It seems like years ago now that President Trump signed an executive order declassifying the Kennedy assassination files and ordering their release. 

It was only 2 1/2 weeks ago, and the deadline for their release is fast approaching. 

Since 1992, when the JFK Records Act was passed, all the files were to have been handed over to the National Archives for review and eventual declassification. The Intelligence Community has been famously reluctant to hand them over for review, and somehow, 32 years after these files were to have been turned over, they were "discovered."

14,000 pages or so. "Discovered." 

Funny how easy it is to "find" things when your head is on the chopping block. https://t.co/FkiecMy4EF

— J Michael Waller (@JMichaelWaller) February 10, 2025

A minor oversight. 

The FBI just discovered about 2,400 records tied to President Kennedy's assassination that were never provided to a board tasked with reviewing and disclosing the documents, Axios has learned.

• The still-secret records are contained in 14,000 pages of documents the FBI found in a review triggered by President Trump's Jan. 23 executive order demanding the release of all JFK assassination records.

Why it matters: The discovery — 61 years after Kennedy was killed in Dallas — follows decades of government reluctance to release all documents related to the assassination, which fueled a mountain of conspiracy theories.

• The existence of the new documents was disclosed Friday to the White House, when the Office of the Director of National Intelligence submitted its plan to disclose the assassination records under Trump's order.

Who doesn't lose a few pages of highly classified documents every now and then? 

I appear to be among the few Americans who still do not believe that the CIA (as an organization, at least) killed JFK. I have always assumed that the true culprit was Cuba and that everybody was freaked out that the revelation would spark a nuclear war. After all, we know Oswald was an avowed communist who defected to Russia before returning to the United States and that he visited the Cuban embassy in Mexico prior to the assassination, so that seems plausible. 

And, even if the top levels of the CIA were involved, it seems implausible to me that they would have memorialized the decision in documents that might one day come out. 

But I could be wrong on both counts, or it could be some combination of covering up some level of CIA awareness of the impending assassination or of assassination attempt plans and even low-level cooperation. Who knows? They have been zealously guarding the secrets for 61 years. 

Zoom in: The contents of the newly found records are closely held secrets. The three sources who relayed their existence to Axios said they hadn't seen the documents.

• But the discovery of thousands of records on one of the most scrutinized events in U.S. history is likely to raise questions about the procedures for vetting and releasing information across the entire government.
• "This is huge. It shows the FBI is taking this seriously," said Jefferson Morley, an expert on the assassination and vice president of the nonpartisan Mary Ferrell Foundation, the nation's largest source of online records of Kennedy's killing. He sued the U.S. government for more records.
• "The FBI is finally saying, 'Let's respond to the president's order,' instead of keeping the secrecy going," Morley said.

Intelligence officials are still strenuously arguing against the release of the files because they would reveal "sources and methods," which strikes me as a stretch. It is difficult to believe that any sources would still be alive or in danger--they would be ancient--and the methods used would be so outdated that any threat to national security would be de minimus, especially compared to the US citizens' right to know about this event central to the American psyche and history. 

The mere fact that 2400 files were hidden from the National Archives and the review board demonstrates the willingness of the Intelligence Community to defy the Chief Executives of both parties going back 32 years. The Deep State is very real and believes it is unaccountable to anybody, including Congress and presidents. 

Trump's order calls for a plan to release assassination records of RFK and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. by March 9.

• "PRESIDENT TRUMP IS ENDING THE ENDLESS DELAYS," a White House fact sheet issued Jan. 23 says: "President Trump promised during his campaign to release assassination records to give Americans the truth."

What's next: Despite Trump's order, sources say, the various intelligence agencies with records of the assassination are still recommending redactions.

• "When POTUS hears about this stonewalling, he's gonna hit the roof," a White House official told Axios.
• "This is total Deep State bulls**t," said another.
• "Don't be surprised if all these records just suddenly wind up online," a Trump adviser said. "He wants to move on and call this a promise kept."

Of course, if 14,000 pages of documents have been hidden, that begs the question: what else is being hidden that has yet to be 'discovered?" Can we ever trust that everything Trump has declassified will be released?

Of course not. There will be plenty of doubt, and conspiracy theories will continue. Assuming we don't get confirmation that the CIA or somebody else in the government commissioned the hit, people will still speculate that they did. 

We'll fine out on March 9th, so stay tuned. This is going to be interesting.