President John F. Kennedy assassination records partially released
WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) - On Thursday, President Donald Trump delayed the release of some files pertaining to the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy. The National Archives has partially released the other remaining documents.
The 2,891 files released Thursday are available for download can be found on the National Archives' site.
In a press release on the records, the National Archives said:
The President has also ordered that all remaining records governed by section 5 of the JFK Act be released, and thus additional records will be released subject to redactions recommended by the executive offices and agencies. NARA will process these records for release as soon as possible on a rolling basis.
Based on requests from executive offices and agencies the President has allowed the temporary withholding of certain information that would harm national security, law enforcement, or foreign affairs. The President also ordered agencies to re-review their proposed redactions and only redact information in the rarest of circumstances where its withholding “is made necessary by an identifiable harm to military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or conduct of foreign relations; and the identifiable harm is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in disclosure.” These instructions will allow the National Archives to release as much information as possible by the end of the temporary certification period on April 26, 2018.
In addition, the National Archives is also releasing to the public the unclassified electronic records of the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB), including 52,387 emails and 16,627 files from the ARRB drives.
Former President John F. Kennedy was killed on Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas while riding in an open-top convertible during a parade. He was in Texas to give several political speeches. Not long after the president was shot, police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald and charged him with murder, according to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
Jack Ruby then shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald two days later on November 24.
Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn into office as the 36th president of the United States. Using an executive order, Johnson formed the Warren Commission to investigate Kennedy's death.
The JFK Assassination Records Collection was established at the National Archives in 1992 through the JFK Assassination Act, signed by President George H.W. Bush. Many of the documents were made public in the late 1990's, but some records were withheld. Some reports had "sensitive portions" redacted, according to the National Archives. The act also required all assassination-related material to be kept in a single collection. Records from the Warren Commission were included in the JFK collection.
"According to the Act, all records previously withheld either in part or in full should be released on October 26, 2017, unless authorized for further withholding by the President of the United States," the archives website states.
In 2014, four archives and three digital technicians were assigned to prepare the remaining withheld documents for release.
President Donald Trump announced via Twitter on Oct. 21, 2017 that he would not block the release of the documents.
On Wednesday, Trump clarified that the document release would take place sometime Thursday.
The collection is comprised of more than 5 million pages of JFK assassination-related material. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) was not permitted to comment on the content of the documents but did release the following statement on the archives website.
While NARA cannot comment on the content of the records, we assume that much of what will be released will be tangential to the assassination events.
Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery where an eternal flame remains lit over his grave.
Editorial Note: This story contains historical information on President John F. Kennedy and his death provided by the National Archives and John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
