Untangling FBI multi-record pdfs, part I

This is the first of a series of notes that try to straighten out some of the confusion around FBI multi-record pdfs. Multi-record pdfs are an FBI release format which combines multiple ARC records in a single pdf. This note discusses a simple, yet messy case: docid-32989711.pdf.

For a general description of multi-record pdfs released by the FBI through NARA, see here.

The pdf

NARA posted three versions of docid-32989711.pdf:
1) the 2017 version (available here)
2) the 2018 version (available here)
3) the 2022 version (available here)

Each version represents a separate “release”. Redacted text was restored in each release, so that each version of the pdf differs from the others.

Records in the pdf

Multi-record pdfs start with an FBI cover sheet which lists the case file number and the serial sets which constitute the record. Here is the cover sheet for docid-32989711 from 2017:

This tells us that the pdf includes two ARC records, consisting of two sets of FBI “serials”:
1) ARC 124-10167-10378, consisting of FBI 62-HQ-116464-291 THRU 62-HQ-116464-331,
2) ARC 124-10167-10380, consisting of FBI 62-HQ-116464-2ND NR 331 THRU 62-HQ-11646-340.

The FBI file numbers are on the cover sheet. How do you find out the ARC record number, aka RIF number? One can try to look it up in the search box on the NARA webpage for each release. This is not always reliable, not sure why.

The most reliable method is to look it up using the JFK Database, which is available from NARA as a set of excel sheets (here).

How to read a file number

As I have noted many times on this blog, FBI records have FBI file numbers. These come in several parts. In the file numbers we are looking at, the first number (62) indicates the type of file. Files starting with 62 are administrative files.

HQ obviously means this file originated at FBI headquarters. Most administrative files are from headquarters. Other types may belong to any of 50 or so FBI field offices.

116464 is the case number. This particular case file is the administrative file the FBI used to keep track of its interactions with the Pike Committee, then later with its successor, the House Permanent Sub-Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI).

The final numbers in an FBI file number are serial numbers. A serial is, theoretically, a single document in a case file. Numbering these documents is called “seriation”.

Sometimes documents are added afterwards to case files, or are not part of the regular stream of recording (e.g. lab reports, wanted handbills, etc.)

Such documents are added to the file roughly chronologically after the fact. They are indicated by the letters NR (not recorded) plus the serial it comes after. If there are multiple NR records they are 1ST, 2ND, 3RD, etc. ARC 124-10167-10380 begins with such a document, 62-HQ-116464-2ND NR 331.

For almost all the FBI records in the ARC, file numbers are handwritten on the pages of the documents. Thus, one can simply look at the pages in the multi-record pdfs NARA posted and directly find which pages go in which records. NOT convenient, and sometimes there is some uncertainty, but possible.

NAR (not an assassination record)

It is worth noting that the Pike Committee did NOT conduct an investigation of the JFK assassination. Hence this file is not assassination related.

There were cases where the ARRB, the federal board collecting and releasing records for the ARC, determined that Pike Committee records bore some peripheral relation to the assassination, and therefore added them to the collection. Not this record, however. Most of the multi-record pdfs are NAR (not assassination related). Why are these records in the collection then? That is a question for NARA and the FBI.

MFF splits

As stated in the note I linked to at the beginning of this post, the Mary Ferrell Foundation tried to split multi-record pdfs into their component records. They were not one hundred percent successful or consistent, but overall did an amazing job. Everyone interested in the JFKARC owes them a debt.

For docid-32989711, there are some problems. (Otherwise why post a note?) The FBI gave us three pdfs (three separate releases, revealing more and more of the redacted portions of the file). There were two records in each pdf, so if the goal is to have a copy of each record for each release, there should be six pdfs. Here are links to the MFF records derived from the three releases of the pdf, including page counts:

2017

2018

2022

All of these records have problems.

First, docid-32989711 is exactly 267 pages long. It consists of two records, however, so all the 267 page long MFF “records” are simply the raw multi-record pdf.

This means we can’t rely on MFF’s split, we have to split the records ourselves. Fortunately, this pdf is not so difficult. Looking at the file numbers on the individual pages of the pdf, it is reasonably clear that ARC 124-10167-10380 covers pages 2-18, and ARC 124-10167-10378 covers pages 19-267. When doing this, one has to remember that serial sets in these pdfs are in reverse order; that is, the serial numbers start out from the highest and go down to the lowest. This is common practice in FBI file releases.

