Joe Biden postpones release of John F. Kennedy assassination records
The postponement came on the recommendation of the national archivist, who said the pandemic “has had a significant impact on the agencies” responsible for reviewing each draft document.
The postponement came on the recommendation of the national archivist, who said the pandemic “has had a significant impact on the agencies” responsible for reviewing each draft document.
President Joe Biden has again postponed the release of secret government files related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, citing delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The files were originally slated for release next week. They will now be released in two batches: one later this year and one in late 2022, Biden said in a White House note Friday.
According to the memorandum, the postponement came on the recommendation of the national archivist, who said the pandemic “has had a significant impact on the agencies” responsible for reviewing each draft of the documents.
“The archivist also stressed that“ making these decisions is a matter that requires a professional, scholarly and orderly process; no rushed decisions or publications, ”Biden wrote, adding that he agreed the agencies needed more time.
“The temporary postponement is necessary to protect against identifiable damage to military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement or the conduct of foreign relations which are of such gravity as to outweigh the public interest in immediate disclosure, ”he said. President.
Biden said some documents will be released on December 15 of this year, but not before “out of respect for the anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination,” which took place on November 22, 1963. The remaining documents will be the subject of of a “review”. one-year intensive ”and will be published before December 15, 2022.
Under the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, all assassination records should have been made public within 25 years – or before October 2017 – but postponements were allowed in cases where national security concerns outweighed the public interest in disclosure. The National Archives note that approximately 88% of the documents have been made public since the late 1990s.
President Donald Trump announced in 2017 that he planned to publicly disclose the remaining JFK files, only to delay the release of some of the files for national security reasons, setting a new deadline of October 26, 2021. In 2018, Trump did it. He ended up clearing 19,045 documents, of which about three-quarters still contained redactions.
Earlier this month, some members of Congress wrote to Biden urging him to fully release all JFK files, including 520 documents that are not disclosed to the public and 15,834 documents that were previously released but are partially or largely censored. The letter is signed by Democratic Members of Congress Anna Eshoo of California, Steve Cohen of Tennessee, Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Sara Jacobs of California, Joe Neguse
from Colorado and Raul Grijalva from Arizona.
“Democracy demands that decisions made by government be subject to public scrutiny,” lawmakers wrote. “However, the excessive secrecy surrounding the assassination of President Kennedy continues to cast doubt on the minds of the American public and has a profound impact on people’s confidence in hi
government of s. ”
Biden said on Friday that the need to protect records “has only weakened over time” and that he agreed it is essential that the US government “maximize transparency.”
“Almost 30 years after the law was enacted, the profound national tragedy of President Kennedy’s assassination continues to resonate in American history and in the memory of so many Americans who were alive on that terrible day,” Biden wrote. “Therefore, it is essential to ensure that the United States government maximizes transparency by disclosing all information in murder files, except when the strongest reasons dictate otherwise.”
