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Final Report
of the
Assassination Records Review Board

September, 1998

Letter of Transmittal to President Clinton

Letter of Transmittal to Majority Leader Lott

Letter of Transmittal to Speaker Gingrich

Assassination Records Review Board

Assassination Records Review Board Staff

Table of Contents

Preface

Executive Summary

Chapter 1: The Problem of Secrecy and the Solution of the JFK Act

  1. The Problem of Secrecy
  2. Prior Investigative Efforts
    1. The President's Commission to Investigate the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy (Warren Commission)
    2. The President's Commission on Central Intelligence Agency Activities Within the United States (Rockefeller Commission)
    3. The Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (Church Committee)
    4. The Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives (Pike Committee)
    5. The Select Committee on Assassinations of the House of Representatives (HSCA)
    6. Additional Congressional Investigations
    7. Records Held by Executive Branch Agencies
    8. Investigative Records in the Custody of Non-Federal Sources
  3. Skepticism Concerning the Government's Conclusions
  4. The Solution: The JFK Act
  5. Legislative History of JFK Act
  6. Key Provisions of JFK Act

Chapter 2: Establishment of the Review Board and Definition of "Assassination Record"

  1. Introduction
  2. Delay in Start Up
    1. JFK Act Deadlines
      1. Ninety days for President to appoint Review Board members.
      2. 300 days for government offices to review, identify, and organize assassination records.
      3. 300 days for NARA to establish JFK Collection.
      4. Three years for Board to complete work.
    2. Passage of H.R. 1553
  3. Defining "Assassination Record"
    1. Statutory Definition of "Assassination Record"
    2. Congressional Intent Concerning Definition
    3. Review Board's Early Deliberations and Draft Definition
    4. Comments from Public
      1. Notice and Comment.
      2. Public Hearings.
    5. Definition
      1. Scope of assassination records.
      2. Scope of additional records and information.
      3. Sources of assassination records and additional records and information.
      4. Types of materials included in scope of assassination records and additional records and information.
      5. Assassination records released in their entirety.
      6. Originals and copies.
  4. Conclusion

Chapter 3: Public Activities of the Assassination Records Review Board

  1. Introduction
  2. Public Hearings
  3. Public Meetings
  4. Experts Conferences
  5. Outreach
    1. Outreach to Academics
    2. Outreach to Students
    3. Outreach to Assassination Researchers
    4. Media
  6. Conclusion

Chapter 4: Developing the Review Process

  1. Introduction
  2. JFK Act Requirements for Processing Documents
  3. Basic Elements of the Review Process
  4. Electronic Identification Aids
  5. Tracking the Review of Assassination Records
    1. Review Track Database
    2. Fast Track Database
  6. Consent Releases
  7. Board Procedures
  8. Miscellaneous Bottlenecks and Problems in the Review Process
    1. Duplicates
    2. Equities and Referrals
      1. Managing referrals.
      2. Dunning letters.
      3. Review Board joint declassification sessions.
  9. Document Processing After Review Board Votes
  10. Conclusion

Chapter 5: The Standards for Review: Review Board "Common Law"

