History buffs dove into thousands of pages of government records released online this week, hoping for new nuggets about . They instead found revelations about U.S. espionage in the massive document dump that also exposed some previously redacted personal information.
The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration posted of records on its website, following from President Donald Trump. Many of the documents had been released previously but with redactions that hid the names of CIA sources or details about its spying and covert operations in the 1960s.
Kennedy was killed on Nov. 22, 1963, during a As his motorcade finished its parade route downtown, shots rang out from the building. Police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald, who had positioned himself from a sniper鈥檚 perch on the sixth floor. Two days later, nightclub owner Jack Ruby fatally shot Oswald during a jail transfer broadcast live on television.
The latest release of documents pumped new energy into conspiracy theories about the assassination. Kennedy scholars said out of line with the conclusion that Oswald, a 24-year-old ex-Marine, was the lone gunman.
鈥淭he chase for the truth will go on forever, I suspect,” said Philip Shenon, who wrote a 2013 book about the killing of JFK.
It’s a big document dump, but it doesn’t include everything
The vast majority of the National Archives鈥� collection of more than 6 million related pages of records, photographs, motion pictures, sound recordings and artifacts had already been released before the archives posted about 2,200 files online this week.
Writers, historians and conspiracy promoters have spent decades pushing for the release of all the records. In the early 1990s, the federal government mandated that all assassination-related documents be housed in a single collection in the National Archives and Records Administration. The collection was required to be barring any exemptions designated by the president.
According to researchers and the FBI, roughly 3,700 files held by federal authorities still haven’t been released.
Trump’s order also called for declassifying the remaining federal records related to the 1968 assassinations of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and the
Scholars describe a chaotic release
Scholars and history buffs described the latest release as rushed and expressed frustration that going through the files one by one represented a random search for unreleased information.
鈥淲e鈥檝e all heard the reports about the lawyers staying up all night, which I believe, because there鈥檚 there鈥檚 a lot of sloppiness in this,鈥� said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics and author of 鈥淭he Kennedy Half-Century.鈥�
Scholars and history buffs grumbled that, unlike past releases, the National Archives didn鈥檛 provide an index or workable search tool. Also, the files included material generated after the 1960s, and some people listed in the records were angry to find out that about them was revealed, including Social Security numbers.
They include Joseph diGenova, a former campaign lawyer for . His personal information was on documents relating to his work for a U.S. Senate select committee that investigated abuses of power by government officials in the 1970s, including the surveillance of U.S. citizens.
He is planning to sue the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration for violating privacy laws.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 the result of incompetent people doing the reviewing,” he said. “The people who reviewed these documents did not do their job.鈥�
White House officials said a plan was in place to help those whose personal information was disclosed, including credit monitoring, until new Social Security numbers are issued. Officials are still screening the records to identify all the Social Security numbers that were released.
New details about covert CIA operations
The latest release represented a boon to mainstream historians, particularly those researching international relations, the Cold War and the activities of the CIA.
One revelation was that a key adviser warned President Kennedy after the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961 that the CIA had grown too powerful. The aide proposed giving the State Department control of 鈥渁ll clandestine activities鈥� and breaking up the CIA.
The page of Special Assistant Arthur Schlesinger Jr.鈥檚 memo outlining the proposal had not been released before. A previous release of part of his memo redacted Schlesinger鈥檚 statement that 47% of the political officers in U.S. embassies were controlled by the CIA.
Schlesinger’s plan never came to fruition.
Timothy Naftali, an adjunct professor at Columbia University who is writing a book about JFK鈥檚 presidency, said scholars likely now have more details about U.S. intelligence activities under Kennedy than under any other president.
鈥淚t鈥檚 quite remarkable to be able to walk through that secret world,鈥� he said.
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This story has been updated to correct that the date of President John F. Kennedy鈥檚 assassination was Nov. 22, 1963, not Nov. 23.
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