Shocking:

Newly released CIA documents reveal that George Joannides, a psychological operations officer, was connected to Lee Harvey Oswald months before President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. This disclosure, part of a batch of 40 documents released under the JFK Records Act, marks a significant shift in the official record, as the CIA had previously denied Joannides’ ties to Oswald and a Cuban exile group, the Cuban Student Directorate (DRE).

A January 1963 memo shows Joannides was instructed to use the alias “Howard Gebler”—a fact the CIA concealed for decades. The DRE, a CIA-backed anti-Castro group, clashed with Oswald in August 1963 when he distributed pro-Castro materials in New Orleans. This confrontation, along with a televised debate, painted Oswald as a communist sympathizer. After JFK’s assassination, the DRE and major newspapers reinforced this narrative.

The documents confirm the CIA’s longstanding concealment of Joannides’ role from key investigations, including the Warren Commission (1964), the Church Committee (1975), and the House Select Committee on Assassinations (1977–78). Shockingly, Joannides was later assigned as a liaison to the House Committee, where he allegedly obstructed the investigation by withholding documents. Despite this, he received the CIA’s Career Intelligence Medal in 1981.

Researchers like Jefferson Morley and lawmakers such as Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) argue this proves a CIA cover-up, though the documents do not resolve whether Oswald acted alone. While some, like author Gerald Posner, maintain Oswald was the sole gunman, bipartisan consensus holds that the CIA lacked transparency.

The CIA claims full compliance with document releases, but advocates, including Morley and Luna, credit recent pushes for transparency by officials like CIA Director John Ratcliffe and suggest more disclosures may follow. This revelation reignites scrutiny of the CIA’s role in one of history’s most debated assassinations.