high that went

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<v Speaker 3>up in the CIA because of who Ephron was. The

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<v Speaker 3>other example is are the files of George Johannedes, the

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<v Speaker 3>man who ran the Cuban students who had encounters with

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<v Speaker 3>Oswald and who stonewalled the Congressional investigators.

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<v Speaker 2>Joan Edes died in nineteen ninety.

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<v Speaker 3>His records from nineteen sixty three when he handled the

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<v Speaker 3>Cubans in nineteen seventy eight, when he stonewalled Congress, those

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<v Speaker 3>records are classified at the very highest level. Rod whatever

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<v Speaker 3>Joan Edes was doing in nineteen sixty three, the CIA

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<v Speaker 3>is determined to keep it secret forever, and so right

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<v Speaker 3>now we have no prospect for ever seeing those types

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<v Speaker 3>of documents and answering those types of questions.

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<v Speaker 2>Do you think that if we're given the access to

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<v Speaker 2>the documents that are still being witheld, that we would

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<v Speaker 2>find a smoking gun in there.

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<v Speaker 3>I think that the Joeannedese file would be smoking gun

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<v Speaker 3>proof that senior CIA officials were running an operation using

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<v Speaker 3>Lee Harvey Oswald in late nineteen sixty three for their

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<v Speaker 3>own purposes, which they are still keeping secret. Right if

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<v Speaker 3>the Joan Edese documents are released and it's shown that

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<v Speaker 3>senior CIA officials were running an operation using Oswald and

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<v Speaker 3>they've been hiding it for sixty years, that'd be a

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<v Speaker 3>devastating blow to the CIA.

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<v Speaker 2>Which is why the CIA will likely never release them.

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<v Speaker 2>Why do you think this is still important today?

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<v Speaker 3>Why it matters today is, you know, can government be

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<v Speaker 3>held accountable? It's a test of American democracy.

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<v Speaker 2>And for us to pass that test, we have to

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<v Speaker 2>trust our institutions. The JFK story is the perfect test

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<v Speaker 2>of that.

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<v Speaker 1>Who killed JFK is hosted by Rob Reiner and me

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