COMMENTS FROM STREET TALK NETWORK ABOUT THIS POST-

1. Do your own research on the information provided and then come up with your own conclusions.

2. This article contains many names and other information that can be researched.

3. Trust your gut feeling on information provided as this post may contain slanted information.

4. Great site but keep in mind who created this site and why. The Government/CIA site for who killed President Kennedy.

The National Archives JFK Assassination Records portal is the federal government’s principal online gateway to records concerning President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. It contains or links to millions of pages of government documents, photographs, recordings, investigative files, official reports, indexes, and physical-evidence descriptions.

The collection is not a single report supporting one conclusion. It brings together records generated by many agencies and investigations over several decades. Consequently, researchers will find official conclusions, conflicting testimony, unverified allegations, raw intelligence, investigative leads, correspondence, and later criticism of earlier investigations.

1. Size and purpose of the collection

The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection contains:

• More than six million pages
• Government memoranda, reports, cables, and
  correspondence
• Witness statements, depositions, affidavits, and
  hearing transcripts
• Photographs and photographic evidence
• Motion pictures
• Sound recordings
• Intelligence and law-enforcement files
• Court records
• Physical artifacts and evidentiary objects
• Records of the Warren Commission
• Records of the House Select Committee on
  Assassinations
• Records of the Assassination Records Review Board
• Records from the CIA, FBI, Secret Service, State
  Department, military services, and numerous other agencies

Most of the collection has been declassified and is available either online or at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. NARA began an organized effort in 2023 to digitize the entire collection, but that work remains ongoing. National Archives collection overview

The National Archives is the custodian of these records. It does not independently determine historical truth, endorse every allegation in a document, or possess authority to declassify agency records.

2. Why the collection was created

Congress passed the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 following continuing public doubt and renewed interest generated partly by the film JFK. President George H. W. Bush signed the act on October 26, 1992.

The law required assassination-related material to be gathered into one collection at the National Archives. It established a presumption that the records should be disclosed and created the independent Assassination Records Review Board to reconsider agency requests for continued secrecy.

The term “assassination record” was defined broadly. It includes public or private material that documents, describes, reports upon, analyzes, or interprets people, events, and activities reasonably connected with Kennedy’s assassination or any investigation of it. Background on the collection

3. The latest releases

2025–2026 releases

The most prominent part of the present website is the 2025 Documents Release page. It was created in response to Executive Order 14176, signed by President Donald Trump on January 23, 2025.

The page says that all collection records previously withheld because of classification were released beginning March 18, 2025. The files are organized by their Record Identification Form, or RIF, numbers.

The listed batches are:

That amounts to 94,643 pages represented by 2,709 PDF files in the batches listed on that page.

These releases are largely collections of original records, not newly written explanations of the assassination. They include intelligence cables, operational files, personnel references, investigative reports, name traces, internal memoranda, foreign-station communications, and records that previously contained classified passages.

NARA warns that the releases were posted without redactions to maximize transparency and that some files contain personally identifiable information about living people.

Certain material remains subject to special legal restrictions rather than ordinary national-security classification. These include:

• Court-sealed documents
• Grand-jury information
• Tax-return information protected by federal law
• Privately donated material governed by deeds of
  gift

Earlier releases

The portal also preserves separate release pages for:

• 2023 records
• 2022 records
• 2021 records
• 2017–2018 records

During 2023, NARA and the originating agencies reviewed remaining redactions in 3,648 documents. Between April and August 2023, NARA posted 2,672 documents containing newly disclosed information.

The release tables are useful because they can be searched by fields such as:

• Record number
• Document date
• Document type
• File number
• Sender and recipient
• Document title
• Originating agency
• Number of pages
• Release date
• Former withholding status
• Comments or processing notes

Some release pages also provide downloadable Excel indexes.

4. The complete Warren Commission Report

The website provides the Warren Commission Report in individually accessible sections.