  1. Introduction and Background
    1. Current Guidelines for Release of Assassination-Related Information
    2. Key Distinctions Between Standards of Release Under the FOIA, the Executive Order, and the JFK Act
      1. JFK Act presumes disclosure of assassination records.
      2. JFK Act requires agencies to provide clear and convincing evidence.
      3. JFK Act requires the Review Board to balance evidence for postponement against public interest in release.
      4. Segregability and substitute language.
    3. Federal Agency Record Groups and the Standards Applied to Them
      1. The FBI's "core and related" files.
      2. The CIA's Lee Harvey Oswald "201" file.
      3. The FBI's "House Select Committee on Assassinations" (HSCA) subject files.
      4. The CIA's "segregated collection" files.
      5. FBI records on the congressional committees that investigated the assassination.
      6. Requests for additional information.
  2. Declassification Standards
    1. Standard of Proof: Clear and Convincing Evidence
      1. Review Board guidelines.
      2. Commentary.
        1. "Rule of Reason."
          1. "NBR" Guidelines: Records that Review Board judged were "not believed relevant" to the assassination
          2. Segregated Collection Guidelines
    2. Intelligence Agents
      1. CIA officers.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      2. "John Scelso" (pseudonym).
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      3. Information that identifies CIA officers.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      4. Names of National Security Agency employees.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
    3. Intelligence Sources and Methods and Other Matters Relating to the National Security of the United States
      1. CIA sources.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      2. CIA pseudonyms.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      3. CIA crypts.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      4. CIA sluglines.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      5. CIA surveillance methods.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      6. CIA installations.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      7. CIA prefixes (cable, dispatch, field report).
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      8. CIA job titles.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      9. CIA file numbers.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      10. CIA domestic facilities.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      11. CIA official cover.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      12. Alias documentation.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      13. Foreign intelligence cooperation.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      14. Human sources in FBI foreign counterintelligence (assets).
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      15. FBI foreign counterintelligence activities.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary and overview of foreign counterintelligence appeals.
          1. The FBI's May 1996 Appeals to the President
          2. Post-appeal decisionmaking
      16. Information that reveals the FBI's investigative interest in a diplomatic establishment or diplomatic personnel.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      17. Technical sources in FBI foreign counterintelligence.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      18. Other classified file numbers relating to FBI foreign counterintelligence.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      19. FBI mail cover in foreign counterintelligence investigations
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      20. FBI tracing of funds in foreign counterintelligence investigations
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      21. FBI physical surveillance.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      22. Operational details concerning Department of Defense operations.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      23. National Security Agency sources and methods.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      24. National Security Agency intercept traffic
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
    4. Personal Privacy
      1. Personal privacy generally
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      2. National Security Agency intercept traffic
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      3. Prisoner of War issues.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      4. Names of individuals in Secret Service "threat sheets."
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      5. National Security Agency intercept traffic
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
    5. Informant Postponements
      1. Informant postponements generally.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
          1. A note on the statutory framework for review of FBI informant postponements
          2. History of Review Board's decisionmaking on informant postponements
          3. Effect of prior disclosures
      2. Individuals who provided information to the FBI, but who did not have an ongoing confidential relationship with the FBI.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      3. individuals who gave the fbi information to which they had access by virtue of their employment.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      4. Deceased informants.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      5. "Negative Contacts": Informants who provided no assassination-related information to the FBI.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      6. "Positive Contacts": Informants who provided at least some assassination-related information to the FBI.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
      7. FBI informant symbol numbers and file numbers.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
    6. Confidential Relationships Between Government Agents and Cooperating Foreign Governments
      1. Foreign liaison postponements in FBI files.
        1. Review Board guidelines.
        2. Commentary.
    7. Presidential Protection
  3. JFK Act Exemptions
    1. Tax Return Information
    2. Records Under Seal
  4. Appeals to the President Pending as of September 30, 1998
  5. Conclusion

Chapter 6, Part I: The Quest for Additional Information and Records in Federal Government Offices

