=f} Livi atte eos (104-10833-10010 ' ccc ot atest lee OT ALLEL. LS Se Rai nee eT eevee mac ee Soom Nae oe Bcd PLS ne Funded Second Congress of the Wnited States of America AT THE SECOND SESSION Begun and held at the City of Washington on Friday, the third day of January, \ one thousand nine hundred and ninety-two An Act To provide for the expeditious disclosure of records relevant to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Be it enacted by the Senale and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 4 ¢ This Act may be cited as the “President John F. Kennedy -Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992”. SEC. 2. FINDINGS, DECLARATIONS, AND PURPOSES. (a) FINDINGS AND DECLARATIONS.—The Congress finds and ke declares that— . ; - {1} all Government records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy should be preserved for historical and governmental purposes; (2) all Government records concerning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy should carry a presumption of immediate disclosure, and all records should be eventually disclosed to enable the public to become fully informed about the history surrounding the assassination; (3) legislation is necessary to create an enforceable, independent, and accountable process for the public disclosure of such records; ‘ (4) legislation is necessary because congressional records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy would not otherwise be subject to public disclosure until at least the year 2029; -- = -- (5) legislation is necessary because the Freedom of Informa- tion Act, as implemented by the executive branch, has pre- vented the timely public disclosure of records relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; (6) legislation is necessary because Executive Order No. 12356, entitled “National Security Information” has eliminated the declassification and downgrading schedules relating to classified information across government and has prevented the timely public disclosure of records relating to the assassina- _ tion of President John F. Kennedy; and (7) most of the records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy are dimost 30 years old, and only in the rarest cases is there any legitimate need fer continued protection of such record; * (b) PuRposes.—The purposes of this Act are— (1) to provide for the creation of the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection at the National Archives and Records Administration; and (2) to require the expeditious public transmission to the Archivist and public disclosure of such records.
14-00000 5. 3006—2 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. In this Act: ° (1) “Archivist” means the Archivist of the United States. (2) “Assassination record” means a record that is related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, that was created or made available for use by, obtained by, or otherwise came into the possession of-—— . . A) the Commission to Investigate the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy (the “Warren Commission”); (B) the Commission on Central Intelligence Agency Activities Within the United States (the “ efeller Com- mission”); . (C) the Senate Select Committee to Study Govern- mental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (the “Church Committee”); (D) the Select Committee on Intelligence (the “Pike Committee”) of the House of Representatives; ‘ (E) the Select Committee on Assassinations (the “House Assassinations Committee”) of the House of Rep- resentatives; : a (F) the Library of Congress; ’ (G) the National Archives and Records Administration; (H) any Presidential library; - (Dany Executive agency; (J) any independent agency; (K) any-other office of the Federal Government; and -  {L} any State or: locat law enforcement office that pro- vided support or assistance or performed work in connec- tion with a Federal inquiry into the assassination of Presi- dent John F. Kennedy, but does not include the autopsy records donated by the Ken- nedy family to the National Archives pursuant to a deed of gift regulating access to those records, or copies and reproduc- tions made from such records. mo (3) “Collection” means the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection established under section 4. (4) “Executive agency” means an.Executive agency as defined in subsection 552(f) of title 5, United States Code, and includes any Executive department, military department, Government corporation, Government controlled corporation, or other establishment in the executive branch of the Govern- ment, including the Executive Office of the President, or any ‘independent regulatory agency. (5) “Government office” means any office of the Federal Government that has possession or control of assassination records, including— (A) the House Committee on Administration with regard to.the Select Committee on Assassinations of the records of the House of Representatives; (B) the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate with regard to records of the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intel- ligence Activities and other assassination records; (C) the Library of Congress; (D) the National Archives as custpdian of assassination records that it has obtained or’ possesses, including the Commission to Investigate the Assassination of President , ise hye
14-00000 5. 3006—3 John F. Kennedy and the Commission on Central Intel- ligence Agency Activities in the United States; and (E) any other executive branch office or agency, and any independent agency. . (6) “Identification aid” means the written description pre- pared for each record as required in section 4. (7) “National Archives” means the National Archives and Records Administration and all components thereof, including Presidential archival depositories established under section 2112 of title 44, United States Code. (8) “Official investigation” means the reviews of the assas- sination of President John F. Kennedy conducted by any Presi- dential commission, any authorized congressional committee, and any Government agency either independently, at the request of any Presidential commission or congressional com- mittee, or at the request of any Government official. . (9) “Originating body” means the Executive agency, govern- ment. commission, congressional committee, or other govern- mental entity that created a record or particular information within a record. . (10) “Public interest” means the compelling interest in the prompt public disclosure of assassination records for historical and governmental purposes and for the purpose of fully inform- ing the American people about the history surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. . . (11) “Record”, includes a book, paper, map, photograph, sound or video recording; machine readable material, computer- ized, digitized, or electronic information, regardless of the medium on which it is stored, or other documentary material, regardless of its physical form or characteristics. (12) “Review Board” means the Assassination Records Review Board established by section 7. (13) “Third agency” means a Government agency that origi- nated an assassination record that is in the possession of another agency. SEC. 4. PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS COL- LECTION AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION. * (a) IN GENERAL.—(1) Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the National Archives and Records Administration shall commence establishment of a collection of records to be known as the President John F. Kennedy Assassina- tion Records Collection. In so doing, the Archivist shall ensure the physical integrity and original provenance of all records. The Collection shall consist of record copies of all Government records relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which shall be transmitted to the National Archives in accordance with section 2107 of title 44, United States Code. The Archivist shall prepare and publish a subject guidebook and index to the collection. (2) The Collection shall include— (A) all assassination records— (i) that have been transmitted to the National Archives or disclosed to the public in an unredacted form prior _to the date of enactment of this Acf; (ii) that are required to be transmitted to the National - Archives; or oes etiam os | ®
14-00000 5. 3006—4 Act (ili) the disclosure of which is postponed under this ct; ; (B) a central directory comprised of identification aids cre- ated for each record transinitted to the Archivist under section an (C) all Review Board records as required by this Act. (b) DiscLusuRE OF Recorns.—All assassination records transmitted to the National Archives for disclosure to the public shall be included in the Collection and shall be available to the public for inspection and copying at the National Archives within 30 days after their transmission to the National Archives. . (c) FEES ror CopyiInc.—The Archivist shall— (1) charge fees for copying assassination records; and (2) grant waivers of such fees pursuant to the standards established by section 552(a)(4) of title 5, United States Code. (d) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—(1) The Collection shall be preserved, protected, archived, and made available to the public at the National Archives using appropriations authorized, specified, and restricted for use under the terms of this Act. (2) The National Archives, in consultation with the Information Security Oversight Office, shail ensure the security of the postponed assassination records in the Collection. ; (e) OvERSIGHT.—The Committee on Government Operations of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate shall have continuing oversight jurisdiction with respect to the Collection. ae - SEC. 5. REVIEW, IDENTIFICATION, TRANSMISSION TO THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES; AND PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF ASSASSINATION RECORDS BY GOVERNMENT OFFICES. (a) IN GENERAL.—{1) As soon as practicable after the date of enactment of this Act, each Government office shall identify and organize its records relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and prepare them for transmission to the Archivist for inclusion in the Collection. (2) No assassination record shall be destrayed, altered, or muti- lated in any way. (3) No assassination record made available or disclosed to the public prior to the date of enactment of this Act may be withheld, redacted, postponed for public disclosure, or reclassified. (4) No assassination record created by a person or entity outside government (excluding names or identities consistent with the requirements of section 6) shall be withheld, redacted, postponed for public disclosure, or reclassified. . (b) Custopy OF ASSASSINATION RECORDS PENDING REVIEW.— During the review by Government offices and pending review activ- ity by the Review Board, each Government office shall retain cus- tody of its assassination records for purposes of preservation, secu- rity, and efficiency, unless— (1) the Review Board requires the physical transfer of records for purposes of conducting an independent and impar- tial review; - (2) transfer is necessary for an administrative hearing or other Review Board function; or r “(3) it is a third agency record ‘described in subsection (cX2)C).
14-00000 S.3006—5 (c) REVIEw.—({1) Not later than 300 days after the date of enactment of this Act, each Government office shall review, identify - and organize each assassination record in its custody or possession for disclosure to the public, review by the Review Board, and transmission to the Archivist. , (2) In carrying out paragraph (1), a Government office shall-—— (A) determine which of its records are assassination records? ; (B) determine which of its assassination records have been officially disclosed or publicly available in a complete and unredacted form; (Ci) determine which of its assassination records, or par- ticular information contained in such a record, was created by a third agency or by another Government office; and (ii) transmit to a third agency or other Government office those records, or particular information contained in those records, or complete and accurate copies thereof: . (DXi) determine whether its assassination records or par- ticular information in assassination records are covered by the standards for postponement ef public disclosure under this Act; an (ii) specify on the identification aid required by subsection (d) the applicable postponement provision contained in section ; (E) organize and make available to the Review Board all assassination records identified under subparagraph (D) the - public disclosure-of which in whole or in-part may be postponed. under this Act; . (F) organize and make available to the Review Board any record concerning which the office has any uncertainty as to whether the record is an assassination record governed by this Act; (G) give priority to— (i) the identification, review, and transmission of all assassination records publicly available or disclosed as of the date of enactment of this Act in a redacted or edited form; and . ; (ii) the identification, review, and transmission, under the standards for postponement set forth in this Act, of assassination records that on the date of enactment of this Act are the subject of litigation under section 552 of title 5, United States Code; and ~~ (H) make available to the Review Board any additional information and records that the Review Board has reason to believe it requires for conducting a review under this Act. (3) The Director of each archival depository established under section 2112 of title 44, United States Code, shall have as a priority the expedited review for public disclosure of assassination records in the possession and custody of the depository, and shall make such records available to the Review Board as required by this Act. (d) IDENTIFICATION AlDS.—{1)(A) Not later than 45 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Archivist, in consultation with the appropriate Government offices, shall prepare and make available to all Government offices a standard form of identification or finding aid for use with each assassination record subject to review under this Act. a
14-00000 S. 3006—6 (B) The Archivist shall ensure that the identification aid pro- . gram is established in such a manner as to result in the creation of a uniform system of electronic records by Government offices that are compatible with each other. ° (2) Upon completion of an identification aid, a Government office shall — (A) attach a printed copy to the record it describes; (B) transmit to the Review Board a printed copy; and (C) attach a printed copy to each assassination record it describes when it is transmitted to the Archivist. (3) Assassination records which are in the possession of the National Archives on the date of enactment of this Act, and which have been publicly available in their entirety without redaction, shall be made ‘available in the Collection without any additional review by the Review Board or another authorized office under this Act, and shall not be required to havé such an identification aid unless required by the Archivist. ; (e) TRANSMISSION TO THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES.—Each Govern- ment office shall— ! (1) transmit to the Archivist, and make immediately avail- able to the public, all assassination records that can be publicly disclosed, including those that are publicly available on the date of enactment of this Act, without any redaction, adjust- ment, or withholding under the standards of this Act; and (2) transmit to the Archivist upon approval for postpone- ment by -the Review-Board or upon completion of other action -authorized by this Act, all assassination records the public disclosure of which has been postponed, in whole or in part, under the standards of this Act, to become part of the protected Collection. (f) Cusropy OF POSTPONED ASSASSINATION Recorps.—An assassination record the public disclosure of which has been post- poned shall, pending transmission to the Archivist, be held for reasons of securtty and preservation by the originating body until such time as the information security program has been established at the National Archives as required in section 4(e)(2). (g) PERIODIC REVIEW OF POSTPONED ASSASSINATION RECORDS.— (1) All postponed or redacted records shall be reviewed periodically by the originating agency and the Archivist consistent with the recommendations of the Review Board under section 9(cX3XB). (2A) A periodic review shall address the public disclosure of additional assassination records in the Collection under the standards of this Act. (B) All postponed assassination records determined to require continued postponement shall require an unclassified written description of the reason for such continued postponement. Such description shall be provided to the Archivist and published in the Federal Register upon determination. (C) The periodic review of postponed assassination records shall serve to downgrade and declassify security classified information. (D) 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— - (i) continued postponement is made n&cessary by an identi- fiable harm to the military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or conduct of foreign relations; and
14-00000 5S. 3006—7 (ii) the identifiable harm is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in disclosure. . (h) Fers ror Copyinc.—Executive branch agencies shall— (1) charge fees for copying assassination records; and __ (2) grant waivers of such fees pursuant to the standards established by section 552(aX4) of title 5, United States Code. SEC. 6. GROUNDS FOR POSTPONEMENT OF PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF RECORDS. Disclosure of assassination records or particular information in assassination records to the public may be postponed subject to the limitations of this Act if there is clear and convincing evidence that— . (1) the threat to the military defense, intelligence oper- ations, or conduct of foreign relations of the United States posed by the public disclosure of the assassination is of such avity that it outweighs the public interest, and such public isclosure would reveal— (A) an intelligence agent whose identity currently requires protection; ‘ (B) an intelligence source or method which is currently utilized, or reasonably expected to be utilized, by the United States Government and which has not been officially dis- closed, the disclosure of which would interfere with the conduct of intelligence activities; or (C) any other matter currently relating to the military defense, intelligence operations or conduct of foreign rela- tions of the United States, the disclosure of which would demonstrably impair the national security of the United tates; , , (2) the public disclosure of the assassination record would reveal the name or identity of a living person who provided confidential information to the United States and would pose ’ a substantial risk of harm to that person; (3) the public disclosure of the assassination record could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, and that invasion of privacy is so substan- tial that it outweighs the public interest; (4) the public disclosure of the assassination record would compromise the existence of an understanding of confidentiality currently requiring protection between a Government agent and a cooperating individual or a foreign government, and public disclosure would be so harmful that it outweighs the public interest; or (5) the public disclosure of the assassination record would reveal a security or protective procedure currently utilized, or reasonably expected to be utilized, by the Secret Service or another Government agency responsible for protecting Gov- ernment officials, and public disclosure would be so harmful that it outweighs the public interest. SEC. 7. ESTABLISHMENT AND POWERS OF THE ASSASSINATION RECORDS REVIEW BOARD. (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established as-an independent ’ agency a board to be known as the Assassinations Records Review Board... _. #f (b) APPOINTMENT.—(1) The President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint, without regard to political oe cam mens sore aokat
14-00000 S. 3006—8 affiliation, 5 citizens to serve as members of the Review Board to ensure and facilitate the review, transmission to the Archivist, ’ and public disclosure of Government records related to the assas- sination of President John F. Kennedy. (2) The President shall make nominations to the Review Board not later than 90 calendar days after the date of enactment of this Act. (3) If the Senate votes not to confirm a nomination to the Review Board, the President shall make an additional nomination not later than 30 days thereafter, (4A) The President shall make nominations to the Review Board after considering persons recommended by the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, the Society of American Archivists, and the American Bar Associa- . tion. (B) If an organization described in subparagraph (A) does not recommend at least 2 nominees meeting the qualifications stated in paragraph (5) by the date that.is 45 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Presidenthall consider for nomination the persons recommended by the other organizations described in subparagraph (A). (C) The President may request an organization described in - subparagraph.(A) to submit additional nominations, . . ‘5) Persons nominated to the Review Board— (A) shall be impartial private citizens, none of whom is presently employed by any branch of the Government, and- none of whom shall have had any previous involvement with any official investigation or inquiry conducted by a Federal, State, or local government, relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; (B) shall be distinguished persons of high national profes- sional reputation in their respective fields who are capable of exercising the independent and objective judgment necessary to the fulfillment of their role in ensuring and facilitating the review, transmission to the public, and public disclosure of records related to the assassination‘ of President John F. Kennedy and who possess an appreciation.of the value of such material to the public, scholars, and government; and (C) shall include at least 1 professional historian and 1 attorney. (c) Securtry CLEARANCES.—{1) All Review Board nominees shall be granted the necessary security clearances in an accelerated manner subject to the standard procedures for granting such clear- ances. (2) All nominees shall qualify for the necessary security clear- ance prior to being considered for confirmation by the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate. (d) CONFIRMATION HEARINGS.—(1) The Committee on Govern- mental Affairs of the Senate shall hold confirmation hearings within 30 days in which the Senate is in session afler the nomination of 3 Review Board members. (2) The Committee on Governmental Affairs ‘shall vote on the nominations within 14 days in which the Senate is in session after the confirmation hearings, and shall report its results to the full Senate immediately.
