The FBI says that it found 2,400 new JFK assassination files

By Jamie Stengle, Associated Press

Dallas (AP) – The FBI said on Tuesday that it had discovered 2,400 new files related to the assassination of former president John F. Kennedy while federal agencies are trying to comply with the executive decree of President Donald Trump the month last to publish thousands of files.

The FBI said that it tried to transfer files to the National Archives and the administration of files to be included in the declassification process.

In the early 1990s, the federal government demanded that all documents linked to November 22, 1963 be accommodated in a single collection in the National Archives. And although the vast majority of the collection – more than 5 million files – was made public, the researchers estimate that 3,000 files have not been published, or in whole or in part.

The FBI did not say in its declaration what type of information that the newly discovered files contain. The FBI in 2020 has opened a complex of central files and started an effort of several years to ship, inventory electronically and store closed cases of field offices across the country. The agency said that a more complete inventory of files as well as technological advances enabled it to quickly search and locate recordings.

Jefferson Morley, vice-president of the Mary Ferrell Foundation, a benchmark for the files related to the assassination, called the FBI disclosure of “refreshing and frank” files.

“This shows that the FBI is serious about being transparent,” said Morley, who is also editor of the JFK Facts blog.

Morley said it establishes a precedent for other agencies to present documents that have not yet been given to the National Archives.

Last month, Trump’s order ordered the National Director of Intelligence and the Attorney General to develop a plan aimed at publishing classified files linked to the Kennedy assassination. A spokesperson for the Office of the National Intelligence Director declared that, as required by the prescription, a publication plan has been submitted, but did not offer any detail on the plan or a calendar for the moment when the files can be made available to the public.

The collection was to be opened by 2017, with the exception of the exemptions appointed by the president. During his first mandate, Trump said that he would authorize the release of all the remaining files but ended up retaining a little due to potential national security damage. And although the files have continued to be released under former President Joe Biden, some remain invisible.

The assassination has fueled conspiracy theories for decades. Kennedy was fatally shot dead in Dallas city center while his procession passed in front of Texas School Book Building Building, where the 24-year-old assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, positioned himself from the perch of a shooter elite on the sixth floor. Two days after the death of Kennedy, the owner of the nightclub, Jack Ruby, shot Balle Oswald during a transfer of prison.

The Warren commission, created by the president of the time, Lyndon B. Johnson, investigating the assassination, noted that Oswald had acted alone and that there was no proof of conspiracy. But this conclusion has never punished a network of alternative theories over the decades.

Gerald Posner, author of “Case Flosed”, who concludes that Oswald acted alone, said that it is possible that the newly discovered files are rehearsals of documents which are already in the collection of national archives or that they can Being documents that the collection examination committee had previously did not want to.

“If these are new assassination documents, it raises a lot of questions about how they were missed during all these years,” said Posner.

He said the “wow” would be if they were linked to Oswald or the investigation.

The documents published in recent years of the collection have offered details on how the intelligence services operated at the time and include CIA cables and the Memos chatting of Oswald visits to Soviet and Cuban Embassies During a trip to Mexico City a few weeks before the assassination. The former navy had previously defected in the Soviet Union before returning home to Texas.

Morley said that Oswald’s CIA surveillance has been “emerging history in the past five to 10 years”. He said that there could be any information about it in the new files.

The editors of the Associated Press, Eric Tucker and David Klepper, contributed Washington’s reports.

Originally published: February 11, 2025 at 12:37 pm PST