12 December 2016
By Jacob G. Hornberger
The fight between President-Elect Trump and the CIA over Russia's alleged
interference with the U.S. presidential election could have a major impact on
what is set to happen in October 2017. That is the month when thousands of the
CIA's super-secret records relating to the assassination of President Kennedy
are set to be finally released to the public, after more than a half-century
of secrecy.
When the Warren Commission published its report on the assassination in 1964,
it ordered that many of the records relating to the assassination be kept
secret for 75 years. Of course, that secrecy ruling never made any sense given
the Commission's official finding — that JFK had been assassinated by a lone
nut. If it were really just a lone-nut assassination, why not order a release
of everything relating to the case, especially since the supposed lone nut had
himself been assassinated? And why 75 years of secrecy?
One thing if for certain though: Both the military and the CIA steadfastly
wanted secrecy, on grounds of ''national security'' of course. But what they
have never been able to explain is why a lone-nut assassination would have
''national-security'' implications.
Hardly anyone questioned the secrecy or challenged the motives behind the
secrecy. Most people, especially those within the mainstream press, simply
deferred to the national security establishment and its wish for decades of
secrecy in the Kennedy assassination.
Then came Oliver Stone's movie JFK in 1991, which posited that Kennedy had
been assassinated by his enemies within the U.S. national-security
establishment.
Suddenly, the decades of secrecy were seen in a different light. If what Stone
posited was correct, then the 75 years of secrecy made sense. Keeping matters
relating to the assassination secret would make it more difficult for people
to arrive at the truth. And by the time 75 years rolled around, all the
malefactors would be dead and, presumably, hardly anyone would care anymore
anyway.
At the end of JFK, Stone included a blurb about the fact that the
national-security establishment was still keeping thousands of JFK-assassination-related
records secret. The result was a massive public outcry against continued
secrecy. That public outrage motivated Congress to enact the JFK Records Act
in 1992, which mandated that the CIA and the military had to finally release
their JFK-assassination records to the public.
To ensure compliance, the law called into existence the Assassination Records
Review Board. While the JFK Records Act succeeded in getting thousands of JFK-related
records released, someone slipped a provision into the law entitling federal
agencies to continue keeping many of their assassination-related records
secret for another 25 years, until October 2017. At that point, the National
Archives, where the still-secret records were deposited, would release the
records to the public.
Think about that for a moment: Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. The JFK
Records Act was enacted some 30 years later. Yet, there were still those
within the bowels of the deep state who wanted — and got — another 25 years of
secrecy — for what was purported to be nothing more than a lone-nut
assassination.
An interesting and somewhat revealing aside: The Secret Service wasn't happy
about the JFK Records Act. As Douglas Horne, who served on the staff of the
ARRB (and who is the author of FFF's ebook JFK's War with the National
Security Establishment: Why Kennedy Was Assassinated by Douglas Horne and the
presenter in FFF's 5-part) video ''Altered History: Exposing Deceit and
Deception in the JFK Assassination Medical Evidence,'') details in his
five-volume book Inside the Assassination Records Review Board, after the law
was enacted and knowing that the law specifically prohibited federal agencies,
including the Secret Service, from destroying JFK-related records, the Secret
Service nonetheless knowing, deliberately, and intentionally destroyed its
records relating to previous assassination plots against Kennedy, one of which
was in Chicago and which bore remarkable similarities to the assassination in
Dallas. While the Secret Service was chastised by the ARRB for guaranteeing
continued secrecy of its JFK assassination-related records through intentional
destruction, that was the extent of any disciplinary action that was taken
against the Secret Service.
There was another important and relevant provision that someone slipped into
the JFK Records Act. Under the act, the CIA or any other federal agency can
request the president to grant another extension of time for secrecy, on the
ground of ''national security.'' If the president concludes that ''national
security'' will be threatened by the release of the CIA's still-secret JFK-assassination
records, he has the authority to order a continuation of the secrecy.
If Hillary Clinton had been elected president, it is a virtual certainty that
she would have granted any request that the CIA made for continued secrecy. In
fact, she as much stated that during the campaign. When asked about the
still-secret JFK records, she responded that she favored full disclosure
subject to any national-security concerns. Well, ''national security'' just
happens to be the excuse that the president would have to extend the secrecy.
Under the Trump presidency, it is not at all clear that Trump will exercise
the same deference to the authority of the CIA that Clinton would undoubtedly
have displayed. The fact that Trump and the CIA are now in a nasty dispute
over the CIA's claim that Russia helped Trump get elected by supposedly
hacking into the Democratic National Committee's email accounts makes it less
likely that a CIA request for continued secrecy is going to be received with
great enthusiasm by a President Trump.
That effectively leaves the CIA one choice: to ask President Obama to grant
the extension, knowing, however, that a President Trump probably has the
authority to rescind it. Will President Obama want to add to his ''legacy'' an
order permitting continued CIA secrecy in the JFK assassination, knowing full
well that increasing numbers of people now believe that the national security
establishment orchestrated the assassination? Time will tell but my hunch is
that in October 2017 the CIA will come to rue the day it picked a fight with
Donald Trump.
Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom
Foundation. He was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, and received his B.A. in
economics from Virginia Military Institute and his law degree from the
University of Texas. He was a trial attorney for twelve years in Texas. He
also was an adjunct professor at the University of Dallas, where he taught
law and economics. In 1987, Mr. Hornberger left the practice of law to become
director of programs at the Foundation for Economic Education. He has
advanced freedom and free markets on talk-radio stations all across the
country as well as on Fox News' Neil Cavuto and Greta van Susteren shows and
he appeared as a regular commentator on Judge Andrew Napolitano's show
Freedom Watch. View these interviews at LewRockwell.com and from Full
Context.
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