ARRB Updates
Note: This file consists primarily of press releases from the Assassination Records Review Board---that is, stuff they have deemed okay for official consumption. There may be other stuff here from time to time.
ASSASSINATION RECORDS ADVISORY
OCTOBER 10, 1996
CONTACT: EILEEN SULLIVAN
(202) 724-0088, ext. 253
ARRB RELEASES SCELSO TESTIMONY;
CIA, FBI, AND HSCA RECORDS SENT TO ARCHIVES
The Assassination Records Review Board released to the National Archives the
testimony of John Scelso, which he provided to the House Select Committee on
Assassinations (HSCA), as well as 439 additional CIA, FBI, and HSCA documents
(including duplicates) related to the assassination of President John F.
Kennedy. The Board voted to release these documents on June 4, 1996.
Scelso Testimony
The 193 paged document is a transcript of the once-secret testimony of John
Scelso (an alias), a former CIA official who was responsible, for a brief
period, for the CIA's investigation of the assassination of President Kennedy.
CIA Records
The Review Board released 228 CIA records, 4 in full and 224 in part. Included
in these documents is the 'Mexico City Chronology', a 133-paged summary of CIA
communications related to Lee Harvey Oswald's trip to Mexico City in the fall
of 1963. Other documents relate to Oswald's stay in the Soviet Union, and
former New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison's investigation into the
assassination. The redacted information includes, for the most part, names of
CIA employees and sensitive operational details.
FBI Records
The Board also released 205 FBI records, 49 in full and 156 in part. Following
the June Review Board meeting, the FBI agreed to release in full 12 documents
from this group that were originally postponed in part. These documents consist
in large part of post-assassination FBI headquarters and field office files on
Oswald. The redacted information contains informant symbol names and numbers.
HSCA Documents
The Board released 6 HSCA documents, 3 in full and 3 in part. Included in this
group of documents are: a United States Customs Service document from the
Metro-Dade Police files, which was acquired by the HSCA, concerning an
organized crime meeting
in Miami; multiple-year tax returns for Eileen Kaminsky (Jack Ruby's sister); a
Department of Defense document that includes a fact sheet on the 112th
Intelligence Corps, and a fact sheet on the destruction of Oswald's IRR dossier.
Original Documents At National Archives
The original CIA, FBI, and HSCA documents being released have been transferred
to the National Archives and Records Administration for inclusion in The
President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection, which is housed at
the National Archives facility in College Park, Maryland.
Secret Service Records
As part of the mandate of the Review Board to identify assassination records,
the Board designated additional Secret Service records as 'assassination
records.' These records include Secret Service correspondence with members of
the Warren Commission in 1964, and the document 'Briefing Book: Director's
Appearance Before the House Select Committee on Assassinations, December
1978.' The Board will now review these documents for inclusion in the JFK
Assassination Records Collection.
Other Board-Related Activities
The FBI has appealed to the President the Board's decisions to release
information contained in 9 documents (including duplicates) from the June 4,
1996 meeting. The information contained in the redacted portions of these
documents has to do with foreign counterintelligence issues.
After consultation with the FBI and in compliance with the JFK Act, 82 FBI
documents will be available by consent release. Another recent group of FBI
consent releases contains a December 1, 1966 document in which a KGB source is
quoted as stating that at one time the Soviets believed Lyndon B. Johnson may
have been responsible for the assassination. Copies of this document are
available upon request at the Review Board offices.
-end-
Belin Appearing Before ARRB
MEDIA ADVISORY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACTS: TOM SAMOLUK, EILEEN SULLIVAN
(202) 724-0088
DATE: SEPTEMBER 10, 1996
JFK ASSASSINATION RECORDS REVIEW BOARD
TO HOLD PUBLIC HEARING IN LOS ANGELES, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17TH
The Assassination Records Review Board, an independent federal agency appointed
by President Clinton to oversee the review and release of records related to
the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, will hold a public hearing in
Los Angeles on Tuesday, September 17, 1996.
The hearing will be held in the Los Angeles Board of Education Hearing Room
which is Room H-160, located on the first floor of the Hill Street Building in
the building complex at 450 North Grand Avenue. The Board will hear a wide
range of expert testimony on the identification and location of assassination
records and receive an update from a National Archives representative on the
President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection.
**********
Event: Assassination Records Review Board Public Hearing
Date: Tuesday, September 17, 1996
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Location: Los Angeles Board of Education Hearing Room
Room H-160 (1st Floor of Hill Street Building)
450 North Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, California
**********
The following witnesses are scheduled to testify at the Board's public hearing:
David Belin, former assistant counsel to the Warren Commission and author of
two books on the assassination, November 22, 1963: You Are The Jury and Final Disclosure: The Full Truth About The Assassination of President Kennedy. Belin
also served as the Executive Director of the Rockefeller Commission in 1975,
investigating CIA assassinations of foreign leaders.
James DiEugenio, author of Destiny Betrayed: JFK, Cuba and the Garrison Case,
an analysis of New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison's inquiry and the
assassination itself.
Eric Hamburg, co-producer of the Oliver Stone movie Nixon and a former
Congressional staff assistant involved in passage of the President John F.
Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992.
Wesley Liebeler, former Assistant Counsel to the Warren Commission and
currently a professor of law at UCLA.
David Lifton, author of Best Evidence: Disguise and Deception In The
Assassination of John F. Kennedy, which focused on the medical evidence in the case. He is currently working on a book about Lee Harvey Oswald.
James Rankin, son of former General Counsel to the Warren Commission, the late
J. Lee Rankin. He will testify about his father's personal papers related to
his work for the Warren Commission.
Robert Tanenbaum, former Deputy Counsel for the House Select Committee on
Assassinations in the late 1970's. He is the author of Corruption of Blood, a
fictionalized account of his experience with the Committee investigating the
assassination of President Kennedy.
Steven Tilley, of the National Archives and Records Administration, oversees
the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection.
The Assassination Records Review Board was established by The President John 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:
Honorable John R. Tunheim, Chair; U.S. District Court Judge, District of
Minnesota.
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, 1997 to fulfill its mandate.
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