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13-0000054history staff and to form the Historical Review Group that willreview the JFK documents and other documents of historical inter-est.I believe these actions attest to the seriousness of our intent togetting these papers declassified and released, and to open what re-mains classified to outside non-governmental review. It is againstthis background that in response to the Committee's request, I citeour few technical reservations about the mechanism established bythe joint resolution to achieve this same result. I intend to addressonly intelligence community concerns. I will defer to the Depart-ment of Justice on any additional problems posed by the joint reso-lution.First, vesting in an outside body the determination as to whetherCIA materials related to the assassination can be released to thepublic is inconsistent with my own statutory responsibility for theprotection of intelligence sources and methods.Second, I am concerned that the joint resolution contains no pro-vision requiring security clearances or secure document handlingby the assassination materials review board or its staff.Third, I am concerned that the joint resolution does not providethe Agency with the opportunity to object to the release of CIA in-formation contained in documents originated by Congress or theWarren Commission. Under the joint resolution, documents origi-nated by these entities can be released directly by the executive di-rector of the assassination materials review board without anyreview by the President or other Executive Branch agencies.Fourth, the joint resolution provision for a 30-day period foragencies or departments to appeal decisions by the executive direc-tor to release information may not provide sufficient time formeaningful review of what could prove to be a large volume of ma-terial at one time.Fifth, and finally, Section 6 of the joint resolution, which out-lines the grounds for postponement of public release of a document,makes no provision for postponing release of documents that maycontain Executive privilege or deliberative process, attorney-client,or attorney work product information. While such privileges couldbe waived in the public interest and, in fact, are not likely to arisewith respect to factual information directly related to the JFK as-sassination, they would be unavailable under the joint resolution inthe rare case they might be needed.These are the technical problems that I believe can be solved andthat will, in fact, expedite the release of documents bearing on theassassination of President Kennedy. But, again, whatever thefuture course of this legislation, CIA is proceeding even now toreview for declassification the relevant documents under its con-trol. Further, we will cooperate fully with any mechanism estab-lished by the Congress and the President to declassify all of thismaterial.Mr. Chairman, let me close with a comment on why I am person-ally committed to getting these documents out. Like all Americansold enough to remember that terrible day in 1963, and as severalmembers of the Committee have alluded to, I also remember whereI was and what I was doing.55I was a college student at William and Mary, and I can remem-ber how the word spread like wild fire between classes of that hor-rible event. I made my way to Washington that weekend and stoodat the intersection of Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenues,where I waited for hours to watch the President's funeral cortege. Iwill never forget it.I entered public service less than three years later, heedingPresident Kennedy's inaugural call, a call I think many in my gen-eration heard. He said then, "Now, the trumpet summons us again,not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need, not as a call tobattle, though in battle we are, but as a call to bear the burden ofa long twilight struggle, year in and year out, rejoicing in hope, pa-tient in tribulation, a struggle against the common enemies ofman-tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself."Mr. Chairman, the only thing more horrifying to me than the as-sassination itself is the insidious, perverse notion that elements ofthe American Government, that my own Agency, had some part init. I am determined personally to make public or to expose to disin-terested eyes every relevant scrap of paper in CIA's possession, inthe hope of helping to dispel this corrosive suspicion. With or with-out legislation, I intend to proceed. I believe I owe that to hismemory.Thank you.[The prepared statement of Mr. Gates follows:]PREPARED STATEMENT OF MR. GATESMr. Chairman, I am here today at your request to provide my views on S. J. Res.282, "The Assassination Materials Disclosure Act of 1992," and to describe thenature of documents held by the CIA that relate to the assassination of John F.Kennedy. I very much appreciate the opportunity to speak on this importantmatter.Let me begin by stating that I am in complete agreement with the purpose under-lying the joint resolution-that efforts should be made to declassify and make avail-able to the public as quickly as possible Government documents relating to the as-sassination of John F. Kennedy. We hope that opening up and giving journalists,historians and, most importantly, the public access to governmental files will helpto resolve questions that still linger over 28 years after the assassination. Further, Ibelieve that maximum disclosure will discredit the theory that CIA had anything todo with the murder of John F. Kennedy.Even before introduction of this joint resolution, I recognized the need for greaterpublic access to CIA documents of historical importance. Two months ago, I an-nounced the establishment of a new unit within CIA that will be responsible fordeclassifying as many historical documents as possible consistent with the protec-tion of intelligence sources and methods. This new unit, the Historical ReviewGroup, in the Agency's Center for the Study of Intelligence, will review for declassi-fication documents 30 years old or older, and national intelligence estimates on theformer Soviet Union that are 10 years old or older. In addition to the systematicreview of 30-year-old documents, I have directed the History Staff in the Center forthe Study of Intelligence to assemble CIA records focusing on particular events ofhistorical importance, including the assassination of President Kennedy. The Histor-ical Review Group will then examine the documents for the purpose of declassifyingthe records.Because of high interest in the JFK papers, I am not waiting for legislation orother agencies to start declassifying documents belonging to CIA. The HistoricalReview Group, at my direction, already has begun its review of the documents relat-ed to the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and I am glad to report that the firstgroup of these records, including all CIA documents on Lee Harvey Oswald prior tothe assassination, has been declassified with quite minimal deletions and is beingtransferred to the National Archives for release to the public. This is, I acknowl-edge, a small fraction of what we have, but it is an earnest of my commitment to