14-00000 S. 3006—9 (3) The Senate shall vote on each nominee to confirm or reject ‘within 14 days in which the Senate is in session after reported by the Committee on Governmental Affairs. - (e) VACANCY.—A vacancy on the Review Board shall be filled in the same manner as specified for original appointment within 30 days of the occurrence of the vacancy. (f) CHAIRPERSON.—The Members of the Review Board shall elect one of its members as chairperson at its initial meeting. (g) REMOVAL OF. REVIEW BOARD MEMBER.—(1) No member of the Review Board shall be removed from office, other than— - (A) by impeachment and conviction; or (B) by the action of the President for inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance in office, physical disability, mental incapacity, or any other condition that substantially impairs the performance of the member’s duties. . (2A) If a member of the Review Board is removed from office, - and that removal is by the President, not later than 10 days after the removal the President shall submit to the Committee on Government Operations of the Héuse of Representatives and the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate a report specifying the facts found and the grounds for the removal. (B) The President shall publish in the Federal Register a report ‘submitted under paragraph (2\(A), except that the President may, - if necessary to protect the rights of a person named in the report or to prevent undue interference with any pending prosecution, postpone or refrain from publishing any or all of the report until the completion of such pending cases or pursuant to privacy protec- tion requirements in law. (3XA) A member of the Review Board removed from office may obtain judicial review of the removal in a civil action com- menced in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. (B) The member may be reinstated or granted other appropriate relief by order of the court. (h) COMPENSATION OF MEMBERS.—(1) A member of the Review Board shall be compensated at a rate equal to the daily equivalent of the annual rate of basic pay prescribed for level IV of the Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title 5, United States Code, for each day (including travel time) during which the member is engaged in the performance of the duties of the Review Board. (2) A member of the Review Board shall be allowed reasonable travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates for employees of agencies under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code, while away from the member's home or regular place of business in the performance of services for the Review Board. (i) DUTIES OF THE REVIEW BOARD.—(1) The Review Board shall consider and render decisions on a determination by a Government office to seek to postpone the disclosure of assassination records. (2) In carrying out paragraph (1), the Review Board shall consider and render decisions— . (A) whether a record constitutes an assassination record; and - (B) whether an assassination record ér particular informa- tion in a record qualifies for postponement of disclosure under this Act. rm nyt
14-00000 5. 3006—10 (j) Powers.—(1) The Review Board shall have the authority to act in a manner prescribed under this Act including authority ‘to— (A) direct Government offices to complete identification aids and organize assassination records; : (B) direct Government offices to transmit to the Archivist assassination records as required under this Act, including segregable portions of assassination records, and substitutes and summaries of assassination records that can be publicly disclosed to the fullest extent; (CXi) obtain access to assassination records that have been identified and organized by a Government office; (ii) direct a Government office to make available to the Review Board, and if necessary investigate the facts surround- ing, additional information, records, or testimony from individ- uals, which the Review Board has reason to believe is required to fulfill its functions‘and responsibilities under this Act; and (iii) request the Attorney General to subpoena private per- sons to compel testimony, records, and other information rel- ‘ evant to its responsibilities under this Act; coe (D) require any Government office to account in writing for the destruction of any records relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; ~+ (EY) receive information from the public regarding the identification and public disclosure of assassination records; . (F) hold hearings, administer oaths, and subpoena’ wit- nesses and documents. (2) A subpoena issued under paragraph (1XCXiti) may be enforced by any appropriate Federal court acting pursuant to a lawful request of the Review Board. (k) WitNESS IMMUNITY.—The Review Board shall be considered to be an agency of the United States for purposes of section 6001 of title 18, United States Code. (1) OVERSIGHT.—(1) The Committee on Government Operations of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Govern- mental Affairs of the Senate shall have continuing oversight juris- diction with respect to the official conduct of. the Review Board and the disposition of postponed records after termination of the Review Board, and shall have access to any records held or created by the Review Board. an (2) The Review Board shall have the duty to cooperate with the exercise of such oversight jurisdiction. (m) Support SERVICES.—The Administrator of the General Services Administration shall provide administrative services for the Review Board on a reimbursable basis. (n) INTERPRETIVE REGULATIONS.—The Review Board may issue - interpretive regulations. (0) TERMINATION AND WINDING Up.—{1) The Review Board and the terms of its members shall terminate not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, except that the Review Board may, by majority vote, extend its term for an addi- tional l-year period if it has not completed its work within that 2-year period. 2 ; (2) Upon its termination, the Review Board shall submit reports to the President and the Congress including a complete and accurate ae ny
14-00000 S.3006—11 accounting of expenditures during its existence, and shall complete all other reporting requirements under this Act. : (3) Upon termination and winding up, the Review Board shall transfer all of its records to the Archivist for inclusion in the Collection, and no record of the Review Board shall be destroyed. SEC. 8 ASSASSINATION RECORDS REVIEW BOARD PERSONNEL. (a) EXECUTIVE DirecTor.—{1) Not later than 45 days after the initial meeting of the Review Board, the Review Board shall appoint one citizen, without regard to political affiliation, to the position of Executive Director. (2) The person appointed as Executive Director shall be a private citizen of integrity and impartiality who is a distinguished professional and who is not a present employee of any branch ‘of the Government and has had no previous involvement with any official investigation or inquiry relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. os ‘ (3XA) A candidate for Executive Director shall be granted the necessary security clearances in an accelerated manner subject to the standard procedures for granting‘such clearances. (B) A candidate shall qualify for the necessary security clear- ance prior to being approved by the Review Board. ; . (4) The Executive Director shall-— ; (A) serve as principal liaison to Government offices; (B) be responsible for the administration and coordination of the Review Board's review of records; -(C) be responsible. for the administration. of all official. activities conducted by the Review Board; and - (D) have no authority to decide or determine whether any record should be disclosed to the public or postponed for disclo- sure. (5) The Executive Director shall not be removed for reasons other than by a majority vote of the Review Board for cause on the grounds of inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance in office, physical disability, mental incapacity, or any other condition that substantially impairs the performance of the responsibilities of the Executive Director or the staff of the Review Board. ~ (b) Starr.—{1) The Review Board may, in accordance with the civil service laws but without regard to civil service law and regulation for competitive service as defined in subchapter 1, chap- ter 33 of title 5, United States Code, appoint and terminate addi- tional personnel as are necessary to enable the Review Board and its Executive Director to perform its duties. (2) A person appointed to the staff of the Review Board shall be a private citizen of integrity and impartiality, who is not a present employee of any branch of the Government and who has had no previous involvement with any official investigation or inquiry relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. (3XA) A candidate for staff shall be granted the necessary security clearances in an accelerated manner subject to the standard procedures for granting such clearances. (B) A candidate for the staff shall qualify for the necessa security clearance prior to being approved by the Review Board. (c) COMPENSATION.—The Review Board shall fix the com- pensation of the Executive Director and other,personnel in accord- ance with title 5, United States Code, ‘except that the rate of pay for the Executive Director and other personnel may not exceed
14-00000 5. 3006—12 the rate payable for level V of the Executive Schedule under section . 5316 of that title. (d) Apvisory ComMMITTEES.—(1) The Review Board shall have the authority to create advisory committees to assist in fulfilling the responsibilities of the Review Board under this Act. (2) Any advisory committee created by the Review Board shall be subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.). SEC. 9. REVIEW OF RECORDS BY THE ASSASSINATION RECORDS REVIEW BOARD. (a) Custopy oF REcoRDS REVIEWED BY Boarn.—Pending the outcome of the Review Board’s review activity, a Government office shall retain custody of its assassination records for purposes of preservation, security, and efficiency, unless— (1) the Review Board requires the physical transfer of records for reasons of conducting an independent and impartial review; or (2) such transfer is necessary for an administrative hearing or other official Review Board fungtion. (b) Srarrup REQUIREMENTS.—The Review Board shall— (1) not later than 90 days after the date of its appointment, “publish a schedule for review of all assassination records in the Federal Register; and = __ ; (2) not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, begin its review of assassination records under (c} DETERMINATIONS: OF THE REVIEW Boarp.—{1) The Review Board shall direct that all assassination records be transmitted to the Archivist and disclosed to the public in the Collection in the absence of clear and convincing evidence that— (A) a Government record is not an assassination record; or (B) a Government record or particular information within an assassination record qualifies for postponement of public disclosure under this Act. (2) In approving postponement of public. disclosure of an assas- sination record, the Review Board shall seek to— (A) provide for the disclosure of segregable parts, sub- stitutes, or summaries of such a record; and (B) determine, in consultation with the originating body and consistent with the standards for postponement under this Act, which of the following alternative forms of disclosure shall - be made by the originating body: (i) Any reasonably segregable particular information in an assassination record. . (ii) A substitute record for that information which is postponed. (iii) A summary of an assassination record. (3) With respect to each assassination record or particular information in assassination records the public disclosure of which is postponed pursuant to section 6, or for which only substitutions or summaries have been disclosed to the public, the Review Board shall create and transmit te the Archivist a report containing— (A) a description of actions by the Review Board, the origi- nating body, the President, or any Governfnent office (including a justification of any such action to postpone disclosure of any record or part of any record) and of any official proceedings ay aft we
14-00000 5. 3006—13 conducted by the Review Board with regard to specific assas- sination records; and . (B) a statement, based on a review of the proceedings and in conformity with the decisions reflected therein, des- ignating a recommended spccified time at which or a specified occurrence following which the matcrial may be appropriately disclosed to the public under this Act. (4)(A) Following its review and a determination that an assas- sination record shall be publicly disclosed in the Collection or post- poned for disclosure and held in the protected Collection, the Review Board shall notify the head of the originating body of its determina- tion and publish a copy of the determination in the Federal Register within 14 days after the determination is made. (B) Contemporaneous notice shall be made to the President for Review Buard determinations regarding executive branch assas- sination records, and to the oversight committees designated in this Act in the case of legislative branch records. Such notice shall contain a written unclassified justification for public disclosure or postponement of disclosure, including an explanation of the application of any standards contained in section 6. . (d) PRESIDENTIAL AUTHORITY Over REvView Boarp DETERMINA- TION.— : (1) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OR POSTPONEMENT OF DISCLO- SURE.—After the Review Board has made a formal determina- tion concerning the public disclosure or postponement of disclo- sure of an executive branch assassination record or information. - within such a record,-or of any-information contained in an assassination record, obtained or developed solely within the executive branch, the President shall have the sole and nondelegable authority to require the disclosure or postpone- ment of such record or information under the standards set forth in section 6, and the President shall provide the Review Board with an unclassified written certification specifying the President's decision within 30 days after the Review Board’s determination and notice to the executive branch agency as required under this Act, stating the justification for the Presi- dent's decision, including the applicable grounds for postpone- ment under seclion 6, accompanied by a copy of the identifica- tion aid required under section 4. (2) PERIODIC REVIEW.—Any executive branch assassination record postponed by the President shall be subject to the requirements of periodic review, downgrading and declassifica- tion of classified information, and public disclosure in the collec- tion set forth in section 4. . (3) RECORD OF PRESIDENTIAL POSTPONEMENT.—The Review Board shall, upon its receipt, publish in the Federal Register a copy of any unclassified written certification, statement, and other materials transmitted by or on behalf of the President with regard to postponement of assassination records. (e) NOTICE TO PUBLIC.—Every 30 calendar days, beginning on the date that is 60 calendar days after the date on which the Review Board first approves the postponement of disclosure of an assassination record, the Review Board shall publish in the Federal. Register a notice that summarizes gthe postponements approved by the Review Board or initiated by the President, the House of Representatives, or the Senate, including a description ox one ste ee uy
14-00000 S. 3006—14 of the subject, originating agency, length or other physical descrip- tion, and each ground for postponement that is relied upon. (f) REPORTS BY THE Review BOARD.—({1) The Review Board shall report its activities to the leadership of the Congress, the Committee on Goverriment Operations of the House of Rep- resentatives, the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate, the President, the Archivist, and the head of any Government office whose records have been the subject of Review Board activity. (2) The first report shall be issued on the date that is 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and subsequent reports every 12 months thereafter until termination of the Review Board. (3) A report under paragraph (1) shall include the following information: (A) A financial report of the expenses for all official activi- ties and requirements of the Review Board and its personnel. (B) The progress made on review, transmission to- the Archivist, and public disclosure of assassination records. (C) The estimated time and volume of assassination records involved in the completion of thé Review Board's performance under this Act. : (D) Any special problems, including requests and the level of cooperation of Government offices, with regard to the ability of the Review Board to operate as required by this Act. (E) A record of review activities, including a record of postponement decisions by the Review Board or other related actions authorized by this Act, and a record.of. the volume of records reviewedand postponed. - . - (F) Suggestions and requests to Congress for additional legislative authority needs. (G) An appendix containing copies of reports of postponed records to the Archivist required under section 9(c)(3) made since the date of the preceding report under this subsection. (4) At least 90 calendar days before completing its work, the Review Board shall provide written notice to the President and Congress of its intention to terminate its operations at a specified date. . SEC. 10. DISCLOSURE OF OTHER MATERIALS AND ADDITIONAL STUDY. (a) MATERIALS UNDER SEAL OF CouRT.— (1) The Review Board may reqiest the Attorney General _ to petition any court in the United States or abroad to release any information relevant to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy that is held under seal of the court. (2A) The Review Board may request the Attorney General to petition any court in the United States to release any information relevant to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy that is held under the injunction of secrecy of a grand jury. (B) A request for disclosure of assassination materials under this Act shall be deemed te constitute a showing of particularized need under Rule 6 of the Federal Rules of Cnmi- nal Procedure. (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense pf the Congress that— (1) the Attormey General should assist the Review Board in good faith to unseal any records that the Review Board tr ye
14-00000 S.3006—15 determines to be relevant and held under seal by a court or under the injunction of secrecy of a grand jury; © (2) the Secretary of State should contact the Government of the Republic of Russia and seek the disclosure of all records of the government: of the former Soviet Union, including the records of the Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (KGB) and the Glaynoye Razvedyvatelnoye Upravleniye (GRU), rel- evant to the assassination of President Kennedy, and contact any other foreign government that may hold information rel- evant to the assassination of President Kennedy and seek dis- closure of such information; and (3) all Executive agencies should cooperate in full with -the Review Board to seek the disclosure of all information relevant to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy consistent with the public interest. SEC. 11. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. ° (a) PRECEDENCE OVER OTHER LAW.—When this Act requires transmission of a record to the Archivist or public disclosure, it shall take precedence over any other law (except section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code), judicial decision construing such law, or common law doctrine that would otherwise prohibit such transmission or disclosure, with the exception of deeds governing access to or transfer or release of gifts and donations of records to the United States Government. (b) FREEDOM OF INFORMATION AcT.—Nothing in this Act shall -be construed.to. eliminate or limit any right to file requests with any executive agency: or seek judicial review of the decisions pursu- ant to section 552 of title 5, United States Code. (c) JUDICIAL REvVIEW.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed to preclude judicial review, under chapter 7 of title 5, United States Code, of final actions taken or required to be taken under this Act. (d) ExistinGc AUTHORITY.—Nothing in this Act revokes or limits the existing authority of the President, any executive agency, the Senate, or the House of Representatives, or any other entity of the Government to publicly disclose records in its possession. (e) RULES OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.— To the extent that any provision of this Act establishes a procedure to be followed in the Senate or the House of Representatives, such provision is adopted— 1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the Senate and House of Representatives, respectively, and is deemed to be part of the rules of each House, respectively, but applicable only with respect to the procedure to be followed in that House, and it supersedes other rules only to the extent that it is inconsistent with such rules; and (2) with full recognition of the constitutional right of either House to change the rules (so far as they relate to the procedure of that House) at any time, in the same manner, and to the same extent as in the case of any other rule of that House. SEC. 12. TERMINATION OF EFFECT OF ACT. (a) PROVISIONS PERTAINING TO THE REview Boarp.—The provi- sions of this Act that pertain to the appointment and operation of the Review Board shall cease to be effective when the Review Board and the terms of its members have terminated pursuant to section 7(0).
A-O0000. S. 3006—16 (b) OTHER PRrovisions.—The remaining provisions of this Act shall continue in effect until such time as the Archivist certifies - to the President and the Congress that all assassination records have been made available to the public in accordance with this Act. - : SEC. 13. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. * (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appropriated such Sums as are necessary to carry out this Act, to remain available until expended. . (b) INTERIM FUNDING.—Until such time as funds are appro- priated pursuant to subsection (a), the President may use such sums as are available for discretionary use to carry oul this Act. SEC. 14. SEVERABILITY. ie thn ci me om 4 Raters sal ment poco If any provision of this Act or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of this Act and the application of that provision to other persons not similarly situated or to other circumstances shall not he affected by the invalidation. . r U ae Ud Presidbnt of the Sonau pro longer .
14-00000 &! I certify that this Act originated in the Senate. Secretary. an vat ay.
14-00000 93-281 GOV President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Disclosure: An Overview Harold C. Relyea Specialist in American National Government and Suzanne Cavanagh Specialist in American National Government Government Division March 3, 1993
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14-00000 PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS DISCLOSURE: AN OVERVIEW SUMMARY The assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963, resulted in various investigations of the incident and surrounding circumstances by Federal, State, and local authorities as well as some special inquiry bodies, such as the Presidentially-appointed commission chaired by Chief Justice Earl Warren. Later, other official entities, such as the House Select Committee on Assassinations, probed the assassination anew. From all of these investigations and examinations there resulted a cache of data, records, files, and, in some instances, electronic and multi-media material. Access to these holdings was sought by various elements of the public for a multiplicity of reasons. Over time, some unpublished documents were disclosed. Other holdings, however, for reasons of security classification, law enforcement investigation, and personal privacy, remained officially sequestered. In 1991, a filmed dramatization of President Kennedy’s assassination heightened public interest in the tragedy and explanations of its occurrence. Various conspiracy theories, contentions, and unsubstantiated stories about the event have arisen during the past 30 years. Because these were troubling to many Americans, Congress legislated procedures and conditions for the independent review and expeditious disclosure of heretofore unreleased official records relevant to the assassination of President Kennedy. This was accomplished with the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 which established a review board to examine all relevant materials with a view to their public disclosure and maintenance at the National Archives and Records Administration for public examination.
14-00000 PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS DISCLOSURE: AN OVERVIEW The tragic loss of President John F. Kennedy in a Dallas, Texas, assassination on November 22, 1963, resulted in various investigations of the incident and surrounding circumstances by Federal, State, and local authorities. Some special inquiry bodies, such as the Presidentially-appointed commission -chaired by Chief Justice Earl Warren also conducted inquiries. In subsequent _ years, as some law enforcement agencies continued their investigations of the case, other official entities probed the assassination anew. For some, such as the House Select Committee on Assassinations, initially mandated in 1976, the assassination was a major aspect of the panel’s fact-finding mission. For others, such as the Commission to Investigate CIA Activities Within the United States, created in 1975, the assassination was tangentially related to or only a part of their focus. From all of these investigations and examinations there resulted a cache of data, records, files, and a small quantity of electronic and multi-media material. Access to these holdings was sought by various elements of the public for a multiplicity of reasons. Over time, some unpublished documents were disclosed. Almost all of the Warren Commission records, for example, have been released. Other holdings, however, for reasons of security classification, law enforcement investigation, and personal privacy, remained officially sequestered. A 1991 filmed dramatization of President Kennedy’s assassination and surrounding circumstances heightened public interest in the tragedy and explanations of its occurrence. Subsequently, former President Gerald Ford, the . only surviving member of the Warren Commission, publicly asked leaders of the House of Representatives to seek release of all records concerning the assassination.! Furthermore, various conspiracy theories, contentions, and unsubstantiated stories about the event and those involved in its perpetration, which had arisen during the past 30 years, were troubling to many Americans.” In response, Congress legislated procedures and conditions for the independent review and expeditious disclosure of heretofore unreleased official records relevant to the assassination of President Kennedy. The vehicle for these arrangements was the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992.5 1 George Lardner, Jr. Ford Urges House Leaders to Seek Release Of All Records on Kennedy Assassination. Washington Post, January 30, 1992, p. A12. 2 See U. S. Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service. .The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: Conspiracy Theories by Suzanne Cavanagh. CRS Report 92-270 GOV. March 10, 1992. 3106 Stat. 3443.
