What might a three year strategy for CAPA look like?
By Bill Simpich
On the evening before the first CAPA Executive Committee Conference call, I ran into David Talbot while we were both walking our dogs in the park. We both enthusiastically agreed that CAPA has great potential. It needs a comprehensive media strategy, as well as a 3 year plan.
If we don’t firm up our historical memory of the response to prior assassinations and their impact on society, important aspects of our history will slip away from us. My understanding is that CAPA’s priorities will be to free the JFK files by 2017, the release of the MLK HSCA files, and to reopen the RFK case. We will have to work on cases “other than JFK” – including present-day cases as they arise – in order to maintain our momentum.
If the goal of CAPA is to free the files and resolve the JFK case and other hotly-contested cases like it, the best strategy to achieve that goal is to wage a political campaign designed to make sure that 1) the files are freed with no redactions by October 2017; 2) to free as many additional files as possible; and 3) to promote a climate that combats secrecy and promotes transparency.
What tactics will advance that strategy? I would suggest that our tactics should be informed by some good news from Martha Murphy at NARA.
Murphy announced that a team was formed last year to assure that the estimated 3500 documents withheld in full and the 35,000 withheld in part will be released by 2017. My understanding is that these documents will be scanned and posted online.
Murphy said that the default position will be to release the documents, as only the President of the United States can authorize continued withholding of documents and any redactions.
Given that information, putting pressure on the next President is an important ingredient in the mix. I would propose tactics that will propel our strategy – something like this:
Late May-June 2015: Coming-out party for CAPA. Announce our action plan, seek members, and start attending conferences.
July-August 2015: If we get the next four items right, we are off to a great start.
Pinpoint who our natural allies are. For starters, I would urge outreach and establishing a working relationships with the National Security Archive, the Center for Democracy and Technology and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. I assume that several of us have worked with these groups in the past.
What commitments do we want from the 2016 candidates? We should encourage internal dialogue within CAPA to define the specific questions that should be asked to the 2016 presidential candidates, since the next President will be the final arbiter of what is redacted from the 2017 JFK records release.
The all-important PR/media plan? We already have a strong team of people at work on this, crafting and vetting a PR/media plan which is essential to our success. Stories on lost and destroyed records are often newsworthy, as well as narratives that have been revealed by documents released pursuant to the JFK Records Act. The CAPA newsletter and website-in-formation can be powerful tools. We are already seeing the value of social media in the JFK case on a daily basis – how can CAPA advance its goals in that arena?
How to improve the accessibility of documents? We can engage the NARA staff to find out if and how the release of the records can be expedited. There is no reason for them to wait until the October 2017 deadline. They can start the rollout right now by posting the noncontroversial requested documents on line as they have promised, to update their public index and make their private index available to researchers. It sounds like they may also be scanning earlier-released documents at some point- if they do, these documents should be put online as well.
In general, NARA should work more efficiently with researchers and to see that Congress properly oversees the JFK Act so that it is properly enforced. NARA never engaged with the FBI and CIA as agreed in a Memorandum of Understanding back in the 1990s. Congress never engaged in its oversight function under the JFK Records Act. NARA should join researchers in pushing them to change that.
September-December 2015: Begin a new Super PAC to accept donations to be used to promote our issues in the media during the election.
Roll out a media campaign designed to ensure the documents are released in full by October 2017 as mandated in the JFK Records Act.
Make political assassinations and secret records a campaign issue and seriously and regularly covered by the mainstream media.
Public relations and media advocacy is shaping up in our discussions as the number one priority. The 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination made clear the location of the battleground.
The media campaign should include “bird dog” teams that follow the presidential candidates at every whistle stop in the build-up to the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries, asking them to commit to full enforcement of the JFK Records Act, to combat secrecy, and to promote transparency. We can broaden this campaign in later months if we make a heavy impact in those initial two primaries.
I am no fan of Bill Clinton, but he sided with the ARRB in favor of more openness in every instance when the intelligence agencies appealed to him. Under the JFK Records Act, the President is the final arbiter when NARA and the agencies don’t agree on a classification issue.
Also useful for media impact would be public hearings. One option would be to hold congressional briefings on the current status of the JFK and MLK records. Such briefings would provide a platform for witnesses and whistle blowers as well as analysts reporting on documents lost, destroyed, or newly-discovered.
We want the relevant Congressional committees to conduct proper oversight of the JFK Act, as they are required to do but haven’t done. In the fall, when Congress resumes after the summer holiday, we should hold a Congressional briefing where we decide who testifies. We want to make sure that Congress and NARA and their staff as well as the mainstream media listen to these witnesses.