W. Tracy Parnell

Media reports in the wake of the release of the personnel files of CIA operative George Joannides have unfortunately proven to be inaccurate. This is evidently because the reports are based largely on the assertions of former Washington Post journalist and current conspiracy advocate Jefferson Morley. In fact, the reports read like they could have been written by him. It seems that Morley is content to let these inaccuracies slip by since it is helpful to his cause. That cause appears to be the spread of misinformation that will help to convince the American public that there was a CIA conspiracy behind the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy and therefore the agency must be severely curtailed if not eliminated. This article will attempt to set the record straight using facts. The bolded quotes are from the New York Post but are representative of what is out there. First, some context in the form of one of the few statements that the NYP got mostly right: Oswa...

The personnel file of CIA agent George Joannides has finally been released. First, let's talk about what it does not show. It does not contain "smoking gun" proof that there was a COINTELPRO-style "Oswald Operation" as has been alleged by conspiracy gadfly Jefferson Morley for the past several years. In fact, despite what Axios reported on July 5th, the file does not provide the slightest hint that Joannides was even aware that Lee Harvey Oswald existed before the assassination much less that the CIA man "monitored" him. The file does not show that Joannides was given a Career Intelligence Medal for "stonewalling" the House Select Committee on Assassinations. Rather, as clearer heads have maintained all along, he was given the award for "the diversity of his assignments and the way he rose to the challenge of each," and the fact t...

Introduction Editor's Note: Scroll down to the bottom of the page if you prefer to see bullet points on this article. I have always heard that you call (or email) an expert when you have a problem. So, I contacted JFK file guru Robert Reynolds regarding the May 20th testimony of former HSCA staffer Dan Hardway. Reynolds is a professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature at National Chi Nan University in Puli, Taiwan who researches the JFK assassination in his free time. Reynolds specializes in the JFK Assassination Records Collection—particularly the new file releases. Reynolds writes at his blog and elsewhere time permitting, but he frequently helps lost souls like myself by providing files and interpretations of the same. Throughout this article, Reynolds' comments will appear in blue blockquote. Much of the testimony at both the April 1st and May 20th Luna hearings centered around CIA officer George Joannides who served as both a DRE ...