Jefferson Morley on A Major Break Coming in the JFK Assassination Story

[Tom Gram]

23 minutes ago, Allen Lowe said:

I just want to note that before LHO went to Russia he was in the hospital at Balaboa naval base where he told a gentleman named Gerald Gervais that he was working for the Office of Naval Intelligence. Gervais, who never went public with this, told me this around 1990, at a time when no one was talking about this type of Oswald connection. He was still quite frightened about having this knowledge, and refused to work with me on bringing it out, but it was clear he was telling the truth. So there is no doubt in my mind that Oswald was a witting asset.

Here’s an interesting interview with Malcolm Blunt about a former ONI officer telling Blunt that he conducted an internal investigation of Oswald and that all the files subsequently disappeared:

 

Edited December 9, 2022 by Tom Gram

[Benjamin Cole]

4 hours ago, Allen Lowe said:

I just want to note that before LHO went to Russia he was in the hospital at Balaboa naval base where he told a gentleman named Gerald Gervais that he was working for the Office of Naval Intelligence. Gervais, who never went public with this, told me this around 1990, at a time when no one was talking about this type of Oswald connection. He was still quite frightened about having this knowledge, and refused to work with me on bringing it out, but it was clear he was telling the truth. So there is no doubt in my mind that Oswald was a witting asset.

https://obits.mlive.com/us/obituaries/muskegon/name/gerald-gervais-obituary?id=8505122

This a Gerald Gervais. Same guy you talked to? He was in US Navy...but timelines do not seem to add up. Maybe he was at Balboa for treatment...

[Greg Doudna]

6 hours ago, Allen Lowe said:

I just want to note that before LHO went to Russia he was in the hospital at Balaboa naval base where he told a gentleman named Gerald Gervais that he was working for the Office of Naval Intelligence. Gervais, who never went public with this, told me this around 1990, at a time when no one was talking about this type of Oswald connection. He was still quite frightened about having this knowledge, and refused to work with me on bringing it out, but it was clear he was telling the truth. So there is no doubt in my mind that Oswald was a witting asset.

This Gerald Gervais would be 82 years old if he was 18 when he was at that naval hospital and met Oswald. He may still be living, potentially could still be interviewed. Spokeo shows several Gerald Gervaises of possible right age. https://www.spokeo.com/Gerald-Gervais. These include a Gerald J. Gervais, 87, West Hartford, CT; Gerald James Gervais, 81, Tofte, MN; Gerald P. Gervais, 82, Harvey, LA; Gerald Wyle Gervais, 95, Twin Lakes, MI. Another site, information.com, has these additional: Gerald L. Gervais, 80+, Moira, NY; Gerald A. Gervais, 80+, Hemet, CA; and Gerald Gervais, 80+, Woonsocket, RI.

[James DiEugenio]

That is really interesting Allen.  Thanks.

[James DiEugenio]

Here is Parnell's reply to the press conference.

Denis M is posting it for him on Facebook.

https://wtracyparnell.blogspot.com/2022/12/morley-disinfo-leads-to-misleading.html?fbclid=IwAR0RJwCN38WZpmHVvv8QOPanRqpP1roK16nQRsww0nmkm3zezQzgWsfy9Fw

[James DiEugenio]

BTW, from the discussion Oliver and I had with Tunheim, the ARRB did not see the file on Johannides.

They did a dumb thing and took the CIA's word for it.  That it was simply a personnel file.

According to what Morley and Lesar found out from their lawsuit, that was not the case.  And, in fact, Blakey said that the CIA had lied to the ARRB about this matter.

[Tom Gram]

49 minutes ago, James DiEugenio said:

BTW, from the discussion Oliver and I had with Tunheim, the ARRB did not see the file on Johannides.

They did a dumb thing and took the CIA's word for it.  That it was simply a personnel file.

According to what Morley and Lesar found out from their lawsuit, that was not the case.  And, in fact, Blakey said that the CIA had lied to the ARRB about this matter.

Yea, the ARRB should have got files on everything Joannides ever laid his hands on. CIA personnel files can be valuable too - I haven’t looked at very many but I recall one officer’s file that listed every new job code and location assignment he was ever sent to, at least overtly. If Joannides was directly assigned to New Orleans in the Summer of ‘63 for example his personnel file should reflect that. 

Joannides in New Orleans always makes me think of Carlos Bringuier telling Garrison that he’d never had any contact with the CIA then running to the CIA immediately afterward and telling them he thought he did a good job fooling the polygraph. You’d think that if the DRE case officer went to New Orleans he’d be in touch with the only DRE delegate in that city, and I’m not aware of anything else Bringuier was doing in the Summer of ‘63 that would warrant that level of attention other than his involvement with Oswald. 

If anyone is interested in possible ARRB discussions regarding Joannides, the best collection of ARRB documents online by far is in the Malcolm Blunt Archive: 

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1RrTiwCzJSUFQIjPYvkpBkABwR1dDC291/1cAWr9wQ2juOas2dKcTVBoHJ06jT3cWnK?sort=13&direction=a

EDIT: In the ARRB folder - phone won’t let me post a direct link. 

