Updates

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: TOM SAMOLUK
DECEMBER 20, 1995
(202) 724-0088, EXT. 227

JFK ASSASSINATION RECORDS REVIEW BOARD RELEASES ADDITIONAL FBI, CIA, AND HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE ON ASSASSINATIONS RECORDS

The Assassination Records Review Board announced today that it has released additional FBI, CIA, and House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The documents are being released in full or in part and have been publicly available, but previously contained many redactions. "The record of the assassination of President Kennedy becomes fuller with each group of documents released by the Review Board, " said John R. Tunheim, Chair of the Review Board. "Our mandate is not to solve the assassination, b ut by opening up the files we give the public the opportunity to better underst and its government and how it responded to this crisis."

The Review Board released 37 FBI documents (including duplicates), 34 in full and 3 in part. These documents cover various aspects of the FBI investigation into the assassination of President Kennedy, including a report on anti-Castro Cubans in the Chicago area who were the focus of the Secret Services attention as part of their assassination investigation. Some FBI documents in this group are duplicates of ones previously released that were located elsewhere in the FBI filing system.

A total of 197 CIA documents were released by the Board, 143 in full and 54 in part. These documents relate primarily to Lee Harvey Oswalds trip to Mexico City in the fall of 1963, before the assassination of President Kennedy.

Portions of a report written by the staff of the HSCA entitled Oswald in Mexico City (commonly identified as the Lopez Report) were released by the Review Board. The Report was largely declassified in 1993, but contained many redactions. The Board opened up an additional 95 pages in full. The remaining pages of the Report that still contain redactions will be reviewed by the Board at an upcoming meeting.

The Review Board agreed with the CIA and the FBI that some information relating to sensitive intelligence sources and methods, and informants should not be publicly released at this time. The Board determined that some redacted parts of the documents still need to be protected, but also noted they containg no information about the assassination of President Kennedy or about Lee Harvey Oswald. Substitute language was provided which gives some relevant information in place of the redactions, while not revealing sensitive intelligence information.

The Assassination Records Review Board was established by The President J ohn F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act, which was signed into law by President George Bush. The five members of the Board were appointed by President Clinton, confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and sworn in on April 11, 1994. The law gives the Review Board the mandate and the authority to identify, secure, and make available all records related to the assassination of President Kennedy. It is the responsibility of the Board to determine which records are to be made public immediately and which ones will have postponed release dates.

The Review Board consists of the following members:

John R. Tunheim, Chair; Minnesota Chief Deputy Attorney General.

Dr. Henry F. Graff; Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University.

Dr. Kermit L. Hall; Dean, College of Humanities, and Professor of History at The Ohio State University.

Dr. William L. Joyce; Associate University Librarian for Rare Books and Special Collections at Princeton University.

Dr. Anna K. Nelson; Adjunct Professor of History at American University.

The Review Board has until October 1, 1996 to fulfill its mandate, plus an additional year at the Board's discretion to complete its responsibilities.

NOTE: Copies of documents are available through the National Archives.

Nagell was found dead in his Los Angeles-area home on November 1. A spokesman for the Coroner's office told Fair Play the cause of death was heart disease.

Richard Case Nagell

Nagell was the subject of the 1992 biography The Man Who Knew Too Much. About one week before Nagell's death, author Dick Russell spoke at the COPA conference in Washington, DC, and said that documents released through the JFK Assassination Records Act have added further substantiation to Nagell's story. He added that Nagell, who maintained a secretive lifestyle until the end, was unaware that Russell's 700-page book on him had been published.

Referring to the Assassination Records Review Board, and that this federal panel should have subpoened Nagell, Russell commented, "I would hope, someday---Richard Nagell is now 65 years old---before he leaves this planet, we will finally know everything he knows, and if we do, we will finally be close to solving what happened November 22, 1963."

Several speakers, some from as far away as Great Britain, addressed the crowd, which observed a moment of silence at 12:30pm, the approximate time of the assassination in 1963.

At Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, members of the Kennedy family gathered at the graves of JFK and former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The slain president's brother, Senator Edward Kennedy, was among those visiting the gravesites.