President Lyndon Johnson created the Commission on November 29, 1963. Its members were:

• Chief Justice Earl Warren, chairman
• Senator Richard Russell
• Senator John Sherman Cooper
• Representative Hale Boggs
• Representative Gerald Ford
• Former CIA Director Allen Dulles
• Former diplomat and government official John
  McCloy

The online report contains chapters covering:

1. Summary and conclusions

2. The assassination

3. The shots from the Texas School Book Depository

4. The alleged assassin

5. Oswald’s detention and death

6. Investigation of a possible conspiracy

7. Oswald’s background and possible motives

8. Presidential protection

The appendixes include especially important source material:

• The list of witnesses
• Commission testimony procedures
• History of presidential protection
• Parkland Memorial Hospital medical reports
• Kennedy’s autopsy and supplemental report
• Expert testimony
• Reports about Oswald’s interrogations
• The Commission’s treatment of rumors and
  speculation
• A detailed Oswald biography
• Analysis of Oswald’s finances
• Oswald’s dealings with the State Department and
  immigration authorities
• A biography of Jack Ruby
• Ruby’s polygraph examination
• Footnotes and a general index

The Warren Commission concluded that Oswald fired three shots from the Texas School Book Depository, that one shot missed, and that two shots struck Kennedy—with one of the two also wounding Governor John Connally. It found no persuasive evidence that Oswald or Ruby was part of a conspiracy.

That is the Warren Commission’s conclusion, not a conclusion independently reached by the Archives website.

5. Original Warren Commission working records

The Warren Commission records inventory extends far beyond the published report. It describes the Commission’s underlying working files, including:

• Executive-session proceedings and minutes
• Administrative and staff records
• Incoming-mail logs
• Lists and indexes of Commission documents
• Secret Service name, address, and
  telephone-number indexes
• Approximately 1,555 numbered Commission documents
• FBI, CIA, State Department, and Secret Service
  reports
• Dallas Police Department material
• Texas and other state records
• Witness testimony, affidavits, and depositions
• Photographs, films, press clippings, maps, and
  tape recordings
• Public correspondence
• Files concerning presidential protection
• Drafts and working papers used to prepare the
  final report
• The Zapruder slides listed within Commission
  Document 858

The inventory describes approximately 30 linear feet of numbered Commission documents, consisting mainly of FBI reports but also containing CIA, Secret Service, State Department, Dallas, and other records.

It also identifies files on organizations and establishments such as:

• The Carousel Club
• The Vegas Club
• Parkland Memorial Hospital
• The John Birch Society
• The Communist Party
• The Worker

These records are important because they permit a researcher to compare the Commission’s published conclusions with the reports, correspondence, and evidence its staff actually reviewed.

6. Files on 589 “key persons”

The JFK Key Persons finding aid lists files associated with 589 people. That figure includes 552 individuals who testified, gave depositions, or submitted affidavits.

The files may contain:

• Commission documents
• Testimony and depositions
• Affidavits
• FBI reports
• CIA memoranda
• Secret Service reports
• Dallas Police Department material
• Background memoranda
• Witness scheduling information
• Correspondence transmitting testimony
• Thirty-three sound recordings related to Mark
  Lane

The list includes major figures such as:

• John and Nellie Connally
• John and Jacqueline Kennedy
• Lee and Marina Oswald
• Jack Ruby
• Officer J. D. Tippit
• Ruth and Michael Paine
• Parkland doctors and nurses
• Dealey Plaza witnesses
• Dallas police officers
• FBI and Secret Service personnel
• Oswald’s acquaintances in Dallas, New Orleans,
  Mexico, and the Soviet Union

Oswald’s files are divided into four major periods:

1. His early life and pre-Soviet period

2. His residence in the Soviet Union

3. His return to the United States, New Orleans activities, and Mexico City trip

4. His arrest and murder by Jack Ruby

This alphabetical finding aid is one of the site’s best tools for person-by-person research.

