JFK files released, but not them all

WASHINGTON: A new trove of secret files related to the 1963 assassination of US president John F. Kennedy was released on Thursday, but the White House held thousands of documents back – citing national security concerns.

The Warren Commission that investigated the shooting of the charismatic 46-year-old president determined that it was carried out by a former Marine sharpshooter, Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone.

That formal conclusion has done little, however, to quell speculation that a more sinister plot was behind Kennedy’s murder in Dallas, Texas, and the release of the government files has added fuel to various conspiracy theories.

The National Archives said a total of 13,173 documents had been made public on Thursday, local time, in the latest release, and that 97 per cent of the Kennedy records – which total approximately five million pages – have now been made public.

President Joe Biden said in a memorandum that a “limited” number of documents would continue to be held back at the request of unspecified “agencies”. Previous requests to withhold documents have come from the CIA and FBI.

“Temporary continued postponement of public disclosure of such information is necessary to protect against an identifiable harm to the military defence, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or the conduct of foreign relations,” Mr Biden said.

Kennedy scholars have said the documents still held by the archives are unlikely to contain any bombshell revelations or put to rest the rampant conspiracy theories.

Oswald was shot to death two days after killing Kennedy by a nightclub owner, Jack Ruby, as he was being transferred from the city jail.

The release of the documents is in compliance with a 1992 act of congress that required the records be declassified in full 25 years later.