The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has discovered approximately 2,400 secret records related to the assassination of former US President John F. Kennedy, an Axios report revealed. These records, which were never provided to the panel responsible for reviewing and disclosing assassination-related documents, are stored across 14,000 pages.
The White House was informed of this discovery last week when the Office of the Director of National Intelligence submitted its plan to release the assassination records, as per orders given by former President Donald Trump.
Questions Over Conspiracy Theories
According to Axios, the contents of these newly discovered records remain highly classified, with access restricted to a select few officials. Their revelation, 61 years after JFK’s assassination in Dallas, is expected to spark renewed scrutiny of one of the most analyzed events in US history.
The records could prompt questions about how information related to JFK’s assassination was vetted and released across government agencies. Additionally, their disclosure may influence long-standing conspiracy theories surrounding the event.
Jefferson Morley, an expert on the assassination and vice president of the Mary Ferrell Foundation—an extensive online archive of JFK-related records—highlighted the significance of the discovery. He stated, “The FBI is finally saying, ‘Let’s respond to the president’s order,’ instead of keeping the secrecy going,” as quoted by Axios.
The JFK Records Act of 1992 mandated that assassination-related documents be submitted to the JFK Assassination Records Review Board and then transferred to the National Archives. However, officials confirmed that the newly discovered records were neither vetted by the review board nor submitted to the National Archives.
In 2017, upon the advice of the CIA, Trump delayed the full release of the records. After taking office, President Joe Biden ordered a limited disclosure, a move critics argue did not align with the spirit of the JFK Records Act. Advocates of government secrecy contended that releasing the documents in full could compromise intelligence-gathering “sources and methods.”
RFK Jr., whom Trump appointed as Secretary of Health and Human Services, had long called for full disclosure, believing the assassinations of JFK and his father, Robert F. Kennedy, were part of a broader conspiracy.
Despite presidential orders, various intelligence agencies continue to push for redactions. A White House official warned, “When POTUS hears about this stonewalling, he’s gonna hit the roof.” A Trump advisor added, “Don’t be surprised if all these records just suddenly wind up online. He wants to move on and call this a promise kept.”
The discovery is also relevant to an ongoing federal lawsuit against the Biden administration, filed in 2022 by the Mary Ferrell Foundation. The suit alleges that federal agencies withheld more assassination-related documents than they turned over to the National Archives, including recordings of Carlos Marcello and CIA files on former covert action chief George Joannides
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