美国国家公共电台 NPR 2,800 JFK Assassination Files Have Been Released, Others Withheld

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ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

The government is releasing some of the last of its files on the assassination¹ of President John F. Kennedy. History buffs and conspiracy² theorists are among those who have been eagerly checking the National Archives website all day. The White House says it's making some 2,800 documents available. Most of them have been kept classified ever since Kennedy's murder in Dallas almost 55 years ago. But some documents are being withheld³ for the time being.

Joining me now is NPR's Brian Naylor. And Brian, which records are being released, and which aren't?

BRIAN NAYLOR, BYLINE⁴: Well, Robert, there are a lot of documents, so it's going to take a while to wade⁵ through them to figure out just what's in there. So maybe it's easier to say which aren't being made available. Administration officials say they're mostly FBI and CIA files, and leaders of those agencies urged President Trump⁶ to withhold⁷ them, saying that they contain material that is still deemed sensitive relating to law enforcement, intelligence and foreign policy.

SIEGEL: Let's look a little bit further at that. The killing⁸ was in 1963. Why would the FBI and the CIA still want to keep those records secret?

NAYLOR: Yeah, that is the question. I spoke⁹ with Barbara Perry, who is director of the University of Virginia's Miller¹⁰ Center which studies the presidency¹¹, and she believes in part it's because the agencies had been watching Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who shot Kennedy, and that there may be still some secrets the agencies don't want revealed. Here's what she said.

BARBARA PERRY: We think there will be documents that indicate that he was on the radar¹² screen of the CIA and the FBI, that they did trace him to Mexico City and this visit that he made in the months leading up to the assassination with the Soviets¹⁴ and with the Cubans. We just don't know to what extent these documents will reveal what was going on in those trips to Mexico City or after.

NAYLOR: And so the agencies are arguing that there are still some sources that are too sensitive to reveal and some activities involving foreign partners that they don't want to reveal.

SIEGEL: Let's assume that they - that that's what those agencies think. Do they have the authority - the FBI and the CIA - to stop the release of these documents?

NAYLOR: So it's up to the president by law. And interestingly, the president twice tweeted about the planned release, kind of promoting it yesterday on his way to Dallas, of all places, where he appeared at a fundraiser. He anticipated the long - he the tweeted the long-anticipated release of the JFK files will take place tomorrow. And he added, so interesting.

But administration officials say that agency leaders made their case to retain some of the documents, and the president acknowledged that their concerns were valid¹⁶. Officials say the president does want to ensure this information gets out as soon as possible. So they now have six months to comb through these remaining unreleased documents and to make redactions if needed before they're released.

SIEGEL: I mentioned conspiracy theorists earlier. There are a lot of conspiracy theories about the Kennedy assassination. Are these documents, do you think, likely to put any of those theories to rest?

NAYLOR: Well, yeah, probably not. There have been conspiracies¹⁷ ever since the findings of the Warren Commission the year after Kennedy's death that Oswald was the lone¹⁸ gunman. There were some who said that there was somebody on the grassy¹⁹ knoll²⁰ near Dealey Plaza²¹, others who've said that the Soviet¹³ Union or Cuba or organized crime was involved.

In fact the president himself during last year's campaign accused the father of Republican Senator Ted¹⁵ Cruz of associating with Oswald, citing a cover in the National Enquirer²². Barbara Perry says it's part because it's been hard for people to accept that Kennedy was killed by someone that his biographer Robert Dallek called so inconsequential.

PERRY: He did inspire people. And to be taken at such a youthful age, leaving behind a beautiful wife and two beguiling²³ children was just more than the country could bear to contemplate²⁴ at the time. And I think that's what's made this raw feeling so open to conspiracy theories.

NAYLOR: And so, you know, undoubtedly²⁵ given the delay in the release of all of the records today, there will still be those who believe the government is covering something up. We'll have a better idea next spring.

SIEGEL: NPR's Brian Naylor. Brian, thanks.

NAYLOR: You're welcome.