Thread by @MarkSZaidEsq

1/It is always positive when greater transparency occurs so citizenry can learn more abt our govt & history. I have worked to secure release of #JFKAssassination docs for 30+ yrs.

Reading these records is truly fascinating window into past. But no one should expect "smoking gun"

https://twitter.com/USNatArchives/status/1603483588619558919

2/What was released today provides researchers & historians fodder to conduct countless months of analysis. While nothing will move needle on what transpired on Nov 22, 1963, small nuggets will emerge to help put pieces of puzzle together so that time period is better understood.

3/@USNatArchives release also reveals problems that plague declassification: inconsistency. For example, record #104-10065-10359 contains list of @CIA officers who served in Moscow 1959-1963: 
archives.gov/files/research…
Name of officer who served from 26 Jun - 14 Dec 62 is redacted.

4/Now, I wondered, why would this one name still be redacted? Is individual alive? Others on list all appear to be deceased & it definitely could be possible officer is alive in his late 80s or 90s. Or perhaps he had some really classified position at some point afterwards?

5/Sigh. No. His name is revealed in this other #JFKAssassination release from 2005:

archives.gov/files/research…

And he apparently died almost 20 years ago and also rose to a very senior Agency position.

6/I am told that USG does not have system in place for us to ascertain what is "new" in these releases. We literally need to find & compare previously released docs with those released today. Thus, review will take significant time. Analysis even longer.

END/

BOTTOM LINE: do not fall for sensationalized stories abt #JFKAssassination records & what today's release "reveals". Odds are we knew abt info as much as decades earlier.

Still, any release is a good release for transparency & democracy.