On Tue, Nov 15, 2011 at 9:06 AM, Bruce White <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> In today's Dallas Morning News...
>
> <snip>
> A long-lost version of the Air Force One recordings made in the
> immediate aftermath of President John F. Kennedy's assassination, with
> more than 30 minutes of additional material not in the official
> version in the government's archives, has been found and is for sale.
>
> There are incidents and code names described on the newly discovered
> two-plus hour recording, which predates the shorter and newer
> recording currently housed in the National Archives outside Washington
> and the Lyndon B. Johnson Library in Texas. The shorter recording was
> thought to be the only surviving version of the tape.
> <snip>
>
> http://dallasne.ws/vgfue1
>


 Okay, so I get what it says about they are making a digital copy available
to NARA, but riddle me this Batman...

Why isn't this tape a Federal Record and what was it doing in the custody
of a former Government employee, turned private citizen?

Snips from the article:

"Clifton, who died in 1991, had kept a collection of audio tapes,
documents, photographs and video stemming from his years in the Kennedy and
Johnson administrations.

“At a time when there really wasn't what we consider today a chief of
staff, Clifton carried on many of those functions,” Raab said. “He retires
in 1965, this goes with him.”

The Clifton tape has been professionally digitized and a copy is being
donated by the Raab Collection to the National Archives and the John F.
Kennedy Library so the public will have access to the material even if the
original tape is sold to a private collector."

A lot of this makes no sense to me- there is pretty clear guidance in the
USC and CFR about records NOT belonging to individuals who were/are
employed by the government and them having to be transferred to another
employee or supervisor on separation form employment. Given the nature of
the content in this specific recording, it would have been considered
CLASSIFIED information in 1965 when he left.  It might have bene
downgraded/declassified at a later date, but given it had content related
to the President, in fact TWO Presidents) presuming the recording began
prior to and continued post LBJ's swearing in... it should have been
covered under the Presidential Records Act.

Federal Archivists? Federal Records Managers?  Am I missing something here??

Larry
[log in to unmask]
-- 
*Lawrence J. Medina
Danville, CA
RIM Professional since 1972*

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