John Judge once said that the government always releases information they don't want to release on late Friday afternoon, so the mainstream news media doesn't bother with, and this is a good example, as the only news report I could find is from Pakistan. But this issue isn't over yet, there is still an active court case being reviewed that may change things.
First Statement
in Response to White House Announcement-
"In a midnight Friday night announcement the White House has delivered the
bad news that President Biden will be maintaining secrecy indefinitely on some
JFK assassination related records. This is unwelcome news for transparency
advocates and concerned citizens of the country. In 1992 the JFK Records
Act was passed unanimously by Congress with the promise that all assassination
related records would be released no later than October 2017, 25 years after
enactment. This promise has not been kept and in fact has been broken
with this midnight announcement. By far the best course of action
for the government is to make full release of JFK assassination records to
restore some public trust. That opportunity is lost for now."
Daniel S. Alcorn
President, Assassination Archives and Research Center
President Biden - Tries to Wash his hands of the JFK Act.
The first news report on this major event was limited to this report from Pakistan.
Biden Issues Memo Concluding Review Of JFK Assassination Records - White House | Pakistan Point
THE WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCEMENT
THE WHITE HOUSE
JUNE 30,
2023
Memorandum
on Certifications Regarding Disclosure of Information in Certain Records
Related to the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
Memorandum
for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies
SUBJECT: Certifications Regarding Disclosure of
Information in Certain Records Related to the
Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
Section
1. Policy. In the three decades since the President John F. Kennedy
Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (44 U.S.C. 2107 note) (the “Act”)
was enacted, the United States Government has undertaken a comprehensive review
of its records and has strived to make available to the public thousands of
classified documents that provide a fuller understanding of the tragic
assassination of President John F. Kennedy. As I have reiterated
throughout my Presidency, I fully support the Act’s aim to maximize
transparency by disclosing all information in records concerning the
assassination, except when the strongest possible reasons counsel
otherwise. Executive departments and agencies (agencies) have worked
meticulously over thousands of hours of review to ensure that the American
people have access to every single word that is appropriate for release under
the standards of the Act. With my final certification made in this
memorandum -– the last required under the Act -– and definitive plans for
future disclosures, my Administration is fulfilling the promise of transparency
to the American people.
Sec. 2. Background. (a) The Act permits the continued
postponement of public disclosure of information in records concerning
President Kennedy’s assassination only when postponement remains necessary to
protect against an identifiable harm to the military defense, intelligence
operations, law enforcement, or the conduct of foreign relations that is of
such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in disclosure.
Agencies have applied this statutory standard when proposing the
continued postponement of public disclosure of specific information, and the
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has reviewed each of these
redactions to determine whether NARA agrees that these redactions continue to
meet the statutory standard. In the Presidential Memorandum of December
15, 2022 (Certifications Regarding Disclosure of Information in Certain Records
Related to the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy) (December 2022
Memorandum), I certified the temporary continued postponement of public
disclosure of redacted information in a small number of records covered by the
Act. At the time, the Acting Archivist of the United States (Acting
Archivist) advised that a limited number of records that were the subject of
agency proposals for temporary continued postponement warranted further review
to ensure that information from these records is disclosed to the maximum
extent possible, consistent with the standards of the Act. In the
December 2022 Memorandum, consistent with that advice, I directed agencies to
continue to work with NARA to review these records to determine if additional
information proposed for redaction could be disclosed.
(b) On May 1, 2023, the Acting Archivist informed me that the review
process was complete and recommended that I postpone the public release of
certain redacted information in the records certified for temporary
postponement of public release in the December 2022 Memorandum.
Sec. 3. Certification. In light of the recommendation for continued
postponement of public release of information in the records identified in
section 2(b) of this memorandum under the statutory standard, I hereby certify,
by the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of
the United States of America, including section 5(g)(2)(D) of the Act,
that continued postponement of public disclosure of that information is
necessary to protect against identifiable harms to the military defense,
intelligence operations, law enforcement, and the conduct of foreign relations
that are of such gravity that they outweigh the public interest in
disclosure. All information within these records that has been proposed
for continued postponement under section 5(g)(2)(D) of the Act shall
accordingly be withheld from public disclosure. Future release of the
information in these records shall occur in a manner consistent with the
Transparency Plans described in section 5 of this memorandum.
Sec. 4. Release. Any information currently withheld from public
disclosure under section 4 of the December 2022 Memorandum that is not subject
to the certification in section 3 of this memorandum shall be released to the
public by June 30, 2023.
Sec. 5. Transparency Plans. As part of their review, each agency
prepared a plan for the eventual release of information (Transparency Plan) to
ensure that information would continue to be disclosed over time as the
identified harm associated with release of the information dissipates.
Each Transparency Plan details the event-based or circumstance-based conditions
that will trigger the public disclosure of currently postponed information by
the National Declassification Center (NDC) at NARA. These Transparency
Plans were reviewed by NARA, and the Acting Archivist previously advised me
that use of the Transparency Plans by the NDC will ensure appropriate continued
release of information covered by the Act. In the December 2022
Memorandum, I directed that the Transparency Plans submitted by agencies be
used by the NDC to conduct future reviews of any information that has been
postponed from public disclosure. On May 1, 2023, the Acting Archivist
recommended continued use of agencies’ Transparency Plans to release
information covered by the Act. Therefore, I direct the NDC to continue
to use the Transparency Plans to conduct future reviews of any information
covered by the Act that has been postponed from public disclosure. The
Transparency Plans will ensure that the public will have access to the maximum
amount of information while continuing to protect against identifiable harms to
the military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, and the conduct
of foreign relations under the standards of the Act.
Sec. 6. Publication. The Archivist of the United States is hereby
authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.
JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.
1 comment:
An illegal betrayal of the JFK Records Act by the imperial presidency that reveals yet again that it has become entirely subsumed into the US dictatorial national security state; alas, it is utterly unsurprising coming from a man whose entire career has been at the service of the American Empire's too long reign of "Murder, Inc."
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