"The Review Board is calling on anyone who possesses, or knows of the existence of, original films and photographs taken of the President in Dallas on November 22, 1963, before, during or after the assassination," said Board Chair John Tunheim. "It is possible that important pictures were taken in Dealey Plaza that day which neither the government nor the public has ever seen," he said, adding, "Now is the time for those individuals to step forward and help the Review Board to complete the record of this tragic chapter in our history."

Individuals who possess such photographs, films, or other records relevant to the case are asked to contact the ARRB at (202) 724-0088, or write to:

Assassination Records Review Board
600 E Street NW
Second Floor
Washington, DC 20530

The ARRB was established in 1992 by the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act.

In a press release, the Board stated:

If you would like to receive our press released, Federal Register notices, advisories and other information of interest via the Internet instead of by regular mail, please contact Eileen Sullivan at 202-724-0088 or Eileen_Sullivan@jfk-arrb.gov.

Emerging evidence of CIA complicity in political murder. CIA officers acting in direct contradiction to the public policy of the President. CIA analysts feeding false information to the U.S. government to influence foreign policy decisions. Documents that might implicate U.S. officials seized by a government intelligence agency which refuses requests for their release. These are familiar themes to those who study the assassination of John F. Kennedy. They are also elements in a repeating pattern of undemocratic abuse of power that continues to the present day.

The most recent example has come to light in the New York Times and on a CBS's "60 Minutes" program, which revealed that the head of the Haitian secret police organization Frappe worked in concert with an under the direction of the CIA Chief of Station in Hairi in carrying out policies that led to multiple murders, and blocked efforts to return a popular, democratic leader, Aristide, to power in that country, despite the public intent of the Clinton administrationp to do so. U.S. military efforts to reinstate Aristide were thwarted by demonstrations in Haiti, staged by Frappe at the direction of the CIA. CIA analyst Brian Latelle drafted a negative "psychological profile" of "Aristide, based on totally inaccurate information, which was given to Richard Helms to influence Clinton's policy decisions regarding Haiti. Latelle has, to date, never been held accountable for this subterfuge.

In addition, U.S. military forces seized thousands of documents from the headquarters of Frappe at the time of Aristide's eventual reinstatement. Despite repeated requests for their release by the current Haitian government, the U.S. DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) refuses to release them. Many believe the contents of these documents would reveal complicity of U.S. officials in the murders, human rights abuses and other illegal attempts to thwart or influence U.S. policy toward Haiti.

U.S. intelligence agencies operate outside effective democratic control, sometimes in direct opposition to the stated policies and goals of democratically elected leaders. These agencies work to preserve relationsihps with corrupt elements in other societies, relationships that should never have been formed. Democracy cannot function with these repeated abuses, and action must be taken now to curb the actions of these agencies. The problem of maintaining both secrecy and accountability most often favors secrecy and protects abuses. It is time to hold these agencies and their personnel accountable for direct violations of human rights, complicity in murder, and opposition to legal, democratic policies of the elected government.

The reforms contemplated by current CIA Director John Deutch do not reach this level of systematic abuse in the bowels of the organization. This is not a public relations problem. In Guatemala, Haiti, and here in the United States, continued secrecy, lack of accountability and repeated scandal and abuse of democratic rights and principles must be stopped. We urge he Clinton administration to act at once to investigate and charge all responsibile parties in the CIA with violations of law and ethical behavior. The DIA must be required to make an immediate and public release of the Frappe documents to both the current government of Haiti and to the American people to determine the involvement of U.S. government employees and officials in criminal activities. In addition, the agencies that have employed "national security" and secrecy to cover their own undemocratic activities must be put under immediate, open and democratic control.

Interested citizens should call the White House Comment Line, (202) 456-1111, to demand that President Clinton take action to hold accountable those CIA officials who opposed his stated policies in Haiti. The Washington Office on Haiti (WOH) is also asking Clinton to demand full release of the seized Frappe documents by the Defense Intelligence Agency. WOH can be reached at (202) 319-4464. Congressional representatives should be contacted to demand that legislative action be taken to end the unaccountability and secrecy of the CIA and related agencies by requiring effective, open oversight and by requiring disclosure of all past, present and planned illegal and unethical activities. Local press should be contacted to demand coverage and discussion of these issues.

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