MFF Sues Over JFK Assassination Records

[Larry Hancock]

I'll leave that to Bill to answer, certainly we are familiar with it but I have no idea whether he can be treated as release from an agency?

[Ron Bulman]

I was surprised today to hear this brought up on the radio.  On a station that doesn't do news, pretty much just music.  The afternoon dj does do a five things' people in the FW/D area are talking about today.  This was one of them.  Which I find incredible.  People in this area talking about JFK files being released?

[Larry Hancock]

Its gotten extremely good media coverage....with much of that being due to efforts by Jeff.  I was pretty amazed to find that someone in New Zealand that I was in a Zoom call with today had actually seen a news item on it.

 

[Roger DeLaria]

https://www.axios.com/2022/10/19/jfk-records-lawsuit-biden-national-archives

 

[James DiEugenio]

There should not be "a review" about anything if you ask me.

FIfty nine years?  Are you serious?  

 

 

 

 

[Roger Odisio]

3 hours ago, Larry Hancock said:

I'll leave that to Bill to answer, certainly we are familiar with it but I have no idea whether he can be treated as release from an agency?

Darnell was covering the JFK motorcade for the local Dallas affiliate of NBC. His film can be viewed as a continuation of Zapruder.  When the shots rang out Darnell jumped out of the car he was riding and began filming the aftermath, swinging his camera back and forth up and down Elm Street.

His film is the property of NBC, a private institution as qualified under the Records Act, but also a news organization with an FCC license that requires it to provide news in the public interest.  NBC has since morphed into an entertainment conglomerate NBC Universal, which is now owned by Comcast.  Which changes nothing for our purposes.

NBC Universal has denied all requests for researchers to see the film original (necessary because some parts are not very clear).  Having NARA declare Darnell a JFK record would not only insure its preservation for future researchers, but allow examination of important issues, some known and some which may be currently unanticipated.

[Paul Cummings]

I believe 59 years is more than enough time for agencies to destroy documents. If they haven't destroyed them by now...well just give them another few months.

[Gene Kelly]

Mark Knight:

Good tip on Axios ... this last bullet in their article sums it up

Worth noting: Morley told Axios that the final 16,000 documents yet to be released are among the most sensitive about JFK's death.

"These are the documents that they are the most reluctant to release," he said. "Obviously, they've been keeping them secret for 60 years."

And to all (Larry, Larry Schnapf, Bill Simpich, Larry Hancock, et al) ... great work!  Very promising. 

Gene

[Pamela Brown]

This is great news. Best of luck...this should stick...

[David Boylan]

This is my favorite redacted document on Luis Angel Castillo:

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=148969

[George Govus]

OMG, I have to quote Nigel, again, from This Is Spinal Tap:

Quote

There's something about this that's so black, it's like how much more black could this be? And the answer is none. None more black.

 

[Bill Simpich]

Bart Kamp - among many others - makes the case that the Darnell and Weigman films portray Oswald on the book depository steps at the time of the shooting of JFK.

http://www.prayer-man.com/misc/prayer-man-in-a-nutshell/

NARA stands in the shoes of the ARRB since its dissolution.  NARA has the power to demand the originals of these films from NBC and the Sixth Floor.

 

 

[Sandy Larsen]

 

It's a bit ironic... not getting what we want (documents) is giving us what we want (news coverage).

Many thanks to the guys working on the lawsuit.

 

[Tom Gram]

I’m glad that the lawsuit puts pressure on NARA to locate and obtain assassination records that are not currently in the ARC. There must be thousands and thousands of pages that the ARRB never obtained or didn’t even know about, and I really hope this lawsuit is the first step toward the formation of new independent review board to locate those records and place them in the National Archives. 

Larry Schnapf on BOR mentioned the Walter Sheridan records, the RFK Cuba files, and a few others, but what I’m really interested in is the missing Church Committee records. From the little we have we know that those records contain evidence that Oswald had a relationship with the government, and the fact that so many records from such a specific phase of a Senate investigation have disappeared very strongly suggests a deliberate cover-up, IMO. Hopefully NARA etc. will eventually find the missing records, or at least find out what the hell happened to them. 

Many thanks to everyone working on this, and I’m looking forward to reading the complaint this weekend. 

[Larry Hancock]

Tom, if the Court finds in favor of the action, NARA would have the responsibility and direction to recover known and missing materials - as Bill pointed out, both documents and items such as films - and make them accessible to the public.  Legally NARA already holds the authority since it legally inherited the mandate and duties of the ARRB under the JFK Records Act.

That is one reason the lawsuit is written as it is and if it succeeds, its not just a matter of records release and redaction removal, but of empowering NARA to complete JFK related collections - and you can be assured they already know where to look for a good bit of missing material and will receive advice on more.