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 ...

Conspiracy author and researcher Jefferson Morley, who testified before a Congressional Task Force on April 1st, needs to do something to clarify the record. In a prepared statement submitted to the Task Force, Morley stated the following: Three top CIA officers lied under oath about JFK’s assassination. In the statement, Morley went on to identify the CIA men as James Angleton, Richard helms and George Joannides. I have previously addressed Morley's allegations concerning Helms . Fred Litwin has a five-part series discussing Morley and Angleton. That brings us to Joannides. Morley claims: In response to a direct request from HSCA investigator Dan Hardway, Joannides denied knowing who ran the AMSPELL program in 1963 — when, in fact, he himself had run it. It is true that Joannides was the case officer for the DRE in 1963. But what evidence is there that Hardway asked Joannides about the DRE either "under oath" or informally? According to Robert Reynolds ...

On April 1, 2025, conspiracy researcher and author Jefferson Morley submitted a written statement to the House Task Force on Declasification of Federal Secrets headed by Florida Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna. Morley's statement provided no new information but instead trotted out some timeworn myths that have been repeatedly debunked on this blog and elsewhere . And at the very least, Morley's claims have alternative explanations. Morley claims a "fact pattern" demonstrates CIA culpability in the JFK murder. The "tipping point" for Morley was a newly released document about the HTLINGUAL mail opening program. But being a skeptic, I would say that what convinced Morley that the CIA was complicit in the JFK case was the Oliver Stone film JFK which he viewed in the nineties. Let's look at his statements to the Task Force. Morley Claim: Richard Helms lied under oath to the Warren Commission when he said the CIA had only "minimal" knowledge ...

UPDATE July 2025: The Joannides personnel file has been released . It contains no "smoking guns." 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...

You have to give credit to journalist turned JFK conspiracy theorist Jefferson Morley. He is certainly persistent in his promotion of misinformation about the assassination of the 35th President. And he is able to find sympathetic (or just in need of content) media outlets that are willing to provide him with a platform to promote his nonsense. Morley's latest victim is Flemming Rose, a Danish journalist and author. Rose interviewed Morley after the noise made by his latest JFK "revelation" —an anonymous "whistleblower" who claims to have visited secret CIA archives where he or she saw both a video tape labeled "Mexico City" and a document describing the CIA's intentional obstruction of the House Select Committee on Assassination's investigation. Morley told Rose that he "called on all the old critics to point out where I am wrong. They don't want to get into the debate that I have a point about the CIA and the Kennedy as...

JFK conspiracy researcher and author Jefferson Morley held a press confernce via Zoom on October 7, 2024 to promote his latest JFK "revelation" about an anonymous source who claims to have seen a secret JFK file archive. Morley has made a video of the press conference available to paid subscribers only . Morley stated he was hosting fifteen journalists but only seven bothered to ask questions. One of the inquisitors was likely Fernand Armandi who introduced Antonio Veciana at a 2014 conference of the Assassination Archives and Research Center. Morley used the beginning of the Zoom call to lanch into a seventeen-minute disertation on his theories. But was the information that he relayed to the assembled journalists really just propoganda? Morley's assertions to the group are in blue followed by my rebuttal. And I went to [Jane Roman] with John Newman, a historian and army intelligence officer, and we interviewed her. And we showed her the newly declassified records...