14-00000 CRS-2 A PRESIDENTIAL ASSASSINATION The thirty-fifth President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was shot at approximately 12:30 p.m. on November 22, 1963, while riding in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas. President Kennedy was fatally wounded; Texas Governor John Connally, riding in the same open automobile with the President, Mrs. Kennedy, and his own wife, was injured. Doctors at Parkland Memorial Hospital, to which the wounded President was rushed, quickly discovered he had suffered a massive wound in the rear portion of his head. Shortly thereafter, at 1:00 p.m. (C.S.T), after all heart activity had ceased and the Last Rites of the Roman Catholic Church were administered by a priest, John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead and his demise was reported by the news media. Most Americans near or at adult age on that historic and tragic day would forever remember their personal circumstances at the time of learning about the President’s assassination. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife were accompanying President and Mrs. Kennedy on their Dallas visit. At Parkland, the Vice President was informed of the President’s death. Thereafter, he left the hospital under close guard, and proceeded to the Presidential aircraft, Air Force One, located at Love Field. On the plane, Lyndon Johnson took the Presidential oath at 2:38 p.m. (C.S.T.). The aircraft soon departed for Washington, D. C., with Mrs. Kennedy and the body of the late President aboard. Air Force One arrived at Andrews Air Force Base outside of Washington at 5:58 p.m. (E.S.T.) and President Kennedy’s body was transported to the National Naval Medical Center in nearby Bethesda, Maryland, where an autopsy was performed. The following day, the President’s body lay in state in the East Room of the White House. The casket was moved the next day, a Sunday, to the Capitol where an estimated 300,000 people passed through the Rotunda in tribute to the fallen Chief Executive. On Monday, in a procession with full honors, the President’s body was moved to Saint Matthew’s Roman Catholic Cathedral for a Pontifical Requiem Mass, and then to Arlington National Cemetery for burial. Meanwhile, on the day of the President’s assassination, Dallas Police arrested a suspect in the killing, Lee Harvey Oswald, who was also a suspect in the shooting of a patrolman. When questioned by Dallas officers as well as agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Secret Service, Oswald denied having anything to do with the murder of President Kennedy or the Dallas policeman. He was subsequently advised formally at 7:10 p.m. on November 22 that he was charged with the slaying of the patrolman. Several hours later, shortly after 1:30 a.m. on the following day, Oswald was also charged with assassinating President Kennedy. The next day, Sunday, as Oswald was being transferred from the city jail to an armored truck which was to transport him to the Dallas County Jail, he was suddenly shot by an assailant at approximately 11:20 a.m., in the glaring light of television news cameras. He quickly lost consciousness, was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, and was pronounced dead at 1:07 p.m.
14-00000 CRS-3 Oswald’s assassin was Jack Ruby, a local nightclub operator. Arrested at the scene and jailed by Dallas police, Ruby told interrogators that he had killed Oswald in a temporary fit of depression and rage over President Kennedy’s death. He denied having any prior connection with Oswald or any involvement in the President’s killing. Indicted by the State of Texas for Oswald’s murder on November 26, 1963, Ruby was found guilty on March 14, 1964, and was sentenced to death. On appeal, the verdict was reversed and a new trial was ordered by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on October 5, 1966. However, while awaiting retrial, Jack Ruby died of cancer at Parkland Memorial Hospital on January 3, 1967. OFFICIAL INVESTIGATIONS The assassination of President Kennedy was investigated or examined immediately by Texas police authorities as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Secret Service, and, subsequently, other Federal entities. A special study commission, chaired by Chief Justice Earl Warren, was impaneled by President Johnson with a directive, E.0. 11130 of November 30, 1963.4 At least one other such body—the Commission to Investigate CIA Activities Within the United States, chaired by Vice President Nelson Rockefeller and established with E.O. 11828 of January 4, 1975°—also explored aspects of the Kennedy assassination. Between 1975 and 1978, two special congressional committees—the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, which was chaired by Senator Frank Church, and the House Select Committee on Assassinations, which was principally chaired by Representative Louis Stokes—also reviewed the Kennedy assassination. The various investigations, examinations, and reviews of the assassination of President Kennedy resulted in the production and collection of a vast quantity of records and evidentiary materials by Federal entities. The Warren Commission, for example, generated its own original records and received pertinent materials from Federal agencies, such as the F.B.I. The Commission’s research, records, and evidence were later reviewed by the House Select Committee on Assassinations, which itself generated original records and received additional material from other official and unofficial sources. Consequently, due to the manner and timeframes in which Federal inquiries into and reviews of President Kennedy’s assassination were conducted, most collections of records on the matter held by Federal entities contained documentary materials that were produced by sources other than themselves. In brief, there were Federal records that were shared on both an inter- and intra-branch basis. 43 C.F.R., 1959-1963 Comp., p. 795. 53 C.F.R., 1971-1975 Comp., pp. 933-934.
14-00000 CRS-4 According to material supplementing congressional testimony by the Archivist of the United States,® and other sources,’ the following collections of Federal records pertaining to the assassination of President Kennedy existed at the time a subcommittee of the House Committee on the Judiciary was considering proposed legislation providing for the expeditious disclosure of records relevant to the Kennedy assassination. Federal Bureau of Investigation. The F.B.1. holdings include 499,431 pages of pertinent documents, 223,689 pages of which have been made available to the public. During congressional testimony in May of 1992, the Bureau’s Deputy Director indicated that a special task force had been created a few weeks earlier to expedite greater disclosure of records relating to the assassination.’ He also provided the following breakdown of F.B.I. records "relating in some way to the assassination.” 1. The FBI has four "core files" that relate directly to the investigation of the assassination, our cooperation with the Warren Commission, and the investigations of Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby. There are approximately 499,000 pages in these files. Because of the very liberal standards used for processing these documents, most of the information in these files was released pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act in 1978 and is available in the FBI’s public reading room. ... 2. In addition, the FBI has several other much smaller files as a result of other related investigations such as the investigation of Marina Oswald [the wife of Lee Harvey Oswald]. These files comprise approximately 22,000 pages. ... (M)uch of this information has already been released to the public.® United States Secret Service. The Secret Service collection consists of approximately 11,000 pages of records, as well as several audio-visual items, almost all of which are duplicated in the publicly available holdings of the Warren Commission. Scattered records have been exempted from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act in the past for reasons of security classification, personal privacy, and law enforcement investigation.” ® U. S. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary. Assassination Materials Disclosure Act of 1992. Hearing, 102d Congress, 2d session. May 20, 1992. Washington, U. S. Govt. Print. Off., 1992, pp. 80-81. ” Associated Press. JFK: The Files. Washington Post, June 1, 1992, p. A17. ®U. S. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary. Assassination Materials Disclosure Act of 1992, pp. 93, 97. ® Ibid., pp. 94, 100-101. 10 See 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(1), (6), and (7) (1988).
14-00000 CRS-5 Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Intelligence Community. The C.LA. compiled a file on Lee Harvey Oswald before the assassination of President Kennedy. That material was made public in mid-May of 1992.'! The C.LA. has approximately 250,000 to 300,000 pages of additional pertinent material, about 11,000 pages of which have been made public through F.O.L. Act requests. In his May 1992, testimony before the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs concerning proposed legislation providing for the expeditious disclosure of records pertaining to the assassination of President Kennedy, the Director of Central Intelligence summarized relevant actions he had recently taken, saying: Two months ago, I announced the establishment of a new unit within CIA that will be responsible for declassifying as many historical documents as possible consistent with the protection of intelligence sources and methods.” This new unit, the Historical Review Group, in the Agency’s Center for the Study of Intelligence, will review for declassification documents 30 years old or older and national intelligence estimates on the former Soviet Union that are 10 years old or older." In addition to the systematic review of 30-year-old documents, I have directed the history staff in the Center for the Study of Intelligence to assemble CIA records focusing on particular events of historical importance, including the assassination of President Kennedy. The Historical Review Group will then examine the documents for the purpose of declassifying the records. Because of high interest in the JFK papers, I am not waiting for legislation or other agencies to start declassifying documents belonging to CIA. The Historical Review Group, at my direction, already has begun its review of the documents related to the assassination of President Kennedy, and I am happy to report that the first group of these records, including all CLA documents on Lee Harvey Oswald prior to the assassination, has been declassified with quite minimal 11 See George Lardner, Jr. CIA Opens Pre-Dallas File on Oswald. Washington Post, May 14, 1992, p. A8; Washington At Work—The Kennedy Assassination: Getting at History. Washington Post, May 20, 1992, p. A21. 2 The Director of Central Intelligence is statutorily "responsible for protecting intelligence sources and methods from unauthorized disclosure.” 50 U.S.C. 403(d)(3) and 403g (1988). 18 Regulations for the new C.1.A. Historical Review Program appear in U. S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. The Assassination Materials Disclosure Act of 1992, Hearing, 102d Congress, 2d session. May 12, 1992. Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1992, pp. 184-191.
14-00000 CRS-6 deletions and is being transferred to the National Archives for release to the public.’ Describing the Agency’s assassination records holdings in a prepared statement, the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence told a House subcommittee: This includes 64 boxes of copies and originals of information provided to the Warren Commission and the House Select Committee on Assassinations and 17 boxes of material on Lee Harvey Oswald accumulated after President Kennedy’s assassination. Unfortunately, what we are dealing with is a mass of material that is not indexed, is uncatalogued, and is highly disorganized—all of which makes the review process more difficult. The material contains everything from the most sensitive intelligence sources.to the most mundane news clippings. - Concerning other agencies of the Federal Intelligence Community, the Deputy Director’s statement said: The FBI will describe its holdings separately, which I assume include both intelligence and law enforcement records. The National Security Agency and the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research report, after a preliminary search, that they have identified a relatively small amount of material responsive to previous inquiries by the Warren Commission, the Church Committee, and the House Select Committee on Assassinations. The Defense Intelligence Agency, which did not come into existence until 1961, has identified no assassination material to date, and it anticipates that any holdings it might have would be minimal because its mission at the time of the Kennedy assassination focused upon foreign order of battle. Department of State. According to supplemental material accompanying the Archivist’s May, 1992, testimony before a subcommittee of the House Committee on the Judiciary, some 7,000 pages of pertinent records in two case files had been recently transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration by the Department of State. Although this collection had not been systematically reviewed at the time of his testimony, the account indicated that the transferred documents appeared to be duplicates of those in the publicly available holdings of the Warren Commission.” 4 Ibid, p. 51. ‘6 U.S. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary. Assassination Materials Disclosure Act of 1992, p. 114. 16 Toid., p. 116. _" Ibid., p. 80.
14-00000 CRS-7 Department of Justice. Apart from the records of the F.B.I. noted earlier, ease files of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice reportedly contain approximately 65,000 pages of material. According to the supplemental account accompanying the Archivist’s prepared statement for a subcommittee of the House Committee on the Judiciary, “Most of these records are letters from the general public, constituent mail forwarded by members of Congress, and responses from the Department and the FBI." Some 11,000 pages of this material have been previously exempted from disclosure for reasons of personal privacy and law enforcement investigation when sought pursuant to the F.O.I. Act. President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy. The Warren Commission presented its report and 26 volumes of appendices to President Johnson on September 24, 1964. These documents were published by the Government Printing Office and made available for public purchase. The Commission ceased operations and its records—363 cubic feet of material, including audio-visual items—were transferred to the National Archives. Approximately 98 percent of this collection subsequently has become open to the public. Records exempted from disclosure under the F.O.I. Act were protected for reasons of security classification, specific statutory restrictions, personal privacy, and law enforcement investigation. !® Commission to Investigate CIA Activities Within the United States. Mandated to determine whether any C.I.A. domestic activities exceeded the Agency’s statutory authority, the Rockefeller Commission was tasked, within its general mission, to investigate allegations concerning the presence of C.LA. employees or agents in Dallas at the time of President Kennedy’s assassination or of their involvement in the murder. The panel’s June 16, 1975, report, while indicating that a staff inquiry had been made concerning the allegations, noted that "a full review" of the report of the Warren Commission had not been undertaken. "Such a task," in the panel’s view, "would have been outside of the scope of the Executive Order establishing this Commission, and would have diverted the time of the Commission from its proper function." Consequently, the panel limited itself "to determining whether there was any credible evidence pointing to CIA involvement in the assassination of President Kennedy. It concluded that "there was no credible evidence of any CIA involvement.”*! Upon presenting its report to the President, the Rockefeller Commission ceased operations. Its records, most of which were highly classified, were retained by President Ford and, in accordance with prevailing practice at the time, were taken away by him as part of his Presidential papers when he left the 18 Ibid. 8 Ibid. 20 J, S. Commission to Investigate CIA Activities Within the United States. Report to the President. Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1975, p. 251. 21 Ibid., p. 269.
14-00000 CRS-8 White House.” They were subsequently returned to the custody of the Federal Government in accordance with a December 13, 1976, deed of gift in which President Ford donated his congressional, Vice Presidential, and Presidential papers to a Presidential library created in his name on the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and operated by the National Archives.” The deposited Rockefeller Commission collection consisted of 23 linear feet of materials, 2,500 pages of which related to the panel’s investigation into matters surrounding the Kennedy assassination. Public access to these highly classified records has been limited by the Ford deed of gift.” Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (The Church Committee). Established by S. Res. 21 on January 27, 1975, the Church Committee was tasked with conducting an investigation of the extent, if any, of improper or unethical activities engaged in by Federal intelligence agencies. In carrying out its mandate, the Committee assessed the performance of the intelligence community in examining circumstances surrounding the assassination of President Kennedy. The Committee subsequently "developed evidence which impeaches the process by which the intelligence agencies arrived at their own conclusions about the assassination" and found that the intelligence agencies were "deficient" in their support of the Warren Commission. When the Church Committee went out of existence on May 31, 1976, its records came under the custody and into the possession of the successor Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Approximately 5,000 papers in the Church Committee collection pertain to the Kennedy assassination, but have not previously been made available for public examination by the Senate. House Select Committee on Assassinations. Initially chartered by H. Res. 1540 on September 17, 1976, the Assassinations Committee was mandated to conduct a broad investigation of the circumstances surrounding the death of President Kennedy in 1963 and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968. In the former case, much of the Committee’s efforts centered on reviewing the findings of the Warren Commission and evaluating the evidence presented to it by official entities. A number of findings and recommendations were subsequently offered #2 This practice was ended by the Presidential Records Act of 1978, 92 Stat. 2523, 44 U.S.C. 2201-2207 (1988). 22 See U.S. Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service. Federal Presidential Libraries by Harold C. Relyea. CRS Report 90-595 GOV. December 14, 1990. * UJ. S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. The Assassination Materials Disclosure Act of 1992, pp. 357-361, 384-412, 419-427. 75 UJ. S. Congress. Senate. Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities. Final Report—The Investigation of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: Performance of the Intelligence Agencies. S. Rept. 94-755, 94th Congress, 2d session. Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1976, pp. 6-7.
14-00000 CRS-9 by the Select Committee.” When the Committee went out of existence at the end of the 95th Congress, custody of its records passed to the Clerk of the House. Approximately 414,000 pages of the Committee’s 747,000-page collection were created or collected by the panel’s Kennedy task force. The operative House standard at the time of the expiration of the Assassinations Committee sealed all unpublished committee records for 50 years. A 1983 effort by five former members of the Assassinations Committee to accelerate the release of the panel’s files was unsuccessful due to the failure of their reform resolution (H. Res. 160) to be reported from committee. RECORDS ACCESS BARRIERS Efforts by the public to gain access to records deriving from Federal investigations and examinations of the assassination of President Kennedy and surrounding events have been frustrated by several complications. Operative since July of 1967, the Freedom of Information Act provides any person—individual or corporate, regardless of citizenship—with access to identifiable, unpublished, existing records of the Federal departments and agencies without having to demonstrate a need or even a reason for such a request.2” The burden of proof for withholding material sought by the public . is placed upon the Government. However, the statute specifies nine categories of information which may be withheld from disclosure.” Among these stated exemptions to the rule of disclosure are protections for: (1) information properly classified for national defense or foreign policy purposes as secret under criteria established by an executive order; (2) data specifically excepted from disclosure by a statute which either requires that matters be withheld in a non- discretionary manner or which establishes particular criteria for withholding or refers to particular types of matters to be withheld; (3) personnel, medical, and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy; and (4) certain kinds of investigatory records compiled for law enforcement purposes.” These four exemptions tended to be the ones most often invoked by the agencies in support of their withholding of assassination materials sought pursuant to the F.O.1. Act. Disputes over the accessibility of records may be ultimately settled in Federal court. 26 See U.S. Congress. House. Select Committee on Assassinations. Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations. H. Rept. 95-1828, 95th Congress, 2d session. Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1979. 27 See 5 U.S.C. 552 (1988). 28 See U. S. Congress. House. Committee on Government Operations. A Citizen’s Guide on Using the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act of 1974 to Request Government Records. H. Rept. 102-146, 102d Congress, 1st session. Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1991. 29 The full list of exemptions may be found at 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(1)-(9).
14-00000 CRS-10 Among those testifying before the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs during that panel’s consideration of legislation providing for the expeditious disclosure of records relevant to the assassination of President Kennedy was James H. Lesar, an F.O.LA. attorney and president of the Assassination Archives and Research Center located in Washington, D. C. Describing the Center as “a private, non-profit organization which collects, preserves, and disseminates information and materials on _ political assassinations, ... which is funded by membership dues and donations from the public,” Mr. Lesar identified the security classification of assassination records as @ major obstacle to their release under the F.O.I. Act. He also gave some illustrations from his practice showing "the inadequacies of the FOIA and the enormous frustration which accrues to those who attempt to use it to obtain information about the Kennedy assassination. These examples," he told the Committee, "reveal a pattern of delay, costly litigation, and untrue representations by the Government.” In conclusion, he said: These stories that 1 have related are unusual only because the requesters actually went to court to fight the CIA and FBI. Most requesters cannot afford the time or money to litigate their FOIA requests against these agencies. You might be tempted to conclude from the general absence of litigation that the FOIA is working just fine. The opposite is true. The FOIA has been severely damaged by the 1984 amendments eliminating access to CIA operational files*! and by the 1986 amendments to Exemption 7 which applies ‘to law enforcement records,® as well as by a string of decisions in the Supreme Court and the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia which have greatly expanded the amount of material which can be withheld from the public.™ Public access to unpublished congressional records was also very limited. The House Select Committee on Assassinations went out of existence at the expiration of the 95th Congress. During its two-year investigation, the Select Committee amassed approximately 414,000 pages of records pertaining to the 30 UJ. S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. The Assassination Materials Disclosure Act of 1992, p. 74; four case studies appear in Ivid., pp. 74-76, 80-82. 51 See 98 Stat. 2209; 50 U.S.C. 431-432. 52 100 Stat. 3207-48; also see Harold C. Relyea. U. S. Freedom of Information Act Reforms—1986. Journal of Media Law and Practice, v. 9, March, 1988, pp. 6-12. 38 UJ, S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. The Assassination Materials Disclosure Act of 1992, p. 17.
14-00000 CRS-11 Kennedy assassination. Transcripts of its open hearings and a final report were published by the Government Printing Office. However, its other records remained unavailable to the public. These materials were transferred to the National Archives and were sealed from public access for 50 years, until the year 2029, in accordance with the operative standards of the House of Representatives at that time.™ Despite this time restriction on public access to the Select Committee’s unpublished records, interested persons could request to see them by writing to the Clerk of the House. Although there was—unlike the provisions of the F.O.1L. Act—no temporal requirement concerning a response deadline, it was at least the Clerk’s policy to reply in a timely manner, whether the response was positive or negative. However, because security classified material and agency records were a large part of this reserved collection, access was accordingly limited. Furthermore, there was a logistical question of permitting access at the legislative reference branch of the National Archives or retrieving the records for examination on Capitol Hill, with appropriate supervision in either case. In brief, it was not a satisfying experience for many requestors. ~ In 1983, a former member of the Select Committee, Representative Stewart McKinney, citing the public’s right to know about the circumstances surrounding the death of President Kennedy, introduced a resolution, H. Res. 160, providing for the accelerated release of the panel’s files. Four other members of the Select Committee—Representatives Robert Edgar, Harold S. Sawyer, Walter Fauntroy, and Harold Ford—co-sponsored the resolution. Referred to the House Administration Committee, it never came to the House floor for a vote; and, although hearings were held on the proposal, the transcript was not published. In the Senate, the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities—known as the Church Committee, which was established on January 27, 1975—examined various aspects of intelligence community operations, including its performance in assisting in investigations of the assassination of President Kennedy. Specifically, the Church Committee *¢ UJ. S. Congress. House. Committee on Government Operations. Assassination Materials Disclosure Act of 1992. H. Rept. 102-625 Part I, 102d Congress, 2d session. Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1992, p. 13. 85 The House rule governing the preservation and availability of noncurrent records of the House was changed in the 101st Congress. See, U. S. Congress. House. Constitution, Jefferson’s Manual and Rules of the House of Representatives. Rule XXXVI. H. Doc. 101-256, 101st Congress, 2d session. Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1991, p. 724. The new rule requires that the Clerk of the House transfer noncurrent records of the House to the National Archives; investigative records remain under seal for 50 years and routine records for 30 years. 86 See Congressional Record, v. 129, April 18, 1983, p. 8520.
