Pete Williams, Pentagon Correspondent for NBC News, says he has been told that some agencies have not even gotten their objections in yet to NARA.This is ridiculous and inexcusable. The fact that some agencies have yet to send their memos should be taken as a tacit sign that they have no objections. They had a deadline; they didn't meet it. The Archives should not cater to their incompetence and/or mendacity. The fact that they are appearing to do exactly that only makes them complicit.
In an exchange this morning on a listserv for JFK records researchers, Williams wrote [he approved dissemination of his comments]:We've been told by intelligence officials that the memo has not even been sent to the White House yet, specifying which material the agencies want withheld. Our understanding is that the CIA is asking only for some redactions, not for documents to be withheld in their entirety. But other agencies involved in the process have not yet finished their submissions.He later added:
These officials believe that little material, therefore, will come out today. "There's a mad scramble going on in the executive branch to get this done," one official tells us.I just talked to an official at another US agency whose documents are at issue. His understanding is that some material will come out today but the remainder will be postponed to a later date. However, the issue of what to do now is still being discussed, and no decisions have been made.
UPDATE
Despite his positive tweets, Trump made a last-minute decision to delay the release of documents for 6 months, implying that to do so would pose a threat to "national security, law enforcement, and foreign affairs concerns" - a threat that could cause "potentially irreversible harm to our Nation's security." The full statement is below. But the fact remains: all agencies had plenty of time to determine all of this before the deadline. They were obviously banking on securing a presidential delay. But why now? What could possibly pose such a threat to national security when practically everyone involved is dead or senile? What difference does six months make? And who actually believes that any really incriminating documents still exist in the first place?
THE WHITE HOUSEUPDATE (Oct. 27)
Office of the Press Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 26, 2017
October 26, 2017
MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES
SUBJECT: Temporary Certification for Certain
Records Related to the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
The American public expects - and deserves - its Government to provide as much access as possible to the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records (records) so that the people may finally be fully informed about all aspects of this pivotal event. Therefore, I am ordering today that the veil finally be lifted. At the same time, executive departments and agencies (agencies) have proposed to me that certain information should continue to be redacted because of national security, law enforcement, and foreign affairs concerns. I have no choice -today - but to accept those redactions rather than allow potentially irreversible harm to our Nation's security. To further address these concerns, I am also ordering agencies to re-review each and every one of those redactions over the next 180 days. At the end of that period, I will order the public disclosure of any information that the agencies cannot demonstrate meets the statutory standard for continued postponement of disclosure under section 5(g)(2)(D) of the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (44 U.S.C. 2107 note) (the "Act").
Accordingly, by the authority vested in me as President and Commander in Chief by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby certify that all information within records that agencies have proposed for continued postponement under section 5(g)(2)(D) of the Act must be temporarily withheld from full public disclosure until no later than April 26, 2018, to allow sufficient time to determine whether such information warrants continued postponement under the Act. This temporary withholding from full public disclosure is necessary to protect against harm to the military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or the conduct of foreign relations that is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in immediate disclosure.
I hereby direct all agencies that have proposed postponement of full disclosure to review the information subject to this certification and identify as much as possible that may be publicly disclosed without harm to the military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or conduct of foreign relations.
Any agency that seeks to request further postponement beyond this temporary certification shall adhere to the findings of the Act, which state, among other things, that "only in the rarest cases is there any legitimate need for continued protection of such records." The need for continued protection can only have grown weaker with the passage of time since the Congress made this finding. Accordingly, each agency head should be extremely circumspect in recommending any further postponement of full disclosure of records. Any agency that seeks further postponement shall, no later than March 12, 2018, report to the Archivist of the United States (Archivist) on the specific information within particular records that meets the standard for continued postponement under section 5(g)(2)(D) of the Act. Thereafter, the Archivist shall recommend to me, no later than March 26, 2018, whether the specific information within particular records identified by agencies warrants continued withholding from public disclosure after April 26, 2018.
The Archivist is hereby authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.
DONALD J. TRUMP
###
The White House · 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW · Washington DC 20500 · 202-456-1111
By early today, some 2891 documents had been posted on the Archives website. That may seem like a lot, but it's not. Here's the lowdown on the figures, thanks to WhoWhatWhy. Most of the archive has been online since the mid-90s, but with redactions. Yesterday, all of those documents were supposed to have been made available without redactions. In addition to those, about 3100 documents have never been released in any form - bringing the total of documents expected to have been released to a whopping 30,000 or so. Of the 2891 documents released today, only 52 are "new". The rest are all unredacted versions of previously available docs. In other words, the Archives are still sitting on about 27,000 unredacted documents, and over 3000 withheld documents. Word is that you can send your thanks to the CIA and FBI for this unnecessary delay.
Documents will continue to be released "with agency-proposed redactions on a rolling basis in the coming weeks".
With the stroke of a pen, Mr. Kennedy was on his way to putting the Federal Reserve Bank of New York out of business. If enough of these silver certificates were to come into circulation they would have eliminated the demand for Federal Reserve notes. This is because the silver certificates are backed by silver and the Federal Reserve notes are not backed by anything. Executive Order 11110 could have prevented the national debt from reaching its current level, because it would have given the government the ability to repay its debt without going to the Federal Reserve and being charged interest in order to create the new money. Executive Order 11110 gave the U.S. the ability to create its own money backed by silver.
After Mr. Kennedy was assassinated just five months later, no more silver certificates were issued. The Final Call has learned that the Executive Order was never repealed by any U.S. President through an Executive Order and is still valid. Why then has no president utilized it? Virtually all of the nearly $6 trillion in debt has been created since 1963, and if a U.S. president had utilized Executive Order 11110 the debt would be nowhere near the current level. Perhaps the assassination of JFK was a warning to future presidents who would think to eliminate the U.S. debt by eliminating the Federal Reserve's control over the creation of money. Mr. Kennedy challenged the government of money by challenging the two most successful vehicles that have ever been used to drive up debt - war and the creation of money by a privately-owned central bank. His efforts to have all troops out of Vietnam by 1965 and Executive Order 11110 would have severely cut into the profits and control of the New York banking establishment. That is why they don't want the public to hear about the JFK killing.