Monday, July 31, 2023

Congressional Playbook for the JFK Act

 CONGRESS - JFK Act Options 

With President Biden's June 30th 2023 declaration attempting to put an end to the JFK Act before it is finished, and the court's ruling on the MFF v. Biden and NARA, we have an active court case, but must go back to Congress, where it all began. 

118th Congress (2023-2024) Congressional Campaign Playbook

As one lawyer recently noted, Congress has recessed for the summer, as it always does in August, but we don’t have to wait until September to begin the campaign for public hearings on the JFK Act, something that hasn’t happened in over 25 years.. 

We will also be putting out an Executive Summary - pamphlet that details what is happening to the JFK Act, and what needs to be done, and will print 600 copies, one for each Congressmen and Senator and for their staffs, so everyone is on the same page. 

And when Congress reconvenes in September, after Labor Day, we will have a major push by getting people to visit their Congressmen in DC and get this done. 

1) The easiest thing will be getting House Oversight Committee Hearings, covered live on C-SPAN, and getting testimony from NARA archivists and former ARRB members. That is now the Number One Goal of everyone concerned with these issues. With Congress returning to their home districts and states for the rest of the summer, it gives us the opportunity to meet and talk with them about the JFK Act without having to go to Washington to do it. They usually hold open house at their local district offices and town meetings, so go and ask the question – WHEN WILL THERE BE CONGRESSIONAL OVERISGHT HEARINGS ON THE JFK ACT? Because you, one of their constituents want to be notified.

If you write, email, call or fax your representative or Senator – because the law stipulates that they must hold oversight hearings, just say you want to be notified when JFK Act Oversight Hearings will be scheduled because you want to attend or watch them on C-SPAN.

Only the Chairman James Comer (Ky-01) can schedule a hearing, so he is the one that must be convinced. Those members of the committee must request he hold hearings – not one but how many it takes. 

Our best friend on the committee is Eleanore Holmes Norton of DC, but she doesn’t have a vote being from DC – though she can influence other members. Everyone interested should look over the list of Oversight Committee members to see if your representative is on this committee, and if so, write, email, phone and fax them to ask to be notified when they will hold hearings on the jFK Act, and request a personal meeting with them while they are home.

List of full HouseOversight Committee:

https://oversight.house.gov/subcommittee/full-committee/

2) The Senate should also hold Oversight Hearings.
The Senate Oversight is conducted by the Homeland Security and Governmet Affairs Committee, Sen. Gary Peters (D. Michigan)
Patrick V. McNamara Federal Building 477 Michigan Avenue Suite 1837 Detroit, MI 48226 Phone: (313) 226-6020  Toll Free: (844) 506-7420

U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs
340 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC, 20510 (202) 224-2627

3) Support and get Bipartisan sponsorship of the JFK Act of 2023 – H.R. 637, as introduced into Congress by Rep. David Schweikert (R. Arz), though it must be amended to make it stronger and get more broad support. This bill has been sent to a number of committees for review including The Committee on Oversight and Accountability that is also considering Oversight of JFK Act of 1992, Judiciary - Dick Durbin (D. Ill) chair, Ways and Means - Jason T. Smith (Miss.) chair, Foreign Affairs, Armed Services - Angus King (I.Me) Chair and (Permanent Select Committee on) Intelligence - Jim Himes (Con. 04) Chair (Full act posted in full below) 

4) Congress can also create a new, permanent committee or board - one that will not go away, as one of the most frequent excuses given by government agencies to the HSCA and ARRB staff making inquiries was that they will be gone in a year or so but the FBI and CIA will go on. So there should be a permanent Classified Records Subcomittee of a Congressional Committee or Permanent Classified Records Review Board with the power to review any withheld records, subpoena docs and testimony, and be a permanent institution, since the temporary status of the HSCA and ARRB worked against them and is the root of our problem now. We are looking into this option and will get back on its feasability. They did establish a Permanent Intelligence Committee, so they know how this works.

5) We could also hold a Mock Public Hearing on the JFK Act as we can then call our own witnesses and control it, as a preliminary to the real Hearings, as Rep. Cynthis McKinney did on holding an open public hearing in Congress on 9/11.We will try to put this together for the fall of 2023, after Congress reconvenes in late September.

As far as I can tell there are five things that can and should be pursued in Congress, as listed below, and a focus group should be established to work on each item. 

Members of the House Oversight committee must be identified and friendly constituents in each committeemen's district should ask for a meeting with their representatives, and information packets prepared to be distributed to their staffs. 

Explaining to them how the JFK Act of 1992 has been ignored, it's deadline passed and that it is still unfinished, should make them mad. 

The general populace must also get riled up as they did in 1992, but this time without a movie. The Non-partisan and Bipartisan nature of these issues must be stressed. It is also beyond liberal-conservative and right wing and left wing ideology, and its not about conspiracy, it's about the records.

The 60th anniversary this November should provide plenty of opportunities to get the public motivated and involved in the lobby effort. 

This is already a 2024 presidential election issue, with both Trump and RFK, Jr. talking about it, and we will can make it a local Congressional issue as well. Half of Congress will be up for reelection. 

This proposed focus group should consist of those familiar with how Congress operates, and those who live in the DC area who can spend time visiting the Congressional offices and getting to know the staffs, especially those in the Oversight office. 

Judge John Tunheim and G. Robert Blakey are two heavy hitters in this and must be brought in at the right time and place.

I propose we exchange ideas together in emails and those who volunteer or are recruited to work as part of this Congressional JFK Act Focus Group should have a conference call to hash out the details. 

It should be a limited – and if you want to become part of this campaign on any level please email me and let me know what you can do – billkelly3@gmail.com

Group A) six Key people who can work together and make smart decisions

Group B)  a larger "boots on the fround" team in D.C., who can visit Congresional Offices and get to meet and have a real dialog with the staff and Congressmen, especially those on the relevant Committees, and

Group C) asome remote computer savy aids with phones, fax and emails to communicate information quickly.

Group D) Those among the general public with a keen interest in the JFK Assassination and JFK Act who will write letters, emails, fax and meet with their Congressmen, especially over the summer recess when their Representatives are at home.

As a constituent just request to be notified when public oversight hearings are scheduled for the JFK Act, and if enough people do that, they will.

