National Archives releases first batch of 2017 JFK documents

[Anthony Thorne]

I have started uploading documents to the Scribd site. Paranoia alert - within minutes of me starting this process, the Scribd site went down for maintenance. (I expect they do this often to be honest. Murphy's law.)

All documents are in order from the first zip file. Whenever I get a chance, I'll pop more in. They were working for me before the Scribd site went down. When the Scribd site goes back up, they should work for you too. Give it time. [Edit. It's back up again, and has now gone back down. There is no document #1 by the way, due to Excel formatting, the list starts at #2]

Again, these have all been released before, but with deletions or censorship. These new versions should now be uncensored.


2. CABLE - IVAN ALFERIEV ARRIVED PACY FROM MEXI 28 JAN.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35465088...EXI-28-JAN


3. DOCUMENT TRANSFER AND CROSS REFERENCE FORM ON SANTIAGO ALVAREZ.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35465120...GO-ALVAREZ


4. CABLE: DURING AMBIDDY-1 VISIT P.R. HE ALSO
https://www.scribd.com/document/35465128...-R-HE-ALSO


5. CABLE: REQUEST TO OBTAIN NAMES OF 15 PUERTO RICANS ARTIME ALLEGES ARE PRESENTLY IN TRAINING IN CUBA.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35465134...NG-IN-CUBA


6. INITIATING SEARCH FOR SUITABLE SAFEHOUSE PACY CITY AREA.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35465148...-CITY-AREA


7. ACTIVITIES OF MANUEL ARTIME.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35465153...UEL-ARTIME


8. TELEPHONE CONVERSATION WITH AMBIDDY-1, 16 DEC 63, 1230-1300 HOURS.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35465166...1300-HOURS

[Anthony Thorne]

9. CONTACT WITH MANUEL ARTIME.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35465287...UEL-ARTIME


10. MANUEL ARTIME BUESA MET ( )LAKE AND ORLANDO NUNEZ PEREZ.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35465305...UNEZ-PEREZ


11. IDENTIFYING DATA ON CUBAN DEFECTOR.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35465312...N-DEFECTOR


12. ARTIME ACTIVITIES RE MILITARY OPERATION AGAINST CUBA.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35465316...AINST-CUBA


13. CABLE RE ARTIME ACTIVITIES.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35465320...ACTIVITIES


14. CABLE RE MANUEL FRANCISCO ARTIME BUESA TRAVEL PLANS.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35465324...AVEL-PLANS


15. CABLE RE STATUS OF AZCUE LOPEZ.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35465327...ZCUE-LOPEZ


16. MEMO - REPORTED THAT EUSEBIO AZCUE LOPEZ IS FED UP WITH THE REGIME AND WANTS TO LEAVE CUBA.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35465363...LEAVE-CUBA


17. MEMO - EUSEBIO AZCUE LOPEZ, AND OFFICIAL OF THE CUBAN NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CULTURE.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35465377...OF-CULTURE


18. MEMO:MEETING WITH ASSET IN B'S CAR FROM 2200 HOURS TO 2345 HOURS, ON 4 NOV.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35465384...S-ON-4-NOV


19. CABLE - ASSET REPORTED 11 SEP AZCUE RETURNING CUBA 4 OCT.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35465426...CUBA-4-OCT


20. HQS WISHES MAKE REF PITCH IF HE AVAILABLE FOR TRAVEL MEXI.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35465431...RAVEL-MEXI


21. IS CURRENTLY LIVING IN PEPHIME
https://www.scribd.com/document/35465437...IN-PEPHIME


22. DISPATCH - CUBAN DIPLOMATIC PERSONNEL IN MEXICO/EUSEBIO AZCUE LOPEZ.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35465444...ZCUE-LOPEZ

[Peter Lemkin]

You certainly have your work cut out for yourself if you intend to upload them one by one to Scribd!

[Peter Lemkin]

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Update from CAPA


National Archives Begins Online Release of JFK Assassination Records


National Archives Begins Online Release of JFK Assassination Records


On July 24, 2017 at 8 a.m., the National Archives released a group of documents (the first of several expected releases), along with 17 audio files, previously withheld in accordance with the JFK Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992. CAPA's leadership applauds the release of records, including release on a rolling basis to advance research instead of all at once at the statutory deadline of Oct. 26, 2017 for final release.



The National Archives (NARA) announcement of the release follows below:


National Archives Begins Online Release of JFK Assassination Records


On July 24, 2017 at 8 a.m., the National Archives released a group of documents (the first of several expected releases), along with 17 audio files, previously withheld in accordance with the JFK Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992.



The National Archives (NARA) announcement of the release follows below:
The materials released today are available online only. Access to the original paper records will occur at a future date.


Download the files online here.


Highlights of this release include 17 audio files of interviews of Yuri Nosenko, a KGB officer (shown in a file photo) who defected to the United States in January 1964. Nosenko claimed to have been the officer in charge of the KGB file on Lee Harvey Oswald during Oswald's time in the Soviet Union. The interviews were conducted in January, February, and July of 1964.


This set of 3,810 documents is the first to be processed for release, and includes FBI and CIA records 441 documents previously withheld in full and 3,369 documents previously released with portions redacted. In some cases, only the previously redacted pages of documents will be released. The previously released portions of the file can be requested and viewed in person at the National Archives at College Park (these records are not online).


Background: The re-review of these documents was undertaken in accordance with the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, which states: "Each assassination record shall be publicly disclosed in full, and available in the Collection no later than the date that is 25 years after the date of enactment of this Act, unless the President certifies, as required by this Act, that continued postponement is made necessary" by specific identifiable harm.


