On the JFK Files, Trump Faces Harder Choices Than You Might Think

Assassination secrets vs. relations with Israel and Mexico

(Credit: NBC News)

Amid the flurry of executive orders issued by the White House in the first 24 hours of Donald Trump’s presidency, conspicuously absent was any memoranda related to the JFK assassination files. How exactly the White House intends to fulfill Trump’s sweeping pre-inauguration promise to release all the files has yet to be determined.

The specific wording of any order related to JFK records is likely to be the subject of some dispute among Trump’s advisers. The remaining files contain potentially sensational information about the violent end of the presidency of John F. Kennedy 61 years ago. The files also contain information that will arguably disrupt U.S. foreign policy with key allies and not shed any new light on JFK’s death.

The resolution of the JFK files issue offers a window into the new administrations. While Trump’s critics fear his authoritarian ways (and with good reason), his advocacy of full JFK disclosure seems both anti-authoritarian and democratic.

What will Trump do?

Key Files to be Opened

The still-secret assassination files of great public interest include:

--a heavily redacted White House memo expressing JFK’s hostility to the CIA.

--The personnel file of a Miami-based undercover officer involved in the CIA’s surveillance of Lee Harvey Oswald before JFK was killed.

--Situation reports on a secret internal CIA investigation into the possible role of Cuban exiles in JFK’s murder.

--The roster of CIA assassination team that targeted Fidel Castro.

--An FBI report on a Cuban assassin whose friends believed was a gunman in Dallas on November 22.

Locating and releasing these files should not be difficult—if the White House demands them.

Files the CIA Does Not Want You to See

Other JFK files have explosive potential quite apart from the assassination story

In 1975 CIA spymaster James Angleton briefed senators investigating CIA abuses of power about the origins of Israel’s nuclear program. The 113 pages of testimony, still heavily redacted, were deemed ‘assassination-related” by an independent civilian review panel in the 1990s. Declassification of Angleton’s testimony would violate the official U.S. policy of “opacity” which forbids all U.S. officials from talking about Israel’s nuclear arsenal.

A much redacted 77-page summary of CIA surveillance activities in Mexico in 1960-62 might shed light on agency’s monitoring of Oswald in Mexico City six weeks before JFK was killed. It also documents the close cooperation between the CIA and several presidents of Mexico and might embarrass the Mexican government and alienate U.S. allies in the country’s security forces.

Releasing these records is sure to be resisted by CIA officials and administration’s hawks. In short, Trump and his advisers face choices that are harder than many people may know.

Who Favors What?

Cabinet nominees Robert Kennedy Jr., Kash Patel, and Tulsi Gabbard have been outspoken in favor of full JFK disclosure, suggesting that the CIA was involved the assassination of RFK’s uncle and must be held accountable.

The hawks in the administration, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Tom Cotton, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, may well resist full disclosure on the grounds it will harm U.S. relations with Israel and Mexico, impugn the U.S. intelligence community, and shed no light on JFK’s death.

CIA director nominee John Ratcliffe, was not asked about the JFK files during his confirmation hearings and I am not aware that he has ever commented on the issue.

It seems certain that Trump will revoke President Biden’s 2023 order giving the CIA and National Security Agency control over the last of the JFK files. But the details of his order will be key. I expect that the national security agencies are seeking a significant carve-out that protects the CIA’s assassination secrets. They always have. Ever since November 22, 1963.