Lawsuit seeks to unlock CIA’s secret history of Bay of Pigs invasion.

Lawsuit seeks to unlock CIA’s secret history of Bay of Pigs invasion


WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Thursday fought to keep secret a CIA account of the 1961 Bay of Pigs debacle.

Half a century after the failed invasion of Cuba, and three decades after a CIA historian completed his draft study, an administration lawyer told a top appellate court that the time still isn’t right to make the document public.

“The passage of time has not made it releasable,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Mitchell P. Zeff told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

But in this latest battle over government secrecy and the lessons of history, judges Thursday sounded a tad skeptical about the Obama administration’s sweeping claims. At the least, judges on what is sometimes called the nation’s second most-powerful court suggested there could be a limit to how long government documents remain locked away.

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Why the secrecy? The Obama administration claimed that one of their goals was to be the most "transparent" administrations in history what is it about the Bay Of Pigs that the CIA wants to remain hidden? We all know they screwed up the entire invasion.What after 50 years is so important to national security the it must stay classified?

My guess? Simple. There are still events from that which link too close to modern times and people still alive to be hit by it.

I don't know what else could have been done in all that beyond what we know. I honestly can't. Whatever happened then, I have a hard time imagining how links to modern times weren't overtaken and severed through the much larger and wider events of Vietnam. If the Bay of Pigs was bad, we already KNOW by released material that Vietnam was hell in terms of what our side did in the covert end of the war.

So I say it almost has to be people....that's getting pretty far into the past though? They have to be pretty old? It doesn't make a lot of sense to me either in practical terms.

reply to post by mike dangerously

If it could reasonably identify any confidential sources, it can be classified up to 75 years. If it has foreign government information, it won't be declassified until that government approves. I seem to remember the 2506 Brigade spent some time in South America, maybe whatever country they trained in is objecting to the release. And the OCA can reclassify it as many times as they want, extending the classification in 25 year chunks as long as they determine it still meets the guidelines of EO 13526.

reply to post by mike dangerously


There are people who are still alive from that time who could be affected.

Pretty sure it's that.

Many of them probably in little havana playing at domino park in the afternoons.

It's pretty obvious really, and I feel ya, OP. Nice find.

Culpability of malfeasance pretty much says it all and is, by far, Occams'. Most here no longer suffer from naivete as regards the abuse of--and tragic reasons for--many so-called 'state secrets.' We know the drill.

reply to post by FurvusRexCaeli


Of course that there it can also occur accidents like fires and floods, even clerical errors that destroy supporting documentation...

grey580
reply to post by mike dangerously

 

There are people who are still alive from that time who could be affected.

Pretty sure it's that.

Many of them probably in little havana playing at domino park in the afternoons.

A little aside on this:

Use to work for a national life insurance company back in the late 90's. One day after working there for a few months i came across this drawer filled with claims & asked my boss what are all those claims doing in that drawer. He said that those are the Cuba files.

Evidently before Castro came into power the company insured Cuban Companies or US Companies doing business in Cuba. These people passed away and their beneficiary's of the insurance can not be paid due to the sanctions on Cuba.

Little known thing is that interest must be paid on insurance claims from the date the person died to the day the claim is paid. Castro came into power in the 50's - there are literally millionaires walking around Cuba & they have no idea.

Pretty sad if you think about it but don't even think the insurance company could contact the beneficiary's in Cuba due to the sanctions.

BABYBULL24
Little known thing is that interest must be paid on insurance claims from the date the person died to the day the claim is paid. Castro came into power in the 50's - there are literally millionaires walking around Cuba & they have no idea.

Pretty sad if you think about it but don't even think the insurance company could contact the beneficiary's in Cuba due to the sanctions.

That's freaking fascinating, BB! If there was some way you could resolve that, you would absolutely deserve both kudos and compensation.

It's not the businesses that move me, but think about all the love for family members that is tied up in all that.

Still protecting the anti-Castro Cubans among other things.I wonder if there's something in the files that links to the JFK assassination or enough evidence to point researchers in that direction.There was alot of deflection towards them and the MIC.

reply to post by mike dangerously


I am curious how this one is going to turn out, and if its going to be restricted to just the Bay of Pigs. I am wondering if this is not an attempt to wedge their way into the complete Kennedy assassination files, which aren't slated to be released until 2025 +/-.

Interestingly enough, JFK's files were turned over to the family instead of being held by law enforcement.

If the only reason for not releasing these files is embarrassment, then I hope the judge does the right thing and orders their release.