The act mandated that all assassination-related material be housed in a single collection in the National Archives and defined five categories of information that could be withheld from release. The act also established the Assassination Records Review Board to weigh agency decisions to postpone the release of records.


The National Archives established the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection in November 1992, and it consists of approximately five million pages of records. The vast majority of the collection (88 percent) has been open in full and released to the public since the late 1990s. The records at issue are documents previously identified as assassination records but withheld in part or in full. Federal agencies have been re-reviewing their previously withheld records for release, and will appeal to the President if they determine that records require further postponement.


Online resources:
JFK Assassination Records Processing Projectbackground and FAQs
Final Report of the Assassination Records Review Board
JFK Assassination Records FAQs
Warren Commission Report



The materials released today are available online only. Access to the original paper records will occur at a future date.

CAPA seeks release of the remaining JFK records with a minimum of redactions, which can obscure vital information," commented Wecht, a prominent expert in forensic pathology for five decades. "We shall also file Freedom of Information Act requests and similar legal actions to enforce the law and undertake public education efforts to show the importance of disclosure to new generations.

[Peter Blackman]

From interview with Fletcher Prouty, 1975, original document at Mary Ferrell site here -

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html...1&tab=page

......

Unredacted version reads -

"I think one that is pretty clear is that over a period of time the Agency worked rather diligently with General Rene Barrientos in Bolivia when he made his move. Dr. Victor Paz Estenssoro, who was President of Bolivia left. So there was no assassination, he took over."

Thanks Anthony.
I gather Rene Barrientos died in 1969. Seems rather strange to me that his involvement needed to remain classified until 2017.

Cheers,
Pete

[Anthony Thorne]

23. ISOLATED PAGE, BEGINNING WITH PARA 6, RE INFO FROM AN ASSET.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35466561...M-AN-ASSET


24. WITHHELD
https://www.scribd.com/document/35466565...8-WITHHELD


25. DOCUMENT TRANSFER AND CROSS REFERENCE - CONTACT REPORT.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35466571...ACT-REPORT


26. EXCERPTS - SUBJ: CUBAN DIPLOMATIC TRAVEL AND ACTIVITIES IN MEXICO.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35466576...-IN-MEXICO


27. CABLE - RE JUANA AND EMMA CASTRO PROBLEMS AT CUBAN EMBASSY GETTING VISAS TO TRAVEL HAVA.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35466582...RAVEL-HAVA


28. CABLE RE REPORT FROM AZCUE, CUBAN CONSUL MEXI.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35466792...ONSUL-MEXI


29. EXCERPT FROM CABLE RE REPORT FROM ASSET.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35466817...FROM-ASSET


30. CABLE ADVISING THAT CUBAN EMB SHOULD HAVE CAR WITHOUT DIP PLATES ON OCCASIONS.
https://www.scribd.com/document/35467277...-OCCASIONS

[Peter Lemkin]

I'm having a very hard time trying to wrap my head around why some [no, many] of the documents previously withheld in full would be withheld at all. Some, OK, I can see some 'logic' if one uses the 'intelligence mindset'....but others labeled as 'unintelligible' [and which are unreadable], as well as one (which I cite as an example - many, many others I could also include) which is a report [complete with enclosures of newpaper and enclosing envelope] of an anti-Vietnam war paper sent to an on duty Marine in Okinawa, is hard to find a rationale for withholding - or even for it being relevant to any of the major assassinations. It is attached here. So far, I'm pretty underwhelmed with the documents I've seen. A few more cryptonyms, a bit more information on this or that person, but things I know that should be here are not...not yet. It contains a short article found in another unclassified but withheld in full document entitled 'Dr. King Was Right' - about King's famous speech against the War in Vietnam, and his beliefs about that war and the war vis-a-vis the racial situation in the USA, as well. Strange, even if I know the US Military played a role in King's assassination. The ONLY logic I can find is the Military and the CIA refuse to release anything that has the whiff of truth about it......

[Anthony Thorne]

A few more cryptonyms, a bit more information on this or that person

I think the payoff with that sort of info will come with John Newman's series of books on the assassination, which are just getting started. He seems to be able to use all those seemingly minor names and code words to join dots everyone else typically overlooks.

I guess the flip side to having a mandate to release 'everything' is that there will be stuff of minor interest, but you're right, some of it does beg the question why they chose to bury the documents away. I found the quotes I highlighted earlier to be of interest though, and some of these documents won't reveal their worth until guys like Newman, Simpich, Kelly and others sit and dig through them carefully.

I'll post more documents shortly. Beyond all these, with the October deadline looming we'll have more stuff to look at sooner rather than later.

[Anthony Thorne]

Speaking of which, here's John Newman on Facebook today.

I'm enjoying reading through the new NARA release--now that I have everything archived and can wade through specific areas, such as checking to see how I made out in Vol II (Countdown to Darkness). I came across a couple of big bingos a few minutes ago. The two attached documents--the first from the formerly redacted group, and the second from the newly declassified group, prove that my identifications of the AMIRE-1 cryptonym and the Eugenio pseudonym for Emilio Americo Rodriguez were correct. If you have Vol II, around p. 76 you can find the whole story, including the flight of Emilio and Sforza from Cuba along with my he identifications of the AMRYE-1 cryptonym and the Henry Sloman pseudonym for Tony Sforza.

[Jim DiEugenio]

The questions everyone should be asking are:

1. Why was the release moved up? Especially when some of the documents are still redacted!!

2. Why were some of these documents classified when in fact they did not fall under legal exemptions?

The first points out the problems with NARA.

The second shows us that the ARRB did not perform its mandate.