14-00000 CRS-12 studied the extent to which the intelligence agencies assisted the Warren Commission by providing information necessary to conduct its investigation. The Church Committee found that the intelligence community did not provide sufficient data to the Warren Commission about U.S. operations against Cuba. Furthermore, it recommended that its successor, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, investigate the possibility that senior officials of the C.LA. and F.B.I. might have made a conscious decision not to disclose potentially important information in this area to the Warren Commission. Before the Church Committee went out of existence on May 31, 1976, it forwarded all of its files pertaining to this aspect of its investigation—approximately 5,000 pages of records—to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.” When the Church Committee concluded its investigation and published its hearing transcripts and final report, there was no Senate rule governing the disposition of committee records. In practice, each committee had its own agreement with the National Archives concerning noncurrent materials. On June 24, 1980, the Senate adopted a resolution, S. Res. 474, which provided that any records of the Senate, or of any Senate committee, shall not be available to the public for 20 years and, in the case of investigative files, for 50 years. Athird area of access difficulties concerns donated papers—records provided to the Federal Government under a deed of gift setting temporal or other access conditions which restrict their availability to the general public. In testimony before a subcommittee of the House Committee on the Judiciary, the Archivist of the United States offered the following pertinent remarks: In accordance with 44 U.S.C. 2107 and 2111, the National Archives has accepted under deed of gift a wide variety of historical, donated historical materials. The Kennedy autopsy photographs and x-rays are in this category. So are the files of the Rockefeller Commission held by the Gerald R. Ford Library.’ This donation was in keeping with legal practices prior to 1978 when the Presidential commissions were regarded as personal to the President because they provided advice directly to him. The deed of gift for this highly classified Rockefeller Commission file specifies that access will be granted for any legitimate governmental function. Access has been granted for at least three previous governmental investigations. .. . In addition, there are collections of personal papers in some of the Presidential libraries received under the authority of 44 U.S.C. 2107 and 2111, and they may contain documentary materials falling within the broad definition of assassination materials.® 87 H. ‘Rept. 102-625 Part 1, p. 13. % UJ, S. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary. Assassination Materials Disclosure Act of 1992, p. 73 (emphasis added).
14-00000 CRS-13 The Library of Congress also had relevant donated papers in its manuscript collections, some of which were accessible to the public only with the permission of the donor.®® While the difficulties of gaining donor permission to examine private records deposited in public institutions were well understood, the Archivist offered a caution concerning access legislation which might override donor agreements involving assassination materials. The National Archives, he said, "is concerned that unless existing donation agreements are honored and donors are consulted before access and publication, the Congress may inadvertently discourage future donations of similar historical material and thereby damage compilation of the complete and accurate historical record."*° CREATING A NEW PROCEDURE Legislation providing for the expeditious disclosure of records relevant to the.assassination of President Kennedy was introduced in the House as H. J. Res: 454 on March 26, 1992, by Representative Louis Stokes, former chairman of the House Select Committee on Assassinations, with 40 initial co-sponsors.! In testimony before a subcommittee of the House Committee on the Judiciary considering the proposal, Representative Stokes explained his reasons for offering the legislation. This resolution was introduced because of the renewed public interest and concern over the records pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The House committee which I chaired, in the course of its investigation, had at one time or the other in its possession approximately 370 cubic feet of files. Among the materials contained in these files were classified and unclassified materials on loan from Federal agencies, materials generated by committee staff, materials on loan from private individuals, transcripts of committee open session hearings and meetings, and from executive sessions hearings and meetings. There has been considerable debate about these records, including accusations that these records, if released, would contain evidence of a@ government coverup or complicity of government agencies in the assassination of President Kennedy. 89 See U. S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. The Assassination Materials Disclosure Act of 1992, pp. 462-477 40 U.S. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary. Assassination Materials Disclosure Act of 1992, pp. 73-74. 41 Congressional Record, v. 138, March 26, 1992, pp. H1984-H1986 (daily edition).
14-00000 CRS-14 I can assure you, Mr. Chairman, members of this committee, that nothing could be further from the truth. No member of our committee nor member of our staff participated in any coverup of the truth. Mr. Chairman, I am committed to the principle that Americans are entitled to know the truth about the assassination of President Kennedy and feel that Congress should do its best to allay fears of the American people in this regard. The American public deserves to know the factual truth about this important event in this Nation’s history. An identical companion measure was introduced in the Senate as S. J. Res. 282 on March 26, 1992, by Senator David Boren, chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, with nine initial co-sponsors.“ Among these was Senator Arlen Specter, who had been a staff member of the Warren Commission. In sponsoring the legislation, Senator Boren said, in both his floor statement introducing the measure and later committee hearings on it, he felt, as a general principle, that "the intelligence community should make available its records after the passage of a reasonable amount of time when current sources and methods would no longer be compromised.“ As introduced, the Assassination Materials Disclosure Act provided for the creation of a temporary Assassination Materials Review Board. It was to be composed of five "distinguished and impartial private citizens," who were to be selected by the division of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia established under 28 U.S.C. 49. This section originally mandated the selection of so-called Independent Counsels or Special Prosecutors, such as the ones who lately have pursued illegalities stemming from the Watergate incident and the Iran-Contra affair. According to the Stokes-Boren proposal, members of the Review Board were to be deemed to be inferior officers of the United States within the meaning of section 2 of Article II of the Constitution. Furthermore, the Review Board was authorized to, "without regard to the civil service laws and regulations, appoint and terminate an Executive Director and such other additional personnel as are necessary to enable the Review Board to perform its duties.” 4 J. S. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary. Assassination Materials Disclosure Act of 1992, p. 33. . 48 Congressional Record, v. 138, March 26, 1992, pp. S4392-S4397 (daily edition). “4 Ibid., p. $4392; U. S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. The Assassination Materials Disclosure Act of 1992, p. 14. 46 This section reads, in relevant part, "the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments."
14-00000 CRS-15 The Assassination Materials Disclosure Act prescribed that all relevant records and materials pertinent to the assassination of President Kennedy would be initially reviewed by the Executive Director of the Review Board. This official would determine if items (1) could be publicly released; (2) should be referred to the Board, for reasons of privacy or other complex conditions, for a determination as to their public availability; or (8) should be postponed for release, subject to Review Board approval. In the first instance, decisions by the Executive Director to release materials could be appealed by agencies to the Review Board for reconsideration. Ultimately, the Review Board would decide (1) the disclosure of materials, subject to a Presidential override, with notice to the public and Congress; and (2) postponement of release to a specific date, with notice to the public and Congress. . In the House, H. J. Res. 454 was referred jointly to the Committees on House Administration, Government Operations, Rules, and the Judiciary. Two panels, the Committees on Government Operations and the Judiciary, held public hearings, conducted mark-ups, and issued reports on differing versions of the original proposal.*® In the Senate, S. J. Res. 282 was referred only to the Committee on Governmental Affairs, which held a hearing on the measure, revised and expanded it, and reported this new version (S. 3006).“” Various objections to the original text of the joint resolution were heard by the committees, including those of the Department of Justice, which indicated the proposal, as introduced, "would not be consistent with the objectives of the Administration."4° Among the criticisms of the proposal that were offered by witnesses were the following: ® using a somewhat unusual and constitutionally suspect process for the appointment of Review Board members (to achieve independence) instead of the more traditional procedure of Presidential appointment and Senate confirmation of such officials; 46 See U. S. Congress. House. Committee on Government Operations. Assassination Maierials Disclosure Act of 1992. H. Rept. 102-625 Part 1, 102d Congress, 2d session. Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1992; U.S. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary. Assassination Materials Disclosure Act of 1992, H. Rept. 102-625 Part 2, 102d Congress, 2d session. Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. OfF., 1992. 47 IJ. S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992. S. Rept. 102-328, 102d Congress, 2d session. Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1992. 48 See U. S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. The Assassination Materials Disclosure Act of 1992, pp. 263-271; also see U. S. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary. Assassination Materials Disclosure Act of 1992, pp. 82-92.
14-00000 CRS-16 @ vesting too much responsibility and discretionary authority (and perhaps too much work) in the Executive Director of the Review Board, who might also more properly be a Presidential appointee; @ insulating from the President the decisions of the Review Board concerning the public release of heretofore undisclosed executive branch records, limiting the President’s authority to protect such records to the standards set forth in the legislation, and requiring, contrary to the separation of powers doctrine, that the President submit to Congress copies of any assassination material that he blocks from release by the Review Board; and @ defining "assassination material" so broadly that agencies are not afforded adequate guidance for determining practical limits to the universe of relevant records, so loosely that custodial rights governing some materials, such as executive branch records found in the collections of pertinent House and Senate investigating committees, are overlooked, and so imprecisely that relevant materials of the Rockefeller Commission on CIA Activities Within the United States escape coverage. The Senate version of the legislation, revised and reported by the Committee on Governmental Affairs as The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (S. 3006), was approved on July 22, 1992. Disagreements over the differing provisions of two reported revisions of the measure delayed final action in the House,™ which passed a version on August 12 relying upon the selection of Review Board members pursuant to the Independent Counsel authority (28 U.S.C. 49).°! However, conferees were not quickly appointed and the House-passed measure was not formally sent to the Senate until September 21 when the 102d Congress was rapidly moving toward final adjournment.” With time running out, the House adopted the Senate- passed bill on September 30. President Bush signed S. 3006 into law on October 26, 1992.4 Saying, "I fully support the goals of this legislation” and that he was "pleased" that it 4° Congressional Record, v. 138, July 22, 1992, pp. S10360-S10368 (daily edition). 5° See Action Urged On JFK Data. Washington Post, July 23, 1992, p. A20. 51 Congressional Record, v. 138, August 12, 1992, p. H8091 (daily edition). 52 George Lardner, Jr. JFK Records Bill Runs Into Logjam On Capitol Hill. Washington Post, September 22, 1992, p. A19. 58 Congressional Record, v. 138, September 30, 1992, pp. H9911-H9918 (daily edition). §4 106 Stat. 3443.
14-00000 CRS-17 "avoids the chief constitutional problems raised by earlier versions of the bill," the President noted that “it still raises, several constitutional questions." These were enumerated as follows: First, S. 3006 sets forth the grounds on which the release of documents may be postponed, but this list does not contemplate r nondisclosure of executive branch deliberations or law enforcement information of the executive branch... , and it provides only a narrow basis for nondisclosure of national security information. My authority to protect these categories of information comes from the Constitution and cannot be limited by statute. Although only the most extraordinary circumstances would require postponement of the disclosure of documents for reasons other than those recognized in the bill, I cannot abdicate my constitutional responsibility to take such . action when necessary. The same applies to the provision purporting . to give certain congressional committees "access to any records held or - created by the Review Board." This provision will be interpreted . consistently with my authority under the Constitution to protect - confidential executive branch materials and to supervise and guide executive branch officials. Second, S. 3006 requires the Board to report to the President and the Congress. If the bill were interpreted to require simultaneous reports, S. 3006 would intrude upon the President’s authority to supervise subordinate officials in the executive branch. I will construe the provisions to require that the Board report to the President before it reports to the Congress. Third, the bill purports to set the qualifications for Board members, to require the President to review lists supplied by specified organizations, and to direct the timing of nominations.. These provisions conflict with the constitutional division of responsibility between the President and the Congress. The President has the sole power of nomination; the Senate has the sole power of consent. I note also that S. 3006 provides that, upon request of the Board, courts may enforce subpoenas that the Attorney General has issued at the Board’s urging. I sign this bill on the understanding that this provision does not encroach upon the Attorney General’s usual, plenary authority to represent the agencies of the United States, including the Board, whenever they appear in court. STATUTE OVERVIEW As enacted into law, the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 generally provides for the independent review of 55 Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, v. 28, November 2, 1992, pp. 2134-2135.
14-00000 CRS-18 government records relating to the assassination of President Kennedy with a view to their public release. Furthermore, it requires the assembly of copies of all such records, whether available for public examination now or at a later time, in a special collection maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration. However, it does not take precedence over deeds governing access to, or transfer or release of, gifts and donations of records to the United States Government. The Archivist is directed to begin establishing the Kennedy assassination records collection not later than 60 days after the enactment of the statute, and is responsible for ensuring the physical integrity, original provenance, and security of all records within it. Continuing oversight jurisdiction with respect to this records collection is vested in the House Committee on Government Operations and the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs. The statute indicates that, as soon as practicable after its enactment, each Government office shall begin identifying and organizing their records relating to the assassination of President Kennedy and preparing for their transmission to the Archivist for inclusion in the special collection. In so doing, offices are directed not to destroy, alter, or mutilate any such record or withhold, react, postpone for subsequent disclosure, or reclassify any assassination record previously made available or disclosed to the public. However, not later than 300 days after the enactment of the statute, Government offices shall begin a review to identify records in their custody or possession which are actually assassination records. Of these, they are also to determine which ones have been previously disclosed officially or made available publicly in a complete and unredacted form, which ones were produced by a third agency or another Government office (and transmit same or copies of same to these parties), and which ones are covered by the standards for postponement of public disclosure under the Kennedy assassination records collection statute. Previously released assassination records and information are provided to the Archivist for the special collection. Materials which are of uncertain status as to being assassination records or which a Government office has determined are assassination records which may be postponed, in whole or in part, for public disclosure, are to be organized and made available to the Assassination Records Review Board established by the statute. The disclosure of assassination records, in whole or in part, may be postponed "if there is clear and convincing evidence that—" (1) the threat to the military defense, intelligence operations, of conduct of foreign relations of the United States posed by the public disclosure of the assassination [record] is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest, and such public disclosure would reveal-—— (A) an intelligence agent whose identity currently requires protection; (B) an intelligence source or method which is currently utilized, or reasonably expected to be
14-00000 CRS-19 utilized, by the United States Government and which has not been officially disclosed, the disclosure of which would interfere with the conduct of intelligence activities; or (C) any other matter currently relating to the military defense, intelligence operations or conduct of foreign relations of the United States, the disclosure of which would demonstrably impair the national security of the United States; (2) the public disclosure of the assassination record would reveal the name or identity of a living person who provided confidential information to the United States and would pose a substantial risk of harm to that person; (3) the public disclosure of the assassination record could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, and that invasion of privacy is so substantial that it outweighs the public interest; (4) the public disclosure of the assassination record would compromise the existence of an understanding of confidentiality currently requiring protection between a Government agent and a cooperating individual or a foreign government, and public disclosure would be so harmful that it outweighs the public interest; or (5) the public disclosure of the assassination record would reveal a security or protective procedure currently utilized, or reasonably expected to be utilized, by the Secret Service or another Government agency responsible for protecting Government officials, and the public disclosure would be so harmful that it outweighs the public interest.” The statute establishes a temporary independent agency, to be known as the Assassination Records Review Board. This panel is composed of five citizens, who are to be appointed by the President "after considering persons recommended by the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, the Society of American Archivists, and the American Bar Association." These appointees are subject to Senate confirmation, "shall be granted the necessary security clearances in an accelerated manner subject to the standard procedures for granting such clearances," and "shall qualify for the necessary security clearance prior to being considered for confirmation by the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate."*’ A vacancy on the Board is to be filled in the same manner as an original appointment. Board members 56 106 Stat. 3449. 57 106 Stat. 3450.
14-00000 CRS-20 may be removed only for specific cause; a removed member may obtain judicial review of the action through civil suit in the District Court for the District of Columbia and may be reinstated or granted other appropriate relief by order of the court. Board members elect a chair from among themselves at their initial meeting. They serve for the total period of the Board’s functioning—two years from the date of the enactment of the Kennedy assassination records collection statute, with a possible one-year extension of this mandate if the Board members, by majority vote, determine that such additional time is needed in order to complete their work. In general, the duties of the Review Board are to “consider and render decisions" on determinations by Government offices as to whether or not materials constitute assassination records and whether or not an assassination record, in whole or in part, qualifies for postponement of disclosure under the statute. In performing these duties, the Board is empowered to exercise certain authority, including: directing Government offices to complete records identification aids and to organize assassination records; obtaining access to assassination records that have been identified and organized by a Government office; requiring a Government office to account in writing for the destruction of assassination records; and obtaining from Government offices and the public such additional information, records, or testimony as may be needed to fulfill the Board’s functions and responsibilities under the statute. The Board is authorized to hold hearings, administer oaths, subpoena witnesses and documents, and issue interpretive regulations. The Review Board appoints and is assisted by an Executive Director and a staff. Each of these individuals "shall be a private citizen of integrity and impartiality who is not a present employee of any branch of the Government and who has had no previous involvement with any official investigation or inquiry relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy." In addition, the Executive Director is to be "a distinguished professional."* All supporting personnel must satisfy the requirements for necessary security clearances. The Executive Director may be removed by the Board for specific cause. Other staff members, who may be hired without regard to civil service law and regulation for competitive service, apparently may be removed by the Board as it deems necessary. The Board is also authorized to create such advisory committees as it may need to assist it in fulfilling its responsibilities. Not later than 90 days after its members are appointed, the Review Board must publish in the Federal Register a schedule for the review of all assassination records and, not later than 180 days after the enactment of the Kennedy assassination records collection statute, must begin its review operations. In all cases where the Board approves the postponement of public disclosure of an assassination record, it is directed to seek the disclosure of segregable portions, substitutes, or summaries of the document. These efforts are to be reported to the Archivist. 58 106 Stat. 3453.
