Who Was George Joannides?

Even researchers fluent in the cast of characters connected to the John F Kennedy assassination may not know the name of George Joannides ( 1922 – 1990 ) or his significance in the crime, but American patriot and attorney Jim Lesar knows very well who he is, as does the Central Intelligence Agency.

 

Considerable time elapsed between the assassination and the discovery of Joannides, whose last significant act of criminality occurred when he worked as liaison between the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) and the CIA circa 1977-79. Prior to that, Joannides was a CIA agent who headed the agency’s psychological warfare branch of JM/WAVE through which capacity he helped organize the militant Cuban expatriate group DRE which participated in or supported the CIA’s murder of President John Kennedy. Joannides also had contact with Lee Oswald, the alleged lone nut, in 1963.

 

Joannides was supposedly retired from the CIA, engaged in private law practice, during the 1970s when the agency asked him to return to serve as its liaison with HSCA. The Memorandum of Understanding between the HSCA and the CIA required that the CIA disclose Joannides' relationship with the agency, but more importantly any information about those involved in the DRE, information which the CIA deliberatly withheld.

 

In his capacity as liaison, Joannides operated covertly to undermine the work of the HSCA’s oversight activities of executive branch agencies and departments, a crime which Mr Lesar notes is a direct assault on democracy and a felony offense.  But having murdered a president, it is a trifle bit ridiculous to suppose that the CIA would be concerned about rules of oversight.

 

Jefferson Morley discovered the covert operations of Joannides and his employer years later, prompting him to file a lawsuit in 2002 in federal court to enforce Freedom of Information Act release of CIA documents related to Joannides. The CIA successfully lobbied its puppet judges to rule on narrow technical matters of the case, rather than on the material fact and substance of it.

 

For example, the DC  Court of Appeals remanded the case back to district court on the grounds that the CIA's claim for Exemption 2 classification of documents was not applicable to the Joannides collection. Exemption 2 protects documents related to internal personnel and practices rules. Yet the court refused to rule on Exemption 1 which covers classified documents. Since these early documents are 50 years old, they are subject to release regardless of their prior classification. Lesar has argued that this claim by the CIA is a  disputed issue of material fact, requiring discovery or trial. The judge refused to consider the plaintiff’s claim, ignoring it as though it did not exist. The CIA is withholding nearly 300 documents on such grounds.

 

The Joannides file collection is interesting not only because of Joannides’ involvement with the Kennedy assassination, but more specifically because of his contact with Lee Oswald in 1963. Ironically enough, the CIA has placed similar documents in the JFK Records Act collection in the National Archives but is seeking to protect these half century old items.

 

Not only does the Department of Homeland Security claim that assertion of privacy is admission of guilt or criminal activity, but it is unclear why an association with a lone nut would endanger the CIA. Clearly the agency’s protestations are inculpatory and should be released on grounds of national security.

 

Reference

Jim Lesar, BlackOp Radio, May 3, 2012

Copyright 2013 Tony Bonn. All rights reserved.