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Remaining JFK assassination files to be released "in the coming weeks"

The FBI say the remain files relating to the assassination of President John F Kennedy will be re...
Newstalk
Newstalk

13.57 31 Oct 2017


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Remaining JFK assassination fi...

Remaining JFK assassination files to be released "in the coming weeks"

Newstalk
Newstalk

13.57 31 Oct 2017


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The FBI say the remain files relating to the assassination of President John F Kennedy will be released to the public "in the coming weeks".

On Friday, 2,891 records were released but, after requests mostly from the CIA and FBI, US President Donald Trump had delayed the release of some "sensitive" files.

But now hundreds of previously withheld files relating to the 1963 assassination have been cleared for release.

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The FBI says it "has authorised for release all previously withheld materials in its JFK assassination files.

"Currently, the limited redactions relate to individuals who provided information during the course of the investigation, and whose lives may be at risk if they are publicly identified.

"Every effort is being made to lift the remaining redactions going forward as those personal safety concerns are balanced with the goal of maximum transparency.

"The National Archives will release all remaining records on a rolling basis in the coming weeks."

A hand-written note released as part of the operation | Source: The US National Archives and Records Administration

President George HW Bush signed a law in 1992 requiring all documents on the assassination be released within 25 years, unless doing so would harm intelligence, law enforcement, military operations or foreign relations.

The batch of documents released on Friday included revelations that a reporter at a British newspaper had received an anonymous call about "some big news" in the US 25 minutes before the assassination.

According to the memo to the FBI: "The caller said only that the Cambridge News reporter should call the American embassy in London for some big news and then hung up."

After news of the president's death came through, details of the call had been passed to the police and MI5.

The reporter was not named but was described as "a sound and loyal person with no security record".

It was also revealed that longtime FBI director J Edgar Hoover said after Oswald's arrest that he "received a call in our Dallas office from a man talking in a calm voice and saying he was a member of a committee organised to kill Oswald". The police had assured him Oswald would be protected but this "was not done".

Additional reporting: IRN


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