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FEATUREThursday 17 September

In this Oct. 29, 1962, file photo, President John F. Kennedy poses in the White House office with Gen. David Shoup, left, Marine Corps Commandant, and Adm. George
Anderson, Chief of U.S. Naval Operations in Washington. The chiefs met with the president to review the situation in Cuba and operation of the U.S. naval blockade.
As the U.S. and Russia reached the brink of nuclear war in 1962, Kennedy received top-secret intelligence from the CIA that a new warhead launcher was spotted in
Cuba. That report, given to Kennedy a day before the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis, is among roughly 19,000 pages of newly declassified CIA documents from the
Cold War released Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015.

(AP Photo/William J. Smith)

CIA declassifies trove of Cold War-era intelligence memos

PAUL J. WEBER the President’s Eyes Only” the Oval Office after the Later that day, after Ken- in ending a political stale-
Associated Press on some pages, the dos- Bay of Pigs and through nedy was assassinated in mate in Italy.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — As siers were delivered daily Vietnam. “These are an in- Dallas, the CIA published a As Johnson settled into of-
the U.S. and Russia reached by the spy agency to the comparable window into second brief. It contained fice, the briefs became
the brink of nuclear war White House. Known as how a president thinks,” no intelligence but a poem heavy with intelligence
in 1962, President John F. the President’s Daily Brief— said William Inboden, who Kennedy was fond of recit- from Vietnam, and by the
Kennedy received top-se- President Barack Obama worked under President ing. “Bullfight critics ranked fall of 1967, a section titled
cret intelligence from the is the first to swipe through George W. Bush and now in rows/Crowd the enor- “Special Daily Report on
CIA that a new warhead his on a tablet — they are leads the Clements Center mous plaza full/But only North Vietnam” was add-
launcher was spotted in tightly guarded rundowns for National Security at the one is there who knows/ ed. Inboden said the CIA
Cuba. of CIA intelligence from University of Texas at Aus- And he’s the man who reports appear to show
Amid those grave con- around the globe. For the tin. “When we’re reading fights the bull.” Johnson becoming so con-
cerns, the memo ends on first time, some of the oldest these, it’s a mirror image of Even for Johnson, who as cerned with eroding pub-
a different note. A U.S. briefs being made public, what the president’s con- vice president was famous- lic support that he sought
agent in Moscow describes starting with those written cerns were.” ly kept out of Kennedy’s updates on what Hanoi
“packed houses and en- in the 1960s for presidents On Nov. 22, 1963, Kenne- inner circle, the CIA briefs thought of war protesters
thusiastic applause” dur- Kennedy and Lyndon B. dy awoke in a Fort Worth, would have been an un- back in the U.S.
ing a run of Russian perfor- Johnson. Conspiracy theo- Texas, hotel to an intel- familiar sight until being The release of the briefs was
mances by the New York rists mining for signs of ne- ligence memo that con- abruptly elevated to com- paved by a 2009 executive
City Ballet. farious CIA plots are likely cluded that a Soviet anti- mander in chief, said Mark order from Obama stating
That report, given to Ken- to be disappointed. Many missile paraded in Moscow Updegrove, director of that all classified materially
nedy a day before the end of the briefs remain partially appeared only designed the LBJ Presidential Library will automatically undergo
of the Cuban Missile Crisis, blacked out, and what isn’t for use in the atmosphere. in Austin. The briefs in the a declassification review
is among roughly 19,000 won’t rewrite textbooks. In Japan, meanwhile, an days following Kennedy’s and release after 25 years.
pages of newly declassi- Instead, historians say, the election didn’t change the death also say almost noth- The full collection of briefs
fied CIA documents from memos reveal the real-time balance of power. At least ing about the assassination, from the Kennedy and
the Cold War released intelligence that shaped one page in the briefing re- except for a how it appar- Johnson era are posted on
Wednesday. Stamped “For pivotal decisions made in mains classified. ently “acted as a catalyst” the CIA’s website.q