 

JFK ACT OF 2023

https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/637/text?s=1&r=32 - :~:text=Introduced%20in%20House%20(01%2F30%2F2023)&text=To%20direct%20the%20heads%20of,Kennedy%2C%20and%20for%20other%20purposes

H. R. 637

To direct the heads of certain departments and agencies of the Federal Government to publicly disclose all assassination records and information relevant to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

January 30, 2023

Mr. Schweikert introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, Ways and Means, Foreign Affairs, Armed Services, and Intelligence (Permanent Select), for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To direct the heads of certain departments and agencies of the Federal Government to publicly disclose all assassination records and information relevant to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “Justice for Kennedy Act of 2023” or the “JFK Act of 2023”.

SEC. 2. PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF ASSASSINATION RECORDS AND INFORMATION RELATED TO ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY.

(a) Public Disclosure Of Assassination Records.—

(1) DISCLOSURE.—Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, each covered Federal official shall publicly disclose in unclassified and unredacted form any assassination record and information relevant to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in the control or possession of such covered Federal official.

(2) RELATION TO OTHER LAW.—Each covered Federal official shall carry out paragraph (1) notwithstanding the following:

(A) The Presidential Memorandum of December 15, 2022, titled “Memorandum on Certifications Regarding Disclosure of Information in Certain Records Related to the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy”.

(B) Section 5(g)(2)(D) of the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (44 U.S.C. 2107 note).

(C) Section 6 of the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (44 U.S.C. 2107 note).

(D) Section 6103(l)(17) of title 26, United States Code.

(E) Any other provision of law that conflicts with the requirements under paragraph (1).

(b) Assassination Records Under Seal Of Court.—

(1) PETITIONS FOR PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.—

(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall petition any court in the United States or in a foreign country to publicly disclose in unclassified and unredacted form any assassination record and information relevant to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy that is held under seal of the court or held under the injunction of secrecy of a grand jury.

(B) PARTICULARIZED NEED REQUIREMENT.—A request for disclosure of assassination records pursuant to a petition under subparagraph (A) shall be deemed to constitute a showing of particularized need under Rule 6 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.

(2) RELATION TO OTHER LAW.—The Attorney General shall carry out paragraph (1) notwithstanding—

(A) the provisions of law described in subparagraphs (A) through (C) of paragraph (2) of subsection (a); and

(B) any other provision of law that conflicts with the requirement under paragraph (1).

(c) Definitions.—In this section:

(1) The term “assassination record” has the meaning given such term in section 3 of the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (44 U.S.C. 2107 note).

(2) The term “covered Federal official” means the following:

(A) The Archivist of the United States.

(B) The Commissioner of Internal Revenue.

(C) The Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

(D) The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

(E) The Secretary of Defense.

(F) The Secretary of State.



Friday, July 28, 2023

Analysis of Biden's June 30, 2023 False "Certification" of JFK Act

BK NOTES:  This is a White House link to Biden's June 30, 2023 Memorandum on Certifications Regarding Disclosure of Information in Certain Records Related to the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, that Amdrew Iler and Mark Adamczyk review in their analysis. 

Memorandum on Certifications Regarding Disclosure of Information in Certain Records Related to the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy | The White House

This is a really good legal analysis of President Biden's false "final certification" of the JFK Act of 1992 and why it isn't "final" until the JFK Act is completed as Congress wrote and approved the law. Thanks to Jimmy diEugenio for posting this at his web site Kennedys and King and we look forward to Mark Adamczyk's analysis of the Judge's ruling in the MFF v. Biden and NASA case that is still active in court. 

 Friday, 21 July 2023 

The Biden/CIA Attempt to Usurp Congress’ Authority Over JFK Records

https://www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/the-biden-cia-attempt-to-usurp-congress-authority-over-jfk-records

Written by Andrew Iler and Mark Adamczyk

Two lawyers expert on the JFK Act show us how President Biden and the CIA have plotted to alter and negate both the spirit and the letter of the law. You will not find a better essay on this subject than this one. Only people who have studied the act in depth could show us in detail how it has been neutered.


The Friday Night News Dump 

In the waning hours of the evening of Friday, June 30, 2023, long after the filing deadlines of the media elite in Washington D.C. and even longer after the most dedicated talking head had left to celebrate their July 4th independence from tyranny in the Hamptons, the Biden Administration issued an Executive Memorandum that is a flagrant and illegitimate attempt to terminate an Act of Congress and usurp congressional authority over its own processes and records. A copy of President Biden’s Executive Memorandum is here.

It is unclear what truly prompted President Biden to take a flamethrower to an Act of Congress that he himself voted for in 1992 as a member of the Senate, due to bipartisan public pressure to release records related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It is further perplexing that Biden has chosen to continue to deny the American public transparency into the death of a much admired predecessor since he has chosen to surround himself in the White House with artwork memorializing the Kennedys e.g. the bust of Robert F. Kennedy in the Oval Office and the famous portrait of JFK by Jamie Wyeth that President Biden specifically requested to be borrowed from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston to hang in his private White House study.

What exactly is in Biden’s Executive Memorandum that is so egregious? Well, it would help to briefly go back to the 1990s, when Joe Biden was a U.S. Senator from Delaware and the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

As a result of decades of significant controversy caused by the government withholding millions of pages of records related to the 1963 assassination of President Kennedy from the American public, Congress enacted the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (JFK Records Act”). Congress was put under substantial public pressure to do something about the continuing secrecy around records related to Kennedy’s assassination, because 30 years after his murder, executive agencies were holding hundreds of thousands of assassination related files secret, based on unsubstantiated claims of “national security”. Freedom of Information Act requests were ineffective at penetrating a completely unaccountable lock that the U.S. security state had on these then 30-year-old records. Public outcry after Oliver Stone’s Oscar winning film JFK tipped the balance. So Congress passed the JFK Records Act in a rare, unanimous bi-partisan vote. The act was signed into law by the then President George H.W. Bush, and after numerous delays finally went into effect in 1994.

The full John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 can be found here. It is worth reading.

The law mandates, among other things, that by no later than October 26, 2017, all records related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy had to be publicly disclosed in full, unless for each record, the President certified that extremely stringent criteria for postponement were met. If such postponement criteria were satisfied based on the legal standard of clear and convincing evidence, the President’s unclassified reasons for postponing each individual record had to be published in the Federal Register. This way the public could at least understand exactly which specific records were being postponed and what the legal basis was for the postponement of each individual assassination record.

