Why JFK assassination files have been kept secret for years as Donald Trump orders their release

The files relating to John F. Kennedy’s assassination have long remained classified. However, as newly sworn in president Donald Trump orders their release, they may no longer be kept under wraps.

Having sworn into office this week, US President Trump signed an executive order yesterday (23 January) mandating the release of classified files related to the 1963 assassination of JFK, as well as that of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.

Government officials have said these files were initially classified in order to protect national security interests, intelligence sources, and ongoing investigations. And people have long wondered just why they are kept secret as the assassination has fuelled conspiracy theories over the decades.

President Trump signed the order on Thursday (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

“More than 50 years after the assassinations of President John F Kennedy, Senator Robert F Kennedy, and the Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, the federal government has not released to the public all of its records related to those events,” the executive order stated.

“Their families and the American people deserve transparency and truth. It is in the national interest to finally release all records related to these assassinations without delay.”

Trump told reporters ‘everything will be revealed’ as he called the order ‘a big one’.

He had long promised to make the remaining batches of documents on JFK’s assassination public, but researchers don’t believe he’s going to be able to release them all.

The CIA and FBI appealed against a similar pledge when he was first in office and the agencies have previously argued that revealing informants’ identities could pose a risk to individuals.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) also shared these concerns. In a 2018 letter to the Archives, it laid out how the Mafia’s violent history justifies secrecy being kept.

JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, in 1963. (Bettmann/Getty Images)

"Given the well-documented propensity for violence by the Mafia, it is reasonable to expect the individuals, if alive, remain in significant danger of retaliation," the DEA wrote.

Plus, the Department of Defence and State Department have cited national security concerns. And on top of that, the Pentagon has insisted that some of the classified documents contain nuclear information, sensitive war plans and intelligence unrelated to the assassination.

There are millions of government records related to JFK’s assassination and only a few thousands are not fully declassified. And many of those who have studied the released documents say that the public shouldn’t expect some kind of ground-breaking revelations.

“There’s always the possibility that something would slip through that would be the tiny tip of a much larger iceberg that would be revealing,” Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics and author of The Kennedy Half-Century told The Guardian.

“That’s what researchers look for. Now, odds are you won’t find that but it is possible that it’s there.”