President John F Kennedy, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, and Texas Governor John Connally ride through the streets of Dallas, Texas prior to the assassination on November 22, 1963(Image: Corbis via Getty Images)

JFK assassination files: CIA plot, Oswald's 'poor shot' and more revelations from the newly-released documents

by · Irish Mirror

Overnight, tens of thousands of top-secret files related to the assassination of John F. Kennedy were made public, revealing some astonishing allegations about his untimely demise.

Donald Trump had ordered the release of 80,000 documents concerning JFK and his death shortly after reclaiming the presidency in January. The National Archives worked with federal agencies to adhere to the President's order under Executive Order 14176.

Among the papers were suggestions that the CIA orchestrated JFK's murder in Dallas back in November 1963. Another document cast doubt on Lee Harvey Oswald's marksmanship, branding him a "poor shot", reports the Mirror.

A memo from one of the disclosed files referenced an article by Ramparts magazine from June 1967 regarding a CIA informant, US Army Captain John Garrett Underhill Jr. It stated: "The day after the assassination, Gary Underhill left Washington in a hurry. Late in the evening he showed up at the home of a friend in New Jersey. He was very agitated.

John F. Kennedy(Image: Pictures From History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

"A small clique within the CIA was responsible for the assassination, he confided, and he was afraid for his life and probably would have to leave the country. Less than six months later, Underhill was found shot to death in his Washington apartment. The coroner ruled it a suicide."

A KGB official named Nikonov had a file on Lee Harvey Oswald, assessing whether he was an agent for the USSR after his time there. The document highlighted Oswald's "stormy" relationship with his Soviet wife and stated: "Reflected that Oswald was a poor shot when he tried target firing in the USSR.

The Dallas Police Department mug shots of Lee Harvey Oswald following his arrest for possible involvement in the John F Kennedy assassination and the murder of Officer JD Tippit(Image: Corbis via Getty Images)

"Nikonov is now confident that Oswald was at no time an agent controlled by the KGB. [It is] doubted that anyone could control Oswald, but noted that the KBG watched him closely and constantly while he was in the USSR."

In 1978, a letter sent to the British embassy from Sergyj Czornonoh claimed he was detained in London on July 18, 1963, and had information about Lee Harvey Oswald plotting to assassinate the beloved president.

Despite promises from Trump that they would be unredacted, some of the newly-released documents have been found with black markings crossing out sections. Some are unreadable, others are scans of faxes, and there are even voice recordings among them.

Jefferson Morley, vice president of the Mary Ferrell Foundation which facilitated the release, commented: "The first JFK files release of 2025 is an encouraging start. We now have complete versions of approximately a third of the redacted JFK documents held by the National Archives (1,124 of approximately 3,500 documents).

"Rampant overclassification of trivial information has been eliminated and there appear to be no redactions, though we have not viewed every document. Seven of ten JFK files held by the Archives and sought by JFK researchers are now in the public record.

The Presidential motorcade with Texas governor John Connally, first lady Jackie Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy on November 21, 1963 in San Antonio, Texas, the day before John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, was assassinated(Image: Getty Images)

"These long-secret records shed new light on JFK's mistrust of the CIA, the Castro assassination plots, the surveillance of Oswald in Mexico City, and CIA propaganda operations involving Oswald.

"The release does not include two thirds of the promised files nor any of 500-plus IRS record, nor any of the 2,400 recently discovered FBI files. Nonetheless, this is most positive news on the declassification of JFK files since the 1990s."

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