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President Joe Biden ordered to “temporarily” delay the release of a new batch of official files related to the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy (1961-1963), something he justified by the “impact of the pandemic” on the review of the documents.
The announcement was made last weekend by the White House in a statement.
The President pointed out that the pandemic “had had a significant impact” on the agencies responsible for the review of the documents, which is why he considered necessary “a continued temporary postponement”.
“The Archivist has also noted that ‘making these decisions is a matter that requires a professional, scholarly, and orderly process; not decisions or releases made in haste,'” said the White House.
This new batch of government reports was scheduled to be unveiled next week. However, they will now be released in two parts: the first at the end of this year, and the second at the end of 2022.
Biden said that “the profound national tragedy of President Kennedy’s assassination continues to resonate in American history” and he considered it “critical to ensure that the United States Government complies with the utmost transparency (…) except when the strongest possible reasons dictate otherwise”.
According to the official legislation dating back to 1992, the reports on the JFK assassination should be made public in 25 years, i.e. in 2017, but postponements were allowed if national security concerns were deemed to exist.
Former President Donald Trump (2017-2021) ordered the release of 2,800 unpublished documents in October 2017.
The National Archives has already released 90% of the government documents on the JFK assassination.
The president was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Dallas (Texas) at the hands of Lee Harvey Oswald, who according to the official Warren Commission investigation acted alone.