It needs to be noted that in accordance with the provisions of both the JFK Records Act (particularly section 9(d)(1)) and the Constitution’s separation of powers, that the President’s authority to postpone the public disclosure of assassination records only applies to Executive Branch records (which are records created by agencies and offices controlled by the President e.g. CIA, FBI, Secret Service, DEA, NSA, DOD, etc…). The President does not have legal authority over “non-executive branch records”, which include records created by Congress and other sources not controlled by the executive branch. Congress was very careful when drafting the JFK Records Act to ensure that they did not grant the President authority to control their legislative branch records.

Congress also required that for each assassination record, that all “Government Offices” (the JFK Records Act specifically includes the Executive Office of the President in the definition of “Government Office”) had to issue what is called an “Identification Aid” when any action was taken or decision made in respect to any record. These Identification Aids were tracking forms that attached to all assassination records and recorded a brief description of the record, including the date of the document, the originating agency or entity, the disposition of the record and any action taken with respect to the record, such as the particular section 6 criteria for postponement that provided the legal justification for continuing to hold the assassination record in secret from the public. 

Further, Congress specifically mandated the Archivist of the United States to ensure that all Identification Aids for every postponed record form part of the Assassination Records Collection. Also, that a publicly accessible Directory of Identification Aids be created and maintained, so that there was full transparency for the public to understand exactly which assassination records were continuing to be held in secret in the Protected Collection and what the legal basis for postponement was under section 6 of the JFK Records Act for each record.

Most importantly, Congress made it clear in the JFK Records Act that there was a “presumption of disclosure” and the legal burden was on an agency to prove that a specific assassination record met the legal standard for postponement required by the Act and that clear and convincing demonstrable evidence was required in order to deprive the public access to a record.

In order to ensure that government agencies and offices complied with the JFK Records Act, Congress created the Assassination Records Review Board (“ARRB”). This 5 person citizens’ panel was tasked with collecting, cataloging and reviewing all assassination records, with the mandate to release all assassination records, unless a record met the exacting criteria set out in section 6 of the Act.

The ARRB’s limited tenure ran from October 1, 1994 to September 30, 1998.During the ARRB’s time in operation, the Board and staff reviewed and made “final determinations” about every single assassination record that was identified and submitted by government agencies and offices. In the mid-1990s when the ARRB was doing its work, the JFK Records Act mandated that only in the most rare and exceptional circumstances were assassination records to be postponed from public disclosure.

The law also legally mandated that, based on “final determinations” and recommendations for release made by the ARRB, all postponed records had to be periodically reviewed under the same stringent and exacting standards of section 6 of the Act. The purpose of the Periodic Review process was to “downgrade and declassify” all of the records held secret in the Protected Collection. By legally mandating this downgrading and declassification periodic review process, the JFK Records Act makes it clear that as time passes it should become more difficult, not easier for executive agencies to keep assassination records secret and to deny the American people access all the facts about the circumstances surrounding President Kennedy’s murder.

ARRB “Final Determinations” and the Periodic Review Process 

Every assassination record currently held in the secret Protected Collection is held as a result of an ARRB “final determination”. As the ARRB went about its business between October 1994 and September 1998, it created a form called the “ARRB Final Determination Form”. These forms are not widely published and not a lot of attention has been placed on them by anyone in the research community.

In every case where the ARRB made a Final Determination to postpone the release of an assassination record, they filled out one of these Final Determination Forms. These included the specific section 6 criteria which formed the legal basis on which a record was legally permitted to continue to be held in secret. The Final Determination Form also provided unclassified written reasons for each postponed record, along with the ARRB’s recommendation for releasing the record (i.e. a covert agent’s death, or a source or method no longer requiring protection).

“Final Determination Forms” are critically important.

Judge John Tunheim, the Chair of the ARRB has confirmed that all postponement decisions made by the ARRB are “Final Determinations” under the Act.

The work with respect to all of the records currently held in the Protected Collection at NARA has been completed for over 25 years. The ARRB did its job. The result is a catalog of Final Determination Forms that state the section 6 criteria for postponement and the ARRB’s recommended release date for each assassination record, based on the section 6 criteria.

A serious problem that occurred from September 1998 until October 26, 2017, is that virtually no Periodic Review took place in accordance with sections 5 and 9 of the JFK Records Act. The Periodic Review was supposed to happen based on the information and recommendations that the ARRB recorded on their ARRB Final Determination Forms for each postponed record.

The mandated purposes of Periodic Review were to provide a rolling review of the postponed assassination records in accordance with the criteria and recommendations issued by the ARRB in their ARRB Final Determination Forms. If this had occurred as Congress mandated in the JFK Act, by October 26, 2017, there should have been only a very small number of records still held in the Protected Collection when the October 26, 2017 deadline came up.

Again, according to the Law, it’s legislative history, and legal commentary, by the time the October 26, 2017 statutory deadline rolled around, based on the statute’s mandated program of Periodic Review, there should have been virtually no records left in the “Protected Collection” held at the National Archives. Because the clear purposes of the Act were to create an accountable, transparent and enforceable process to downgrade, declassify and ultimately fully disclose every single assassination record to the public, so that the public itself could decide for itself what the facts were about what happened in Dallas on November 22, 1963. 

In reality, despite the law’s clear mandate, when October 26, 2017 did come and go, there were still an undetermined number of assassination records being either fully or partially withheld. By some estimates, the number of withheld records totalled was quite voluminous. But an accurate number was impossible to calculate because of the broken down and functionally inoperable Identification Aid Program that NARA and the agencies have failed to adequately maintain pursuant to their legal mandate.

President Biden’s Friday Night Memorandum 

Now back to President Biden’s June 30, 2023 Executive Memorandum that postponed an undetermined number of unidentified assassination records. Let that sink in for a moment…

“Maximum Transparency” 

Despite the clear mandates imposed by the JFK Records Act to establish an “accountable” and “enforceable” process for the full disclosure of all assassination records; and the explicit requirement that each record be accounted for with an identification aid, the President’s June 30, 2023 Memorandum does not identify or account for a single assassination record. 

