The US National Archives, in accordance with the decree of Donald Trump, published 80,000 pages of previously declassified documents relating to the assassinations of former head of state John F. Kennedy, his brother Attorney General Robert Kennedy and preacher Martin Luther King. The published information opens up new possibilities for continuing the investigation, but it is still incomplete. Izvestia has figured out what's new in the Kennedy files and what's missing from them.
A lot, but not enough
Ahead of the publication, Trump said that American citizens had been "waiting for decades" to see these documents. In addition, journalists and researchers of the "Dallas shooting" have once again raised the data released in the last few years. It turned out that some of the documents published on Tuesday had already been made public earlier, but in an edited (that is, with "bills") form. This allowed analysts to compare the two versions and draw conclusions about what caused the almost seven-year delay in publication.
Meanwhile, there is still a lack of information to draw up an overall picture, said Jefferson Morley, vice president of the Mary Ferrell Foundation (an organization created to investigate high-profile political cases and the activities of special services). "The first release of JFK documents in 2025 is an encouraging start. Now we have full versions of about a third of the edited documents stored in the National Archives, that is, 1,124 out of about 3,500 documents," he said.
Thus, in total, two thirds of the promised documents are missing from the currently published information array, none of the 500-plus records of the US Internal Revenue Service, and none of the 2,400 files that the FBI reported in early February.
Another secret Service agent
However, from the information that has already been analyzed, we can draw several main conclusions.
The version of Lee Harvey Oswald as a "lone communist" or a "Soviet contract killer" can be considered completely disavowed. None of the documents examined indicate any interest on the part of Moscow or Havana in removing the US president. On the contrary, it is noted that both Soviet and Cuban officials were convinced that the murder was the result of a conspiracy by American intelligence services. Moreover, the USSR feared that further accusations against the Kremlin could lead to an escalation in relations and even a Third World War.
But there is enough information about the CIA's surveillance of Oswald for four years, until November 22, 1963. According to the most common version in the United States, Langley (where the CIA headquarters is located), on the one hand, feared that the Oswald they had recruited was a KGB double agent, on the other, they tried (and successfully) to make him a "scapegoat." By the way, that's exactly what Oswald called himself.
A separate hero of the plot is Jack Ruby, the man who shot Oswald two days after the latter's arrest. There are still fierce discussions about his role in this story. Among the published data is a message about an alleged meeting between Oswald and Ruby a few weeks before the shooting in Dallas. On the day of the assassination of the president, Ruby was at the scene, where he also invited his friend to "watch the fireworks." The very next day, he told an FBI informant that he "had to kill Oswald" and that he was worried about his family.
At the same time, another published document tells about an anonymous call received by the FBI demanding to "protect" Oswald — the day before Ruby shot him.
As Vladimir Vasiliev, chief researcher at the Institute of the USA and Canada, said earlier, if this story is considered reliable, then the removal of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby two days after his arrest was necessary in order to prevent the suspect from surrendering his accomplices.
— Oswald should have been killed in custody. Moreover, there were at least two shooters, and Oswald knew them and could describe them. The official report indicates that there is no direct indication that it was Oswald who fired (the powder traces on his body did not match the traces of rifle fire. Thus, Oswald, being a CIA agent, was on a team of killers, but up to a certain point he was sure that this status would save him. When he realized that this was not going to happen, he began to testify, and after that he was removed. By the end of November, none of the performers were alive," the expert recalls.
The CIA, Angleton, and the Israeli version
At the same time, among the published data there are indications not only of performers, but also of possible organizers.
At the center of this narrative is James Angleton, the head of the CIA's counterintelligence department, who is described by several sources (for example, the notorious Seymour Hersh) as the main coordinator of the Kennedy assassination. In this regard, some researchers point to the presence of an "Israeli" trace in the case. The publication of the new files caused another discussion on this topic in American social networks. The fact is that, as the initiator and supervisor of cooperation between the American and Israeli intelligence agencies, Angleton formed and maintained a "special relationship" between the CIA and the Mossad.
American bloggers on the social network X write about the alleged participation of Israeli intelligence in the assassination attempt on the 35th president of the United States, referring to documents in the previous version of which mentions of Israel were hidden. They are promoting the theory that Kennedy was eliminated because of his demand to stop the Israeli nuclear program and allow American inspectors to visit nuclear facilities. According to this logic, Angleton was a double agent of the Mossad and transmitted critical information to Tel Aviv that contributed to the development and production of nuclear weapons by Israel.
In 1961, Kennedy instructed CIA Chief John McCone and Secretary of State Dean Rusk to obtain "guarantees against an unforeseen situation" — the emergence of a new nuclear power. In the spring of 1963, the president demanded an inspection of the Israeli nuclear facility in the city of Dimon, but Israel postponed resolving this issue.
As a result, in June 1963, Kennedy sent a letter similar to an ultimatum to Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. The United States wanted to know what was going on in Dimona, otherwise Washington's "commitment and support for Israel" could be "seriously jeopardized." Ben-Gurion soon resigned, and his successor Levi Eshkol agreed to visits from American specialists, the first of which took place in 1964, the last in 1969. Therefore, there is a possibility that by crossing out the mention of Israel, the CIA was simply trying to conceal its data collection methods.
At the same time, the Israeli case was not the only object of controversy between the president and the CIA. Kennedy did not trust the Administration and, as is known, intended to "break it into a thousand fragments." Thus, we can talk about several factors that predetermined the fate of John F. Kennedy at once, but at the point of their combination there is a group of people representing the elite of the American intelligence community, Vladimir Vasiliev is convinced.
— All the leads in this version lead to James Angleton, deputy director Allen Dulles at the CIA. It was this man who led the operation in Dallas, and before it, oversaw the failed project to overthrow Fidel Castro. It is believed that these "Cuban shooters" were the perpetrators of the murder. The decision was made by the Eisenhower—Dulles group (Vice President Lyndon Johnson is also often reported to be involved in this group. — Ed.), who were extremely dissatisfied with both Kennedy's domestic and foreign policies, as well as his behavior. In addition, representatives of the Secret Service were also involved in the operation," the expert comments.
The depth of the State
Several more published documents are devoted to the activities of the CIA. For example, one of them is a list of 34 of his "objects" around the world. The second one tells about the existence of "political and psychological" methods of countering the Soviet threat in the conditions of the Cold War. For example, declassified documents indicate the interest of the Department in organizations that opposed the continuation of the Vietnam War and their likely contacts with the USSR.
The thesis of the CIA's involvement in the arms trade was once again confirmed. The released documents provide information about a former employee of the Department, Samuel Cummings, who was an intermediary in transactions involving International Armament Corp. and Interamco. It is separately noted that according to the results of his activities, the CIA received "significant profits."
If, after studying these documents, they confirm that there was a conspiracy between the CIA and the Pentagon, then this will support the struggle that Donald Trump is waging against the "deep state," says Vladimir Brovkin, an American historian and former lecturer at Harvard University.
— All this can show that since the time of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, there has been a "deep state" that manipulated the media and Congress. It is very important to note here that in his farewell speech in 1960, when he lost the election to Kennedy, Eisenhower said that the main danger to America was the military—industrial complex. And interestingly, the next president after him may have been killed by this military-industrial complex," the expert concludes.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
