Warren Commission Lawyers Call for Disclosing J.F.K. Files

A dozen lawyers from the Warren Commission joined former President Gerald R. Ford on Thursday in calling for disclosure of CIA files and all other government records on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

The lawyers, in addition to a former commission staff member, urged “the broadest possible accessibility” to evidence in the probe of Kennedy’s death, which has been the focus of renewed attention since the release in December of the movie “JFK.”

The film suggests that elements of the government, particularly the Pentagon and the CIA, conspired to murder the President.

“I would like to deny to our critics that we are part and parcel of some kind of cover-up,” said former commission lawyer Howard Willens, one of the 12. All the commission lawyers who are still living endorsed the request, which was publicized in news conferences in Los Angeles, Cleveland and Des Moines, in addition to Washington.

Ford made a similar request in a letter last week to Rep. Louis Stokes (D-Ohio), who headed the House Assassinations Committee in the late 1970s. Ford’s letter also went to House Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.).

Ford and the 13 want disclosure of the few Warren Commission records that remain sealed, plus the release of 400 cubic feet of closed records from the House panel’s probe. The National Archives is reviewing the 2% of the Warren material that is closed to see how much can be made public. Most of the closed records of the House panel are sealed until the year 2009, while a few are closed until 2029.

The Warren Commission concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing the President. The House panel concluded that Kennedy probably was assassinated as the result of a conspiracy, although it was unable to identify another gunman or the extent of any such conspiracy.

The House committee based its findings on acoustical evidence suggesting that a fourth shot had been fired at Kennedy from a grassy knoll. Ford urged the National Research Council to appoint a panel of scientists to review the acoustical evidence.

Among the 12 Warren Commission lawyers was David Belin, a former executive director of the Rockefeller Commission, which in 1975 investigated allegations of unlawful CIA activities in the United States. While on the commission, Belin uncovered CIA assassination plots against Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Later, the CIA rejected his request for all agency investigative records involving the Kennedy slaying.

“It’s an example of excessive secrecy of our government,” Belin told a news conference in Des Moines on Thursday.