7. Photographs and physical evidence

The photograph collection includes digitized Commission exhibits and preservation photographs. Examples include:

• Oswald in the Soviet Union
• Oswald with Marina and their child
• Oswald at approximately the time of his defection
• Oswald working in a Soviet television factory
• Oswald following his arrest
• Oswald holding a rifle
• The bullet found on a stretcher at Parkland
  Hospital, Commission Exhibit 399
• Photographs of firearms, bullet fragments,
  cartridge cases, clothing, and other evidence
• Images connected with Oswald’s political
  activities
• Evidentiary photographs from Dallas and New
  Orleans

The FAQ explains that there are three recognized “backyard photographs”: two Warren Commission exhibits, CE 133A and CE 133B, and a third print identified by the House committee as HSCA Exhibit F-180.

Physical artifacts are generally not produced for casual viewing. A researcher seeking access must identify the exact object, explain what reproductions have already been examined, and show why viewing the original is necessary.

8. Medical and autopsy records

The website provides direct access to the medical material incorporated into the Warren Commission Report, including:

• Statements and reports from Parkland Memorial
  Hospital doctors
• The official autopsy report
• The supplemental autopsy report
• Commission Exhibits 387 and 391
• Expert medical and ballistic testimony
• Photographs or descriptions of Kennedy’s clothing
  and related evidence

Kennedy’s clothing is preserved in secure, climate-controlled storage. NARA has created detailed color preservation photographs.

Jacqueline Kennedy’s pink suit is also held under controlled conditions. It was donated by Caroline Kennedy through a 2003 deed of gift that restricts public access for 100 years from the date of the agreement—that is, until 2103. National Archives JFK FAQ

9. House Select Committee on Assassinations Report

The website contains the House Select Committee on Assassinations Report, created after Congress reopened the Kennedy investigation in the 1970s.

Its findings differ significantly from the Warren Commission in one important respect. The committee reported that:

• Oswald fired three shots.
• The second and third shots struck Kennedy.
• The third shot killed him.
• Acoustical evidence indicated a high probability
  that two gunmen fired.
• Kennedy was probably assassinated as the result
  of a conspiracy.
• The committee could not identify the alleged
  second gunman or determine the full extent of the conspiracy.
• Federal agencies performed with varying levels of
  competence.
• Kennedy did not receive adequate protection.
• The investigation establishing Oswald’s
  responsibility was thorough.
• The original investigation of a possible
  conspiracy was inadequate.

The acoustic conclusion later became highly disputed. The Archives presents the committee’s historical report; it does not claim that every scientific conclusion in that report remains accepted today.

The HSCA material covers:

• Ballistics and firearms
• Medical evidence
• Photographic evidence
• Acoustical analysis
• Oswald’s activities and associations
• Jack Ruby and organized-crime questions
• Cuba and anti-Castro organizations
• The Soviet Union
• Intelligence-agency performance
• Secret Service protection
• Possible conspiracy
• The murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., which
  the committee also investigated

10. Assassination Records Review Board files

The Assassination Records Review Board section explains how the independent board operated between 1994 and September 30, 1998.

The available finding aids cover:

• Board members’ files
• General Counsel records
• Research and Analysis files
• Press and public-contact files
• Issue files
• Chronological files
• Congressional relations
• Director’s files
• Individual staff members’ files
• Agency correspondence
• Records sought from private individuals and
  organizations

These materials show how the Board:

• Defined assassination-related records
• Challenged government-agency postponement
  requests
• Located additional collections
• Interviewed witnesses
• Examined medical and autopsy controversies
• Pursued intelligence, military, law-enforcement,
  and private records
• Attempted to clarify gaps in the official record

Many underlying ARRB staff files are open but are not yet online; they must be viewed at College Park or ordered from NARA.

The ARRB Final Report is available as one complete PDF, as searchable text, or by individual chapter. It addresses secrecy, creation of the Board, its public activities, review standards, searches for missing information, federal-agency compliance, and recommendations for future handling of sensitive historical records.

