You've probably heard for decades that "the truth is coming." It’s basically the longest-running teaser trailer in American history. People have been asking when will the jfk files be available since the Oliver Stone movie came out in the early 90s, and honestly, the answer has always been a moving target.
Well, it’s 2026. We are finally at the end of the road, or at least as close as the federal government is ever going to let us get.
Most people don't realize that the "JFK files" aren't just one dusty box in a basement. It's a massive collection of over 5 million pages. For a long time, the National Archives had the vast majority of it open, but it was those last few thousand pages—the ones with the heavy black ink—that kept everyone up at night.
The 2025 Turning Point
Everything shifted last year. On January 23, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14176. It didn't just mention JFK; it grouped in the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. too. The order was pretty blunt. It stated that continued withholding was "not consistent with the public interest."
By March 18, 2025, the National Archives (NARA) dropped a massive bomb: a release of roughly 80,000 pages of previously classified or redacted records.
This was the big one.
Unlike the trickles we saw in 2017 or 2021, these were released without redactions. If you go to the National Archives website right now, you can see them. They even warned people that some of these files contain personal info like Social Security numbers of folks who might still be alive. They just let it all fly.
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Why the Delay Lasted So Long
You might wonder why it took until 2025 and 2026 to see this stuff. It wasn't just "The Deep State" being spooky, though that's the popular theory. A lot of it was boring, bureaucratic junk.
- Source Protection: The CIA argued for years that revealing a name from 1963 would still burn a "source or method" used today.
- Foreign Relations: Some files involved sensitive dealings with the Mexican government or Soviet contacts that diplomats didn't want to mess with.
- Privacy: Standard stuff. People’s home addresses and medical records.
But there was also the "Joannides" problem. George Joannides was a CIA officer who worked with the DRE (a Cuban exile group). Researchers like Jefferson Morley have fought for years to see those specific files because they think they show the CIA was closer to Lee Harvey Oswald’s activities than they ever admitted.
The 2025-2026 releases have finally brought much of that Joannides material into the light.
What’s Still "Hidden" Right Now?
Is everything out? Sorta.
As of early 2026, the National Archives says the "lion's share" is available online. But there is a tiny, annoying catch. There are still records that are legally "withheld in full" or "withheld in part" due to very specific laws that even a President can’t just wave away with a pen.
- Grand Jury Secrecy: Under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure (Rule 6e), grand jury testimony is secret forever unless a judge unseals it.
- IRS Records: Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code protects tax return info. Unless you’re the person who filed the taxes (or their heir in some cases), that stuff stays locked.
- Deeded Material: Some private individuals gave papers to the government with "deeds of gift" that say "don't open this until 2050."
The National Archives and the Department of Justice have been working through 2025 and into this year to get courts to unseal the grand jury stuff. It’s a slow process. It’s not a cover-up at this point; it’s just a legal slog.
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The FBI’s 2025 Surprise
One of the weirdest things to happen recently was the FBI "finding" more records. In early 2025, the Bureau told NARA they found additional assassination-related documents while moving files to their new Central Records Complex.
These were digitized and pushed out between February and June 2025.
It makes you wonder: if they're still "finding" boxes in 2025, when does it actually end? Most historians believe we now have about 99% of the paper trail. The problem is that the 1% we’re missing is exactly where people think the "smoking gun" is buried.
How to Actually See the Files Today
If you want to know when will the jfk files be available for you to read, the answer is: Right now.
You don't need a security clearance. You just need a lot of coffee and a fast internet connection.
Go to the National Archives JFK Assassination Records page. They have a 2025 Documents Release section. You can download PDF after PDF. Some are just a single page of a cable from an embassy in 1962; others are hundreds of pages of FBI background checks on random Dallas residents.
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What the 2025/2026 Releases Revealed (So Far)
We haven't found a photo of a second shooter on the Grassy Knoll. Sorry.
What we have found is a much clearer picture of how much the government was scrambling. The newer files show a lot of "CYA" (Cover Your Assets) behavior. The CIA was obsessed with Oswald's trip to Mexico City. The FBI was terrified that they’d look incompetent for not tracking him better after he defected to the USSR.
The nuance is in the details. We're seeing more about the "AMWORLD" project—a plan to overthrow Castro—and how it might have overlapped with people who knew Oswald.
Moving Forward in 2026
The focus now isn't on "waiting" for a release. It's on analysis.
Groups like the Mary Ferrell Foundation are currently using AI and crowdsourced indexing to search these 80,000 new pages. It takes time to connect a name in a 1963 memo to a different name in a 1978 HSCA (House Select Committee on Assassinations) testimony.
If you're looking for the final word, here is what you should do next:
- Check the NARA "Recent Releases" monthly. They are still uploading the final digitized versions of the FBI "found" files from last year.
- Follow the Mary Ferrell Foundation. They are the gold standard for organizing this mess and often find things the mainstream media misses.
- Watch the court dockets. The real "final" release will be when the DOJ finishes the court petitions to open those remaining grand jury records.
The era of the "Secret JFK File" is mostly over. Now we just have to figure out what the 5 million pages actually mean.
Next Steps for Researchers
Start by searching the "2025 Release" database on the National Archives site using specific keywords like "Mexico City," "Oswald," or "Joannides." If you find a document that still has a "Postponed in Full" marker, check the "RIF" (Record Identification Form) number against the latest 2026 updates to see if the digitized version has finally been swapped in.