In the 2025 declassified files, one name keeps reappearing - not in the major reports, but in the margins, on routing slips, and in audio review logs.
His name is Gerald D. Roland.
He was a CIA audio analyst stationed at the National Photographic Interpretation Center.
And according to the files, he ordered the final erasure of a 20-minute reel of Air Force One communications on November 22, 1963.
đź“Ľ The Tape That Went Missing Before The Funeral
The 2025 files include for the first time a complete inventory list from NPIC (National Photographic Interpretation Center) dated November 23, 1963.
Item #114 is described as:
“AF1-TRANSIT COMPOSITE // Cut Reels A/B // 47 mins reduced to 27.”
The log shows two edits, both labeled “audibility improvement.”
But attached to the sheet is a slip initialed G.D.R.
“Segments not suitable for archival. Final erasure authorized 2:43 PM EST.”
That timing is critical - because at 2:43 PM, JFK’s body had not yet reached Capitol Hill for public display.
🎧 Who Was Gerald D. Roland?
According to a long-suppressed internal CIA personnel profile - now released - Roland was a signal specialist embedded at NPIC during 1962–1965, handling high-level audio scrubs for global operations.
His 201 file (personnel record) shows multiple assignments involving U-2 flight audio and intercepts from Vietnam and Cuba.
He wasn’t a tape tech.
He was a gatekeeper.
His file was excluded from both the Church Committee and the House Select Committee on Assassinations reviews.
Why?
The 2025 marginalia note reads:
“Contractor not under review jurisdiction.”
🗣️ What Was On The Deleted Segment?
This is where it gets strange.
A newly released memo from WHCA (White House Communications Agency), buried in a box labeled “ARLINGTON-MISC-TS”, describes a 17-minute section of the Air Force One recording that allegedly includes a “non-scheduled patch-through call.”
The origin: Andrews Air Force Base Command Room.
The destination: an unnamed Cabinet member en route back from Asia.
The call contains:
“Reference to pre-known risk level at Dallas location, and uncertainty about coordination between federal agencies and local detail.”
WHCA marked the call as “unusable due to transmission quality.”
But the audio quality note is crossed out and replaced with:
“Delete per GDR/NPIC.”
🚫 The Last Tape Wasn’t Archived - It Was Killed
The CIA has long denied involvement in any editing of the Air Force One audio.
But Roland’s name - never public until now - appears on the deletion approval.
His record shows he was transferred to a satellite monitoring post in Arizona six months later.
He retired in 1975.
No interviews. No depositions.
No mention in any major assassination review.
Until now.
🧩 Why This Matters
📌 The deleted call references a “known risk” to JFK in Dallas.
đź“Ś The edit was performed by a CIA officer - not a WHCA technician.
📌 The directive came before JFK’s body was even on display.
📌 The only reason we know any of this: a routing slip in a box marked “Audio-Unverified/Non-Critical.”
“No further duplication to be made. Source recording permanently removed.”
- Note initialed: GDR, 11/23/63
🧨 They Didn’t Just Edit The Tape They Deleted A Warning
And for 60 years, nobody asked about Gerald D. Roland.
Now the files do.