One line in a newly declassified Secret Service staffing memo stood out to the 2025 review board — a single refusal dated ten days before the assassination.
The agent in question was offered a one-week temporary reassignment to JFK’s Texas detail.
He declined.
The reason he gave is still partially redacted.
🧾 A Name That Was Never Listed In Testimony
The memo, labeled REASSIGN/SS/TX/1183, was issued from the Secret Service’s Personnel Division on November 11, 1963.
It shows that Special Agent Loren Paxton was contacted about filling in for a retiring advance man in Dallas from November 18–23.
His response:
“Unfit for field duty on current rotation. Decline for personal security reasons.”
That phrasing triggered a security board review in 1964.
It was sealed until now.
🚫 Security Reasons
The 2025 release includes a second document — a formal incident debrief conducted with Paxton in 1966.
One line is blacked out.
But the surrounding lines suggest this:
“There was chatter about Johnson not traveling, that the trip might not happen. Then it changed all at once.”
Paxton indicated that “multiple field team agents” had “concerns about the Dallas structure” but were told to proceed regardless.
🧍♂️ Why It Matters
Paxton wasn’t a flake.
He was a respected advance team lead with 14 years of motorcade duty. He helped coordinate routes for trips in Caracas, Chicago, and Berlin.
His file includes a note from his supervisor:
“Paxton does not decline without reason. He has a background for sniffing out instability.”
📂 A Quiet Pattern Of Refusals
The 2025 files now show that three other agents were offered temporary Dallas duty in early November.
Two transferred.
One took sick leave.
Only Paxton filed a written objection.
Only Paxton referenced “security inconsistencies.”
Only Paxton is missing from every internal JFK Secret Service report until now.
📎 He Was Asked To Be There He Said No
And the file sat sealed for six decades in a cabinet marked “HR Non-Essential.”
Until now, no one ever asked why.
Now we don’t have to.
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