  1. Records Related To Lee Harvey Oswald
    1. Pre-assassination records
      1. CIA.
        1. Security file.
        2. Records in the defector file.
        3. HTLINGUAL records.
      2. FBI.
      3. Secret Service.
      4. IRS/Social Security Administration.
      5. INS records on Lee and Marina Oswald.
      6. House Un-American Activities Committee.
    2. Military records
      1. U.S. Marine Corps records.
        1. U.S. Marine Headquarters copy of enlisted personnel file and medical file.
        2. Additional relevant U.S. Marine Corps unit diaries.
      2. Military identification card.
      3. Possible ONI post-defection investigation.
    3. In the U.S.S.R.
      1. CIA operations in Moscow.
      2. American Embassy personnel.
      3. Search for American Embassy records.
      4. DCD/OO alleged debriefing of Lee Harvey Oswald.
    4. In Mexico City
      1. Technical surveillance.
        1. Audio and photographic.
        2. Tapes, transcripts, and photographs in existence.
      2. Cable traffic.
      3. Win Scott files.
      4. Sylvia Duran.
      5. Legat administrative files.
      6. Anne Goodpasture deposition.
  2. Records On Cuba
    1. CIA Record.
    2. Military Records.
      1. Joint Staff Secretariat.
      2. Army.
      3. Office of the Secretary of Defense.
      4. Joint Chiefs of Staff history.
    3. Presidential Library collections
      1. JFK Library records.
      2. LBJ Library records.
    4. Church Committee Records
  3. Records On Vietnam
    1. CIA Records
    2. Military records
      1. Joint Staff Secretariat.
      2. Office of the Secretary of Defense.
      3. Joint Chiefs of Staff history.
    3. Presidential Library collections
      1. JFK Library.
      2. LBJ Library.
    4. Church Committee Testimony
  4. Records of Senior Agency Officials
    1. CIA
      1. Allen Dulles.
      2. John McCone.
      3. Charles Cabell and Marshall Carter.
      4. Richard Bissell, William Colby, and Richard Helms.
      5. James J. Angleton.
      6. Lawrence Houston.
      7. William Harvey.
    2. FBI
      1. Hoover and Tolson records, including "Official and Confidential" files, chronological files, and phone logs.
      2. Miscellaneous administrative files from the Director's Office.
      3. John P. Mohr Records.
    3. Secret Service
    4. Office of the Secretary of Defense
    5. Office of Naval Intelligence
    6. Army
    7. National Security Agency
    8. Department of State
    9. Department of Justice
      1. Office of Information and Privacy.
      2. Criminal Division.
    10. Department of the Treasury
    11. IRS
  5. Pro and Anti-Castro Cuban Matters
    1. Fair Play for Cuba Committee
      1. FBI field office files.
      2. CIA records on Richard Gibson.
      3. Department of Justice Criminal Division files on FPCC.
    2. Cuban COINTELPRO
    3. Anti-Castro Activities
    4. Cuban Intelligence Activities in the U.S.; Cuban Situation
    5. Anti-Castro Cuban Groups, Including DRE, Alpha 66, SFNE, JURE, FRD, CRC, and Commandos-L
    6. Threats Against the Life of Fidel Castro
      1. CIA DS&T records.
      2. FBI file captioned "Threats Against the Life of Fidel Castro."
    7. American Gambling Interests in Cuba
    8. Sergio Arcacha-Smith, Antonio Veciana, and Bernardo de Torres
  6. Records on Organized Crime
    1. Sam Giancana
    2. FBI Electronic Surveillance of Carlos Marcello: BriLab
    3. Department of Justice Criminal Division Records
  7. Warren Commission Staff and Critics
    1. FBI Files on Warren Commission Staff
    2. CIA and FBI Files on Warren Commission Critics
      1. Mark Lane.
      2. Harold Weisberg.
      3. Josiah Thompson.
      4. Edward J. Epstein.
      5. Paul Hoch.
      6. David S. Lifton.
      7. Sylvia Meagher.
  8. Name Searches
    1. John Abt
    2. Edward Becker
    3. Carlos Bringuier
    4. George Bush
    5. Ed Butler and Information Council of the Americas
    6. Claude Barnes Capehart
    7. Lawrence Cusack
    8. Adele Edisen, Winston de Monsabert, Jose Rivera
    9. Billie Sol Estes
    10. Judith Campbell Exner
    11. H.L. Hunt and Family and Clint Murchison and Family
    12. Joseph P. Kennedy
    13. Oswald LeWinter
    14. Marita Lorenz
    15. John Thomas Masen
    16. John Anthony McVickar
    17. Elizabeth Catlett Mora
    18. Gordon Duane Novel
    19. Orest Pena
    20. Carlos Quiroga
    21. Charles Small
    22. Clarence Daniel Smelley
    23. Richard Snyder
    24. Marty Underwood
    25. General Edwin Walker/Minutemen
  9. Miscellaneous
    1. CIA
      1. The U-2 connection and the fake manuals.
      2. The "Family Jewels."
    2. FBI
      1. "Research Matters" file on John F. Kennedy.
      2. Liaison with other federal agencies.
        1. Secret Service/Protection of the President.
        2. CIA.
        3. NSA.
        4. Customs.
        5. ATF.
    3. Secret Service
      1. Protective survey reports.
      2. Shift reports.
      3. Eileen Dinneen memoranda.
    4. Department of State
    5. Army
      1. U.S. Army's Investigative Records Repository
      2. Army Security Agency records and files
      3. Army Inspector General 1973 report on domestic surveillance abuses in the U.S.
    6. White House Communications Agency
    7. Presidential Library Materials
      1. William Manchester interviews.
      2. Jacqueline B. Kennedy tapes at the LBJ Library.
  10. Conclusion