14-00000 CRS-21 Upon determining that an assassination record shall be publicly disclosed, contrary to the judgment of a Government office, or postponed for disclosure and held in protected status within the special collection maintained by the National Archives, the Review Board notifies the head of the originating body of its determination and publishes a copy of its ruling in the Federal Register within 14 days after making its decision. Contemporaneous notice of the determination is also made to the President regarding executive branch records and to the statute’s oversight committees in the case of legislative branch materials. This notice is to include a written, unclassified justification for public disclosure or postponement of disclosure, including an explanation of the application of any of the postponement standards specified in the statute. Within 30 days after receiving the Review Board’s determination and notice, the President may override the Board’s decision regarding executive branch records—probably by imposing a postponement of disclosure or setting a longer postponement period than prescribed by the Board. In so doing, the President provides the Review Board with an unclassified, written certification of his action and the justification for same, including the applicable grounds for postponement as specified in the Kennedy assassination records collection statute. The Review Board subsequently publishes this Presidential certification, upon receipt, in the Federal Register along with any accompanying statement or other materials transmitted by or on behalf of the President with regard to postponement of the disclosure of assassination records. The Review Board is required to publish periodic notices in the Federal Register summarizing postponements of assassination records disclosures. It is also obligated to issue approximately yearly reports concerning its activities and operations. The statute also indicates that the Board may enlist the assistance of the Attorney General in pursuit of the release of information relevant to the assassination of President Kennedy that is held under court seal or an injunction of secrecy of a grand jury. Another provision states that the Secretary of State should contact the government of the Republic of Russia "and any other foreign government that may hold information relevant to the assassination of President Kennedy and seek disclosure of such information." IMPLEMENTATION By the time of the inauguration of President William Jefferson Clinton, only modest efforts had been made to implement the Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act. President Bush left the task of appointing the members of the Assassination Records Review Board to his successor. Preliminary efforts by the National Archives and Records Administration to begin assembling the special collection of Kennedy assassination records were slowed somewhat by management changes at the agency late in 1992 and the announced departure of Archivist Don Wilson in early 1993." 59 See Bill McAllister. Archivist Reshuffles Staff, Pledges to Improve Agency. Washington Post, November 24, 1992, p. Al9; George Lardner, Jr. U. S. Archivist to Quit, Run Bush Library. Washington Post, February 13, 1993, p.
14-00000 CRS-22 Elsewhere, at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, archivists, responding to former President Ford’s public statements on the need to open materials in government custody relating to the assassination of President Kennedy, reportedly have processed pertinent portions of the records of the Commission on CIA Activities Within the United States. As a result, "most of the materials directly related to the Kennedy assassination are available" for examination.™ Coincidently, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, responding to calls for greater disclosure of its holdings pertaining to the assassinated President, reportedly is in the process of releasing information contained in 248 hours of secretly taped Oval Office conversations and 12 hours of recorded telephone conversations to which President Kennedy was a party. This action was prompted, in part, by recent complaints by British author Nigel Hamilton, who published the first of a projected three-volume biography of John F. Kennedy in 1992. Further developments in implementation of the Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act will occur in the months ahead. A5. Management changes at the National Archives were prompted by criticisms expressed in U. S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Serious Management Problems at the National Archives and Records Administration. S. Prt. 102-108, 102d Congress, 2d session. Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1992. 60 "JFK": The Fallout. Gerald R. Ford Foundation Newsletter, Fall, 1992, p- 7. 5! Christopher B. Daly. Library Moving to Release JFK Tapes. Washington Post, February 3, 1993, p. A5.
14-00000 CRS-23 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY Anson, Robert Sam. "They've killed the Presideni!" The search for the murderers of John F. Kennedy, New York, Bantam Books, 1975. 408 p. Belin, David W. Final disclosure: the full truth about the assassination of . President Kennedy, New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1988. 249 p. Blakey, G. Robert. The plot to kill the President. New York, Times Books, 1981. 428 p. Epstein, Edward Jay. Counterplot. New York, Viking Press, 1969. 182 p. ------, Inquest; the Warren Commission and the establishment of truth. New York, Viking Press, 1966. 224 p. Garrison, Jim. On the trail of the assassins, New York, Sheridan Square Press, 1988. 3842p. - Groden, Robert J. High treason: the assassination of President John F. Kennedy: what really happened. New York, Conservatory Press, 1989. 469 p. ----- and Harrison E. Livingstone. High treason 2: the great cover-up: the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. New York, Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1992. 656 p. Lane, Mark. Plausible denial: was the CIA involved in the assassination of JFK? New York, Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1991. 393 p. sennenee . Rush to judgment. New York, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1966. 478 p. Lifton, David 8. Best evidence: disguise and deception in the assassination of John F.Kennedy. New York, Macmillan, 1980. 747 p. Marrs, Jim. Crossfire: the plot that killed Kennedy. New York, Carroll and Graf Publishers, 1989. 595 p. Meagher, Sylvia. Accessories after the fact: the Warren Commission, the authorities, and the report. Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill, 1967. 477 p.
14-00000 CRS-24 President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy. Report of The President’s Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1964. 888 p. U.S. Congress. House. Committee on Government Operations. Assassination materials disclosure act of 1992. H. Rept. 102-625 Part 1, 102d Cong., 2d sess. Washington, U. S. Govt. Print. Off., 1992. 37 p. U.S. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary. Assassination materials disclosure act of 1992. H. Rept. 102-625 Part 2, 102d Cong., 2d sess. Washington, U. S. Govt. Print. Off., 1992. 26 p. U. S. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Economic and Commercial Law. Assassination materials disclosure act of 1992. Hearing, 102nd Congress, 2d sess. Washington, U. 8S. Govt. Print. Off., 1992. 176 p. U.S. Congress. House. Select Committee on Assassinations. Report. H. Rept. 95-1828 Part 2, 95th Cong., 2d sess. Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1979. 686 p. U. S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. The assassination materials disclosure act of 1992, Hearing, 102d Cong., 2d sess. Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1992. 577 p. neoremne . The President John F. Kennedy assassination records collection act of 1992, S. Rept. 102-328, 102d Cong., 2d sess. Washington, U.S. Govt. - Print. Off., 1992. 60 p. U.S. Congress. Senate. Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with respect to Intelligence Activities. The investigation of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy: performance of the intelligence agencies. Final Report. S. Rept. 94-755, 94th Cong., 2d sess. Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1976. 106 p.
4 » * [SUSPEND THE RULES AND PASS THE RESOLUTION. H.J. RES. 454, WITH AN AMENDMENT ] 102p CONGRESS am A, J. RES, 454 Note: Amendment consists of a complete ‘To provide for the expeditions discloeure of records relevant to the substitute for the text. assassination of President John F. Kennedy. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Magce 26, 1992 Mr. Sromes (for himself, Mr. Convezs, Mr. Brooms, Mr. Ross, Mr. Hlasm.- TON, Mr. Moam.zy, Mr. Fazio, Mr. Horron, Mr. Traricant, Mr. Werpon, Mr. Cuay, Mr. Campemis of Colorado, Mr. RotkaBacHEn, Mr. AuCom, Mr. Proxer?, Mr. Leacn, Mr. Miuee of California, Mr. Jacons, Mr. Cugment, Mr. Wrize, Mrs. Scmrogper, Mr. Semmano, Mr. McNo.ty, Mr. Marrovez, Mr. Sanrorum, Mr. Lewis of Florida, _ Me. Smarr, Mr. Deemer of California, Mr. Korersxi, Mr. BEREUTER. °° Mr. Exegson, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Heruey, Mr. Perersow of Florida, Mr. Gu.gtan, Mr. Baccus, Mr. Skages, Ms. Suavemrer, Mr. Suat. TERY, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, and Mr. Miveta) introduced the following joint resolation; which was referred jointly to the Committees on House _ Administration, Government Operations, Rules, and the Judiciary JOINT RESOLUTION To provide for the expeditious disclosure of records relevant to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. 1 Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives 2 of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
F:\HAS\GO1\ BJRES454.SUS 1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 2 This joint resolution may be cited as the “Assassina- 3 tion Materials Disclosure Resolution of 1992”. 4 SEC. 2 FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. August 6, 1992 (6:40 p.m.) (a) FrnpInes.—The Congress finds the following: (1) Legitimate confidentiality concerns based upon national security, personal privacy, law en- forcement, and other recognized interests diminish over time. (2) There is a compelling public interest that all government records be eventually made available to the public. (3) There is a compelling public interest that all materials concerning the assassination of President John F'. Kennedy be made available to the public at the earliest possible date. (4) Executive Order 12356, National Security Information, as implemented by the executive branch, has precluded the timely release of materials relating to the assassination of President Kennedy. (5) Section 552 of title 5, United States Code (popularly known as the ‘Freedom of Information Act’), as implemented by the executive branch, has failed to secure the timely release of materials relat- ing to the assassination of President Kennedy.
F:\HAS\GO1\HJRES454.SUS 1 2 3 4 3 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. 13 14 2 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 2 (6) The President's Commission on the Assas- sination of President Kennedy and the President’s Commission on CIA Activities in the United States were Federal agencies whose records are subjéct to Federal records laws. (7) Only im the rarest cases is there any legiti- mate need for continued secrecy or classification of materials relating to the assassination of President Kennedy. (8) The legitimacy of any government in a free society depends on the consent of the people. (9) The ability of a government in a free society to obtain the consent of the people is undermined to the degree that the people do not trust their govern- ment. ; | (10) The disclosure of records in the possession of the Government relevant to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy will contribute to the trust of the people in their government. ‘ (b) Purposz.—The purpose of this joint resolution is to make available to the public all materials relating 22 to the assassination of President Kennedy at the earliest 23 possible date. 24 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 25 August 6, 1982 (6:40 p.m.) For the purposes of this joint resolution:
F:\BAS\GO1\ BJRES454.SUS Oo fo ~7 A Ww & WwW NH es 10 11 12 13 14 - 15 16 3 (1) The term ‘Archivist’? means the Archivist of the United States. (2) The term “assassination materia]”— (A) means any record that is determined by the Review Board under section 6(b) to be an assassination material; and (B) does not include any item donated by the family of President Kennedy to the Na- tional Archives pursuant to the deed of gift dated October 29, 1966. (3) The term “Collection” means the President . Kennedy Assassination Materials Collection estab- lished under section 4. — (4) The term “Court” means the division of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Cireuit established under section 49 of 17 .. title 28, United States Code. 19 . 20 21 22 23 24 August 6, 1992 (6:40 p.m.) (5) The term “custodian of records” means— (A) the Committee on House Administra- tion of the House of Representatives, for records of the House Committee; (B) the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate, for records of the Senate Com- mittee;
" 'F:\HAS\GO1\HJRES454.SUS eo ce 41 AO UU B® YW NHN = BR BO BDO BRD RD ome pt pk ek pet pk pepe Fo sn f& 6 © eo DA aAREBHREES August 6, 1992 (6:40 p.m.) 4 (C) the Archivist of the United States, for records of the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy and records of the President’s Commission on CIA Activities in the United States; and (D) the exeentive branch official des- ignated by the head of an executive agency, for each executive agency which has any record of an official investigation in its possession. (6) The term “executive agency ’'— _ (A) has the meaning given to the term “agency” by sections 551(1) and 552(f) of title 5, United States Code; and (B) includes the Executive Office of the President, the Executive Office of the Vice President, and all components thereof. (7) The term “Executive Director” means the Executive Director of the Review Board appointed under section 10(c). ’ (8) The term “House Committee” means the Select Committee on Assassinations of the House of Representatives. (9) The term ‘National Archives’ means the National Archives and Records Administration and
6aaP ote et a ee ear rr an oe SEE Ly TBR aE eh Se a Det eg ot ©. co NY HA A PB W NH >» WS NY ew ©& © Be XH KH UU FB WH NH —& © Auguat 6, 1892 (6:40 p.m.) F:\HAS\GO1\ BJRES454.SUS oo 5 all components thereof, including the Presidential Libraries. , (10) The term “origimating body’ means the executive agency, Presidential commission, or Presi- dential or Congressional committee that created a record or obtained a record from a source other than another entity of the Federal Government. (11) The term “public interest” includes the compelling public interests found by the Congress in section 2(a)(2) and (3). (12) The term “record” ineludes— (A) a document, book, paper, map, or pho- tograph; -(B). machine readable, computerized, digitized, or electronic information, regardless of the medium on which it is stored; and (C) any other documentary material, re- gardless of its physical form or characteristics. (18) The term “record of an official investigation’— (A) means any record that was created, obtained, or generated by— (i) a review of the assassination of President Kennedy conducted by any of—
F:\HAS\GO1\HJRES454.SUS oOo co ~ A Ww fF W BF pe RD BD BD RD ome beh teeth F SB BRB Seti aanrkaepers i August 6, 1992 (6:40 p.ss.) 6 (I) the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy (popularly known as_ the Warren Commission); : (II) the Federal Bureau of Inves- (II) the Secret Service; (IV) the Central Intelligence ' Agency; . (V) the President’s Commission on CIA Activities in the United States (popularly known as the Rockefeller Commission); (VI) the Senate Committee; and (VIZ) The House Committee; (ii) any activity conducted by an exec- utive agency in support of a review or ac- tivity described in subparagraph (A); and (iii) any other activity determined by the Review Board to be relevant to the as- sassination of President Kennedy; and (B) ineludes any record that the Review Board determines relates in any manner or de- gree to the assassination of President John F.
F:\HAS\GO1\HJRES464.SUS od i Kennedy, that was created, obtained, or gen- erated by an executive agency. (14) The term “Review Board” means the As- sassination Materials Review Board established by section 10(a). (15) The term “Senate Committee’? means the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations With Respect to Intelligence Activities of the Senate. SEC. 4. PRESIDENT KENNEDY ASSASSINATION MATERIALS | COLLECTION. (a) Eetaprisemcent.—Not later than 60 days after ' ° 12 the date of the enactment of this joint resolution, the Ar- 13 chivist shall establish in the National Archives a collection 14 which shall be known as the “President Kennedy Assas- a 15 smation Materials Collection”. 16 (b) ConTEents.——The Collection shall consist of— 17 (1) all records transferred under section 18 5(a)(1); 19 (2) all assassmation materials transferred 20 under section 5(c); 21 (3) determinations and recommendations sub- 22. _— mitted under section 6(); 23 (4) all statements submitted under section 24 7(¢)(2); August @, 1882 (6:40 p.m.)
F:\HAS\GOI\BJRES454.SUS 8 (5) all summaries transmitted under section 7(d); and (6) such other records relating to the assassina- tion of President Kennedy as the Archivist considers appropriate. (ec) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Archivist shall make available for public “inspection and copying all records in the Collection. (d) PRINTING AND DISSEMINATION OF ASSASSINA- 10 TION MaTERIALS.— August 6, 1982 (6:40 p.m.) (1) SELECTION.—The National Historical .Pub- lications and Records Commission shall promptly ~ provide for the selection and preparation for publica- tion of materials in the Collection that are of broad (2) PRINTING AND DISTRIBUTION.—The Public Printer shall— (A) make such materials available for dis- tribution and sale under chapter 17 of title 44, United States Code; (B) make such materials available through the Depository Library Program,. under chapter 19 of title 44, United States Code; and (C) in carrying out subparagraphs (A) and (B), use appropriate and cost-effective tech-
F:\HAS\GO1\BJRES454.SUS eo co 4S HA A f& W KL ee Oo 6 ~J A rw & WwW WH =~ © 20 9 nology, including, to the extent practicable, publication of such materials in a multi-media electronic format. SEC. 5. TRANSFER OR AVAILABILITY OF RECORDS OF OFFI- CIAL INVESTIGATIONS. (a) EXECUTIVE AGEncy REcoRDs.— | (1) TRANSFER TO aRCHIVIST.—The head of each executive agency may transfer to the Archivist for inclusion in the Collection each record of an offi- cial investigation for which the agency is a custodian of records. — (2) AVAILABILITY TO REVIEW BOARD.—On the date which is 60 days after the date of the enact- ment of this joimt resolution, the head of each execu- tive agency shall make available to the Review Board each record of an official investigation for which the agency is a custodian of records and which has not been transferred from the agency to the Archivist under paragraph (1). (b) CONGRESSIONAL RECORDS.—Not later than 60 21 days after the date of the enactment of this joint resolu- 22 tion, the Archivist shall make available to the Review 23 Board each record of an official investigation for which 24 the Committee on House Administration of the House of August 6, 1992 (6:40 p.m.)
F:\HAS\GO]\BJRES454.SUS Oo co ~2 HA ta Bm WwW RD nw 10 10 Representatives or the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate is a custodian of records. (c) OTHER TRANSFER OF ASSASSINATION MATE- RIALS.—The custodian of records for a record of an offi- cial investigation shall, after the date which is 30 days after the date of the receipt of a recommendation of the Review Board under section -6(b) with respect to the record and by no later than 60 days after that date of receipt, transfer the record to the Archivist for inclusion in. the Collection if— (1) the Review Board determines under section 6(b) that the record is an assassination material, (2) the Review Board recommends under sec- tion 6(b) that the record should be transferred to ' the Archivist for inclusion in the Collection; and (3) that transfer and inclusion is not postponed _ in aceordance with section 7(b). SEC. 6. REVIEWS BY REVIEW BOARD. (a) Reviews oF TRANSFERRED MATERIALS. —The Review Board shall review— (1) each record of an official investigation made available under section 5(a)(2) or (b); and (2) all other records available to the Review Board that it has reason to believe are relevant to the assassination of President Kennedy. August 6, 1902 (6:40 p.m.)
F:\HIAS\GO1\ BJRES454.SUS 11 1 (b) DETERMINATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.— 2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Upon completing a review 3 under subsection (a) with respect to a record, the 4 Review Board shall— ' 5 (A) determine whether the record is an as- 6 sassination material; and 7  (B) in the case-of an assassination mate- 8 rial and based on the criteria set forth in sec- 9 tion 7(a), submit to the custodian of records 10 and, if different, the originating body for the 11s material a recommendation that the record— "12 : (i) should be transferred to the Archi- 13 _ vist for inclusion in the Collection; or | 14 (ii) qualifies for postponement under vee” 1S that section. 16 (2) ConTENTS.—-Each determination and each 17  _ recommendation of the Review Board shall— 18 (A) identify the record that is the subject 19 ' of the determination or recommendation: and 20 (B) set forth the basis for the determina- 21 tion or recommendation. 22 (ec) DETERMINATION OF ASSASSINATION MATE- 23 RIAL.—The Review Board shall determine under sub- 24 section (b) that a-record is an assassination material un- 25 less the Review Board determines by clear and convincing August 6, 1982 (6:40 p.m.)
F:\BAS\GO1\BJRES454.SUS Oo co ~~ A we & W KN Mw NN NY NY em me ome oe eae Op = &6 Ge Qa&kktaREeE Ss 12 evidence that the record does not have any relevance to the assassination of President Kennedy. (d) PRESUMPTION FOR TRANSFER.—The Review Board shall recommend under subsection (b)(1) that an assassination material should be transferred to the Archi- vist for mclusion m the Collection, unless there is clear and convineing evidence ‘that. the. material qualifies for postponement under section 7(a). | (e) Review oF Portions THat CaN BE SEG- REGATED.—If the Review Board determines that an as- sassination material qualifies for postponement under sec- tion 7(a), the Review Board shall separately review and make final recommendations under this section with re- spect to any portion of the material that can be reasonably segregated. (f) SUBMISSIONS TO ARCHIVIST..-The Review Board shall submit to the Archivist for melusion in the Collection— (1) each determination under subsection (b)(1)(A) that a record of an official investigation is not an assassination material; and (2) each recommendation under subsection (b)(1)(B) that an assassination material qualifies for postponement. August 6, 1992 (6:40 p.m.)
