New Kennedy Files Have a Major Privacy Gaffe

The big release of more than 60,000 files related to the John F. Kennedy assassination has not resulted in any investigative bombshells so far. It has, however, resulted in a serious gaffe: Personal data including Social Security numbers of more than 200 people—congressional staffers, investigators, etc.—were not redacted as they should have been, reports the Washington Post. And many are still alive, notes the New York Times.

• "It's absolutely outrageous. It's sloppy, unprofessional," says former Trump campaign lawyer Joseph diGenova, 80, whose information was exposed. His name is in the files because of his work in the 1970s investigating intelligence abuses. The attorney wants the government to pay to protect him from any abuses that might result.

• "I consider it almost criminal," says former government contractor William Harnage, 71, whose data also was exposed. He, like the others, faces the threat of being doxed, notes attorney Mark Zaid, who fought for the records' release. It's "incredibly irresponsible."
• The Times sees the mistake as "almost inevitable" given the rushed release of the documents. The president surprised many on his national security team by announcing on Monday that the pages would be released the next day, according to the newspaper. The government promised no redactions, but that wasn't supposed to cover personal Social Security numbers and the like.
• Outlets, meanwhile, continue to scour the pages, but it will take some time to figure out if they contain any substantive details. NBC News notes that a famous memo about the CIA's friction with Kennedy has been fully redacted. But "if anybody was expecting to find proof in the memo that the CIA conspired with JFK's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, to kill Kennedy, they will not find it."
• We have learned that a KGB agent thought Lee Harvey Oswald was a lousy marksman, based on his shooting while in the USSR.

(More Kennedy assassination stories.)