On Nov 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, by Lee Harvy Oswald. Fifty-eight years later, Americans have yet to see all of the files related to his assination.
On Oct 22, 2021, the White House announced the remaining classified documents related to the assination of JFK would again be delayed, this time to Covid-19. The remaining files will be released to the public on Dec 15, of 2022 instead.
In 2017, former president Donald Trump released several of once classified documents related to the assination, but many still remain disclosed.
Of those that were released, 3 quarters of the documents contain redacted information. For the remaining undisclosed documents, the deadline was set to Oct 26, 2021.
Why did the White House delay the release of these documents? Due to Covid-19, national archivists need more time to redact the documents before they are released to the American public.
Why are these documents being redacted in the first place?
In 1967, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provided the public with the right to access records from any federal agency.
While there are exceptions to this law, such as for the purpose of national security, why do these documents still present a national security threat and why are they being redacted?
Earlier this month, several democratic members of Congress wrote to President Biden, urging him to fully release all of the documents related to the assasination of JFK, including those that have been redacted.
Under a democracy, the foundation in which our country was founded upon, our government can not deny us the right to access records and documents from any federal agency.
Without this imperative transparency, our democracy begins to crumble under the power that our government has against us.
Under our democracy, American citizens have the right to scrutinize decisions made by the government, but those decisions can’t be scrutinized if those decisions are not made public.
The secrecy surrounding these documents mean that Americans can’t trust our government as they continue to deny us our right to transparency in our government.
President Biden had stated that he wanted to follow the advice of the archivist, noting that they didn’t want to make any hasty decisions. The assasination took place fifty-eight years ago though.
Why would the release of information about an event that took place fifty-eight years ago still be considered a hasty decision?
Why is the president of the United States taking advice from someone whose job it is to withhold information from the American people in the first place?
Instead of allowing the National Archivist to redact the remaining documents before they are released to the public, the remaining documents should be released in their original form for the American public to access.
Until the American government follows the Freedom of Information Act of 1967, the American people will be denied their right to freedom under the democracy our country was founded upon.