We have already received many comments from our followers about what topics you would like to see declassified. Today, we present you with a new list of topics. These topics all relate to records found at the Presidential Libraries.
View the List Here: Topics Related to the Presidential Libraries
Like the other categories on our blog, this list of topics captures what we heard from Agency declassifiers, experts from the Presidential Libraries and the requester community. The topics are listed in alphabetical order for each Presidential Library, not by ranking.
All lists will remain active for comment while the blog is live. Please continue to make comments on this new list and also any other topics you think are important for prioritization.
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Recently the Archives announced completion of processing of the Robert F. Kennedy papers at the JFK Presidential Library. The RFK papers that are available online through the digital collection still contain many pink withdrawal sheets for classified information. This is especially true in the 1963-64 CIA collection of the RFK confidential papers. My understanding is that these withdrawn papers are still classified by the CIA. In order to have a complete history of the 1963-64 period, we need access to these still classified materials. When might these records be declassified? They should be a priority item.
When I went to the JFK Library last summer to view the newly released RFK papers, I was disappointed to be greeted by a blizzard of pink withdrawal slips. I appeal the withholding of the material and about 85 percent of my requests for declassification were rejected. I was seeking communications between RFK and the CIA in 1962 and 1963 about Cuba. The notion that disclosure of the contents of such communications between persons long dead could affect the safety of U.S. citizens today is hard to credit. The RFK papers should be reviewed and released immediately.
please release the files so we can learn the truth in our lifetime, good or bad.
It is high time the RFK CIA files from 1962-63 were released. There can be no obfuscation through the use of the national security fig leaf as a premise for withholding said files. After 5 decades the public interest must outweigh any tenuous claims of the CIA that release of the files can damage the US in any conceivable way.
As someone working on a book about Robert Kennedy, these files could do much to illuminate his life and role under JFK and the people around them. Please. This period of time is crucial to our understanding of the change our country took after JFK’s and RFK’s assassinations. Please release these files in full.
I agree with PBR above about the RFK files. I also want ALL JFK CIA files released. Please don’t say it will do harm.
Time to release in full the National Archived files of RFK.
Full and immediate release of all records related to JFK’s assassination, starting with the 1100+ related files at CIA, in order to: http://www.HonorJFK.com (for my full statement)
I understand the quandary of authors and researchers in their efforts to obtain thorough and accurate information for their works. However, does anyone consider the possibility that many CIA and FBI personnel (& their families) who worked those events may still be alive and even possibly still employed in government service?
The events in question happened 50 years ago, and involve events of paramount public interest. There is no permanent secrecy for government records. The secret records of the Constitutional Convention in 1789 were released after 30 years, while some of the persons involved were no doubt still alive. In this case it has been 50 years.
The Government should declassify all remaining secret recordings fromt he Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon White Houses. I love listening to the telephone conversations on C-SPAN radio, but there are still deletions on this incredibly interesting tapes.
It’s time our government did the right thing and declassified all the documents related to JFK, the JFK Assassination, and RFK and his assassination. There is too much ever mounting evidence that appears to indicate that the US government, primarly including the FBI, the Secret Service and the CIA, intentionally covered up the conspiracy of the death of one of our greatest Presidents. It’s time that this travesty came to an end.
Given what is already known about Nixon’s intervention in Chile, a full record of the Nixon administration’s dealings with Latin America would be ideal.
I would like to see more documents about both the Carter and Reagan Administration’s policies in Central America declassified quickly.
I would also like to see documents about the Carter Administration’s policies toward Cuba and the Southern Cone (Argentina and Chile, especially) declassified.
Iran Hostage Crisis and resolution
Reagan Administration policy towards Afganistan and USSR occupation
Reagan Administration policy towards Pakistan
US-Israel-Middle East policy, 1948-2008