THUNDER BAY – International News – It is as many conspiracy “nuts” called it years ago, there was a lot more going on out of sight with Lee Harvey Oswald and the American Central Intelligence Agency.
Over sixty years after President John F. Kennedy was gunned down in Dallas, newly declassified documents have blown a hole in the CIA’s longstanding claim that it knew little about assassin Lee Harvey Oswald prior to 22 November 1963.
A House Oversight Committee “federal secrets” task force has unearthed evidence showing that a senior CIA officer—George Joannides—financed and directed anti-Castro Cuban students who confronted Oswald three months before the assassination, and later publicized his pro-Castro leanings to the media.
“This confirms what many suspected: the CIA lied to the American people and to multiple investigations,” committee chair Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) said after the files were released.
Who Was George Joannides?
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Cover name: “Howard,” the alias long used when dealing with the Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil (DRE)—a Miami-based exile network.
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Role: Deputy Chief of the CIA’s Psychological Warfare Branch in 1963, tasked with running covert propaganda against Fidel Castro.
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New evidence: Joannides held a fake Washington, D.C., driver’s licence under the name “Howard Mark Gebler.” The CIA awarded him a career commendation in 1981 for “handling exile student and teacher groups” and for later stonewalling congressional investigators.
Key Revelations From the Files
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CIA–DRE Link Confirmed:
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The CIA paid and guided the DRE, despite repeatedly denying any domestic operations or knowledge of Oswald’s interactions with Cuban exiles.
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Direct Oswald Encounters:
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DRE members scuffled with Oswald in New Orleans in August 1963 after he handed out pro-Castro flyers.
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Oswald later approached the group offering to “help”—potentially as a double agent.
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Post-Assassination Spin:
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Upon Oswald’s arrest, Joannides (“Howard”) instructed DRE members to turn over Oswald’s letters to the FBI and alert the press—ensuring headlines tied Oswald to Castro’s cause.
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Systematic Cover-up:
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Joannides became CIA liaison to the House Select Committee on Assassinations in 1978—then restricted file access just as staffers closed in on “Howard’s” identity.
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The CIA repeatedly told the Warren Commission, the HSCA, and the 1990s Assassination Records Review Board that “Howard” did not exist.
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Political and Legal Fallout
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Trump-Era Declassification Orders: Successive executive orders (2017, 2021) forced reluctant agencies to release assassination files.
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House Oversight Hearings 2025: Testimony from former CIA archivists and researchers like journalist Jefferson Morley pushed the agency to cough up Joannides’s personnel file.
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Calls for Full Transparency: Former Assassination Records Review Board chair Judge John Tunheim says critical monthly progress reports on Joannides’s Miami operation are still missing.
What Does It Mean for the JFK Case?
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No Smoking Gun—Yet: None of the released files prove CIA complicity in the assassination, but they destroy the notion that Oswald was invisible to U.S. intelligence.
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Rogue-Officer Theory Gains Traction: Ex-CIA counter-intelligence agent Rolf Mowatt-Larssen suggests disgruntled officers may have manipulated Oswald while keeping senior leadership in the dark.
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Burden Shifts to Government: Researchers argue it is now up to the CIA to explain why it buried Joannides’s identity for 60 years and why key records remain sealed.
“He wasn’t alone,” Morley said. “Oswald had the CIA looking over his shoulder for four years.”
What Happens Next?
Rep. Luna vows to subpoena remaining classified records if the agency does not produce them voluntarily. Meanwhile, historians and independent investigators believe further disclosures could emerge under the JFK Records Act, which mandates full release unless the president certifies specific harm to national security.
For Thunder Bay readers—and all Canadians—this saga underscores broader questions about government transparency, the limits of intelligence oversight, and the lingering mysteries surrounding one of the 20th century’s defining tragedies.
NetNewsLedger will continue to follow developments as new documents surface and congressional scrutiny intensifies.
