pertaining to Joannides were not exempt from the search and disclosure provisions of the FOIA. It is now possible to apply that precedent to records on many JFK Act subjects. Because such subjects often include relevant records not identified by the agencies or the ARRB as JFK assassination-related records, it is possible to obtain new records on a great number of additional subjects.
G. Summary
Despite the First Amendment to the Constititution, despite James Madison's admonition that access to government information is absolutely critical to the proper functioning of a democracy, at the end of World War II, there was still no national law permitting citizens to have access to government information, no matter how important that access might be the proper functioning of American democracy.
Shortly after World War II ended, the National security Act of 1947 greatly expanded the government's power to keep secret information needed to make vital political choices. In effect, through the sweeping power to protect against the disclosure of "intelligence sources and methods," the law itself became a substantial impediment to learning who was involved in committing political assassinations.
In theory, this changed with the passaged of the Freedom of Information Act in 1967, but in fact almost nothing had changed. Even after passaged of the amended FOIA in 1974, core information said by an agency to be classified in the interest of national security remained generally untouchable. The passage of the JFK Act in 1992 fundamentally changed this. In the continuing guerilla war between the forces of the national security state and the researchers endeavoring to learn more about the assassination of President Kennedy, researchers seeking the truth were given a powerful tool. For the first time in history, the reluctance of executive agencies, congressional committees, and federal judges to release alleged security classified information was countered by a five-person Review Board empowered to override such determinations.
The JFK Act Disk makes an enormous contribution to this process, making it possible to instantly search and retrieve and assimilate relevant information scattered amongs the Disk's one million pages. The struggle between the forces of the national security state and those seeking full disclosure of all relevant information will, of course, continue. I encourage those who read this essay and use the JFK Act Disk are encouraged to write congressional leaders urging them to (1) promptly release the records that remain withheld under the JFK Act, (2) hold oversight hearings to review the successes and failings of the JFK Act and enact new legislation to overcome the impediments to full disclosure that still exist, and (3) hold oversight hearings to determine why the CIA subverted the last official investigation into President Kennedy's assassination.
[1] "COPA" or "Coalition on Political Assassinations" was founded in 1993. It was comprised of the AARC, CTKA (Citizens to Investigate the Kennedy Assassination" and Committee for an Open Archives (?) headed by John Judge. The AARC and CTKA pulled out of COPA but a remnant of the organization led by John Judge continued to exist under the same name.
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