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takyon writes:

White House further postpones disclosure of JFK assassination documents, citing Covid

The White House announced late Friday that it would further postpone the release of more documents related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, pointing to the "significant impact" of the Covid-19 pandemic.

President Joe Biden issued a memo that said the national archivist recommended he "'direct two public releases of the information that has ultimately 'been determined to be appropriate for release to the public.'" The first will be an "interim release" later this year, with a second, "more comprehensive release in late 2022," the memo said.

The memo said that the Covid-19 pandemic has slowed down the process of reviewing whether redactions continue to meet the "statutory standard."

Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies on the Temporary Certification Regarding Disclosure of Information in Certain Records Related to the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

The Act permits the continued postponement of disclosure of information in records concerning President Kennedy's assassination only when postponement remains necessary to protect against an identifiable harm to the military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or the conduct of foreign relations that is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

Since 2018, executive departments and agencies (agencies) have been reviewing under this statutory standard each redaction they have proposed that would result in the continued postponement of full public disclosure. This year, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has been reviewing whether it agrees that each redaction continues to meet the statutory standard.

The Archivist of the United States (Archivist), however, has reported that "unfortunately, the pandemic has had a significant impact on the agencies" and NARA and that NARA "require[s] additional time to engage with the agencies and to conduct research within the larger collection to maximize the amount of information released." The Archivist has also noted that "making these decisions is a matter that requires a professional, scholarly, and orderly process; not decisions or releases made in haste."

The Archivist therefore recommends that the President "temporarily certify the continued withholding of all of the information certified in 2018" and "direct two public releases of the information that has" ultimately "been determined to be appropriate for release to the public," with one interim release later this year and one more comprehensive release in late 2022.

Original Submission