11. Records from government agencies and other institutions

The “Currently Available Online” index reaches far beyond the three best-known investigations. It links researchers to records from or concerning:

• Central Intelligence Agency
• Federal Bureau of Investigation
• Secret Service
• Department of State
• Department of Justice
• Department of Defense
• Defense Intelligence Agency
• Army, Navy, and Air Force
• National Security Agency
• National Archives
• U.S. House of Representatives
• U.S. Senate
• District courts
• Post Office Department
• National Park Service
• Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
  Explosives
• Arlington National Cemetery
• Assassination Records Review Board
• New Orleans authorities and private collections

Noteworthy subject collections include:

• CIA and FBI records about Oswald
• Oswald’s trip to Mexico City
• CIA monitoring of the Cuban and Soviet embassies
• Anti-Castro Cuban groups and CIA operations
• Operation Mongoose
• JMWAVE, the CIA’s large Miami station
• Intelligence reports concerning Cuba, the Soviet
  Union, and Vietnam
• Jack Ruby and organized crime
• Jim Garrison’s New Orleans investigation
• Clay Shaw litigation
• New Orleans Metropolitan Crime Commission records
• Captain J. W. Fritz’s papers
• Military communications following the
  assassination
• Andrews Air Force Base operational logs
• Records concerning Kennedy’s burial and
  reinterment
• The handling and disposition of Kennedy’s first
  casket
• FOIA litigation over assassination records
• Richard Pavlick, who planned an earlier attempt
  against Kennedy
• Harold Weisberg’s litigation and research
• Preservation and administration of the Warren
  Commission evidence

The current online holdings index is the best starting point for browsing these collections by originating agency.

12. What researchers should understand about the records

A document’s presence in the JFK collection does not prove every statement in it. The collection includes:

• Verified facts and official findings
• Witness recollections
• Raw intelligence reports
• Leads that investigators later rejected
• Anonymous letters and public tips
• Rumors and allegations
• Duplicate records
• Agency routing slips and administrative papers
• Material only indirectly connected to the
  assassination
• Later analysis and criticism

Intelligence documents can report what a source claimed without the agency confirming that the claim was true. Likewise, a CIA document in the collection does not necessarily mean the CIA authored every attached statement or accepted it as factual.

Researchers should compare the original record with:

1. Its RIF metadata

2. The originating agency

3. Its creation date

4. Later investigative treatment

5. Related witness testimony

6. Warren Commission and HSCA conclusions

7. ARRB notes concerning authenticity, provenance, or disclosure

13. What is not completely online

Although most records are open to the public, “open” and “digitized” do not mean the same thing.

Some material must still be:

• Examined in person at College Park
• Ordered as paper or digital reproductions
• Retrieved from analog film, audio, or video
• Accessed through a National Archives Catalog
  entry
• Requested by exact series, box, folder, exhibit,
  or RIF number

Other records remain legally restricted because they contain grand-jury, court-sealed, tax, donated-property, or privacy-protected information.

The Zapruder film presents another complication: the original is preserved by the National Archives, but copyright is privately held, so NARA does not simply distribute unrestricted copies. Copyright may also affect other photographs or donated items.

14. Search and research tools

The portal provides several ways to find material:

• Searchable mass-release tables
• Direct PDF links
• Downloadable Excel metadata
• National Archives Catalog identifiers
• Alphabetical person lists
• Warren Commission box and folder inventories
• Record-group listings
• Report tables of contents
• Individual chapter links
• Photographic exhibit galleries
• ARRB finding aids
• Citizen Archivist transcription projects

NARA invites volunteers to transcribe handwritten and scanned documents. These transcriptions make names, places, dates, and subjects easier to find through electronic searches.

Bottom line

This site is an official repository and research map for the documentary history of the Kennedy assassination. Its most valuable features are the mass releases of previously redacted intelligence records, the complete Warren Commission and HSCA reports, the underlying Warren Commission files, the alphabetical records on 589 key individuals, the photographic evidence, and the ARRB’s disclosure records.

It does not present one final resolution of every controversy. Instead, it gives researchers the primary evidence needed to examine issues such as the number of shots, Oswald’s activities, Mexico City, Cuba, intelligence surveillance, Jack Ruby, organized crime, medical evidence, presidential protection, possible conspiracy, and the adequacy of the government’s investigations.