FBI says it found 2,400 new JFK assassination records

By JAMIE STENGLE, Associated Press

DALLAS (AP) — The FBI connected Tuesday said it discovered 2,400 caller records related to the assassination of erstwhile President John F. Kennedy arsenic national agencies enactment to comply with President Donald Trump’s enforcement bid past period to merchandise thousands of files.

The FBI said it’s moving to transportation the records to the National Archives and Records Administration to beryllium included successful the declassification process.

The national authorities successful the aboriginal 1990s mandated that each documents related to the Nov. 22, 1963, assassination beryllium housed successful a azygous postulation astatine the National Archives. And portion the immense bulk of the postulation — implicit 5 cardinal records — has been made public, researchers estimation that 3,000 files haven’t been released, either successful full oregon successful part.

The FBI did not accidental successful its connection what benignant of accusation the recently discovered files contain. The FBI successful 2020 opened a Central Records Complex and began a years-long effort to ship, electronically inventory and store closed lawsuit files from tract offices crossed the country. The bureau said a much broad records inventory on with technological advances allowed it to rapidly hunt and find records.

Jefferson Morley, vice president of the Mary Ferrell Foundation, a repository for files related to the assassination, called the FBI’s disclosure of the files “refreshingly candid.”

“It shows that the FBI is superior astir being transparent,” said Morley, who is besides exertion of the JFK Facts blog.

Morley said it sets a precedent for different agencies to travel guardant with documents that haven’t yet been turned implicit to the National Archives.

Trump’s bid past period directed the nationalist quality manager and lawyer wide to make a program to merchandise classified records related to Kennedy’s assassination. A spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said that arsenic required by the order, a merchandise program has been submitted, but offered nary details astir the program oregon a timeline for erstwhile records whitethorn beryllium made disposable to the public.

The postulation was required to beryllium opened by 2017, barring immoderate exemptions designated by the president. In his archetypal term, Trump said helium would let the merchandise of each of the remaining records but ended up holding immoderate backmost owed to potential harm to nationalist security. And portion files continued to beryllium released nether erstwhile President Joe Biden, immoderate stay unseen.

The assassination fueled conspiracy theories for decades. Kennedy was fatally changeable successful downtown Dallas arsenic his motorcade passed successful beforehand of the Texas School Book Depository building, wherever 24-year-old assassin Lee Harvey Oswald positioned himself from a sniper’s perch connected the sixth floor. Two days aft Kennedy was killed, nightclub proprietor Jack Ruby fatally changeable Oswald during a jailhouse transfer.

The Warren Commission, established by then-President Lyndon B. Johnson to analyse the assassination, recovered that Oswald acted unsocial and that determination was nary grounds of a conspiracy. But that decision ne'er quelled a web of alternate theories implicit the decades.

Gerald Posner, writer of “Case Closed,” which concludes that Oswald acted alone, said it’s imaginable that the recently discovered files are repeats of documents that are already successful the National Archives’ postulation oregon they could beryllium documents the reappraisal committee for the postulation had antecedently said it didn’t want.

“If they are truly caller assassination documents, past it raises a full clump of questions astir however they were missed for each of these years,” Posner said.

He said the “wow” would beryllium if they are related to Oswald oregon the investigation.

The documents released implicit the past respective years from the postulation person offered details connected the mode quality services operated astatine the time, and see CIA cables and memos discussing visits by Oswald to the Soviet and Cuban embassies during a travel to Mexico City conscionable weeks earlier the assassination. The erstwhile Marine had antecedently defected to the Soviet Union earlier returning location to Texas.

Morley said the CIA’s surveillance of Oswald has been the “emerging communicative implicit the past 5 to 10 years.” He said determination could beryllium accusation connected that successful the caller files.

Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and David Klepper contributed reporting from Washington.