Speaker Program For March 16 Forum On Secret JFK Records

"JFK at 100: State of the Records"

News Conference and Forum

Speakers

1 p.m., Thursday, March 16, 2017
National Press Club, Zenger Room, Washington, DC

To mark the 100th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's birth this spring, leaders in the JFK research community are convening at the National Press Dr. Cyril Wecht Club during "Sunshine Week" March 16.

The purpose is to examine the past and current importance of the National Archives' scheduled release by next October of the final batch of declassified documents further illuminating President Kennedy's 1963 assassination. Citizens Against Political Assassinations (CAPA) has organized the news conference and forum in the spirit of Sunshine Week, celebrated by journalists nationally this week.

1 p.m. Andrew Kreig, CAPA board member and journalist, Welcome & Introduction of Dr. Cyril H. Wecht,

Dr. Cyril H. Wecht (shown above left), CAPA chairman, medical professor, world-renowned forensic pathologist, and author or co-author of more than 50 books, and former Allegheny County coroner for 20 years, Introduction of keynote speaker.

1:05 p.m. Keynote With Q&A

The Hon. John R. Tunheim, Chief U.S. District Judge for Minnesota and former chair of the congressionally-created Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) (Shown at left)

1:40 p.m. Research News: Expected Findings From New Documents, Q&A on Current Implications

Jefferson Morley, FOIA litigation expert on JFK issues, JFKFacts.org editor, author ("Our Man in Mexico," and others), AlterNet Washington correspondent and former Washington Post reporter
James H. Lesar, J.D., FOIA litigation expert and president, Assassination Archives & Research Center
John M. Newman, Ph.D., author ("Countdown To Darkness," "JFK and Vietnam," and "Oswald and the CIA"), former Army intelligence officer and assistant to the National Security Agency director, and history professor at James Madison University and formerly at the University of Maryland

2:25 p.m. Break

2:30 p.m. The Cold Facts From Forensic Evidence

Cyril H. Wecht, J.D., M.D., forensic pathologist, medical school professor, leader or former leader multiple medical and scientific professional societies, Allegheny County coroner for 20 years

3 p.m. Next Steps in Fact-Finding with Q&A

Lawrence Schnapf, Esq., a New York-based attorney and co-chair of the CAPA legal committee, Moderator and panelist. He will describe how current events reflect the JFK assassination's relevance today. He is helping organize a CAPA event next Nov. 20-21 in Houston at the Southwestern School of Law entitled "The People v. Lee Oswald: A 21st Century examination of the forensic evidence in the assassination of President John Kennedy."
James H. Lesar, Esq., AARC president speaks on the need for further investigations by Congress, particularly regarding new evidence that the CIA impeded during the 1970s congressional probe.

3:45 p.m. Open Government In 2017: Researchers' Guide To Documents, Witnesses & Freedom of Information with Q&A

Andrew Kreig, J.D., M.S.L., Justice Integrity Project editor, author, and member of CAPA, ASNE, SPJ, Overseas Press Club, IRE, ASJA and National Press Club, Moderator
Nate Jones, M.A., Director of the Freedom of Information Act Project, National Security Archive, George Washington University and author, "Able Archer 83: The Secret History of the NATO Exercise That Almost Triggered Nuclear War"
Adam A. Marshall, J.D., Knight Foundation Litigation Attorney, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP)
Randolph Benson, award-winning producer and director of "The Searchers" documentary about courageous JFK assassination researchers, and Instructor, Film & Video, Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University

Related Events

Jack Ruby Murders Lee Harvey Oswald (A file photo shows nightclub owner Jack Ruby murdering accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in the basement of the Dallas police station Nov. 24, 1963.)

At 5:15 p.m. on March 16, CAPA hosts a cash-bar networking reception for speakers, CAPA members and prospective members in the Cosgrove Room. Then experts will speak on "How To Study the Kennedy Assassination – and why it remains important in the Trump era" at a 6 p.m. forum organized by the CAPA and the McClendon Group. An optional no-host dinner is available.

Speakers include Randolph Benson, the award-winning producer and director of The Searchers, author and press club member Andrew Kreig, independent researcher and CAPA board member Jerry Policoff, and McClendon Group Chairman John Edward Hurley, a former White House correspondent and museum curator whose late father worked at the JFK White House. They will discuss why so many in the public feel so strongly about such research and its continuing relevance.

CAPA, a non-partisan research organization, organized these events and reported them in these articles parallelling coverage here:

The American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP) founded Sunshine Week to foster open government via events like this throughout the nation. For further information, contact Andrew Kreig at andrew @ justice-integrity.org or (202) 638-0070.

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Justice Integrity Project Readers Guide To JFK Assassination

* Denotes major articles in this Readers Guide series

At right is a photo by this editor in Dallas showing Dealey Plaza. The Texas Book Depository Building where Oswald worked is behind the row of trees. The car in the center lane is near the location of President Kennedy's limo at the time of his fatal shooting.