President Biden stated in the opening paragraph of his memorandum that, “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.” There is an unavoidable divergence from reality in the President’s statement, that is Orwellian in magnitude. For the simple reason that without being able to track which assassination records were postponed from disclosure through the mandated identification aid program, and without providing the legally required reasons for each postponement, on a record-by-record basis (“as required by the Act”), where is the “transparency” and “accountability”?

When the ARRB issued final determinations on a record-by-record basis in the mid-1990s, only the President could override such final determinations pursuant to his authority under section 9(d)(1) of the Act. In respect to any Presidential determination to postpone or release a record under his 9(d)(1) authority, the President was mandated by law to:

a.            apply the standard of proof and postponement criteria required by section 6 of the Act;

b.            Provide unclassified reasons for the postponement based on the section 6 standard of proof and postponement criteria;

c.            Have the reasons for the postponement published in the Federal Register; and 

d.            Issue an identification aid for each postponed assassination record.

The above duties, mandated to the President are what are called statutory or “ministerial duties”. The President does not have any wiggle room or discretion with respect to these mandated ministerial duties. If a President does not comply with ministerial duties, the resulting decisions may be reviewed by the courts on an application for judicial review or mandamus. While suing the President is not made easy, there are very narrow pathways that can be found to ensure that a President complies with the law. In the case of the JFK Records Act, these pathways require a refined parsing of the language of the Act to determine what specifically Congress required for a President or other specifically named officials to do.

Neither President Trump nor President Biden complied with any of the above ministerial duties imposed on them by section 9(d)(1) of the JFK Records Act. They did not apply the standard of proof in section 6 to any postponement. They did not apply the postponement criteria; they did not provide any unclassified reasons for postponement for each record, so that the public could understand the rationale for any of the postponements. They did not issue any identification aids for each postponed record. And there is no way for the public to understand which records the postponements apply to, because there was not even a list of the postponed records published in the Federal Register as is required under the Act.

All of these violations of the JFK Records Act, make it difficult or impossible for the public to seek any accountability or transparency in respect to the President’s decision-making. Further any attempt to seek judicial review of any specific postponed record will be extremely difficult, because no reasons were given for the postponement of any particular record. One of the requisite elements of any final decision or order under the principles of administrative law is that adequate or sufficient reasons be provided to justify a decision, so that any impacted party would understand the basis for the decision, and so that aggrieved parties would be able to fairly appeal such decisions. These basic legal principles form part of the foundations of our system of law and prevent “Star Chamber” justice and abuses of authority.

The Clear and Convincing Standard of Proof

Another serious legal problem arising from President Biden’s opening platitudes is his attempt to modify by edict the legal standards for postponement that are the basis of the JFK Records Act. Nowhere in the JFK Records Act do the words “except when the strongest possible reasons counsel otherwise.”

The standards and criteria for postponement are only found in section 6 of the JFK Act.

SEC. 6. GROUNDS FOR POSTPONEMENT OF PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF RECORDS - 44 USC 2107 

Disclosure of assassination records or particular information in assassination records to the public may be postponed subject to the limitations of this Act if there is clear and convincing evidence that - 

(1) The threat to the military defense, intelligence operations, or conduct of foreign relations of the United States posed by the public disclosure of the assassination is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest, and such public disclosure would reveal - 

(A) an intelligence agent whose identity currently requires protection.......

In legal processes there are several different standards of proof. In most criminal proceedings, the standard of proof is the well-known “beyond a reasonable doubt”. Civil standards of proof may vary depending on the seriousness of the process and the range of potential consequences of a ruling. Common civil standards of proof include “balance of probabilities”, “preponderance of evidence”, and “clear and convincing evidence”. When a statute imposes a standard of proof, that is the standard that parties must meet in order to successfully make their case. 

Parties cannot simply ignore or change a statutory standard of proof in order to better suit their case.

Congress decided when they enacted the JFK Records Act that the law would impose the relatively high civil standard of proof of “clear and convincing evidence”. There is no other standard of proof when it comes to assessing the grounds for postponing assassination records. All government offices, agencies and the President of the United States must follow the law and comply with the clear and convincing standard of proof mandated by sections 6 and 9(d)(1) of the JFK Records Act.

To be certain, “Except when the strongest possible reasons counsel otherwise.” is not the standard of proof imposed by the JFK Records Act. In fact…“Except when the strongest possible reasons counsel otherwise.” is not a standard of proof anywhere in the world.

Final Certification???

The opening paragraph of President Biden’s Memorandum presents another perplexing statement and completely non-compliant decision by the President. “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.” [Emphasis added.] From this statement, one can be left with no other understanding: that with his June 30, 2023 Executive Memorandum, the government and the President’s legal obligations under the JFK Records Act have been fulfilled and that the June 30, 2023 Memorandum will be the final and last word on the undetermined number of unidentified assassination records being held in secret by the government.

The problem with this statement is that it runs smack into section 12(b) of the Act. That section of the JFK Act is titled, “Termination of Effect of Act”. Part (a) of the section deals with the termination of sections of the Act pertaining to appointments to the ARRB and the operation of the Board. Pursuant to section 12(a), all of the sections of the Act that cover matters dealing with appointments to and operations of the ARRB shall terminate when the ARRB’s mandate ended on September 30, 1998.

In respect to the sections of the Act that do not deal with appointments to or the operations of the ARRB, all those sections remain in full force and effect until every last assassination record is fully publicly disclosed to the public and the National Archivist certifies that all assassination records are publicly available. Section 12(b) is set out immediately below.

 Section 6 of the Act does not pertain to appointments to the ARRB and it does not deal with any ARRB operations. In fact, section 6 of the Act does not even mention the ARRB at all. Section 6 is a part of the Act that is mandated to form the basis of any and all decisions to postpone the disclosure of an assassination record by any and all government offices (including the Executive Office of the President of the United States). Section 12(b) legally mandates that section 6 remains in full force and effect as operational law and is applicable to the President’s authority to postpone disclosure of records, “as required by this Act” pursuant to sections 5(g)(2)(D) and 9(d)(1).

The JFK Records Act makes no mention or suggestion that the President’s legal duties under the Act come to an end prior to the full public release of every single assassination record. To the contrary, both sections 12(b) and 9(d) make it clear that the President’s duties continue until there are no more secret assassination records held in the Protected Collection at NARA.

