As longtime readers of this site know, there is indeed a “smoking gun” in the JFK assassination story. That is to say, 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.
For those of you who are new to the JFK story, repeat and remember (and retweet) it: #TheJoannidesFile.
Let me get this straight: Morley has not seen this file, but he knows that public disclosure will "radically revise popular understanding of how President Kennedy came to die."
It is also quite clear that the ARRB knew exactly who George Joannides was. They knew he was a covert action officer at JMWAVE and that he was the case officer for the Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil (DRE). The ARRB also knew that he worked with the HSCA on its requests for CIA documents.
ARRB staffer Michelle Combs noted that "The descriptions of his 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."
And yet, Morley is convinced that this personnel file has details of some undisclosed CIA operation involving Lee Harvey Oswald.
He said this during his press conference in December 2022: (from 57:57 to 58:50)
What are they hiding? We can now answer that question with some precision. The CIA is hiding 44 documents known to exist in Joannides' personnel file that will shed light on his secret activities in 1963 and 1978. These include information about a CIA operation involving Lee Harvey Oswald that has never been disclosed.
I'm not crazy about the term 'smoking gun.' I think that's a bit of a cliche -- it's not a term that investigative reporters use but I think in this case it's appropriate. What we are talking about here is not smoking gun proof of a conspiracy to kill the President. We're talking about smoking gun proof of a CIA operation involving Lee Harvey Oswald that the CIA is still concealing in 2022. This body of records has profound implications for the official story of the assassination.
But how does Morley know what is in this file?
He is speculating, if not imagining, what is in Joannides' personnel file, and so now we have the category of imaginary evidence. Interestingly, Morley has never discussed Michelle Combs' conclusions about the Joannides file.
Morley also misleads his readers on Joannides and Oswald:
The available documents show that after his agents had contact with Oswald, Joannides conducted “security reviews” of CIA covert operations in 1963-64 and that he maintained a residence in New Orleans, where Oswald lived in 1963.
His agents? Joannides was in Florida and Bringuier was a lone DRE representative in New Orleans. Morley has to manufacture some sort of connection by claiming that Joannides had a summer/vacation home in New Orleans. But Bringuier never met Joannides: (page 419 in his book, Crime Without Punishment)
On her book Ms. Mellen portray me as a FBI or CIA informant and tried to associate me with George Joannides, according to her and others, as a CIA operative. I heard the name Joannides for the first time while researching some of Jefferson Morley's allegations and this was Mr. Joannides had passed away. I never met, talked or had any direct or indirect contact with Mr. George Joannides but these recyclers of lies keep repeating the same lies.
And Carlos Bringuier denies that he received any money from the DRE in Miami: (page 425)
I was just a Delegate in New Orleans of the DRE. I was not receiving instructions or orders from the CIA, I never received any money from the CIA, if others in the DRE at the Miami office were receiving money from the CIA that was not my case. I was working very hard as a salesman as comanager of "Casa Roca" to bring food for my family, I never received any money from the Miami DRE office or any other office of the DRE, on the contrary my delegation was sending small amounts of money to Miami headquarters. That is the historical truth.
Morley used to understand this: Here is a quote from Morley's book, Our Man in Mexico: Winston Scott and the Hidden History of the CIA: (page 175)
All the former DRE leaders emphasized that they did not take orders from the CIA, and there is good reason to take them at their word. In 1963, they were passionate young anticommunists who feared their homeland was in danger of slipping under one-party control forever. They did not need a CIA man from Washington to tell them to take against against a public supporter of Castro like Oswald.
In Morley's world, individuals have little agency. But they do have Central Intelligence Agency agency -- Bringuier and Oswald are just pawns of the CIA and that their actions can only be explained by an imaginary CIA operation.
I do hope the CIA declassifies the rest of the Joannides' file.
It's the only way to stop the incessant posts from Jefferson Morley. Actually, once the Joannides file is released, he will just keep basing his speculation on the actual documents.
Previous Relevant Blog Posts on Jefferson Morley
Actually, Oswald stayed at two budget-priced hotels in Helsinki.
He keeps asking the same questions, and we keep posting the same answers.
Conspiracy authors are playing fast and loose with the facts.
There is no evidence that Diaz was involved in the JFK assassination.
There are clues as to what is in a redacted section of Schlesinger's memo.
Chad Nagle and Dan Storper's article on New Orleans gets everything wrong.
Believing Michael Kurtz is problematic.
Morley wrote that there are two redacted memos on CIA reorganization, but there is only one. He wrote about Goodwin's copy as if it was a different memo, rather than a copy of the Schlesinger memo.
The phrase 'who shot John' does not refer to the JFK assassination.
Only one word is redacted in Harvey's deposition.
There are no redactions in the Operation Northwoods document.
Kilgallen had nothing to tell.
An underwhelming interview of Marina Oswald.
Morley often repeats stories and changes their meanings.
Chad Nagle claims there was an assassination plot against JFK in Chicago in November 1963. One problem: There is no evidence of such a plot.
A response to Morley's Substack post alleging that I am a CIA apologist.
A rebuttal to Morley's response to my post Was Bill Harvey in Dallas in November of 1963?
There is no credible evidence Harvey was in Dallas in November of 1963.
Morley repeats the claim that Dulles was at a CIA training center during the weekend of the JFK assassination. He wasn't.
Morley's claims about Efron are all wrong.
Morley responded to my article "The Truth about Operation Northwoods." Here is my reply.
W. Tracy Parnell is one of the best JFK assassination researchers out there. Here is his look at Jefferson Morley with several important articles.
Operation Northwoods can only be understood as part of the Kennedys' war against Cuba and Operation Mongoose.
And a response from me.
There is no evidence that Dr. West petitioned the court to examine Jack Ruby before his trial.
There is absolutely no evidence that Dr. Louis Jolyon West interfered with Jack Ruby's case.
Jefferson Morley used a fake Oswald handbill in his press conference for the Mary Ferrell Foundation.
An examination of redactions in the JFK collection of documents.