US President Donald Trump ordered the unveiling of 2,800 documents related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy but yielded to pressure from intelligence agencies to block the release of other files for further review.
More than 2,800 uncensored documents were posted immediately to the National Archives website a large cache that may reveal new insights into a tragedy that has been endlessly dissected for decades.
A CIA spokesman told Reuters that every single one of around 18,000 remaining records in the collection would ultimately be released, with only 1 percent of the material left redacted.
Trump touted the release, which Congress had scheduled 25 years ago, on Twitter writing that they were "very interesting!"
Trump was reluctant to agree to agency requests to hold back thousands of documents officials say CIA Director Mike Pompeo argued to the White House for keeping some materials secret.
The law allows the president to keep material under wraps if it is determined that harm to intelligence operations, national defense, law enforcement or the conduct of foreign relations would outweigh the public's interest in full disclosure.
The rest will be released "on a rolling basis," with "redactions in only the rarest of circumstances," by the end of the review on April 26, 2018, the White House said in a statement.
In a memo to government agency heads, Trump said the American people deserved as much access as possible to the records.
In a memo to government agency heads, Trump said the American people deserved as much access as possible to the records.
"Therefore, I am ordering today that the veil finally be lifted," he wrote, adding that he had no choice but to accept the requested redactions for now.
CIA Director Mike Pompeo was a lead advocate in arguing to the White House for keeping some materials secret, one senior administration official said.
While Kennedy was killed over half a century ago, the document file included material from investigations during the 1970s through the 1990s. Intelligence and law enforcement officials argued their release could thus put at risk some more recent “law enforcement equities” and other materials that still have relevance, the official said.
Trump was resistant but “acceded to it with deep insistence that this stuff is going to be reviewed and released in the next six months,” the official added.