Chapter 6, Part II: Clarifing the Federal Record on the Zapruder Film and the Medical and Ballistics Evidence

  1. Introduction
  2. Medical Evidence
    1. Medical issues
  3. Zapruder Film
    1. Ownership of the Zapruder film
    2. Staff examination of films designated as "in-camera" original, and first-generation copies, by NARA
    3. Eastman Kodak's Pro Bono Work for the Review Board Related to the Zapruder Film (and Autopsy Photographs)
    4. The Review Board Staff's Study and Clarification of Paul Hoch's FOIA Lead "CIA Document 450"
  4. Ballistics

Chapter 7: Pursuit of Records and Information from Non-Federal Sources

  1. Pursuit of Records and Papers from Private Citizens and Organizations
    1. Gary Aguilar: Interviews with Drs. Humes and Boswell
    2. Richard Barnes: AP Wire Copy
    3. Dr. George Burkley
    4. Edward Scannell Butler: Materials from the Information Council of the Americas
    5. Mrs. Marion Ebersole: Records of Dr. John J. Ebersole
    6. President Gerald Ford: Desk Diaries
    7. Justice Abe Fortas
    8. Captain J.W. "Will" Fritz
    9. Jim Garrison
    10. James P. Hosty, Jr.
    11. Wesley Liebeler
    12. David Lifton: Medical Evidence
    13. Holland McCombs
    14. Richard Case Nagell
    15. New Orleans Metropolitan Crime Commission
    16. Gerald Posner
    17. Frank Ragano
    18. J. Lee Rankin: Warren Commission Papers
    19. Clay Shaw: Personal Papers and Diary
    20. Walter Sheridan
    21. Sixth Floor Museum Records
    22. Martin Underwood
    23. Edward Wegmann
    24. Thomas W. Wilson
  2. Pursuit of Audio-Visual Material from Private Citizens and Organizations
    1. Tom Alyea: Film from Inside the Texas School Book Depository
    2. Charles Bronson: Film of Dealey Plaza
    3. CBS Outtakes
    4. Robert Groden
    5. Lt. Everett Kay: Audio Surveillance Tape
    6. Vincent Palamara: Interviews with Secret Service Personnel
    7. David Powers: Film of Motorcade
    8. David Taplin: November 24, 1963, Coverage of Dallas Police Department
    9. Stephen Tyler
    10. Janet Veazey: KTVT Outtakes
    11. Moses Weitzman
    12. Robert White: Evelyn Lincoln Materials
  3. Pursuit of State and Local Government Records
    1. New Orleans District Attorney Files
    2. Dallas City and County Records
  4. Pursuit of Records from Foreign Governments
    1. Russia
    2. Belarus
    3. Cuba
    4. Mexico
    5. Other Governments
  5. Conclusion

Chapter 8: Compliance with JFK Act by Government Offices

  1. Introduction
  2. Federal Agency Compliance with the JFK Act
    1. Central Intelligence Agency
    2. Federal Bureau of Investigation
    3. Secret Service
    4. National Security Agency
    5. Department of State
    6. Department of Justice
      1. Office of Information & Privacy.
      2. Criminal Division.
      3. Civil Division.
      4. Civil Rights Division.
      5. Office of Legal Counsel.
    7. Department of the Treasury
      1. Main Treasury.
      2. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, & Firearms.
      3. Customs Service.
      4. Internal Revenue Service.
    8. National Security Council
    9. The President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board
    10. Immigration & Naturalization Service
    11. Office of the Secretary of Defense
    12. Defense Intelligence Agency
    13. Department of the Army
      1. Investigative Records Repository.
    14. Department of the Navy
      1. Office of Naval Intelligence.
      2. National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda.
    15. Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
    16. Department of the Air Force
    17. Joint Staff
    18. White House Communications Agency
    19. U.S. Postal Service
    20. Social Security Administration
    21. Drug Enforcement Administration
    22. NARA, including Presidential Libraries
      1. NARA, Washington, D.C.
      2. NARA, Southwest Region, Fort Worth, Texas.
      3. Gerald R. Ford Library.
      4. John F. Kennedy Library.
      5. Lyndon B. Johnson Library.
    23. General Services Administration
  3. Congressional Records
    1. House Select Committee on Assassinations
    2. Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (the Church Committee)
    3. House Select Committee on Intelligence (the Pike Committee)
    4. house judiciary subcommittee on civil & constitutional rights (the Edwards Committee)
    5. House Government Operations Subcommittee on Government Information and Individual Rights (the Abzug Committee)
    6. House Committee on Un-American Activities
    7. Library of Congress
    8. Other Congressional Records
  4. Conclusion

