Morley v. CIA: My Unfinished JFK Investigation

by Jefferson Morley

In 2003 journalist Jefferson Morley sued the Central Intelligence Agency. He sought public release of the files of a deceased undercover officer who was involved in the events leading to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In Morley v. My Unfinished JFK Investigation, Morley tells the story of the epic 16-year long legal saga that followed. With mordant humor and keen insight, Morley recounts how he and attorney Jim Lesar, a veteran litigator specializing in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), did battle with teams of high-powered Justice Department lawyers in federal court — and scored repeated victories. Yet success led them to a final fatal showdown with D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Morley's unprecedented lawsuit sought the files of George Joannides, a decorated career CIA officer, who ran psychological warfare operations out of Miami and New Orleans in 1963. Morley's on-the-record interviews revealed the CIA man had funded an anti-Castro Cuban student group that publicized the pro-Cuba politics of Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who would be accused of killing JFK on November 22, 1963. Morley v. CIA not only confirmed the agency's financial support for Oswald's Cuban antagonists in 1963. It also revealed a deeper and more disturbing story — how Joannides and the CIA shaped first-day coverage of Kennedy's assassination via a psychological warfare project known by the code name of AMSPELL. In short, Joannides had used his student agents to link Oswald to Castro's Cuba, while concealing the hidden hand of the Agency. As Morley uncovered in his lawsuit, the CIA later honored Joannides with its Career Intelligence Medal. The story reached a climax in a March 2018 hearing in the federal courthouse in Washington, DC. After four victories in the U.S. Court of Appeals, Morley and Lesar came face to face with Judge (now U.S. Supreme Court Justice) Kavanaugh and two other federal appellate judges to argue that the CIA should be held accountable for withholding JFK documents under the FOIA. The resulting decision exposed how the federal courts sanction JFK secrecy more than a half-century after the tragedy of Dallas. While the progress of Morley's investigation was ultimately thwarted, Morley discovered where the rest of the story can be in the archives of CIA operations in Miami. In short, Morley v. My Unfinished JFK Investigation offers realistic hope for people who want the whole truth about the JFK story.

Genres: History

105 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 23, 2020

About the author

JEFFERSON MORLEY is a journalist and editor who has worked in Washington journalism for over thirty years, fifteen of which were spent as an editor and reporter at The Washington Post. The author of The Ghost, a biography of CIA spymaster James Jesus Angleton, and Our Man in Mexico, a biography of the CIA’s Mexico City station chief Winston Scott, Morley has written about intelligence, military, and political subjects for Salon, The Atlantic, and The Intercept, among others. He is the editor of JFK Facts, a blog. He lives in Washington, DC.

Reviews

[Kurt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read many Morley books... Most are exciting reads with lots of backstory and intrigue. This is a repetitive rehash of his best works. Feels like a update without much new until the end. IMO.

[Socraticgadfly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Morley, despite claims he has turned over a new leaf, is still a JFK conspiracy theorist, and a conspiracy theorist in general.

You've been forewarned. https://socraticgadfly.blogspot.com/2...

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Come on! It's been almost 60 years and the CIA is still withholding documents? Who's left to keep secrets from?