Message to White House: Full JFK
Disclosure in 2017
In an open letter to the White
House, a diverse group of JFK authors and investigators are calling on the
president's lawyer to endorse complete declassification of thousands of pages
of still-secret government records related to the assassination of President
John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963.
November 18, 2016
The Hon. W. Neil Eggleston
Counsel to the President
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20502
Counsel to the President
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20502
Dear Mr. Eggleston,
October 26, 2017 will mark the 25th
anniversary of the JFK Records Act, one of the most successful full disclosure
measures in the annals of open government law. We write to ask your support for
effective enforcement of the Act now and under the next administration.
The JFK Assassination Records Act
was approved unanimously by Congress and signed into law by President George
H.W. Bush on October 26, 1992. The Act resulted in the declassification of some
4 million pages of records related to the assassination of President Kennedy.
The Act also serves as a model for other open government measures that have
made public key chapters in the nation's history without compromising
legitimate secrets. As President Obama said in August, "we have a
responsibility to confront the past with honesty and transparency."
The JFK Records Collection is now
the single most-requested body of records at National Archives II in College
Park, Maryland. Scholars, journalists, historians, and students have found
these records invaluable for writing the history of the Cold War, Kennedy's
presidency, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Warren Commission, Vietnam, the
counterculture, and Watergate.
The final test of the law will come
on October 26, 2017. That's when all of the redacted documents in the collection,
as well as nearly 3,600 JFK records still withheld in full, are scheduled to be
declassified in their entirety. The staff of the National Archives is now
preparing for the online release of all material before the statutory deadline,
an ambitious goal that we hope will be fulfilled.
One provision of the Act gives
federal agencies the right to request continued postponement of JFK records
after 2017, if release would result in "identifiable harm" that
outweighs the public interest. As authors, historians and investigators, we
believe, withholding any portion of any JFK records would result in
identifiable harm to the public interest. After 53 years, continuing JFK
secrecy would provoke unnecessary suspicion and flout Congress's clear
preference for full disclosure within 25 years of 1992. And it would deny the
American people access to portions of our history.
We ask you, as White House Counsel,
to affirm and uphold the spirit and language of the JFK Records Act, and to
instruct all U.S. government agencies to fully release all
assassination-related records on or before October 26, 2017.
Signed:
G. Robert Blakey, general counsel,
House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA)
Russ Baker, author
Rex Bradford, president, Mary Ferrell Foundation
Deb Conway, publisher, JFK Lancer
Dan Hardway, HSCA investigator
Dan Ellsberg, author
Doug Horne, Assassination Records Review Board analyst
Brian Latell, former CIA Cuba analyst
Jim Lesar, president, Assassination Archives and Research Center
Ed Lopez, HSCA investigator
Joan Mellen, author
Jefferson Morley, author
John Newman, author
Gerald Posner, author
Dick Russell, author
Larry Sabato, author
Peter Dale Scott, author
Phil Shenon, author
Oliver Stone, filmmaker
Anthony Summers, author
Robbyn Swan, author
David Talbot , author
Howard Willens, Warren Commission assistant counsel
Russ Baker, author
Rex Bradford, president, Mary Ferrell Foundation
Deb Conway, publisher, JFK Lancer
Dan Hardway, HSCA investigator
Dan Ellsberg, author
Doug Horne, Assassination Records Review Board analyst
Brian Latell, former CIA Cuba analyst
Jim Lesar, president, Assassination Archives and Research Center
Ed Lopez, HSCA investigator
Joan Mellen, author
Jefferson Morley, author
John Newman, author
Gerald Posner, author
Dick Russell, author
Larry Sabato, author
Peter Dale Scott, author
Phil Shenon, author
Oliver Stone, filmmaker
Anthony Summers, author
Robbyn Swan, author
David Talbot , author
Howard Willens, Warren Commission assistant counsel
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