F:\HAS\GO1\HJRES454.SUS 13 SEC. 7. POSTPONEMENT OF TRANSFER OF ASSASSINATION MATERIAL. (a) QUALIFICATION FOR POSTPONEMENT.—<Assas- sination material qualifies for postponement under’ this met: 10 il 12 13 14 3 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 August 6, 1892 (8:40 p.m.) (1) The threat’ to ‘the ‘military defense, intel- ligence operations, or conduct of foreign relations of 1 2 3 4 5 subsection only if one or more of the following criteria are 6 . 7 8 9 the United States posed by the public availability of the assassination material is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in disclosure of the as- sassination material, and such public availability would reveal— (A) an intelligence agent whose identity currently requires protection; (B) an intelligence source or method which is currently utilized or reasonably expected to be utilized by the United States Government and which has not been officially disclosed, and the disclosure of which would mterfere with the conduct of intelligence activities; or (C) any other matter currently relating to the military defense, intelligence operations, or conduct of foreign relations of the United States, the public availability of which would
F:\BAS\GO1\ BJRES454.SUS oOo ce& + A UX B&B W HN = nh en > oe oe a &B PF SBRBSGEeSBeRRBRE BHR EE 8S August 6, 1992 (6:40 o.m.) 14 demonstrably impair the national security of the United States. (2) The public availability of the assassination material would disclose the name or identity of ‘a liv- ing person who provided confidential information to the United States and would pose a substantial risk of harm to such person. ~ (3) The public availability of the assassination material could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, and that invasion of privacy is so substantial that it out- weighs the public interest in disclosure of the assas- sination material. (4) The public availability of the assassination material would constitute an unjustified violation of an express, documented understanding of con- fidentiality between a Government agent and a co- operating individual or a foreign government. (5) The public availability of the assassination material would disclose a security or protective pro- cedure currently utilized, or reasonably expected to be utilized, by the Secret Service or another Govern- ment agency responsible for protecting Government officials, and that pubhe availability would be so harmful that it outweighs the public interest.
F:\HAS\GO1\ HJRES454.SUS 1 15 (b) PoSTPONEMENT.—The transfer of assassination 2 material to the Archivist for inclusion in the Collection 3 shall be postponed for purposes of section 5(c)(3) not- 4 withstanding any recommendation of the Review Board, 5S if— 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 August 6, 1962 (6:40 p.m.) (1) in the case of assassination material for which the originating body is the Senate Committee, the Senate certifies that the material qualifies for postponement under subsection (a) by agreeing to a resolution to that effect— (A) by a majority of members present and voting; and _ (B) by not later than 30 days after the date on which the Review Board submits a rec- ommendation under section 6(b) with respect to the material; (2) im the case of assassination material for which the originating body is the House Committee, the House certifies that the material qualifies for postponement under subsection (a) by agreeing to a resolution to that effect— (A) by a majority of members present and voting; and (B) by not later than 30 days after the date on which the Review Board submits a rec-
F:\HAS\GO1\BJRES454.SUS Oo co ~I A Uw & W HB oe poor on I aa BBS Fs 18 20 21 22 23 24 Auguat 6, 1902 (6:46 p.m.) 16 ommendation under section 6(b) with respect to the material; and (3) in the case of assassination material for which the originating body is an executive agency, the President certifies to the Review Board by not later than 30 days after the date on which the Re- view Board submits a recommendation under section 6(b) with respect to the material that the material qualifies for postponement under subsection (a). (e) CERTIFICATION BY PRESIDENT.— . (1) AUTHORITY NONDELEGABLE.—The author- ity of the President to certify under subsection (b)(3) may not be delegated to any other person. (2) Sraremenr—If the. President makes a - e@ertification under subsection (b)(3) for an assas- sination material, the President shall— (A) submit to ‘the Committee on House Administration of the House of Representatives, to the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate, and to the Archivist for inclusion in the Collection a written statement that— (i) identifies the assassination mate- rial with specificity; and (ii) sets forth the basis for the cer- tification, including the criteria under sub-
F:\HAS\GO1\BJRES454.SUS eo Co ~]1 A wa & W NH em o RO BS wR NH HN = RR ERS SSC SS AREBERES August 6, 1982 (8:40 p.m.) 17 section (a) under which the material quali- fies for postponement; and (B) publish the statement in the Federal Register by not later than 10 days after the date of that submission. (d) Summary oF PostPONED ASSASSINATION Ma. TERIALS.—The Review Board-may, after consulting with the custodian of records and, if different, the originating body for an assassination material the transfer of which is postponed under this section, prepare and transmit a summary of the assassination material to the Archivist for inclusion im the Collection. SEC. 8. MARKING AND REVIEW OF POSTPONED MATERIALS. (a) Marxine.—The Review Board shall— (1) mark any portion of assassination material that is not transferred to the Archivist for inclusion in the Collection pursuant to section 5(c), in accord- ance with a system of identification established by the Review Board; and : (2) append to that portion a statement of the Review Board designating a specified time at which, or a specified occurrence following which, the mate- rial shall be reconsidered for clusion in the Collee- tion pursuant to the criteria set forth m section T(a).
F:\HAS\GO1\ BJRES454.SUS Oo co ~7 A Ww B&B Ww HL m= 10 11 12 13 14 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 18 (b) TRANSFER.—The Review Board shall transfer all assassination material marked under subsection (a), and all appendices thereto, to the Archivist. (c) Revizw.—The Archivist shall, by not later than the time or the occurrence specified under subsection (a)(2) for an assassination material— (1) review the assassination material and any appendices thereto; and (2) resubmit the assassination material to the Review Board, if it is still in existence, or to the originating body, if the Review Board has termi- nated. SEC. 9. PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF OTHER INFORMATION. (a) MareRmats UNDER SEAL OF CourT.—The Re- view Board may request the Department of Justice to pe- tition, or through its own counsel may petition, any court in-the United States or a foreign country to make publicly available any information relevant to the assassination of President Kennedy that is held under seal of the court. (b) GRaND JURY MATERIALS.— (1) Petrtions.—The Review Board may re- quest the Attorney General to petition, or through its own counsel may petition, any court in the Unit- ed States to make publicly available any information relevant to the assassination of President Kennedy August 6, 1802 (6:40 p.m.)
w  F:\HAS\GO1\BJRES454.SUS 19 1 that is held under the injunction of secrecy of a 2 grand jury. 3 (2) TREATMENT UNDER FEDERAL RULES —A 4 petition under this subsection is deemed to con- 5 stitute a showing of particularized need under Rule 6 6 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. 7 (c) AUTOPSY MaTERIALS.—-The Review Board shall, 8 pursuant to the terms of the deed of gift dated October 9 29, 1966, seek access to the autopsy photographs and x 10 rays donated to the National Archives by the family of 11 President Kennedy. The’Review Board shall, as soon as 12 practicable, submit to the Speaker of the House of Rep- 13 resentatives and the Select Committee on Intelligence of 14 the Senate a report on the status of those records and 15 on. access to those records by individuals consistent with 16 the deed of gift. 17 (d) COOPERATION OF EXECUTIVE BRANCH.— 18 (1) ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The Attorney Gen- 19 eral shall assist the Review Board in good faith to 20 unseal any records that the Review Board deter- 21 mines to be relevant and held under seal by a court 22 or under the injunction of secrecy of a grand jury. 23 (2) SECRETARY OF STATE.—The Secretary of 24 State shall, as soon as possible— August 6, 1992 (6:40 p.m.)
F:\HAS\GO1\BJRES454.SUS 20 1 (A) contact the Government of the Repub- 2 lic of Russia and seek the public availability of 3 all records of the Government of the former So- 4 viet Union, including the records of the Koiitet 5 Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (KGB) and the 6 Glavnoye Razvedyvatelnoye Upravienive (GRU), 7 that are relevant to ‘the ‘assassination of Presi- 8 dent Kennedy; and 9 (B) contact any other foreign government - 10 that may hold information relevant to the as- ll sassination of President Kennedy, and seek the 12 public availability of such information. | 13 (3) OTHER EXECUTIVE AGENCIES.—The head 14 of each executive agency shall cooperate fully with 15 —_—‘ the Review Board to seek the public availability of 16 all mformation relevant to the assassination of 17 _ President Kennedy. 18 SEC. 10. ASSASSINATION MATERIALS REVIEW BOARD. | 19 (a) ESTABLISHMENT AND FUNCTIONS —There is es- 20 tablished as an independent agency a board which shall 21 be known as the “‘Assassinations Materials Review 22 Board’. The Review Board shall perform such functions 23 as are assigned to it by this joint resolution. 24 (b) APPOINTMENT.— August 6, 1982 (6:49 p.m.)
F:\HAS\GO1\BJRES454.SUS Oo Oo ~~ DA UN P&B WY NHN - 11 12 13 14 15 16 21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Court shall, within 90 days after the date of enactment of this joint resolu- tion, appoint, without regard to political affiliation, 5 distinguished and impartial private citizens to serve as members of the Review Board. (2) Vacancres.—A vacancy on the Review Board shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment was made under paragraph (1). . (3) INFERIOR OFFICERS.—The members of the Review Board are deemed to be mferior officers of the United States within the meaning of section 2 of article II of the Constitution. (4) CHAIRPERSON—The members of the Re- view Board shall elect 1 of its members as chair- person at its mitial meeting. (c) EXECUTIVE DirEcToR.—The Review Board shall 18 appoint an individual of integrity and impartiality to serve 19 as Executive Director of the Review Board. 20 (d) LamrraTion.—A person who is employed by the 21 Government or who has been employed by any intelligence 22 or law enforcement agency of the United States Govern- 23 ment, or who has had any involvement with any review 24 referred to in section 3(13)(A)(i) or (11) may not serve as August 6, 1992 (6:40 p.m.)
F:\HAS\GO1\ HJRES454.SU0S Oo co 4S A eA fF WH He 2 hS = © 14 22 a member of the Review Board or as the Executive Direc- tor. (e) RECOMMENDATIONS.—Prior to appointing any person to be a member of the Review Board, the Court may solicit and consider the recommendations of diverse representatives of general and scholarly interest in assas- sination materials, including the American Political Science Association, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the Organization of American Historians, the Na- tional Security Archive, the Organization of American ‘Historians, the Society of American Archivists, the Asso- ciation of American Publishers, the Center for National Security Studies, the American Historical Society, and the American Newspaper Publishers Association. - (f) CoMPENSATION.— (1) Pay—Members of the Review Board and — the Executive Director shall be compensated at a rate equal to the daily equivalent of the annual rate of basic pay prescribed for level IV of the Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title 5, United States Code, for each day (including travel time) during which the member is engaged in the perform- ance of the duties of the Review Board. (2) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—Members of the Re- view Board shall be allowed reasonable travel ex- August 6, 1982 (6:40 p.m.)
F:\HAS\GO1\ BJRES454.SUS Oo co “J A A & W HW So , 22 23 penses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates authorized for employees of agencies: under chapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code, while away from the member’s home or regu- . lar place of business in the performance of services for the Review Board. (g) REMOVAL.— | (1) IN GENERAL.—No member of the Review Board or the Executive Director shall be removed from office, other than for inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance i in office, physical disability, men- tal incapacity, or any other condition that substan- tially impairs the performance of the member’s or Executive Director’s duties. (2) REPoRT.—Within 10 days after any date on which a member of the Review Board is removed from office, the Court shall submit to the Committee on Government Operations of the House of Rep- resentatives and the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate a report specifying the facts found and the grounds for the removal. (h) OVERSIGHT.—The Committee on Government 23 Operations of the House of Representatives and the Com- 24 mittee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate shall have 25 continuing oversight jurisdiction with respect to the offi- August 6, 1892 (6:40 p.m.)
F:\HAS\GO1\BJRES454.SUS 24 1 cial conduct of the Review Board. The Review Board shall 2 cooperate with the exercise of such oversight jurisdiction. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 13. . 14 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 (i) Support SERVICES.— (1) GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION.— The Administrator of General Services shall provide administrative and support services to the Review Board on a reimbursable ‘basis, including office space and clerical and personnel support. (2) DrTarLs.—At the request of the Executive Director, the head of an executive agency shall detail employees of the agency to assist the Review Board in carrying out this joint resolution. Any employee detailed to the Review Board shall be detailed with- out reimbursement, and without interruption or loss of civil service status or privilege. (3) Services.—The Review Board may procure temporary and intermittent services under section 3109(b) of title 5, United States Code, at rates for individuals that do not exceed the daily equivalent of the annual rate of basic pay prescribed for level V of the Executive Schedule under section 5316 of that title. (j) INTERPRETIVE GUIDELINES.—The Review Board 24 may issue interpretive guidelines to assist in implementing 25 the purposes of this joint resolution. Auguat 6, 1892 (6:40 p.m.)
F:\HAS\GO1\ BJRES454.SUS oO co ~ A WU & WwW HN pe 3 NN HN NY DN HN om ptt pete ot . bs Ar oONdDH = 6 © eo QaaE ERE S Auguat 6, 1992 (6:40 p.m.) 25 (k) TERMINATION.— (1) IN GENERAL.—The Review Board shall ter- minate on the date which is 2 years after the date of the enactment of this joint resolution, except the Review Board may, by majority vote, extend its term for an additional l-year period if it has not com- pleted its work within such’2:year period. (2) NOTICE OF TERMINATION.—At least 30 days before completing its work, the Review Board shall provide written notice to the President and the Congress of its intention to terminate its operations at a specified date. (3) TRANSFER OF REVIEW BOARD RECORDS.— Upon its termination, ‘the records of the Review Board shall be transferred to the Archivist in ac- cordance with section 2107(2) of title 44, United States Code. (1) AccEss TO REcoRDs.— (1) ACCESS OF REVIEW BOARD AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR.—An executive agency shall upon request promptly provide to a Member of the Review Board, the Executive Director, or their designee, access to any record requested by the Review Board. (2) MAINTENANCE OF CONFIDENTIALITY.—Any person who obtains access under this joint resolution
F:\HAS\GO1\ BLJRES454.SUS 26 1 to any record that is restricted by law for reason of 2 national security or otherwise— 3 (A) shall maintain the same level of con- 4 fidentiality for that record as is required of the 5- head of the origmating body for the record; and 6 (B) shall be subject to the statutory pen- 7 alties for unauthorized disclosure or use that 8 apply to officers and employees of the originat- 9 ing body for the record. 10 (m) PowERS.—The Review Board shall-have author- 11 ity to hold hearings, administer oaths, and subpoena wit- * 12 nesses and documents, and its subpoenas may be enforced 13 in any appropriate Federal court by the Department of i4 Justice acting pursuant to a lawful request of the Review 15 Board. 16 SEC. 11. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 17 _ (a) PRECEDENCE OVER OTHER Law.—Any provision 18 of this joint resolution that requires public availability of 19 arecord— 20 (1) shall take precedence over any other law 21 (except paragraph (2)) that would otherwise prohibit 22 such public availability, mcludmg any judicial deci- 23 sion, common law doctrine, Executive order, or exec- 24 utive agency regulation; and August 6, 1982 (6:40 p.m.)
oe 6c 3) A UW & |W NHN = b OD = 6 G&S WOO RA aR SH FT Ss Auguat 6, 1962 (6:40 p.m.) ' F:\BAS\GOI\BJRES454.SUS 27 (2) shall not apply to any record that is subject to a deed of gift governing access to, transfer of, or release of the record. (b) FREEDOM OF INFORMATION AcT.—-Nothing in this joint resolution shall be construed to eliminate or limit-— (1) any right to file & request for an assassina- tion material, with any executive agency other than the Review Board; (2) any right to seek judicial review pursuant to section 552 of. title 5, United States Code, of the de- cision of such an agency with respect to such a re- quest; or (3) any requirement that such an agency make available to the public im accordance with that sec- tion any assassination material. (c) ExisTIne AUTHORITY.—Nothing in this jomt res- olution revokes or limits any existing authority or obliga- tion of the President, any executive agency, the Senate, the House of Representatives, or any other entity of the Federal Government, to make publicly available records in its possession, custody, or control. SEC. 12. CONGRESSIONAL RULEMAKING AUTHORITY. Sections 5(b) and 7(b)(1) and (2) are adopted—
" PAHAS\GO1\HIRES«S4.SUS 28 (1) as an exercise of the rulemaking authority of the House of Representatives and the Senate; and (2) recognizing the constitutional prerogative of each House of the Congress to modify its rules relat- ing to the procedures of that House. SEC. 18. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. (a) In GENERAL.—There:are authorized to be appro- priated such sums as are necessary to carry out this joint oO eo NA UN & WY N resolution, to remain available until expended. (b) InteRIM FunDING.—Until such time as funds are appropriated pursuant to subsection (a), the President Eon soar ~ ee © may use such sums as are available for discretionary use pend ted to carry out this joint resolution. August 6, 1992 (6:40 p.m.)