Further, pursuant to sections 5 and 9 of the Act, the President has an ongoing statutory role in the periodic review process. Section 5(g)(2)(D) of the Act, is the provision that contains the purported authority pursuant to which both Presidents Trump and Biden have postponed the release of the remaining secret assassination records. It cannot be ignored that the title of section 5(g) of the Act is, “PERIODIC REVIEW OF POSTPONED ASSASSINATION RECORDS”. 

Section 9(d)(1) of the Act also specifically weighs in on the President’s ongoing ministerial dutieswith respect to postponement of assassination records. That section mandates that, after the ARRB has made a “final determination”, regarding the release or postponement of an assassination record, only the President has the sole and non-delegable authority to release or postpone the release of assassination records under the standards of section 6 of the Act. There will be more about section 9(d)(1) later in this article.

It is therefore unclear what the legal basis is for President Biden’s dismissive assertion that the June 30, 2023 Memorandum is the “final certification” required by the Act. This makes no sense given the clear duties imposed by sections 5, 6, 9 and 12, as discussed above.

“Each Assassination Record…As Required By This Act” 

In section 2 of the June 30, 2023 Executive Memorandum, President Biden states that, “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.”

It would appear that the process suggested above in the President’s Memorandum directly conflicts with the President’s claims that he supports the transparency and accountability provisions of the Act. Does the JFK Records Act actually authorize the President to certify the postponement of thousands of unidentified assassination records en masse and without providing any reasons for each record that he certifies for postponement?

The President’s Memorandum seems to cherry-pick words and phrases out of section 5(g)(2)(D), and omits some critically important language from the section. The omissions drastically change the meaning and purposes of this section as purported by the President in his Memorandum. Let’s look at exactly what section 5(g)(2)(D) states.

5(g)(2)(D) 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.

The words “Each” and “as required by this Act”, seem to be omitted from any reference to section 5(g)(2)(D) of the JFK Records Act made by the government. Including in all of the Presidential Memoranda of both President’s Trump and Biden. It seems that the government is afraid to fully quote section 5(g)(2)(D) in its complete entirety. And the government is particularly frightened by the words “each” and “as required by this Act”, 

The rules of statutory interpretation impress on lawyers and judges that words printed into laws must be given meaning; and that legislators do not insert meaningless or superfluous words into statutes.

So what do the words “each” and “as required by this Act” mean in relation to the President’s authority to postpone the public disclosure of assassination records? The answer to this question could consume the better part of a chapter in a book or an entire lawsuit. I will try to provide a brief explanation of the proper interpretation of these words in the context of section 5(g)(2)(D) and in relation to the JFK Records Act as a whole.

When the word “each” is used at the beginning of section 5(g)(2)(D), the rules of statutory interpretation would strongly imply that the word modifies the following parts of the whole section. It follows that a proper reading of this section would reasonably determine that the word “each” acts to modify both the requirement for public disclosure of each assassination record by no later than the statutory deadline of October 26, 2017; and “each” modifies the alternative requirement for the certification for postponement of each assassination record, as required by this Act. This interpretation would militate against a holus bolus en masse certification of an undetermined number of unidentified assassination records. This interpretation is further supported by the purposes of the Act, as well as all of the other sections dealing with periodic review and Presidential authority to postpone records. It would create an absurdity of law to interpret section 5(g)(2)(D) to mean that prior to October 26, 2017, there were more stringent postponement criteria and public transparency requirements under the Act than after October 26, 2017.

The words “as required by this Act” must also be given meaning in the context of the President’s authority to certify the postponement of assassination records. If Congress intended that section 5(g)(2)(D) be an isolated, stand-alone provision and the only provision dealing with Presidential postponements, Congress would not have included the additional words, “as required by this Act” in Section 5(g)(2)(D). The inclusion of the words “as required by this Act” must therefore be read consistently and in line with the other sections of the JFK Records Act that pertain to the postponement of assassination records. Namely section 6 (which mandates the standard of proof and the exclusive postponement criteria) and with section 9(d)(1). That is the authorizing provision that grants the President his sole and non-delegable authority under the law to postpone the release of Executive Branch assassination records after the ARRB has rendered a final determination about an assassination record. 

Instead of addressing the words “each” and “as required by this Act”, President Biden’s Memorandum summarily omits these words and ignores the statutory/ministerial duties that the words legally impose on the President in respect to decisions to continue the postponement of public disclosure of the secret assassination records held in the Protected Collection.

“Transparency Plans”

Let’s be blunt. The President’s “Transparency Plans”—originated by the CIA-- are the opposite of transparent. They might as well be called “Opacity Plans” if the truth is being told. The JFK Records Act is one big statutory transparency plan that mandates tracking forms (identification aids) and a directory of these aids to provide transparency for each and every document in the Records Collection, including those documents that are continuing to be held in the secret Protected Collection. President Biden’s Transparency Plan seeks to do away with the Identification Aid Program and the publicly accessible Directory of Identification Aids.

Section 6 of the Act mandates that all government offices apply the clear and convincing standard of proof and the five exclusive criteria pursuant to which postponements are permitted by law. Section 12(b) states that section 6 of the Act remains in full force and effect until the Archivist certifies that every single last assassination record is fully publicly disclosed. The President’s Memorandum seeks to do away with all of these truly transparency driven standards, and replace them by edict with new, less onerous, less stringent, less accountable, and totally unenforceable standards. 

What happened to the mandate to downgrade and declassify all of the records? How and why did it suddenly become easier for the government to keep these assassination records secret…. not more difficult?

President Biden’s Attempt to Seize Authority Over Congressional Records

One aspect of both President Trump and President Biden’s multiple memoranda that ought to have received far more resistance from both the public and Congress, is the Presidents’ assertions of authority over what are termed “non-executive branch records”. These records include House and Senate records, largely originating from the House Select Committee on Assassinations and the senate’s Church Committee. As briefly discussed above, Congress was very careful in drafting the JFK Records Act not to cede any authority over non-executive branch records to the President. Section 9(d)(1) takes particular aim at this issue by explicitly limiting the President’s authority over only executive branch records.

What impact does this have on the current state of the records held secret in the Protected Collection? It means that any Presidential postponement of a non-executive branch record is unlawful and that by law, every single record that originated from the HSCA and the Church Committee should have been fully publicly disclosed on October 26, 2017. This did not happen because both President Trump and President Biden broke the law when they authorized those records to remain held in secret. Congress should have stepped in to protect their authority over their own records and processes, but to date, Congress has failed to schedule any oversight hearing or call any official to account for the undeniable non-compliance under the Act by NARA, the agencies and the Executive Office of the President. 

