The JFK Records, passed unanimously by Congress in 1992, was a landmark in open government. To quell controversy about the causes of President John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963, the Congress mandated that the government release all assassination-related records in its position. The Congress also created an independent Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) to insure compliance with the law. The ARRB did an excellent job in reviewing and releasing more than 4 million pages of long-secret records related to JFK's murder.
These records, written up in books such as David Kaiser's "The Road to Dallas," John Newman's "Oswald and the CIA," David Talbot's "Brothers," Gus Russo's "Live By the Sword," Lamar Waldon's "Ultimate Sacrifice," and Joan Mellen's "Farewell to Justice,", have contributed greatly not only to public understanding of the the assassination, and its confused investigatory aftermath but also to the history of the Kennedy administration and its policies on Cuba, Vietnam, organized crime, and civil rights.
Unfortunately, the ARRB went out of existence in 1998. Responsibility for insuring enforcement of the act was transferred to the National Archives and Record Administration which, through no fault of its own, cannot enforce the law. Without the existence of an independent board specifically empowered to enforce the Act, NARA is unable to compel government agencies (with much bigger budgets and congressional clout) to review and release new JFK records as their existence becomes known to journalists, scholars and researchers.
As a result, records that meet the statutory definiton of "assassination-related" remain secret in defiance of the intent of Congress and the will of the people.
Comments (7)
Is this just for JFK, or for all assassinations?
Is there any way this could be handled by independent organizations?
The JFK Records Act applies only to records related to the JFK assassination.
The Assassination Records Review Board and the National Archives issued a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in September 1998 stating that the Archives would take over the job of enforcing the JFK Records Act.
I believe the staff of the National Archives is capable of reviewing newly-identified JFK Records, making appropriate redactions and releasing them. What they need is a) explicit statuatory authority to review whatever records they want and b) the ability to appeal to the White House when government agencies do not comply.
One possibility would be to re-create the Assassination Records Review Board, which consisted of civilians nominated by various professional agencies (such as the American Bar Association and the American Historical Asssociation.)
This should be done for the 9/11 records for the World Trade Center!
That's a good idea.
Those records would show that 9/11 was indeed a conspiracy--one hatched by Khalid Sheik Muhammed and Osama bin Laden and carried out by the 19 men they enlisted in the plot.
@morleyj
That is rich. A bunch of cave dwelling Muslims (to which you named) brought down the THREE (3) world trade towers with nano-thermite that is only manufactured here in America. And it only took about 100 tons of the stuff to do the job.
Who’s drinking the coolaid now?
Web search “Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade
Center Catastrophe” This paper has passed peer review and is generally accepted truth in most of the world except USA.
"Cave dwelling Muslims" is the kind of rhetoric that needs and deserves no comment.
Lets look at the 19 men they enlisted. Half of them are still alive and well.
Follow this link and find out for yourself. Zeitgeist part 2 link:
If your religious do not watch Zeitgeist part 1, hehe far warning.