In what is sure to be a developing story, Fox News reports the United States National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) released about 1,500 documents pertaining to former President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
Federal authorities charged Lee Harvey Oswalt with assassinating President Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, on Nov. 22, 1963. Oswalt was later assassinated by Jack Ruby.
The Wednesday document drop was not announced but was highly anticipated. Concerned citizens, conspiracy theorists, historians, and government leaders have been requesting the release of all files relevant to the assassination since the conclusion of the spurious Warren Commission in 1964.
Amid mounting cries for transparency and full disclosure, in 1992, Congress approved the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act. That Act authorized a review board to release records in a timely manner.
There has been a trickle of document drops since that time. To date, about five million pages of documents have been made available for review via the National Archives and Records Administration in Maryland.
However, historians complain that government officials still have not disclosed thousands of documents.
Government leaders cite “national security concerns.”
Interested parties note that the JFK Assassination Records Collection Act authorized the release of all records by 2017.
CIA and FBI officials argue that documents that disclose or compromise “military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or conduct of foreign relations” can be withheld.
In August, Gregg Jarrett told Fox & Friends: “The government is to blame for growing skepticism about the assassination. Most Americans don’t believe the beloved 35th U.S. president was shot and killed by a lone gunman.”
Both former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden have encouraged the release of documents.
A press release from the National Archives Department from April 2018 stated:
“In accordance with President Trump’s direction on Oct. 26, 2017, the National Archives today posted 19,045 documents subject to the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (JFK Act). Released documents are available for download.”
In 2018, President Trump ordered agencies to “re-review each of the redactions over the next three years” and set an Oct. 26, 2021 deadline for further release of documents. That date passed without the release of new documents.
President Joe Biden issued an order in October 2021 requiring the release of documents by Dec. 15.
It will take some time for historians to review today’s release of approximately 1,500 documents. Many believe the documents focus on the CIA’s investigation into Lee Harvey Oswalt and his covert work in Mexico.
Historians estimate that several thousand documents remain undisclosed.
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