It seems that no branch of the government is interested in complying with the JFK Records Act on any level, in any meaningful way. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer did however mention the JFK Assassination Records Act last week when he suggested that Congress ought to use the that act as a model for new legislation to provide public transparency on the urgent and pressing issue of UFO sightings!! Is our government trolling us?

As this article goes to print, Judge Seeborg has just issued a decision in the case brought by the Mary Ferrell Organization in San Francisco court. An update on this important decision will be forthcoming next week.

Andrew Iler and Mark Adamczyk

Andrew A. Iler is a Canadian lawyer based in Ontario. Andrew’s practice focuses on corporate, commercial and administrative law.

Mark E. Adamczyk is an attorney from Naples, Florida.  Mark is a graduate of Tulane University and Florida State University College of Law.  For the past 20 years, Mark has been studying the JFK assassination and related United States history.  Mark's recent focus has been the JFK Records Collection Act, the federal law that guarantees the public disclosure of the history surrounding the JFK assassination.  Mark is dedicated to ensuring that the U.S. Government complies with its remaining obligations under the JFK Records Collections Act.

Saturday, July 22, 2023

Issues in Play in Court and Congress

Key Issues in Play in Court and Congress

As Bill Simpich has noted, we now have a live court case in progress, with a meeting between attorneys for the Plaintiffs and Defendants in early August and a meeting between the Plaintiffs lawyers (Simpich and Schnaps) on August 17, 2023, when the Judge will be given additional papers including lists of records destroyed, missing, withheld and withdraw that are now being compiled. The Judge and Plaintiffs attorneys will then present the lists to the NARA who must request the Department of Justice to investigate and determine if crimes have been committed in the destruction or theft of records. 

While the Judge did not rule on the failures of Presidents Trump and Biden for failing to release all of the JFK assassination records as required by the JFK Act, he gives the President the power to do what he wants, which leaves us in the position of trying to get a new President who will enforce the JFK Act, or get Congress to act again by holding hearings on the JFK Act of 1992, passing the new JFK Act of 2023 as amended, or establishing a permanent Assassinations Records Review Board that would review records of all assassinations, including those yet to occur. We will be coordinating a concerted Congressional Campaign for the fall of 2023. 

SOME KEY ISSUES IN PLAY 

1) The President has the authority to withhold records, certify and declare whatever he wants. Biden has washed his hands of his responsibilities under the JFK Act, and will do nothing more as long as he is in power. This is already a Presidential campaign issues as candidates Trump and RFK,Jr both promise to release all remaining records shortly after taking office and appoint a strong open records Archivist, one with a backbone. As of now, Biden has approved the NARA-CIA-Pentagon created Transparency Plan that is quite different than the JFK Act of 1992, which lists reasons the President and only the President can continue to withhold records. And he must state the reason for continued withholding each of them. Biden has relinquished his power to continue withholding records and releasing them to the relatively new National Declassification Center (NDC), which comes under the umbrella of the NARA. And they will be using the new Transparency Plan directives instead of the JFK Act. 

2) The JFK Act does not permit the redaction of names of living persons as a reason for withholding records, but it is an element in the CIA-DOD created Transparency Plan, that the judge rules is now, and has been in effect. This is the issue that I addressed in my affidavit-declaration to the court 

{JFKcountercoup: Final Declaration of William E. Kelly, Jr. MFF v. Joseph R. Biden and NARA}

3) Another reason for withholding records is the mention of - Ongoing Covert Intelligence Operations - many in cooperation with foreign countries. There are a number of joint operations in play, including those with the CIA and Mexican police and security agencies, and the USA and Australia ELINT listening post in the Aussie Outback town of Alice Springs, in the shadow of Ayres Rock. See Collins Radio file, that they tried to withhold by classifying it Not Believed Relevant NBR, but it certainly is. 

[JFKCountercoup2: New Collins Radio Document Released]

4) The Judge in his ruling makes no mention of NARA continuing the search for additional Records, which means it must be ongoing.

5] The Judge did rule that NARA is responsible for notifying Department of Justice of Records Destroyed, and a list is being compiled, as well as records missing, withdrawn and withheld. 

 JFKcountercoup: Missing JFK Assassination Records - Revised and Updated]

 6) The Judge also ruled that NARA must provide a searchable digital index and a published guide to the JFK Collection, that the JFK Act requires, a requirement that was never met. The NARA has a working JFK Collection data base that is frequently updated, but it is not open to the public, only archivist who work there. The public data base is basically useless and is years outdated. 

7) The judge ordered the release of all Congressional Records in the JFK Collection, which would include Pike Committee, Church Committee - Schweiker/Hart Subcommittee, House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) and Assassination Records Review Board records.  

8) OTHER - There may be others that I missed. 

 

 





Tales of the AF1 Radio Tapes

 TALES OF THE AF1 RADIO TAPES 

BK Notes: Jefferson Morley reposted an article he did on the AF1 Radio Tapes at his JFKFacts blog, that rekindled a lot of the anti-conspiracy mob, especially Fred Litwin, who addressed two of the dozen or so issues at play - that LeMay did not disobey AF Secretary orders on where to land in DC, and the idea that LeMay attended the autopsy in Bethesda. But this isn't about conspiracy, its about obtaining one of the most significant pieces of evidence in the case that isn't fully in the public domain. 

Possible Sources for the original unedited AF1 Radio Tansmission Tapes

Collins Radio, who ran the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is one possible source for the AF1 Radio tapes.

I called Collins Radio - Rockwell, and asked their library in Cedar Rapid if they had the AF1 tapes from 11/22/63 and the guy who answered the phone said they probably did, but when he came back after putting me on hold, was quite upset, and said No! As if he was given a dressing down by a superior.

Among the recently released records is one file labeled "Collins Radio" and NBR but it is indeed relevant. It contains legal letters from three major defense contractors - General Dynamics, LTV and Collins, discussing the tax status of their technicians who worked at the Allice Springs NSA facility.

The WHCA White House Communications Agency was responsible for recording the tapes. They told Vince Salandria that they have them but they are for internal use only and will never be released to the public, and they also have a tape of the motorcade security secret service channel, known as "Charlie Channel," that Kellerman was talking on when the last shot was fired. The WHCA also ran the miscellaneous cash fund that had a code name from where JFK and LBJ used for extraneous projects. 

