The Facts About the Joannides Personnel Files

I have to give Jefferson Morley credit.

He manages to maintain a single-minded devotion to his cause of convincing online followers that a "smoking gun" exists in the unreleased personnel records pertaining to deceased CIA operative George Joannides. He does this without any proof whatsoever and despite the fact that his assertions about the Joannides records and his general assassination claims have been continually debunked at this blog and several others for years now. It seems a brief refresher on the subject is in order.

Morley's latest onslaught of misinformation comes from the first article in a series purporting to advise readers about "Essential JFK Documents." Once again, let's take a look at his claims which appear in blue.

Pro tip: If you want to understand what’s going on with Trump and the assassination files, you’ll want to pay a visit to maryferrell.org. It’s a theory-free zone.)

Although it has nothing to do specifically with the Joannides records I should point out that the reason that Mary Ferrell (a site that is home to much useful information) is a "theory-free zone" is that the most prominent researchers represented there including Morley, Bill Simpich and John Newman do not agree on what happened in the assassination of JFK. Morley and Newman parted ways way back in the nineties after interviewing former CIA employee Jane Roman.

... there is a single batch of records whose disclosure will radically revise popular understanding of how President Kennedy came to die. We call it the Joannides file.

Morley cannot honestly make such a claim and, indeed, he admits "Of course, I could be wrong. After all, I haven’t seen the documents." But ARRB researcher Michelle Combs has and she reported:

The descriptions of [Joannides'] duties and accomplishments in the personnel file are very general and contain no specific reference to his relationship with the DRE. There is no mention of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in the file and no information relevant to the assassination in the file.

[Joannides'] paid agents were involved in the surveillance of accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, an ex-Marine with a penchant for left-wing politics.

The words "involved in the surveillance" implies that these agents were in New Orleans surveilling Oswald. But Joannides' "agents" were in Miami working with the agency and had no contact with Oswald although they did receive reports on his activities. The individuals who did interact with Oswald were in New Orleans and were not CIA agents but were unpaid DRE delegates.

I think Joannides was a “clean-up man” for a CIA operation involving Oswald before and after JFK was killed. I think that’s why he received a medal in 1981 and that’s why the reasons he received the medal are still top secret 44 years later.

Morley himself uncovered the medal citation which states clearly why Joannides received his award.

[Joannides'] personnel file is clearly covered by Trump’s order and should be made public immediately.

Trump's order says nothing specifically about JFK records not in the JFK collection. Morley and his cohorts seem to be relying on a very broad interpretation of the order. But the Joannides personnel records are not in the JFK collection and I believe Trump would have to designate them as JFK records in order for them to be released. Trump's knowledge of the JFK assassination would not seem to be extensive enough for him to even be aware of the Joannides records, although Tucker Carlson knows of Morley's claims and could alert the president.

CIA officials, however, are sure to tell director John Ratcliffe and Team Trump that the Joannides file is not an assassination-related record and should not be released. Like too many CIA claims about JFK’s assassination, that is factually false. In December 2022, Judge John Tunheim, chair of the Assassination Records Review Board in the 1990s, wrote a letter to President Biden calling for full JFK disclosure and asserting that “the Joannides file absolutely needs to be released in full.”

Yes, Tunheim wants the Joannides file released, but that does not prove Morley's claim that the file is "assassination-related." As previously mentioned, researcher Michelle Combs said it was not. Tunheim likely wants to see the records released because he believes it will end unwarranted speculation of the kind that Morley specializes in.

The documents in the Joannides file will shed light on how and why this one CIA field operative came to focus his propaganda and political action activities on the unknown Oswald in the summer of 1963 and what he reported to his superiors.

But Morley admits in his article that he has not seen the Joannides documents. So how could he know what they will show?

When these documents are declassified, I believe we will have evidence of a previously unknown CIA operation, authorized by one or more senior officials, to make Oswald what he said he was before he was killed: “a patsy,” a man framed for a crime he did not commit.

But surely Michelle Combs would consider a CIA operation to make Oswald a patsy to be assassination-related. Why would she then hide it? Morley has never claimed Combs is in on the plot and previously praised her for releasing Joannides' performance evaluations. It is almost a certainty that there is no evidence of an "Oswald operation" in the files.

Here is a video presentation on the Joannides file that I gave at the National Press Club in December 2022.

And here is my critque of that presentation.

The bottom line is that Morley has never seen the Joannides files and has no idea what they contain. Any pronouncements by him are pure speculation. It makes much more sense to rely on those individuals who have seen the records in question such as Michelle Combs and Judge Tunheim who has repeatedly stated there are no "smoking guns" in the records.