14-00000 General Coansel TA esa FP mews : CIA SPECLA WL. CAGLILEA A bULNS a > and Penes ” wnt +7 zy ST rt ‘ s e PCY . 27 March 1992 how SIRS MEMORANDUM FOR: General Counsel Chief, DCI History Staff Vice Chairman/NIC Chie£/IMS/DO FROM: David M. Pearline Deputy Director for Legislation Office of Congressional Affairs SUBJECT: Assassination Disclosure Act of 1992 1. Attached for your review and comment is the Joint Resolution introduced yesterday by Congressman Stokes and Senator Boren that would establish procedures for declassifying records related to the assassination of JFK. The Resolution in the House will be referred to the Rules Committee, Government Operations Committee and the Judiciary Committee. In the Senate, the Resolution will be referred to Government Affairs Committee, 2. The Resolution has the following key elements: / a. It establishes an Assassination Material Review Board composed of five private citizens, appointed by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, and mandates that all - executive agencies’ turn any assassination material they may possess over to the Executive Director of the Board. Unless there is clear and convincing evidence that the material falls within certain stated exemptions, the Executive Director would then turn the material over to the Archivist for release to the public. An executive agency may appeal to the Review Board the decision by the ExeCutive Director to release assassination material. b. Disclosure of information may be postponed if it would reveal an intelligence agent; an intelligence source or method .which is currently utilized or reasonably expected to be utilized, by the US Government; or any matter currently relating to military defense, intelligence - operations or the conduct of foreign relations of the US and the threat posed by disclosure of such information outweighs any public interest in the disclosure. Other
14-00000 SUBJECT: Assassination Disclosure Act of 1992 grounds for postponing disclosure include invasion of the privacy of a living person, breach of a promise of confidentiality, and disclosure of a security or protective procedure used by the Secret Service. c. Any material that falls within the above stated categories would be referred by the Executive Director to the Review Board which would then make a decision whether to release the document in full or in part. The presumption would be in favor of releasing the documents, unless the Board determined that there was clear and convincing evidence that the document was protected by the exemptions. The Review Board would also have the option of releasing to the public a summary of the document, or inserting Substitutions for information that otherwise could not be released. d. An executive agency is given 60 days to appeal to the President a decision by the Review Board to release a record, particular information in a record, a summary of a record or a substitution for particular information. The President may prevent the Review Board from releasing the material if he certifies that the materials falls within exemptions described above. The President may not delegate this authority, and must submit to the appropriate committee in the House and to the SSCI a written statement setting forth the reasons for denying release of the information and a complete copy of the material at issue. In addition, the President must publish in the Federal , Register a notice that he has taken such action, and a description of the size and nature of assassination material at issue. The Executive Branch is not given any opportunity to appeal a decision to release material originated by the House, Senate or Warren Commission. e. Whenever a final decision has been made to postpone release of material, the Review Board is required to-turn the information over to the Archivist along with a statement as to a specific time or specific occurrence that would trigger reconsideration of the decision not to release the material. The Archivist would then be placed under a continuing duty to review the material for release to the public. f. The Review Board may subpoena assassination material from agencies and compel the attendance of witnesses at hearings. Subpoenas may be enforced in
14-00000 SUBJECT: Assassination Disclosure Act of 1992 Federal court by the Department of Justice acting pursuant to the request of the Board. At the request of the Review Board, executive agencies are required to detail to the Board such employees as may be necessary to carry out the functions of the Board. Oversight of Board activities is to be carried out by the SSCI and by an appropriate committee of the House. The term of the Review Board shall be two years, with an option to extend for another year. 3. We are in the process of analyzing this Resolution and putting together comments that we can use in discussing the Resolution with the staff of the relevant committees. I would, therefore, appreciate receiving any comments you have on the Resolution by 2 April. —_— eet » David M. Pearline Attachment: As stated
14-00000 Be SUBJECT: Assassination Disclosure Act of 1992 OCA/LEG/DPearline:me/rw/37915 (27 March 1992) OCA 0700-92 Distribution: Original —- Addressees (w/att) - D/OCA (w/att) ~- ORMS/CCA (Dick Coffman) (w/att) C/LD/OGC (George Jameson) (w/att) - C/IP&CRD (Jack Wright) (w/att) ~- Leg Subj File (w/att) (JFK Resolution) ~ DMP Signer File (w/o att) fend fort feed frat ft pont i
14-00000 102d Congress 2d Session , _ 4.3. Regs. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Me. Stokes introduced the following joiat resolution; which wag referred to the the Committee on - eer eee ete JOINT RESOLUTION To provide fac the expeditious disclosure of recerds celevant to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Reso.ved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Ceine Resolution may be cited as the "Assassination Fan, re tq iy bed G Oo 7} QO r » by 4 Bue oO ee Lop d #3 77 y cv) (a) FINDING declares that- _
14-00000 cs (i) the legitimacy of any government in a free society depends on the consent of the people; (2) the ability of a government in a free society to obtain the consent of the pecpie is undermined to the Gegrge that the peopie do not trust their government; (3) the disclosure of records in the possession of the Government relevant to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy will contribute to the trust of the people in their government; ‘ the Government relevant to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy should proceed as expeditiously as practicable; and (S$) all yvecords in the pessession of the Government relevant to the assassination cf President John PF. Kennedy should be released to the public at the earliest opportunity, except where clear and convincing justification exists for postponing the disclosure of such cecords to a specified time or following a specified occurrence in the future. (b) PURPOSE.~ The purpose of this Joint Resolution is tea- secure the expeditious disclosure of records relevant to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy as soon ag peacticable consistent with the public interest. 3. DEFINITIONS. In This Joint Resolution: (1) “Acchivist™ means the Archivist ef the United (4) the disclosure of records in the possession of
mene str en ere EERE States. (2) Tassessinaticn material” meang a record that relates in any manner Of degree to the assas sination of President John F. Kennedy, that was creat ec or obtained by the douse Co mmittee, the ‘Senate Commizts ee ‘the Warren Commission, of an Executive agency oc any others entity wi thin the Executive branch of the Government, and that is in the custody of the House of Representatives, the Senate, the National Archives, or any other Executive caeiiaeeinsndneiegatamem eeormanmmememreenanraree Ree eee ee nes agency, Sut dces not include (A) mate rial to. the extent that it per tains to personnel matters or other rs of a congressionai committ ee, the “ administrative affa Warcen Commission, or any enti ty with 1 the Executive branch cf the Government; or (B) the autopsy materials donated by the Kennedy family to the National Archives pursuant to a deed of gift cegulating access to those materials, which ace addressed in subsection 10{b) of this Joint Resolution. (3) "Committee" means the House Committee or Senate Committee. (4) "Executive agency” means an Executive agency as defined in subsection 552(£) of title &, United States Code. 5} “House Committee” means tha Select Committee on ASSaszinations of the dcuse of Representatives and the Permanent Select Committee on inteiliyence of the House of Beoresentatives acting under this Joint Resolution
14-00000 hor] with cespect to assassination aaterials in the custody o£ the House of Representatives. (6) “National Archives" means the National * Archives and Records Administration. (7) "Originating body" means the Executive agency, commission, or congressional committee that created the particular record or obtained the particular record from @ source other than another entity of the Government,.or the custodian of records o£ that agency, commission, or committee for purposes of this Joint Resolution. For purposes of this Joint Resolution, (A) the custodian of records of the Select Committee on Assassinations of the House of Representatives is the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives; (B) the custodian of records of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations With Respect to Intelligence of the Senate is the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate; and (C) the custodian of records of the Warren Commisgion is the Archivist of the United States. See ananateinemmasnnepeacannsanennenamneneamnnnannenananeanananennan, sounpananmnmeananeaneneanananaaaaaanannnaaanammrneammnaraanmemmmananaaeasannaneaenaned (8) "Record" includes a book, paper, map, photograph, machine readable material, computerized, digitized, or électronic information, regardless of the- medium on which it is stered, or other documentary matecial, regardless cf its physical form or characteristics. __ (9) "Review Board" means the Assassination ~h=
14-00000 Materiai Review Beard established under: gectien 5. (30} "Senate Committee” means the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations With Respect to e Senate and the Select Committee on iad ras 4 Tnatalligence ¢f Intelligence cf the Senate acting under this Joint Resolution with respect te assassination materials in the custody of tha Senata. £11) "Marcen Commission" means the Presidant’s — Commission on the Assassination of Prosident John F. Kennedy. SEC. 4, PUBLIC DISCLOSURE O? MATERIALS BY COHGRESS AND Tas EXECUTIVE BRANCH. Se assassination matecial of ration material the oh 9] #4 3 & er be oO ~ gute 3d De we vw fs & 2) poe 38 - particular in Gisciosure sf which is pestponed under section 8, all &ssassination materials shall be transferred te the National Archives aad made avaisable for inspection and copying by the general publics as soon as practicable. (b) FEES FOR COPYING.- The Archivist Shall charge fees #Or copying and grant waivers of such fees pursuant to the Standards established by section 552 of Title S, United States Code. ‘c} ERINTING AND OSISSEMINATICN CF ASSASSINATION MATERIALS.- (1) The Archivist may provide copies of assassination materials of bread public interest te the — Govetament Printing Office, which shall prink copies for sale “3
to the public. materials printed by the Government oy (4) & we a) ve pee ba] fv cY for QO v2 {2 Printing Cifice pursuant to this subsection shali—be placed throughout the United States that are Government depositories in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 19 of Title 44, United States Code. SEC. 5. ASSASSINATION MATERIALS REVIEW BOARD. (a) ESTASLISHMENT There is established as an independent agency a board to be known as the Assassination Materials Review Board. . (£) APPS NIMENT.~ (1) The division of the United States court cf Appeals for the District cf Columbia Clrenit ne tet du at er t cod established under section 49 itle 2a, United States Code, shali, within $0 calendar days ci the date cf enactment of this Joint Resclution, appeint, without regard te political affiliation, 5 distinguished anc spartial 2 private citizens, none cf when aré presently employees of any branch of the Goverament and nome cf whom shali have had any previous ge ra % involvement with any investigation or inguicy celating to assassinaticn of President John F. Kennedy, to sesve as members of the Review Board. av ty @ A vacancy on the Review Board shall be filled in cftiginal appcintment was made uncer paragraph (1). (3) The members cf the Review Scarcd shall be deemed to be inzeriocr officers of the Gnited States within the meaning of section 2 of acticle if of the Constitution.
employee cf amy branch of ers of the Review Beara shall elect o (o] i ee 3% ‘ e i a rary & 8 & es ts mesbers as chair at its initial meeting. bo © et, pe iG) COMPENSATION OF MEMBERS.- (2) A menabec of the Review —— Board shail be ccmpensated at a rate equal to the daily - equivalent cf the annual rate of basic pay prescribed for level Iv cf the Executive Schedule under section §315 cf title 5, United States Code, for each day (including travel time) ducing which the member is engaged in the performance ox the duties cf the Review Board. . (2) A member of the Review Board shall be allowed reasonable travel expenses, including pec diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates authcrized for emplcyses of agencies e undes subchapter I of chapter $7 of title 3, United States from the nember’s heme or regular place of pe ae te #, fy be’ Code, wh business 1a the pecformance of services for the Review Board. (e) STAFF .- (1) The Review Acard may, witheut regard to the civil service laws and regulations, appoint and terminate an Executive Director and such other additicnal personnel as are necessary to erable the Review Board to perform its duties. The individual appointed Executive Director shail be & person cf integrity anc impartiality who is not a present & et he Sovernment and hee had no previous iavolvament with any investigation or inquiry man oF. Keanedy. O assassination of fresigent 3 3 e ro ge relating tc tne The Review Board may fix the compensation of the bu — irector and other persomnel without regard to the 12. ve aa. exnecut provisions of chagter $1 and subchapter tir of chaptec 53 of
title 5, United Etates Code, relating to classification of pesiticns and General Schedule may cates, except that the cat@¢ of pay fsr the executive divects: and other personne} y net exceed the rate payable fer leval V c& the Executive Schedule under section 5316 of that title. (3) At the request of the Executive Director, Executive including the National Archives and cther agencies, eriginating bedies within the Executive Branch, ezhall detail to the Review Board such employees as may be necessary and te to carry out the review tecuired by this Joint appropsi Resolution. Any employee detailed to the Review Board for this purpese shall be detailed without reimbursement, and such detail shall be without interruption or less of civil service status or privilege. {4} The Review Board may procure temporary and intermittent services under section 3109(b) of title 5, United States Code, at rates for individuals that do rot exceed the daily equivalent of the annual tate of basic pav prescribed for level V of the Executive Schedule under section 5316 of that title. }) INAPSLICABILITY OF CESTAIN LAWS.- The foliow{ng laws bt ( shall not apply to the Review Board: (1}. Subchapter ti of chapter $ of titia 5, United States Code. {2) Chapter 7 of title 5, United States Code. (3) Section 3105 and 3344 of title $, United States 4 Code. = aw
(g) DUTIES,- The Review Board shail consider and cander decisions on cefercals by the Executive Dicector and appeais as provided in section 7 for a determinatlon- " {1} whether a cecord constitutes assssesination material subject to this Joint Resclution;: and (2) whethec a record or particular iaformation in a £ cecerd qualifies for postponement of disclosure under this Joint Resolution. ~ (h) REMOVAL.- (1) A member of the Review Bcard may ce removed from office, other than by impeachmerit and conviction, only by the action of the President er the Attorney General acting on benaif of the President, and only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance in office, physical disability, mental incapacity, er any cthesr condition that substantially inpairs the performance of the member’s duties. (2}(A) rf a member of the Review Beard ig removed from ce, the Attorney General shall promptly subnit to the th pe of division of the court that appointed the mesberss of the Review Board, the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senacs, and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of port specifying the facts found and the % Rapresentatives a sz ultimate grounds for the removal. € the court, the Committee on the % $m foe 4 be 7] et o ro) i?) (5) Th Judiciary of the Senate, and the Committee en the Gudiciary of the Hause of Representatives shall-make available to the mublic a report subnittec uncdec suepacagraph (Aj, excep
a> a er oe eo iy) fe) go a | ? © re & Sete ce a & La | Wade $s jor bee O pe fe 4 6 7 ey 3 a 4 rP re @ & 8 oe rw a the division ee gd at pt o wr % re) re ra r ry peo ha he rt 49 Q rR ts > @ re Oe 0 33 od oe & vie 2» pute bon] cf ro a & if mecessarcy repocst of to prevent undue interference with any pending er refrain from publishiag any or all wh er "3 O rs] (o) prcsecution, po of the report. (3)(A) A member of the Seview Board resoved from cffice may obtain jucicial review of the removal in a civil action commenced in the United States District Court, for the District of Columbia. (B} A member of the division of the court that appointed the members of the Review Board may not hear or determine a civil action or an appeal of a decision in a civil action brought under subparagraph (A). (C) The mamber may be reinstated or granted other ppropriate relief by order of the ccurt. (i) OVERSIGHT.- (1) The appropriate committee of the House of Representatives and the Select Comaittee on Intelligence of the Senate shall have centinuing oversight jucisdiction with respect to the efficiai cenduct cf the Review Beard, te include access to any records heid or created by the Review Board, and the Review Soard shall havs e the duty to cocperata with the exercise of such oversight jurisdiction. (2) The Review Beara shall submit to the Cengress such Statements or reports on the activities of the Review Board as the Review Board considers to be approsciate in addition a to che notifications required by subsection 8{g). ~10~
strator of the General gee (Jj) SUBFORT SEAVICES.- The Adnia vices Aéministraticn shall srevide udalnistrative sarvices uM“ Me Rs oc the Review Board on a reimbursable basis >— The Archivist Prey shall provide suppect services fs¢ the Review Beard to iaclude, as necessazy, cffice space, clerical support, and gecsonnel support, on a reimbursable basis. (k) INTERPRETIVE REGULATIONS.- The Review Beard may issue interpretive regulations. . “~ (1) TERMINATION. ~ (1) The Review Board and the terns cf its members shall terminate within two years of the date upon which the Board is formally constituted purguant te this Gute th Joint Resolution and begins operations. Provided that, ae a pte “ the Review Scard has not completed its work pursuant to Joint Resolution within such two-year pericd, it may, by Majority vote, extend its term for an additional one-yeer 3 period for such purpose. Any additional extensien of the Review BScard and the terms of its members shall ba authcrized by the Congress. . i2) At ieast 30 calendar days prior to the Completion of its work, the Review Board shall provide written actice to the President and the Congreas o ts operations at a specified date. pee intention to texminate SEC. 6. GAOGUNDS FOR POSTPONEMENT OF DISCLOSURE. Discicsuse to the general public of assassination | an in assessination material po nfecmat Material cc particular ~1l-
etm emen int IY eoemra ear TORRONE oesnent ats, S280 mE NINE Ao gto RH TONAL LE FU MIMRNL lil nkegtoM OE OSES OF econ ena UMASS come h co: Are t0 eer em ca cr eden arahaheelestnromartn crete wattaenen Merete i EE Sieh aA ehh eens es MaKe, t 4 may be postponed if its release would -- (1} reveal -- (A) an intelligence agent; = ource oc methcd which is dat € (8B; an intelligence pee pte cusrently utilised, or reasenably expected to be cilized, by the United States Government; or of (C) any other matter currently ceiating to the mMilitasy defense, intelligence operations of conduct of foreign relations of the United States; and the threat to the military defense, ~ intelligence eperations or conduct cf foreign relations of the United States posed by its £ of such gzavity that it outweighs any th be C7] ie) bm © wv i $4 4 o poe public interest in its disclosure. {2) constitute an invasion of privacy of a living pecson, whether that persen is identified in the material or not, and that invasion of privacy is so substantial that it 32 outweighs any public interest in its disclosure; (3) constitute a substantial and unjustified violatien of an understanding of confidentiality cetween a Government agenz and a witness or a foteign government; or {4} disclose a security of be pe curcently wt the Secret 3 protecting harmful that it cutweighs any public interest in its disclosuce. -12-
=m, SEC 7. REVIEW OP BATERIALS BY THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (a) RELZASE OF 2.2 ASSASSINATIGN MATERIALS TO TAE EXZCUTIVE DIRECTOR - . Each Executive agency, ineluddag the ‘National Archives, shail make available to the Executive Director all assassination saterlals, as cefined in section 3, in its possession, including but not limited to, in the rt case of the Natioma: Archives, the records of the Warren Commission, the House Committee, and the Senate Committees. Where the agency is uncertain if a record is assassination pee al, it shaii make that record available to the macec Executive Oirector. The Executive Director shall have the authosity and responsibility, where circcuastance§ warrent, to injul.s Of any Executive agency as to the existence of abee ty thas feccrds that nay be assasaination naterlals bevend uM, te wucse made available by that agency, to obtain access to such commend that the Review Board subpcena such recerds, ame to r cecords in the event of denial of such access. (5) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RESPONSISILITY- . The Executive Director shall have ressensibility for urecerds that are made available by ca ib < oh z bee fe ite] 597 pea re Executive agencies, including the National Archives,
14-00000 assassination materials. (d) PRESUMPTICN FOR RELEASE.— In the absence of clear and convincing evidence that an assassination material oc particular information within an asgassination material falls within the exemptions established in section 6 of this Joint Resolution, the Executive Director shall direct that the assassination material or particular information be celeased pursuant to subsection 7(e){1). (@) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DECISION -- After review of each record, the Executive Director shall, as secon as practicable after the date of enactment of this Joint Resolution, either -- (1) notify the originating body or bodies that the record ig assassination material that is appropriate for release in its entirety pursuant to the standards established in this Joint Resolution. [In such event, the Executive Director shali transmit the record te the Archivist and the Archivist shall make the record availabie for.inspection and appropriate copying by the public, unless within 30 calendar days of notification an originating body files a nctice cf appeal with the Review Board. PROVIDED that any record that, in the judgment of the Executive Director, arguably falls within subsection 6(2}, shali automatically be referred to the Review Board pursuant tc subsection 7(e)(2)(D); or -14d-
14-00000 (2) refer the record to the Review Board, accompanied by a written determination, indicating ons of the following: (A) that, in the Zxecutive Director's judgment, the record is not assassination material; ({B) that, in the Executive Director’s judgment, the record is assassination material ~ that qualifies For pestponement of disclosure under Section 6 or contains particular information that qualifies for postponement of disclosure under Section 6; (Cc) that fuli Review Board investigation and/or Review Board judgment appears - appropriate for a determination as to whether the record or particular information in the record qualifies for postponement of disclosure under Sec. 6 and. thus that this determination shall be vested in the Review Boerd rather than the Executive Director; cf (D) that, in the Executive BDirector’s judgment, the record arguably falls within subsection 6(2) and thus that the determination ag to whether the record cualifies for pestpenement of disclosure shall be vested in the Review Board rather than the Executive Director. -~15—
14-00000 SEC. 8. DETERMINATIONS BY TRE REVIEW BOARD. (a) APPEALS AND REFERRALS ~- The Review Board shall review and apply the standards for release set forth in this Joint Resolution to (1) all records that are the subject of appeals pursuant to Sec. 7(e)(1); and {2) all records ceferred to the Review Board by the -Executive Director pursuant to Sec. 7(@)(2). (b) PRESUMPTION FOR RELEASE. - In the absence of clear and convincing evidence that an assassination material or particular information within an assassination material falls within the exemptions established in section 6 cf this Joint Resolution, the Board shall direct that the assassination material or particular information be released pursuant to subsection 8(h). {e) POWERS.-~.The Review Board shall have authority to hold hearings, administer oaths, and subpoena witnesses and documents, and its subpoenas may he enforced in any appropriate Federal court by the Department of Justice acting pursuant to a lawful request of the Review Board. . (4) ADDITIONAL MATERIALS.- The Review Board shall have the authority and responsibility, where circumstances warrant, to inguirce of any Executive agency as to the existence of Eurther records that may ~16-
14-00000 be assassination materials beyond those made available by that agency, to obtain access to such records, and to use its subpoena power in support of this authority, — fe) WITNESS IMMUNITY.- The Review Board shall be considered an agency cf the United States for purposes of section 6001 of title 18, United States Code. (£) REVIEW BOARD DETERMINATIONS -- After review of each record, the Review Board shall determine whether _ such cetord is. assassination material, and, if so, s whether such assassinaticn material, or particular information in the assassination material, qualifies for postponement of disclosure pursuant to section 6. Any reasonably segregable particular information in an assa$sination material shall be considered fer relezse tec deletion c£ isformation in that assassination % a material that qualifies for postponement of disclosure. Where an entire assassination nateria} qualifies for postponement cf disclosure pursuant to section €, the Board may, efter consultation with the orginating body anc if consistent with and to the extent consistent with section 6, Create and prepare for release a summary of the assassination material in order to previde for the fullest disclosure feasible. Where particular qualifies for per information in an assassination materia postponement of disclosure pursuant to section §, the Board may, after consultation with the originating bedy | and if consistent with and to the extent consistent with «=j7-
14-00000 section 6, create and prepare for relaase appropriate substitutions fer that information in ordec to provide for the fullest disclosure feasible. | " (g¢) DECISIONS TO POSTPONE ~- Where the Board determines that a record is not assassination material, or that a record, or particular information in the record, qualifies for postponement of disclosure pursuant to section 6, the Board shall tranemit to the originating body written notice of such determination, together with a copy of the record at issue, and, if the criginatiag body is an Executive agency, a copy of such notice and of the record shall be transmitted to the appropriate committee of the House of Representatives and the Select Committee on Inteliigeace of the Senate. Such notice shall contain a statement of the reason or teascns for the Board’s decision. Any decision ef the Board that a record is aot assassination material, or that disclosure of a cecord or particular information in a vecerd should be postponed pursuant to section 6, shall not be gubject to judicial review. (h) DECISIONS TO RELEASE (1} NON-EXECUTIVE AGENCY MATERIAL «+= In the cage of i records for which the originating body is the Warren Comsission, tke House Committee. er the Senate Committee, where the Review Boarcd determines that a record is agsassination material, and that a record, particular information in a recerd, a summary of a @ 1 B-
14-00000 record, or a substitution for particular information in secord is appropriate for release pursuant to this - Joint Resolution, the Review Board shall transmit the record, particular information, summary, of substitution to the Archivist, and the Archivist ehall make such record, particular information, summary, or substitution available for inspection and copying by the public. The Review Board’s decision to release shall not be subject to review by the President or any other entity of the — Government and shall not be subject to judicial review. (2) EXECUTIVE AGENCY MATERIAL -- In the case of records for which the originating body is an Executive agency, excluding the Warren Commission, where the Review Board determines that a record, particular information in a record, a summary of a record, ¢r a substitution for particular information in a record is appropriate for release pursuant to this Joint Resolution, the Review Board shall transmit to the- originating body written notice of its determination. In such event, the Review Board shall transmit the record, particular information, summary, of substitute to the Archivist, and the Archivist shall make euch material available for inspection and appropriate copying by the public, unless, within 60 calendar days of the date on which the Board has notified the originating body, the President-has certified to the Review Board and the Archivist that the matecial -19- _
14-00000 qualifies for postponement of disclosure pursuant to section 6, in which case release cf the material shall be postponed, and this decision shall not be subject to judicial review. The President shall not delegate this authority to any other official oz entity. (i) PRESIDENTIAL NOTICE TO CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES ~- Whenever the President makes a certification pursuant to subsection 6(h)(2), the President shall submit to the appropriate committee of the douse of Representatives and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate a written statement setting forth the reason or reasons ' for superseding the Board’s detecmination and a complete copy cf the material at issue. (j) BOARD NOTICE TO PUBLIC -~ Every $0 calendar days, beginning 60 calendar days after the date on which the Review Board first postpones release of any assassination material pursuant to section 8(g), the Board shall make available for gublic inspection and copying a notice of all such pestponements determined over the 66-day period, Including a description of the Size and nature of each assaasination material concarned aad the ground or grounds for pastrenement. (k} PRESIDENTIAL NOTICE TO PUBLIC -- In any case in which a determination of the Board to release assassination material is superseded by the President pursuant te this subsection, the President shall within ~20- .