Edited December 9, 2022 by Tom Gram

[W. Tracy Parnell]

On 12/8/2022 at 11:19 AM, Gerry Down said:

Just a point to clarify, I didn't think the ARRB had seen the 44 files on Joannides. I remember Tunheim saying he had seen Joannides personel file and there was nothing remarkable in it, but I didn't know the ARRB had looked at as many as 44 documents on Joannides and reviewed them. Can you confirm this point?

The latest is this. Morley is claiming on Twitter that the ARRB did not see the entire Joannides file. In support of this idea, he posts a link to a letter from Tunheim to Biden:

Tunheim_PresBiden_JFKFiles_2022-12-05.pdf (maryferrell.org)

However, Tunheim says nothing about having a partial Joannides file. He does say "we had the file on George Joannides..." He also says that the board "would have released the file in full" had they known who Joannides. To me, this implies they had the full file. But, admittedly, there is some ambiguity.

Morley also says there is a mechinism in place for the release of the 44 Joannides files even though they are not a part of the JFK Collection. This is a "Memorandum of Understanding" that allows for files to be placed in the JFK Collection after the ARRB ceased to exist. But as far as I can see, this would have to be done by Biden who would have to hear the pleas of Morley and Tunheim and specifically act to place those records in the collection and release them.

I will update my article to reflect this.

Edited December 10, 2022 by W. Tracy Parnell

[Gerry Down]

1 hour ago, W. Tracy Parnell said:

The latest is this. Morley is claiming on Twitter that the ARRB did not see the entire Joannides file. In support of this idea, he posts a link to a letter from Tunheim to Biden:

Tunheim_PresBiden_JFKFiles_2022-12-05.pdf (maryferrell.org)

However, Tunheim says nothing about having a partial Joannides file. He does say "we had the file on George Joannides..." He also says that the board "would have released the file in full" had they known who Joannides. To me, this implies they had the full file. But, admittedly, there is some ambiguity.

Morley also says there is a mechinism in place for the release of the 44 Joannides files even though they are not a part of the JFK Collection. This is a "Memorandum of Understanding" that allows for files to be placed in the JFK Collection after the ARRB ceased to exist. But as far as I can see, this would have to be done by Biden who would have to hear the pleas of Morley and Tunheim and specifically act to place those records in the collection and release them.

I will update my article to reflect this.

Morley effectively said the exact same thing at the MFF press conference this week with Tunheim sitting beside him. He says the ARRB got some of the Joannides file from the CIA but not all of it. The ARRB then released just 10 pages from the Joannides file, and then Morley saw that these 10 pages showed Joannides was the DRE case officer, but by then the ARRB had closed and he could not get the CIA to hand over the remaining Joannides file to the ARRB.

So from this I take it that Morley has been relying on these 10 pages to form the core of his theory surrounding Joannides. Unless more pages were released since then because the ARRB put a time-stamp on some documents to be released years after the ARRB closed down.

See 1 hour and 31 minutes in on the press conference:

 

Edited December 10, 2022 by Gerry Down

[Allen Lowe]

The  Gervais, that I knew was no one that anyone had ever come across before. He lived in Tofte, Minnesota, and I worked on him for a number  of years. I even talked to Gaetin Fonzi’s about him, but finally he just moved away, and I lost touch. But I believe him entirely; for instance, he had no idea that Oswald had ever been to Russia, and told me Oswald did nothing but talk about the Soviet union when he was in the hospital with him. I did tell Bill Simpich about him years years ago, but Bill didn’t seem to take it seriously. But this guy was completely credible  and said somewhere he actually had letters he had written to his mother about meeting Oswald. But I don’t suppose it’s ever gonna really happened now since I don’t even know if he’s still alive.  I called him on and off for about 10 or 15 years, and just couldn’t get him to budge but it was significant because he first told me about this in the 90s, as I said, and no one was speculating this about Oswald in those days (except, interestingly, enough, Hemming, who in an early interview said he thought Oswald was ONI). 

Edited December 10, 2022 by Allen Lowe

[Allen Lowe]

This might indeed be him, and I’m inspired to give him another call this week:

https://411.info/business/Jerry-Gervais-The-Snowmobile-Doctor-Tofte-MN-641853

Edited December 10, 2022 by Allen Lowe

[W. Tracy Parnell]

52 minutes ago, Gerry Down said:

He says the ARRB got some of the Joannides file from the CIA but not all of it.

Yes, that is what he says. But note that Tunheim said nothing about having a partial file. My impression is that Tunheim doesn't remember. But Morley says Combs was a former CIA person who knew the system, so you would think her review of the files would be thorough. Anyway, I hope the files are released promptly. We'll see.

[James DiEugenio]

The right wing is joining the JFK openness bandwagon. 

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=258094279669807

[Lori Spencer]

2 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

The right wing is joining the JFK openness bandwagon. 

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=258094279669807

I can only see this as a good thing. Let’s welcome it. 
 

Republicans, Democrats, Progressives, Libertarians, and Communists can ALL agree at this point, after 60 years — the American people want full transparency from their government about what happened to President Kennedy. 
 

 

[James DiEugenio]

yes, I agree Lori.  

It something any person of any political persuasion should be behind.