Category Archives: Agency issues

Issues with records from specific agencies (NSA, CIA, etc)

Joe Backes on the Jan 92 checklist

This note is a continuation of my comments on the January 1992 checklist for the HSCA-CIA segregated collection (see here). Be sure to read that note before you read this note.

I recently learned that longtime JFK researcher Joe Backes also did a post mentioning the checklist. His post appeared on his substack blog “Justice for Kennedy”, and is available here.…

A checklist for the HSCA-CIA segregated collection

My interest in the ARC is often “academic”, and as a result, many of my notes on this blog are not particularly interesting for people who don’t care about the ARC as an archive. This is another such note, so caveat lector.

Reviewing the HSCA-CIA docs: the McDonald Survey

When the HSCA shut down in 1979, they made sure that all the CIA records they reviewed during their investigation were boxed, sealed, and stored for at least 30 years.…

Operation TILT: a note on CIA files

This note responds to a recent post on Jefferson Morley’s JFK Facts blog from JFK researcher Malcolm Blunt. In his post, Blunt suggests that Representative Luna should go after documents in the “operational file” for CIA officer George Joannides, as opposed to documents in Joannides’ “personnel file”, such as the ones recently released.…

CIA redactions as of Feb 2025

This note is the second in a series which looks at redacted records in the JFK ARC as of February 2025. This new note specifically looks at redacted CIA records, which make up the majority of the 2500+ records that still have some information held back.

The main points of this note:

  • The majority of CIA redactions are short
    • About 60 CIA documents redact whole pages
    • The majority of CIA redactions have specific, labeled content
    • The majority of CIA documents have only one or two redactions
    • The subjects of these redacted documents are very miscellaneous

    The point of this note is not to argue that it is okay if ARC redactions are not released.…

    New FBI docs at MFF

    Heads up! More FBI docs have been added to the Mary Ferrell Foundation collection. These docs were previously unavailable online. They date from early in the investigation and offer much interesting detail and atmosphere, well worth a look!

    The Dallas Field Office file

    The new additions to the MFF collection are from FBI casefile 89-43, compiled by the FBI’s Dallas field office.…

    New CIA docs at MFF

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    More ARC docs are up on the MFF website, straight from the vaults of the AARC. The latest additions: over 160 CIA records, including some very interesting docs on Cuban matters.

    What’s in the docs?

    The new docs at MFF are in two sets: 84 records from CIA’s Latin American Division (JFK-Work Files), and 85 miscellaneous records, mostly from the hard copy JFK records in the HSCA-CIA segregated collection, as well as three docs from the HSCA-CIA staff records, and a handful from the CIA microfilm docs.…

    New HSCA docs at MFF

    The Mary Ferrell Foundation continues to dig out ARC records from its vaults. The latest find is a box of HSCA docs which fill some gaps and add a deposition from Bruce Solie.

    HSCA-CIA boxes

    This set of docs comes from several boxes in the HSCA-CIA segregated collection. Like the recent release of several sections of the HSCA-FBI liaison file, the box sat uncatalogued in the AARC vaults for who knows how long, but MFF is finally digging this stuff out and putting it on line.…

    The FBI-Church Committee liaison file

    This note discusses the FBI-Church Committee liaison file, FBI file number 62-116395. The liaison file uses “SSC” as its abbreviation for the Church Committee, since their official title was the “Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Activities.” In the discussion below, I will therefore use SSC to refer to the Committee.

    The SSC conducted a major inquiry into the United States intelligence community from 1975-1976.…