The Public Interest Declassificaton Board is an office within the National Archives that was created by Congress to advise the president on secrecy and declassification issue. The PIDB is supposed to act as a counterweight to secret government agencies. It doesn’t have much real power but it does constitute a presence that other agencies have to take into account.
And its members have written a letter to President BIden about the last of the JFK assassination files.
The board, appointed by President Trump, advocates “maximum public release” of JFK files by October 26, 2021, as mandated by an order issued by President Trump four years ago.
The statement is not as strong as advocates of full JFK disclosure wished. In the letter to Biden, the Board unanimously recommended that Biden “limit any further postponements of public disclosures of the Kennedy assassination records to the absolute minimum.” But the board also reported that federal agencies are likely to request that postponing the release of more than 12,000 of the 15,000-plus JFK records that contain redacted material.
So the PIDB already know that postponement will be maximal, not minimal. The JFK Record Act requires the government to present “clear and convincing evidence” of an “identifiable harm.” That seems unlikely to happen but the Board is giving the rest of the government a pass that is not warranted by law.
Read the PIDB’s letter to President Biden here.
Over the past eight months, the PIDB has received many letters and comments from the public on the continued postponement of the release of these records; the writers stressed their interest in seeing them declassified and released to the public, as the JFK Act intended. As the President contemplates whether to approve the agencies’ requests, the PIDB felt it important to add its voice by advocating for the declassification of as much information as possible.
I believe anybody who refuses to demand the J.F.K. files be totally released will be casting great suspicion upon themselves.If they do not want the files released then it would be pretty much true that either the C.I.A. or F.B.I. or SECRET SERVICE has them scared to death And we do not really have a real government running this country but some foreign power thats controls the C.I.A,the F.B.I. and SECRET SERVICE and all our politicians dont really have control of this country,but a bunch of chickens do. I believe some foreign power hasall our politicians are scared to death. It could even be a bunch of aliens from outer space. Remember Roswell.
WOW …. That’s all that is being communicated to Biden. This is unacceptable and intolerable. We must expect more right now from the PIDB and those who do know what significant facts are included in these documents.
I agree with Jeff. There is not enough being done to get Biden to release the files. The news medias should be doing more to bring to the public’s attention that Oct.26 is the day the J.F.K. files is suppose to be released. My.estimate is that at least 97% of Americans have forgotten that is the date so there is not much push coming to shove .Mabe Biden will release the files just because Trump wouldnt. But Biden and Kennedy were friends so.if there is anything in them that would make or expose anything on the Kennedys or any other president Biden won’t release them.Right now there should be something said about the coming up date on the news every day,but it’s it’s being kept all hush hush by the media. When is the media going to bring this up so the citizens can insist it be done. This is very important but it’s not being treated that way by the media.Why?