CIA Is Releasing a Trove of Previously Classified LBJ Documents

The Central Intelligence Agency is releasing a new collection of previously classified documents from the Lyndon B. Johnson administration.

Several top intelligence officials will be in Austin to unveil the collection on Wednesday at the LBJ Presidential Library at an event titled “The President’s Daily Brief: Delivering Intelligence to the First Customer.”

The online collection includes early PDBs, called the President’s Intelligence Checklists, from June 1961 in the early years of the Kennedy Administration to November 1964, and PDBs published from December 1964 through the end of Johnson’s term in January 1969.

“The declassification and release of years of top-secret PDBs from the Kennedy and Johnson era could prove to be a treasure trove for historians,” said Mark Updegrove, director of the LBJ Presidential Library. “The PDBs provide fresh context for some of the most tumultuous and significant foreign events in our history, including the Vietnam War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the building of the Berlin Wall and other world changing crises.”

The collection will be available online on Wednesday on the CIA’s website.

CIA Director John Brennan will give a keynote speech at the library on Wednesday afternoon. The library is hosting an event that also features a panel hosted by David Robarge, the CIA’s chief historian, titled “Delivering Intelligence to the President.”

William McRaven, chancellor of the University of Texas System and former commander of the Special Operations Command, will give a speech titled “The Importance of Intelligence.” Closing remarks will be delivered by James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence.

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[PHOTO: Wikipedia]