Review Board Recommendations

Appendices

Appendix A: The Members of the Assassination Records Review Board

Appendix B: The Staff of the Assassination Records Review Board

Appendix C: President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992

Appendix D: Assassination Records Review Board Guidance for Interpretation and Implementation of the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992

Appendix E: Meetings of the Review Board

Appendix F: Summary of Review Board Votes on Records

Acknowledgments

Preface

This Final Report of the Assassination Records Review Board details the Board's extensive work in fulfilling its statutory mandate. The JFK Act, however, necessitates that the Review Board's report be different from reports of other assassination-related commissions and committees. Previous assassination-related commissions and committees were established for the purpose of issuing final reports that would draw conclusions about the assassination. Congress did not, however, direct the Review Board to draw conclusions about the assassination, but to release assassination records so that the public could draw its own conclusions. Thus, this Final Report does not offer conclusions about what the assassination records released did or did not prove. Rather, it identifies records that the Board released and describes the processes and standards that the Board used to release them. The Board believes that its most substantial contribution has been to enhance, broaden, and deepen the historical record relating to the assassination. The American public ultimately will be the beneficiaries of the JFK Act and the Review Board's work in ensuring access to the extensive reach of the JFK Collection.

The first two chapters of the Report describe the Review Board and its establishment. Chapter one describes the context in which Congress passed the JFK Act and briefly introduces some of the records that Congress directed the Review Board to examine and release if appropriate. Chapter two describes how the JFK Act both enabled and delayed the Review Board's start-up. Chapter two also explains the Review Board's first challenge — defining the statutory term "assassination record" — so that its search for records would be broad enough to ensure public confidence in the Board's work but narrow enough not to consume Board time and resources on unrelated documents.

Chapter three explains how the Review Board interacted with a very interested American public. Chapter three outlines the ways in which Review Board members and staff worked with members of the public to develop policy and seek records.

Chapters four through eight of the Report describe the heart of the Review Board's work — the identification and release of assassination records. Chapter four explains how the Review Board developed a review process that would ensure consistent review of an enormous volume of records. Chapter five describes in detail the standards that the Review Board established for the release or, in some cases, protection of federal records. Chapter six lists the numerous requests for additional information and records that the Review Board made to federal agencies to ensure that it did not leave important stones unturned. Throughout its brief history, countless individuals and groups made requests of the Board for specific information. The Board had to respond to these by asking whether meeting these requests would yield additional documents. Chapter seven describes the Board's quest for additional information and records, albeit from non-federal sources, and thus expands upon chapter six. Chapter seven also describes the types of assassination records that the Review Board sought from state and local governments as well as foreign governments. Chapter eight provides details about the cooperation, or lack thereof, that the Review Board received from each federal agency with which it dealt, outlining in detail the Review Board's "compliance program."

The last part of this report consists of the Review Board members' conclusions and their recommendations to the President, to Congress, and to existing and future federal agencies. The Board recognizes that for decades to come the federal government will continue to face the challenge of finding the most efficient way to declassify its records, an activity the Board believes is essential to maintaining our freedom. Although the problems caused by government secrecy are magnified in the context of an assassination of a President in which there is great public interest, these problems are indeed present throughout the federal government. The remedies for excessive secrecy can be universally applied with positive results.


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