Washington: The U.S. government has declassified approximately 80,000 pages of previously classified documents related to President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, following an executive order by President Donald J. Trump. The records, which were made available on March 19 without redactions, were released in line with a directive from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
Trump had emphasized the importance of transparency, stating that continued redactions of information related to JFK’s assassination were inconsistent with the public’s interest, and that the release of these records was long overdue. His Executive Order 14176 called for the full release of all remaining documents.
After receiving Trump’s order, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard issued a directive to the Intelligence Community, instructing agencies to release all unredacted records to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for immediate publication. The records are now available online at archives.gov/jfk and can also be accessed in person at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. Some documents are still in the process of being digitized and will be made available online soon. Updates will be posted by DNI Gabbard on platforms like X (@DNIGabbard) and Truth Social (@DNITulsiGabbard).
This release includes 80,000 pages of previously classified documents, all published without redactions. However, certain documents still under court seal or related to grand jury secrecy, as well as those covered by section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code, must be unsealed before being fully released. The National Archives, in coordination with the Department of Justice, is working to expedite the unsealing process. The statement noted that much of this information had already been seen by grand juries years ago, meaning much of it was already public.
Key documents in this release include an unredacted memo from June 1961 by aide Arthur Schlesinger Jr. to President Kennedy, which had previously been heavily redacted. The memo sharply criticized the CIA’s role in U.S. foreign policy. Additionally, 14 documents related to the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. have been released, totaling around 1,050 pages.
This release follows years of secrecy, as Congress had mandated that all JFK assassination records be declassified by 2017. However, both Trump and President Joe Biden delayed full disclosure due to national security concerns. The recent release is part of a broader effort to provide maximum transparency and rebuild public trust in the Intelligence Community and federal agencies.