Looking at 124-10167-10380, this record was released in full in 2017. There are no redactions. It was therefore not necessary to list it on the 2018 release sheet, but this sort of redundant listing was common in the 2018 release sheet. It is no longer listed in 2022, even though the actual record contents were still included in the 2022 release of docid-32989711. Just one of the confusing aspects of multi-record pdfs.

The other record, 124-10167-10378, is more puzzling. For this record, one has to go back to the original NARA release sheets. It turns out that this record got two releases: one in the multi-record pdf, and the other in a puzzling set of three fragments.

These fragments appear in the 2018 releases as 124-10167-10378.pdf 124-10167-10378_1.pdf, and 124-10167-10378_2.pdf.

The same fragments appear again in the 2022 releases with different file names: 124-10167-10378[c06716618].pdf, 124-10167-10378[c06716615].pdf, and 124-10167-10378[c06716617].pdf.

The numbers appended to the ARC record number are from a CIA records management system called CADRE. I have a decription of the system in a note available here.

The NARA releases in the file named 124-10167-10378_X.pdf are thus from CIA, while the multi-record pdf docid-32989711.pdf is an FBI release. Note that the two agencies are releasing different information in these two different versions.

A close look at the CIA release shows that it consists of pages from the FBI record which have CIA information. The other remaining pages are FBI-only material. There were two redactions in this FBI-only information in the 2017 release of the 124-10167-10378 (both on page 171). One of these was released in 2018, while the other was not released until 2022.

Why not just turn over a unified release of ARC 124-10167-10378 to NARA? A look at the FBI multi-record pdf shows that while it does show a couple of the CIA releases, they are not 100 percent identical with redactions released by the CIA in their version of the file.

The reason for such differences is very likely because the two agencies had different schedules for their JFK reviews. Rather than try to put out just one version, they perhaps decided to send out separate versions to NARA.

Too bad no one in the CIA, FBI, or NARA explained this anywhere. This oddball way of releasing info has bothered me for years. I’m now certain, however, that I have given an accurate explanation for what is going on with this record.

Headaches for MFF

This two track release system is definitely something the MFF did not anticipate either. For 2018, MFF simply put the three pieces of the CIA material together into one pdf, called it 124-10167-10378, and posted into online.

Why does MFF have the same pages in a pdf for 2017 then? It seems that they noted the page numbers for these records in the 2017 release of the multi-record pdf, chopped them out, joined them into one pdf, and put a link to this abbreviated version online. Clever, but not really what happened.

Unfortunately, MFF did not put up a separate version of the FBI release of 124-10167-10378, thus missing the two redactions on page 171. Yes, I know, big hairy deal. But this is the sort of picayune releases that have characterized all of the bost 2017 releases from the ARC. Are you going to track them or not?

Yet another twist is that the MFF copies of the three fragments posted in 2022 are not findable using the MFF RIF search function (I found them only by accident). Instead, MFF links to the entire, unsplit multi-record pdf, which it identifies as 124-10167-10378. This sort of variation in the number of pages of pdfs that are identified as being the same records is quite confusion: 10 pages in two places, 267 pages in another.

The last twist

There is one final error in this messy situation. NARA’s 2022 releases were again accompanied by an excel sheet that showed a record numbered 124-10167-10383. This record number was linked to, you guessed, docid-32989711.

Looking up 124-10167-10383 in the JFK database, we see that this is FBI file number 62-116395-881 THRU 1ST NR 895. This is an obvious mistake on someone’s part. This is a totally different case file. 62-116395 is the FBI administrative file not for the Pike Committee, but for the Church Committee. Is there multi-record pdf containing this record? Yes, there is: docid-32969663, pages 108-236.

There was indeed a copy of this pdf released in 2022, so that is where we go to look for the final release of redactions in these pages.

Two cents

Separate releases from the FBI and CIA for the same record is bound to be incredibly confusing. Embedding this in a multi-record pdf is double confusion. I was NOT happy when I finally figured this all out. I register my complaint here, not that anyone will read it, or care one flip if they do read it.

Put the bad on me, I guess. The names redacted in this record were in no way worth all the time and energy I spent on figuring out the issues. The only real value in doing it was to understand what these releases mean, and to make sure that every last redaction is gone.

Blame me for picking such a tricky task.