14-00000 SEC. 190 calendar days publish in the federal Register notice -of such action, including a description of the size ane natura of the assassination materfal concerned and the ground cr grounds for postponement. (1) IMMUNITY FROM SUIT. - No person shall have a cause of action against members, employees or detailees € the Review Board arising out of any action or failure to act with regard to agsassination material under this Joint Resolution. {m}) RULES ‘OF TEE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATE ~ . That portion of subsection 8(h)(1) that permits the Review Board to release materials for which the originating kedy is the House Commitee or the Senate Committee without the concurrence cr epproval of any congressional body is enacted by the Congress - (1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the House of Representatives and the Senate, respectively, and as such is deemed a part of the rules of each House, respectively, and such procedures supersede other rules only to the extent that they are inconsistent with such other rules; and {2} with the full recognition of the constitutional right of either fiouse to change the rules {so far as relating to the proceduces of that House) at any time, in the same manner, and to the same extent as any other cule of that Houge. 9 —— MARKING AND REVIEW Of SATERIALS TEE DISCLCSURS OF ~21-
14-00000 fF WHICH I3 POSTPONED -— (a) MARKING -- With cespect te each assassination . matecial or particular infocmation in assassination material the disclosure of which is postponed pursuant to section §&, ec for which oniy substitutions or summaries have Leen released to the public pursuant to subsection 8(h), the Review Board shall append to the material (1) all cecords of proceedings conducted pursuant to this Joint Resolution and relating to the material and (2) a statement of the Review Board designating, based on a review of the procsedings and in conforaity with the decisions reflected therein, a Specified time at which or a specified occurrence Eolilowing which the gaterial may appropriately be reconsidered for telease pursuant to the standards established in this Joint Resolution. The Review Board shall then transfer the material and appendices to the Archivist for placement in the Archives under seal. (>) REVIEW ~~ The sealed assassination materials transfecrad by the Review Board pursuant te this section shall remaiz subject to the standards for release established- by this Joint Resolution. It shali be the continuing duty of the Archivist to review the sealed assassination matarials and the Gccuments append#d thereto pursuant to this secticn and to resubmit assassination materials to the Feview Board, if ic is still in existence, or to the originating bedv, if the Raview Soard has been abolished, whenever it appears to the Archivist that review may be agepreopriate. -22-
14-00000 a SEC. 10. DISCLOSURE OF CTHER MATERIALS AND ADDITIONAL STUDY, (a) MATERIALS UNDER SEAL CF COURT.- (1) The Review Acacd may cequest the Cepartment of Justice to petition, or through its own counsel petition, any court in the United States or abroad to release any information relevant to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy that is held under seal of the court. (2)(A} The Review Board may cequest the Attorney General to petition, or through its own counsel petition, any court in the United States to release any information relevant to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy that is held under the injunetion of secrecy of a grand jury. (B) A request for disclosure of assassination materiais under this Joint Resclution shall be deemed to constitute a showing of particularized need under Rule 6 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. - : (b) AUTOPSY MATERIALS -- The Review Board shall, pursuant to the terms of the applicable deed of gift, seek access to the autopsy photographs and x-rays donated to the National Archives by the Kennedy famiiy under the deed of gift. The Review Board shall, as soon as practicable, submit to the appropriate committee of the House and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate a repert on the status of these materials an@ on access to these materiais by individuals consistent with the deed of gift. roy a ee
14-00000 é (c) SENSE OF CONGRESS.- It is that- (1} The Attoraey General Board in good faith to unseal Review Boazsd determines to be the sense of Congress should assis® the Review any cecords that the relevant and held under seal by a court or under the injunction of secrecy of a grand jury; (2) The Secretary of State should contact the a Meee pel A tee erm Nae REG AGA ont neem Sm e Government of the Republic of Russia and seek the disclosure of all records of the government of the ' former Soviet Union, including the cecerds of the | Romitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (xca) and the Glavnoye Razvedyvatelnoye Upravleniye (GRU), relevant to the assassination of President Seanedy, and contact any other fereign government that may hold information relevant to the asgassination of frasident Kennedy and seek disclosure of such information: and (3) ail Executive agencies should cooperate in full with the Review Board to seek the disclosure of all information relevant to the agsagesination of President John F. Kennedy consistent with the public interest.. SEC. 11. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. (a) PRECEDENCE OVER OTHER LAW. - (1) Where this Joint Resolution requires release cf a record, it shall take precedence over any other law, gudicial decision cesastruing ~24~
14-00000 such law, of common law doctrine that would otherwise prohibit such release. (b) FREEDCM OF INFORMATION ACT.~ Nothing in this Joint Resolution shail be censtrued to eliminate or limit any right to file cequests with any Executive agency other than the Review Board or seek judicial review of the decisions of such agencies pursuant to section 552 of title ©, United States Code. (c) EXISTING AUTHORITY.- Nothing. in this Joint Resolution cevekes or limits the existing authority cf the President, any Executive agency, the Senate, cr the House of Representatives, or any other entity of the Government to release records in its possession. SEC. 12. TERMINATION OF EFFECT OF JOINT RESOLUTION. The provisions of this Joint Resolution which pertain to .the appointment and operation of the Review Board shall cease to be effective when the Review Board and the terme of its members have terminated pursuant to subsection 5(1). The remaining provisions of this Joint Resolution shall continue in effect until such time as the Archivist certifies to the President and the Congress that all assassination materials have been made available to the public in accordance with this Joint Resolution. ~ 2 5
14-00000 ffC. 13. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. (a) IN GENERAL.- There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out this Joint Resolution, to remain available until expended. (b) INTERIM FUNDING.- Until such time as funds are. appropriated pursuant to subsection (a), the ecesident may usé such sums as are availiable for discretionary use te carry out this Joint Resolution. SEC. 14. SSVERABILITY. If any provision of this Joint Resolution or the application thereof to any person or circumstance 1s held invalid, the remainder of this Joint Resolution and the application of that provision to cther persens not similarly situated or to cthec circumstances shall not be affectad by the invalidation. ~26—
14-00000 oy ' Central intellgence Agency gc Yee p FT if BS, 8 eee Washingion D C 20505 CIA SPECIAL COLLECTIONS RELEASE IN FULL 2000 nea . “43 Ape 1992 Se deal Mc. Bernard H. Martin Assistant Director for Legislative Reference - Office of Management and Budget : . Washington, D.C. 20503 Dear Mr. Martin: This is in response to your request for the views of the Central Intelligence Agency on Senate Joint Resolution 282, the “Assassination Materials Disclosure Act of 1992”, and the corresponding House Joint Resolution 454 ("the resolutions"). The Central Intelligence Agency fully supports the fundamental premise underlying this legislation--that efforts should be made to declassify and make available to the public as expeditiously as possible government documents relating to the assassination of President Kennedy. In fact, the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) has recently established and staffed a new unit within CIA responsible for review and declassification of documents of historical interest, including the JFK-related files, as part of the Agency's program of increased openness. However, several provisions of the resolutions raise serious concerns, as outlined below, and CIA cannot support them as currently drafted. Our comments will focus upon specific CIA concerns; many general issues raised by the resolutions are better addressed by the White House or the Department of Justice, Initially, the resolutions are focussed on "records" rather than the information contained in them. We are concerned that the Agency would not have the opportunity to object to release of CIA information contained in documents originated by Congress or the Warren Commission. Under the resolutions, documents originated by these entities can be released by the Executive Director of the Assassination Materials Review Board without any review by the President or other Executive Branch agencies. Similarly, there is no mechanism that would allow
14-00000 wa Letter to Mr. Bernard H. Martin the Agency to object to release of its information contained in documents originated by other agencies or departments. The resolutions should provide that the agencies which originate information have the opportunity to review that information prior to its release. Otherwise, an anomalous situation could be created in which documents originated by the Executive Branch would be withheld while documents originated by Congress containing the same Executive branch information would be released. The resolutions' broad definition of “assassination material" is also troublesome. The resolutions define “assassination material" as a record that relates “in any manner or degree to the assassination." This unbounded definition could cover a range of material beyond that which has been traditionally associated with the JFK assassination. This broad definition, coupled with the Review Board's powers to request additional information from Executive agencies, and the fact that the Board makes the determination of what is assassination material, could lead to a new investigation of the assassination, rather than review of existing files for declassification purposes. Such an inquiry could well stray into sensitive areas that are unrelated to the assassination. The question of proper scope of the Review Board’s charter is a difficult one, and we do not mean toj,suggest that reasonable requests for materials shou ldjdenied simply because they were not made by a previous Presidential Commission or Congressional Committee. However, there should be a provision whereby Board requests for additional materials that an agency believes are unrelated to the assassination could be ° appealed--perhaps to the President. The resolutions contain no provision requiring security clearances or secure document handling by the Assassination Materials Review Board or its Executive Director/staff elements. Absent security procedures and facilities that met Executive branch standards, agencies would be unable to provide classified assassination materials to the new body or its staff. The resolutions provide a 30 day period for appealing decisions by the Executive Director to release information. This may not provide sufficient time for meaningful review of what could prove to be large volumes of material at one time--particularly where some documents may require coordination with other agencies. We suggest that the
14-00000 Letter to Mr. Bernard H. Martin resolutions be amended to provide that agencies may file for an automatic 30 day extension to consider whether an appeal is necessary before material is publicly disclosed. We believe that the Executive Director of the Review Board ' should have substantive expertise with respect to protection of intelligence or law enforcement information readily available so that the initial decisions on whether to release documents are made on an informed basis. Under the resolutions, neither Board members nor the Executive Director may be government employees or have any background in the assassination - . investigations. Because of this restriction, these individuals are unlikely to have any familiarity with the documents at issue and may well have no expertise in intelligence or law enforcement equities. While the Executive Director may request detailees from Executive agencies and may consult with originating agencies, there is no requirement that he do so. An Executive branch agency with knowledge of the information at stake and potential harms (or lack thereof) likely to result from release of the information may have no involvement in the process until after an initial determination has been made to disclose the information. Requiring that the staff informally consult with agencies originating the information or mandating detailees from the affected agencies (within reasonable limits--particularly if details are to be nonreimbursable) would ensure that relevant expertise is brought to bear as part of the initial decision-making process. The Board's broad powers to subpoena witnesses and documents and hold hearings under the resolutions could conflict with the DCI's statutory duty to protect sensitive intelligence sources and methods from unauthorized disclosure. We believe the Board should be required to consult with the DCI on issues like whether a hearing should be closed, or whether a subpoena could be narrowed, if intelligence equities are involved. Disagreements could be appealed to the President. Section 6 of the resolutions, which outlines the grounds for postponement of public release of a document, may not be adequate to protect Agency interests in certain respects. For example there is no provision for postponing release of Executive privilege/deliberative process, attorney-client, or attorney work-product information. Such privileges could always be waived in the public interest, but as the resolutions are currently drafted, they would be wholly unavailable. ©
14-00000 Letter to Mr. Bernard H. Martin While such privileges are not likely to arise with respect to factual information directly related to the JFK assassination, they could well arise with respect to other documents swept up in the resolutions' broad definition of assassination materials. We also believe that “intelligence agent" under section 6(1)(A) of the resolutions should be defined with reference to the Intelligence Identities Protection Act so as to protect the identity of covert employees of the Agency. The Congressional oversight mechanism established for Board activities also may conflict with the existing rules for oversight of intelligence activities. The resolutions provide for congressional oversight of the Review Board and its activities by the “appropriate” House committee and the SSCI, although we have reason to believe that the resolutions may be amended to remove the SSCI from oversight responsibilities. Under the resolutions, the committees would obtain copies of all material that were not released. Thus, the resolutions are likely to involve non-intelligence oversight committees in the review of sensitive CIA information that would not be released to the public. Congress enacted the Intelligence Oversight Act of 1980 in part to reduce the number of congressional committees with access to sensitive CIA information. Expanding the number of committees with access to our information would be of concern, especially if the Review Board seeks new documents minimally-related to the assassination. Finally, each resolution specifically provides that it does not affect FOIA actions. We would suggest that the resolution explicitly stay responses to FOIA requests related to assassination materials while the Review Board is conducting its business. The resolutions clearly have a more liberal standards for public disclosure of information than does the FOIA, and the public is likely to get assassination materials more expeditiously if agencies are permitted to focus their resources on supporting the work of the Review Board. We appreciate the opportunity to comment on the assassination materials resolutions. Please contact Vicki Pepper of my staff at (703) 482-6126 with any questions or comments concerning the Agency's position on these resolutions. Sincerely, Stanley M. Moskowitz Director of Congressional Affairs
14-00000 ( ( CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WASHINGTON, D.C. 20505 CIA SPECIAL COLLECTIONS Gary E. Foster RELEASE IN FULL Director Public and Agency Information 2600 (703) 482-7778 13 May 1992 DCI_TESTIMONY AT JFK ASSASSINATION HEARING The DCI testified yesterday at a Senate Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on the Assassination Materials Disclosure Act of 1992. This is a joint resolution sponsored by Senator David Boren and aimed at providing a comprehensive process ultimately leading to the release of all materials held by the United States Government regarding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The DCI will essentially repeat this testimony on 15 May for a similar joint resolution sponsored in the House of Representatives by Congressman Louis Stokes. Perhaps no public event in our lifetime has had the impact of the murder of President Kennedy. We have all heard reckless accusations against the Agency in connection with that terrible event, and we all have an interest in an accurate history of it. For that reason we are circulating the full text of the DCI's testimony. At the end of the attached text, you will also finda reply by the DCI during the ensuing question-and-answer period when Senator William Cohen asked about the jeopardy that might be caused by revealing the identity of a source so long after the fact or even if the source were deceased. Attachments
STATEMENT OF ROBERT M. GATES DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS UNITED STATES SENATE 12 May 1992