20 July 2023 , 14:21
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Thousands of classified documents linked to the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy have been given authorisation for release by US President Joe Biden, which reveal a previously redacted name in the investigation.
The Biden administration took action in December by releasing over 14,000 documents, adhering to the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992.
This act mandated the public release of all documents pertaining to Kennedy's assassination by 2017.
Despite last year's disclosure of records, approximately 3 per cent of the files remained classified and were subsequently sent back to the National Archives for further evaluation.
The archive concluded its review on May 1 and Biden certified the release, his 'final' certification, of any remaining documents authorised to be declassified on June 30.
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US President Joe Biden has authorized the release of thousands of classified documents related to the assassination of former president John F Kennedy (Getty Images)Some information of note that has been pulled by experts from the newly released files is the name of a CIA official who intercepted Lee Harvey Oswald’s mail in the months before he fatally shot Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963.
The name of the agent, Reuben Efron, was previously redacted in a memo he wrote about a letter between Oswald and his mother.
The memo, which was released to the public 61 years ago, was reportedly sent to the CIA’s Betty Egerter, whose boss told the FBI that the CIA had no information on Oswald on the day of the assassination. The impact of identifying Efron remains unclear.
Efron was born in Lithuania in 1911 and moved to the US in 1939. He served in the Air Force during World War II and passed away in 1993.
JFK in 1961 (The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images)
In December, the Biden administration released more than 14,000 documents in cooperation with the President John F Kennedy Assassination (NY Daily News via Getty Images)The government, as reported by The New York Times, is withholding an additional 4,684 documents, a move that President Biden explained as necessary to safeguard against potential harm to military defence, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or foreign relations.
This decision to further postpone their release and entrust their future disclosure to various agencies has sparked a division among the general public.
The Mary Ferrell Foundation, a non-profit historical organisation, took action by seeking an injunction against Biden's order. However, their efforts were unsuccessful, as the injunction request was denied in California last Friday.
Even Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the nephew of President Kennedy and a presidential candidate, expressed his opinion on the matter through a tweet, emphasising that the issue isn't about conspiracy but rather about transparency.
He questioned the rationale behind withholding information about an assassination that occurred 60 years ago, wondering what national security secrets could still be at risk.
In a statement, Biden said that he ‘fully’ supports the 1992 act but added: "Executive departments and agencies have worked meticulously over thousands of hours of review to ensure that the American people have access to every single word that is appropriate for release under the standards of the act."
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