President Biden ordered the release of 13,173 documents related to President John F. Kennedy’s 1963 assassination, records that were previously classified.
The National Archives and Record Administration will release the documents that have been collected over time as part of the government’s investigation.
The Executive order excluded the release of highly sensitive records involving national security.
It’s the second time the government has released documents related to JFK’s assassination.
The latest release comprises about 97% of the Archives’ documents related to the horrific event experienced by the nation on November 22, 1963. The entire collection consists of around five million pages.
Biden’s administration said they are committed to maximizing transparency and will release all information in the records unless intelligence sources advise against it for the “strongest possible reasons.”
Biden said that he had directed all involved agencies to review the 16,000 documents previously released in redacted form, and they had determined that over 70% of them could now be released in full form without redaction.
He gave the agencies a deadline of May 2023 to review the records and release the private documents they approve by June 30, 2023.
President Kennedy was shot and killed on November 22, 1963, while riding in a motorcade through Dallas, Texas. He was only 46 years old and was accompanied by his wife Jacqueline in the vehicle. His assassination has been researched and investigated for almost 60 years and has prompted many questions from researchers and the public, including conspiracy theorists.
An investigation was carried out by Chief Justice Earl Warren, and it was determined that the man who shot and killed President Kennedy was Lee Harvey Oswald, a former marine and a Communist activist. The investigation concluded that he acted alone.
The conclusion that Oswald acted alone has been questioned by historians and researchers. Two days after the assassination, Oswald was shot and killed in the Dallas Police Department basement by Jack Ruby, further fueling conspiracies that Oswald was not the sole hitman and that the CIA might be involved.
Although there are supposedly no exciting revelations in the newly released documents, since most of the information is already in the public domain, researchers noted that some of the documents discussed the CIA’s monitoring of Oswald’s contacts with the Soviet Embassy in Mexico. The CIA and the Mexican President at the time cooperated on a wiretap operation targeting the Soviet Embassy.
Another document said that 28 records from the JFK collection are missing.
In 1992, the government passed the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Act, requiring the government to release all the JFK assassination documents by October 2017, unless the release would threaten natural security.
President Trump released some of the documents during his presidential term, but many were withheld due to national security concerns.
