Shortly after the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Chief Justice Earl Warren, who oversaw the first official inquiry, was asked by a reporter if the full record would be made public.

"Yes, there will come a time," the chairman of the Warren Commission responded. "But it might not be in your lifetime."

It will soon be in ours - that is, unless the CIA, FBI or other agencies still holding on to thousands of secret documents from a series of related probes convince the next occupant of the White House otherwise.

A special team of seven archivists and technicians with top-secret security clearances has been set up at the National Archives and Records Administration to process all or portions of 40,000 documents that constitute the final collection of known federal records that might shed light on the events surrounding JFK's murder, POLITICO has learned - files that according to law must be made public by October 2017.

Dan Hardway's essay, A CRUEL AND SHOCKING MISINTERPRETATION, reveals that author Phil Shenon did talk to House Select Committee staff who provided him with primary data and observations to bring into question the scenario that he ties into his book on the Warren Commission, that Lee Oswald might have been manipulated by Cuban agents. It's impossible not to be struck by the contrast between Shenon's inquiry into the 9/11 Commission (which in some cases is brutal in regards to its practices and in particular the political efforts to manipulate its work) compared to what we see in his book on the Warren Commission.  At first it's tempting to think it was simply that he found 9/11 Commission staff willing to expose issues and agendas while the surviving Warren Commission staff remain sufficiently in denial not to have given him the same sorts of insights or leads. But that does not explain why he didn't contact professional historians such as Gerald McKnight or John Newman who would have exposed weaknesses in the Warren Commission's work. Hardway proves Shenon didn't go the distance.

? 2015 Dan Hardway, J.D. Attorney in private practice; former investigator, House Select Committee on Assassinations.
 

Phil Shenon and I agree on at least a few things. In any resolution of the mysteries surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Mexico City will undoubtedly be important. 

The investigation into what happened there in 1963 was, for some reason, seriously curtailed by the U.S. government. The government has, since then, fought tooth and nail to keep the full story about what happened there secret.

I tried, in vain as it turns out, to get Mr. Shenon to consider that what we had learned about Oswald's activities, and the government's reaction to those activities, could support a different explanation which also pointed to an additional avenue of investigation that needed to be publicized and followed. 

In my view, Oswald's activities are more consistent with his being involved in an intelligence operation being run by U.S. intelligence than with him trying to make contact with Cubans to garner support for an assassination attempt on the sitting leader of this country.

For the past 21 years, JFK Lancer has gathered the world's leading JFK researchers, teachers, authors, and eye-witnesses to share their knowledge on the events surrounding John F. Kennedy's presidency and assassination. We believe in the importance of combining historical evidence and cutting-edge research to shed light on the mysteries of the turbulent 1960s.

Whether you are a student of JFK history or simply curious, we invite you to join us on November 20, 2015 at the Adolphus Hotel when we will gather once more in Dallas to share knowledge and challenge the status quo.