Q&A THE JFK FILES

HOW MANY ARE THERE AND HOW CAN I SEE THEM?

The collection includes more than 3,100 documents — comprising hundreds of thousands of pages — that have never been seen by the public. About 30,000 documents were released previously with redactions. The National Archives is planning to post the files on its website.

WHY ARE THEY BECOMING PUBLIC NOW?

President George H.W. Bush signed a law on Oct. 26, 1992, requiring that all documents related to the assassination be released within 25 years, unless the president says doing so would harm intelligence, law enforcement, military operations or foreign relations. The push for transparency was driven in part by the uproar in the wake of Oliver Stone’s 1991 conspiracy-theory-filled film JFK.

WILL THERE BE ANY BOMBSHELLS?

The chances are slim, according to the judge who led the independent board that reviewed and released thousands of the assassination documents in the 1990s. The files that were withheld in full were those the Assassination Records Review Board deemed “not believed relevant,” Judge John Tunheim of Minnesota told The Associated Press. But Tunheim said it’s possible the files contain information the board didn’t realize was important two decades ago.

WHAT WILL THE FILES SHOW?

Some of the documents are related to Oswald’s mysterious six-day trip to Mexico City right before the assassination, scholars say. Oswald said he was visiting the Cuban and Soviet Union embassies there to get visas, but much about his time there remains unknown.