CBS Practices Stenography
- Fred Litwin
- Aug 12
- 10 min read
Updated: Aug 13
Here is an excerpt from a transcript: (3:56)
Erin Moriarty: And [after the passage of the JFK Records Act] that's when Jefferson Morley, a seasoned reporter, began his own search for answers,
Jefferson Morley: Because it's a great story, and because people weren't attacking it in a disciplined journalistic way, I kind of have the story to myself.
Erin Moriarty: Morley, from his apartment in Washington, DC, says he never guessed he'd still be working the story thirty years later.
Erin Moriarty to Jefferson Morley: And this [file folder collection] is all JFK?
Jefferson Morley: Yeah, you see, here we go, day by day or week by week through 1963.
Erin Moriarty: Morley estimates that four to five million pages of records have now been released.
Erin Moriarty to Jefferson Morley: Look at this is handwriting you have to get through. There's redactions you have to go through. That would make me crazy.
Jefferson Morley: It does make you crazy. You have to be very patient.
Erin Moriarty: Morley says records show what the CIA kept from the Warren Commission, that the agency had been monitoring Oswald's behavior for years, tracking his travel, reading his mail.
Jefferson Morley: We never understood before now how pervasive the surveillance of Oswald was. This guy was watched for four years. People at the top of the CIA knew what he was doing. They knew about his contacts. They knew about his personal life.
Reporter: Did you kill the president?
Lee Harvey Oswald: No, I've not been charged with that. In fact, nobody has said that to me yet.
Jefferson Morley: The official story that one man alone killed the president for no reason, we know that's not true. Lee Harvey Oswald was not a lone nut. He was a known quantity to top CIA officers right before President Kennedy went to Dallas. We need an explanation of that story, and we still don't have it.
Erin Moriarty: Morley's patience seemed to be finally paying off when even more documents were released.
Donald Trump: A lot of people are waiting for this for a long -- for years, for decades ...
Erin Moriarty: Following President Donald Trump's executive order this past January,
Donald Trump: ... Everything will be revealed.
Erin Moriarty: And what did those documents reveal?
Jefferson Morley: The attitude of obstruction and obfuscation from the CIA started on November 22 1963, and that attitude, unfortunately, has continued to the present day.
Erin Moriarty: What was clear from the Congressional hearing that followed in April is that there are still no bombshells, nothing to conclusively contradict the official story of the assassination. Still, according to Morley, there is more evidence that the CIA buried what it knew about Oswald. But why?
Erin Moriarty to Jefferson Morley: So if, in fact, the CIA had been watching Lee Harvey Oswald, and they didn't realize that he was about to assassinate a president, that's very embarrassing. Couldn't that just be the only reason why they hid all that information?
Jefferson Morley: That's one ...
Erin Moriarty: In confidence.
Jefferson Morley: There is no CIA official who has ever said that.
Leon Panetta: As far as I can see, there's nothing that changes the conclusion that Oswald acted alone in the assassination.
Erin Moriarty: It might surprise you to hear that Leon Panetta is as curious as the rest of us to learn what's in CIA records, since Panetta ran the agency from 2009 through 2011, under President Barack Obama.
Erin Moriarty to Leon Panetta: Wouldn't you know as a former Director [of the CIA]?
Leon Panetta: Not really, because frankly, when you're a director of the CIA, you're pretty much focused on the threats that you have to deal with in the world that you're in.
Erin Moriarty: But Panetta says the CIA is often concerned that releasing documents, even after decades, can jeopardize agency assets.
Leon Panetta: Was there a legitimate concern that they were trying to protect, or was there something more sinister? And you know what? We really don't know the answer to that question.
Erin Moriarty: So, you don't rule out the idea that there might be something more sinister. You're just saying there's no evidence of that.
Leon Panetta: That's correct.
Jefferson Morley at Luna hearings: The transcript which the CIA withheld from public view for half a century.
Erin Moriarty: Last April's hearings brought Jefferson Morley full circle.
Jefferson Morley at Luna hearings: I'm actually optimistic that we can get to the bottom of this matter.
Erin Moriarty: Testifying next to Oliver Stone, whose film first inspired him, even without any startling disclosures, Morley is confident that hidden in a government document somewhere, there's a story waiting to be told.
Jefferson Morley: People are expecting a blinding flash, a smoking gun. When you've been at this for a long time, you know, I'm not looking for a smoking gun. I'm looking to complete the picture.
Is this journalism? Erin Moriarty didn't talk to any of the people who know something about this story -- she could have reached out to me, to Gerald Posner, to Tracy Parnell, to Gus Russo, to Robert Reynolds, to Paul Hoch, or to Michael Isikoff. But she didn't. She either didn't know who to turn to or she didn't care.
So, she is practicing stenography, not journalism. She could have certainly disagreed with any of the experts above, and that would be her right as a journalist. But her viewers will never know that there are serious researchers who take exceptions to Morley's allegations.
Morley's list of six CIA operations do not prove that Oswald was under surveillance.
Morley claims the SpyTalk authors are working as pro bono lawyers for the CIA.
The CIA was just quoting from a State Department memo.
SpyTalks replies to Jefferson Morley.
Gerald Posner on the Joannides' file.
Fact Checking Morley's Fact Check
Morley's Fact Check on SpyTalk needs a fact check.
Gus Russo and Michael Isikoff on the Joannides' personnel file.
Now that the entire personnel file of George Joannides has been released, Jefferson Morley has now published his unified theory of nothingness.
And she fawned over Morley's JFK files!
Erin Moriarty to Jefferson Morley: Look at this is handwriting you have to get through. There's redactions you have to go through. That would make me crazy.
Jefferson Morley: It does make you crazy. You have to be very patient.
