The US National Archives on Thursday released thousands of documents related to the 1963 assassination of then-President John F. Kennedy.
This came shortly after President Joe Biden issued an executive order authorizing the release that also kept hundreds of other sensitive records secret for up to another year.
Congress in 1992 had ordered that all remaining sealed files pertaining to the investigation into Kennedy’s death should be fully opened to the public through the National Archives in 25 years, by Oct. 26, 2017, except for those the president authorized for further withholding.
With Thursday’s release, 95 percent of the documents in the CIA’s JFK assassination records collection will have been released in their entirety, a CIA spokesperson said in a statement reported by Reuters.
In a memorandum Thursday, Biden said that until May 1, 2023, the National Archives and relevant agencies “shall jointly review the remaining redactions in the records that had not been publicly disclosed.” After that review, “any information withheld from public disclosure that agencies do not recommend for continued postponement” will be released by June 30, 2023.
