Just wondering how the LtCol's copy machine kept the same platen flaw (observe vertical rows of dots down the center in a fairly specific pattern) from May 4, 1972 to Aug 18, 1973, but somehow did not have it (the vertical rows of dots are gone) Aug 1, 1972 or Aug 19, 1972.
Even if the two intermediate docs were copied on a different copier, it seems quite unusual for the same wear marks to be there a year later.
If the wear marks were on the Pentagon copier, then they really should appear on all four of the memo's under the assumption that they were copied together before being distributed to CBS.
Re: your observation on the disappearing/reappearing platen flaws on the copied memos.
Exactly so. Copiers can be as distinctive as fingerprints....which is why, imho, it's been copied multiple times, in an effort to muddy the fingerprints of whomever's hands they've passed through.
I tend to think the copier trash marks we're seeing on CBS's PDF images are of recent origin.
First, if Killian wrote these memos just for his own use, and not for anyone's file, he wouldn't have made copies at all. There'd be just the original.
Second, the toner used in copiers thirty years ago faded and became unreadable relatively quickly. The print would be long gone after 30 years.