At the time of the assassination the WHCA ran their base station from a suite at the Sherraton Hotel and there are the 11/22/63 statements of the four radio men who maned that station.

One officer wrote a book about WHCA that's really interesting.

Then other possible sources are a civilian HAM radio association that both Art Collins and Gen LeMay belonged to that monitored the AF1 radio communications and probably recorded them. They used a public frequency so anybody could listen in if ypu knew the frequency (Kennith).It was only a few months later, in early '64. when the WHCA took the Execu t I've Air Fleet totally secure. 

Thinking about it, I bet the Cuban-Soviet listening post on Cubas north shore most certainly listened in, as CIA agent Brian Latelle interviewed a defector who worked there who said Castro himself called to order them to listen to the radio broadcasts from Texas, where JFK would be. Of course Latelle uses this as proof Castro knew JFK was to be killed rather than ask the Cubans for their copy, as we seem to have lost ours.

And finally, I'm pretty sure the Canadians listened in and probably recorded the AF1 broadcasts and positive the Joint USA-NSA-Aussie ELINT electronic listening post in the Australian Outback town of Alice Springs-Ayers Rock has it, but won't acknowledge it. NSA should have it too.

There was also a complete transcript of the unedited tape because three reliable reporters were permitted to read it, and quote from it, but not make copies or keep it - William Manchester, Making of a President author TheadorWhite, and Pierre Salinger, who told Vince Salandria that he got his copy from the Kennedy Library and returned it. But the Library told Salandria they no longer have it - add to records withdrawn?

Vince Salandria 

JFKcountercoup: Tale of the Tapes - By Vincent Salandria

Seven Days In LeMay

https://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2020/11/seven-days-in-lemay-continued.html

Fredrich Wilhelm Fritz – possibly with LeMay at the time of the assassination

https://www.africahunting.com/threads/dr-friedrich-wilhelm-fritz-remmler-big-game-hunter-falconer.3561/

https://jfkcountercoup2.blogspot.com/2023/01/more-on-dr-fritz-remmler.html?m=1'


Art Collins and Gen. LeMay 

JFKcountercoup: Arthur Collins and Curtis LeMay at the Time of the Assassination


LeMay Bio Excerpts 

JFKCountercoup2: 2020

Collins Radio Connections 

Collins Radio Connections | JFKCountercoup

D. H. Byrd and General LeMay]

JFKCountercoup2: D.H. Byrd and General LeMay

Here's some of the articles that I have put together on these issues over the years. 

Media Play:

https://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2013/11/air-force-one-radio-tapes-get-media-play.html

News Article

https://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-lbj-tapes-new-exclusive-article-on.html

Tape

https://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2013/07/air-force-one-radio-transmissions.html

Prequil

https://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2013/07/prequil-to-forensic-analysis-of-air.html

https://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2013/07/notes-to-prequil-to-forensic-analysis.html

Stranger

https://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2012/05/stranger-missing-code-books.html     

Synopsis from Wecht Conference

https://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2013/10/synopsis-wecht-conference-presentation.html

https://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2013/10/from-program-cyril-h.html

Estimated Time

https://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2013/10/air-force-one-tapes-estimated-time.html

Combined Tapes

https://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2013/11/combined-air-force-one-radio-tapes.html

Tales of theTapes

https://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2022/06/tales-of-air-force-one-transmission.html

Rebroadcast

https://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2013/11/thursday-november-21-2013-rebroadcastof.html

Update

https://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-air-force-one-radio-tapes-update.html

50 Reasons – On AF1 Tapes

https://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2013/11/50-reasons-videos-47-on-air-force-one.html

Collins Radio Connections

https://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-collins-radio-connections-revisited.html

Collins and LeMay

https://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2021/11/arthur-collins-and-curtis-lemay-at-time.html

Seven Days in LeMay

https://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2022/05/seven-days-in-lemay-updated.html https://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2020/11/seven-days-in-lemay-continued.html https://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2020/03/general-lemay-at-dealey-plaza.htmlhttps://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2019/12/general-lemay-on-11-22-63.html

LeMay Papers

https://findingaids.loc.gov/exist_collections/ead3pdf/mss/2014/ms014063.pdf

Caroline Kennedy on the Tapes 

https://findingaids.loc.gov/exist_collections/ead3pdf/mss/2014/ms014063.pdf

https://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2020/03/listening-in-by-caroline-kennedy-and.html https://jfkcountercoup.blogspot.com/2019/05/jfks-secret-oval-office-tape-recordings.html

 

Watch "AF 1 radio transmissions Nov 22 1963. With Subtitles." on YouTube

https://youtu.be/Bnb3-irHOIA

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

Judge's Decision on MF v Biden and NARA

 Larry Schnapf Writes:

Posted Sunday at 07:31 PM

On Friday nite, the court issued an opinion which partially granted some aspects of the Defendants' motion to dismiss and while denying the government's request to dismiss other counts. The court dismissed the claims against President Biden but allows some of the claims involving the National Archives  to continue.

Here is the official MFF statement:

“The July 14 court order provided several victories for the Plaintiffs, including the right to seek immediate release of 1,720 assassination records created due to legislative action by the Church Committee and the House Select Committee on Assassinations, the right to investigate the history of the documents destroyed in the course of the JFK investigations and the right to compel improvement in the usability of the National Archive's JFK Collection.  However, the court’s order also narrowed the scope of our lawsuit by not providing a transparent process for the release of other assassination records.  We are reviewing all of our options.” 

 

Bill Simpich writes:

NARA is not barred from adding new items to the JFK Collection.   The court's order did not address that issue.

There will be more analysis after MFF reviews its options.   Here is the MFF press statement:

“The July 14 court order provided several victories for the Plaintiffs, including the right to seek immediate release of 1,720 assassination records created due to legislative action by the Church Committee and the House Select Committee on Assassinations, the right to investigate the history of the documents destroyed in the course of the JFK investigations and the right to compel improvement in the usability of the National Archives JFK Collection.  However, the court’s order also narrowed the scope of our lawsuit by not providing a transparent process for the release of other assassination records.  We are reviewing all of our options.” 

