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Redaction Deja Vu

The heavily redacted Epstein files released by the DOJ remind me of the similarly redacted files the CIA sent me after I filed FOIA requests for information about my father’s still-classified death. Remarkably, at the Air America Archives at the University of Texas at Dallas, I discovered many of the same files, completely unredacted. These documents, previously held by Air America personnel and donated directly to the archives, bypassed CIA scrutiny and redaction. The unredacted records were instrumental in enabling me to confirm a government lie and a CIA coverup surrounding my father’s death. As in the Epstein files that were released, no reason for redaction was given. I detail this experience in my investigative memoir, Because: A CIA Coverup and a Son’s Odyssey to Find the Father He Never Knew. Visit https://jamesbwells.com/ the book’s website for more information and to obtain a signed copy.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epstein-files-redaction-over-500-pages-entirely-blacked-out

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By James b. Wells

JAMES B. WELLS is a retired criminology and criminal justice professor in the School of Justice Studies in the College of Justice, Safety, and Military Science at Eastern Kentucky University, and is the recipient of the 2025 Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences John Howard Award, an award given intermittently, upon significant demand, to recognize an individual who has made significant and sustained contributions to the practice of corrections. A former carpenter, soldier, and correctional officer in a super-maximum-security prison and later as a researcher/planner assisting architects in prison design, he has multiple degrees, including an M.S. in Criminal Justice, a Ph.D. in Research, and an MFA in Creative Writing. He’s authored or co-authored over sixty-five books, chapters, articles, and essays, as well as over a hundred and fifty research reports for various local, state, and federal agencies. Recent essays from his research and memoir work appear or are forthcoming in Collateral Journal, About Place Journal, Wild Roof Journal, Military Experience and the Arts, The Wrath-Bearing Tree, Shift, Proud to be: Writing by American Warriors, Trajectory Journal, and From Pen to Page III: More Writings from the Bluegrass Writers Coalition.

His investigative memoir about his father's still CIA-classified death in Vietnam in 1965, titled Because: A CIA Coverup and a Son’s Odyssey to Find the Father He Never Knew, will be launched on Father's Day weekend, 2025. Links to publications, presentations, trailers, social media, blog, and other information can be found at https://jamesbwells.com. James enjoys spending much of his leisure time with his spouse on their Lexington, Kentucky farm located on the palisades of the Kentucky River, where he is an organic gardener and beekeeper.

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