Files on Kennedy death made public
WASHINGTON: The US government on Thursday released a mammoth, longawaited trove of secret files on the assassination of president John F Kennedy, but withheld others for further review on national security grounds.
In a statement, the National Archives said that on orders from President Donald Trump it had released 2,891 records related to the Nov 22, 1963, slaying of JFK in Dallas, Texas.
Kennedy scholars have said the documents were unlikely to contain any bombshell revelations or put to rest the rampant conspiracy theories about the assassination.
One of the documents included a transcript of a Nov 24, 1963, conversation with J Edgar Hoover, who was FBI director at the time.
Hoover said the FBI informed police of a threat against the life of Lee Harvey Oswald the night before Oswald was killed. But police did not act on it, Hoover said.
The Warren Commission, which investigated the shooting of the charismatic Kennedy, 46, determined that Oswald, a former Marine sharpshooter, carried out the Kennedy assassination acting alone.
The released files are vast in number and scope, covering everything from FBI directors’ memos to interviews with members of the public in Dallas who came forward trying to provide clues after that singularly unforgettable moment in US history.
Some date into the 1970s and included handwritten official notes which are hard to read.
Mr Trump said in a memorandum he had agreed to hold back for further review some records relating to the killing.
Administration officials who requested anonymity said the majority of those requests had come from the Central Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“Executive departments and agencies have proposed to me that certain information should continue to be redacted because of national security, law enforcement, and foreign affairs concerns,” Mr Trump said.
“I have no choice — today — but to accept those redactions rather than allow potentially irreversible harm to our nation’s security,” he said.