The National Archives on Friday released 10,744 FBI records — some that have never been previously disclosed — related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.
It’s the fifth release of Kennedy assassination records so far this year.
The National Archives said 8,336 documents are being released in their entirety and 2,408 are released with limited redactions. A total of 144 records are being released for the first time.
Most of the collection comprising about 5 million pages of records has been released to the public, but some documents have been withheld over the years to protect individuals, intelligence sources and methods and national security.
The latest documents are being released according to a law that President George H.W. Bush signed Oct. 26, 1992. That law required all records related to the assassination be released within 25 years, unless the president says doing so would harm intelligence, law enforcement, military operations or foreign relations.
Last month, on the 25-year deadline, President Donald Trump wrote in a memorandum that he had “no choice” but to agree to requests from some government agencies to continue withholding certain information.
Trump, however, directed agencies to again review each of their redactions. He said agency heads needed to be extremely circumspect in recommending that information still needed to be withheld from the public. Government agencies have until March to tell the National Archives why any part of their records should still be redacted.
(AP)