And while Morley says that he is not looking for a smoking gun in the past he has claimed that he has found one:
Why is the CIA so recalcitrant? Some claim the blameless Agency has nothing significant to hide. With all due respect, that argument is simply wrong. The CIA does have something to hide, something significant, something embarrassing, something potentially explosive. Among the CIA’s JFK secrets is a proverbial “smoking gun” that demonstrates the official theory of a lone gunman is misleading, if not deceptive.
I don’t use the term “smoking gun” lightly. I’ve been reporting on the JFK story since I published a story in the Washington Post in April 1995, based on my interview with retired CIA officer Jane Roman. A declassified routing slip, shows Roman signed for an FBI report on Oswald just eight days before Kennedy was killed.
James Robenalt, historian, lawyer, and author, grills Jefferson Morley, editor of JFK Facts, about the release of the personnel file of undercover CIA officer George Joannides. What does this file tell us about the events of 1963? (A lot.) Who was Joannides in the CIA scheme of things? (Trusted and decorated.) Is the file a ‘smoking gun?’ It’s smoking gun proof of a CIA operation to blame JFK’s death on Fidel Castro.
And Morley is certainly adept at finding "fact patterns."
Previous Relevant Blogs Posts on Jefferson Morley's Congressional Testimony
An analysis of Congresswoman Luna's Congressional Hearings
An FBI memo that quoted James Angleton is used by Morley to reach an unwarranted conclusion.
Morley misreads Angleton's testimony before the HSCA.
Morley believes a document proves the CIA did not believe that a lone gunman killed JFK.
Additional documents relevant to Part Three.
Morley claims that there is some connection between the suicides of Gary Underhill, Charles Thomas, George de Mohrenschildt, and the overdose death of Dorothy Kilgallen.
Morley believes that Agustin Guitart was spying on pro-Castro forces in New Orleans
Previous Relevant Blog Posts on Jefferson Morley
Morley's list of six CIA operations do not prove that Oswald was under surveillance.
Morley claims the SpyTalk authors are working as pro bono lawyers for the CIA.
The CIA was just quoting from a State Department memo.
SpyTalks replies to Jefferson Morley.
Gerald Posner on the Joannides' file.
Fact Checking Morley's Fact Check
Morley's Fact Check on SpyTalk needs a fact check.
Gus Russo and Michael Isikoff on the Joannides' personnel file.
Now that the entire personnel file of George Joannides has been released, Jefferson Morley has now published his unified theory of nothingness.
More Morley Nothingburgers on the way
Morley is requesting more documents -- they will reveal nothing about the assassination.
Morley got the headlines he wanted to a complete non-story.
Joannides did not come out of retirement to work with the HSCA.
There is no mention of an "Oswald Operation" in the Joannides' personnel file.
Morley believes that Dr. Robert McClelland's recollections provides proof of a shot from the front. Here is the truth about McClelland.
A reply by Nicholas Nalli to Jefferson Morley.
Morley suspected a redacted file would reveal major secrets. It didn't.
Several months ago, I posted an article, in association with several researchers, that showed what was contained in the redacted section of Schlesinger's memo.
Morley somehow knows what is in the supposed 2,400 recently-discovered FBI files.
Morley discusses Israel with Tucker Carlson.
Morley believes that the United States can never be great unless it solves the JFK assassination.
An analysis of the 13 documents Morley wants to see.
Morley claims I am a CIA apologist and then misquotes me.
It would be worthwhile for the CIA to release the Joannides file just to stop the incessant posts from Jefferson Morley.
Actually, Oswald stayed at two budget-priced hotels in Helsinki.
He keeps asking the same questions, and we keep posting the same answers.
Conspiracy authors are playing fast and loose with the facts.
There is no evidence that Diaz was involved in the JFK assassination.
There are clues as to what is in a redacted section of Schlesinger's memo.
Chad Nagle and Dan Storper's article on New Orleans gets everything wrong.
Believing Michael Kurtz is problematic.
Morley wrote that there are two redacted memos on CIA reorganization, but there is only one. He wrote about Goodwin's copy as if it was a different memo, rather than a copy of the Schlesinger memo.
The phrase 'who shot John' does not refer to the JFK assassination.
Only one word is redacted in Harvey's deposition.
There are no redactions in the Operation Northwoods document.
Kilgallen had nothing to tell.
An underwhelming interview of Marina Oswald.
Morley often repeats stories and changes their meanings.
Chad Nagle claims there was an assassination plot against JFK in Chicago in November 1963. One problem: There is no evidence of such a plot.
A response to Morley's Substack post alleging that I am a CIA apologist.
A rebuttal to Morley's response to my post Was Bill Harvey in Dallas in November of 1963?
There is no credible evidence Harvey was in Dallas in November of 1963.
Morley repeats the claim that Dulles was at a CIA training center during the weekend of the JFK assassination. He wasn't.
Morley's claims about Efron are all wrong.
Morley responded to my article "The Truth about Operation Northwoods." Here is my reply.
W. Tracy Parnell is one of the best JFK assassination researchers out there. Here is his look at Jefferson Morley with several important articles.
Operation Northwoods can only be understood as part of the Kennedys' war against Cuba and Operation Mongoose.
And a response from me.
There is no evidence that Dr. West petitioned the court to examine Jack Ruby before his trial.
There is absolutely no evidence that Dr. Louis Jolyon West interfered with Jack Ruby's case.
Jefferson Morley used a fake Oswald handbill in his press conference for the Mary Ferrell Foundation.
An examination of redactions in the JFK collection of documents.
Morley doesn't understand Alecia Long's arguments about homophobia and Jim Garrison.
Jefferson Morley asks why "what the CIA knew about Herminio Diaz is still off limits."
Morley misses that a lot of redactions are actually available.
Jefferson Morley's press conference presents evidence that belief in a conspiracy has dropped.