Here was what I posted on the Ed Forum today:

The judge's decision was a mixed bag, with victories and defeats for both sides.  Both sides have the option to take action to affect the shape of the lawsuit in the days to come.  This is not a hard-and-fixed situation yet.

MFF, Tink Thompson and Gary Aguilar will take the next few days to review their options.

I can't attach the entire decision, but it will be posted at Mary Ferrell Foundation's JFK site in the next day or two.

One item worth thinking about is below.  We have created a good list of destroyed and missing documents at the Assassinations Archives and Research Center.  website.  As many know, AARC, Jim Lesar and Dan Alcorn are indefatigable allies in these battles for openness and transparency.  If anyone has any additions, please post them on this thread - after reviewing these two ARRC lists highlighted above?

Below is the excerpt:

Federal Records Act

Plaintiffs plead that NARA has violated the Federal Records Act by failing to request that the Attorney General take action after the ARRB identified destruction of assassination records by certain agencies. Under the Federal Records Act, if the Archivist becomes aware of “any actual, impending, or threatened unlawful removal, defacing, alteration, or destruction of records in the custody of” an agency, they are required to notify that agency’s head and assist them “in initiating action through the Attorney General for the recovery of records unlawfully removed and for other redress provided by law.” 44 U.S.C. § 2905(a). If the agency head “does not initiate an action for such recovery or other redress within a reasonable period of time after being notified of any such unlawful action,” the Archivist must “request the Attorney General to initiate such an action.” Id.

Plaintiffs aver that the ARRB Final Report identified intentional destruction of records by the CIA, FBI, and Secret Service, SAC ¶ 61(f), thus triggering the Archivist’s duty to ask the Attorney General to initiate an action for their recovery. Defendants argue this count should be dismissed because a referral to the Attorney General is only required under § 2905(a) for the recovery of records unlawfully removed, rather than destroyed. Defendants cite several cases interpreting an analogous provision to § 2905(a)—44 U.S.C. § 3106(a), which governs federal agencies—holding that agencies only have a duty to involve the Attorney General when records have been unlawfully removed. See, e.g., Bioscience Advisors, Inc. v. United States Sec. & Exch. Comm’n, No. 21-CV-00866-HSG, 2023 WL 163144, at *6 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 11, 2023); Citizens for Resp. & Ethics in Washington v. U.S. S.E.C., 916 F. Supp. 2d 141, 146–148 (D.D.C. 2013).

However, Defendants fail to contend with the differences in language between § 2905(a) and § 3106(a). While § 3106(a) only requires an agency head to “initiate action through the Attorney General for the recovery of records the head of the Federal agency knows or has reason to believe have been unlawfully removed,” § 2905(a) requires the Archivist to assist an agency head in “initiating action through the Attorney General for the recovery of records unlawfully removed and for other redress provided by law.” 44 U.S.C. §§ 2905(a), 3106(a) (emphasis added).

Likewise, if the agency head fails to “initiate an action for such recovery or other redress” after being notified of “any such unlawful action,” the Archivist must request the Attorney General to initiate such action. 44 U.S.C. § 2905(a) (emphasis added).

In other words, as compared with § 3106(a), § 2905(a) includes an additional clause enabling the Archivist to initiate action through the Attorney General. § 2905(a) thereby seems to impose a broader referral duty on the Archivist than § 3106(a) imposes on agency heads because of its inclusion of “other redress provided by law.” Such a distinction also seems to be made within § 3106. Compare 44 U.S.C. § 3106(a) (requiring agency heads to take action for “the recovery of records . . . unlawfully removed”) with § 3106(b) (requiring the Archivist to make a referral when an agency head fails to “initiate an action for such recovery or other redress” after notification of “any such unlawful action described in subsection (a)”).

The legislative history of § 2905 and § 3106 supports this interpretation. In 1984, Congress amended § 2905 and § 3106 to require an Attorney General referral by the Archivist if an agency head failed to take action. The House committee report only discusses the provision in the context of initiating action for the “recovery of records unlawfully removed.” H.R. Rep. 98-707, at 21. By contrast, the final conference report explained the provision as requiring the Archivist to make a referral to the Attorney General if they are aware of “any such unlawful action,” where “destruction” was listed several sentences before as one action prohibited by law. H.R. Conf. Rep. 98-1124, at 27, as reprinted in 1984 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3894, 3902. The conference report then explained that Congress would be notified in such instances “because of the frequency of incidents of removal or destruction.” Id. at 28 (emphasis added).10 Because the language of § 2905(a) and § 3106(a) are markedly different, Defendants’ references to cases interpreting § 3106(a) are not persuasive. § 3106(a) seems to require the Archivist to make an Attorney General referral in more circumstances than unlawful removal of records. It instead seems to require that the Archivist make a referral to the Attorney General if the agency head has failed to act and the Archivist is aware of, among other unlawful conduct, destruction of agency records.

Plaintiffs aver that certain agencies intentionally destroyed records, these agencies’ destruction of records was reported in the ARRB final report, and both the Archivist and the agencies failed to refer the matter to the Attorney General, thereby stating a plausible claim. Accordingly, the motion to dismiss Count 5 is denied, except to the extent it references NARA’s failure to pursue outstanding record searches.


 From my reading he gave them 3 things- MF can continue to press for
NARA to release the Church Committee documents (legislative documents);
MF can press for NARA to create the Finding Aids; and MF can press for
the Archivist to report destruction of documents to the Attorney
General.  All else is dismissed or denied.  The Judge's tone is harsh at
times.- Dan 

Judge limits lawsuit to congressional records and destroyed assassination files

JEFFERSON MORLEY

JUL 17


 Jefferson Morley writes: 

On July 14 Judge Richard Seeborg dismissed three counts of the Mary Ferrell Foundation's lawsuit against President Biden and the National Archives but allowed the litigation to proceed over two other counts.

Judge Richard Seeborg

The judge’s decision gives the foundation, the sponsor of the largest online collection of JFK records, the right to:

seek immediate release of all still-redacted assassination records created by Congressional investigations of the Senate’s Church Committee and the House Select Committee on Assassinations;

investigate the destruction of JFK documents the course of three official investigations, and

compel improvements in the usability of the National Archives' JFK Collection.

The Foundation's attorneys are considering all options concerning this litigation.

See Mary Ferrelll Foundations’s “JFK Records Lawsuit” page for more information about Judge Seeborg’s decision and the lawsuit.







Dan