The newly released 2025 files reveal how deep the mistrust ran between President Kennedy and the CIA-and how his threats to dismantle the agency may have made him a target.
đȘ Friends Turned Enemies
Long before the motorcade rolled through Dealey Plaza, long before the shots were fired, a war was already brewing-between the President of the United States and his own intelligence community.
The 2025 JFK files pull back the curtain on this long-suspected tension, revealing a level of distrust, isolation, and outright hostility between John F. Kennedy and the CIA thatâs hard to overstate.
This wasnât a policy disagreement.
It was a power struggle-and one that JFK seemed determined to win.
đ„ The Bay of Pigs: The Beginning of the Break
The rupture began with the Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961, a CIA-led disaster that attempted to overthrow Fidel Castro using Cuban exiles.
The operation was a complete failure-and Kennedy was furious.
đ„ âI want to splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds.â - John F. Kennedy, privately after the invasion.
The 2025 files include newly unredacted memos from inside the Agency describing “crisis containment efforts” after JFK’s backlash. Some CIA officers feared Kennedy would dismantle their covert operations arm entirely.
One internal document-previously redacted-calls Kennedyâs response âdestabilizing and threatening to long-term strategic assets.â
đ”ïžââïž The Rise of Countermeasures
The more Kennedy distanced himself from the CIA, the more Langley pushed back.
The files reveal:
- Plans to tighten internal secrecy following Kennedyâs White House probes.
- A proposal by a senior officer to âcreate operational insulationâ between the Agencyâs field activities and White House oversight.
- Internal communications referring to JFK and RFK as “adversaries of agency continuity.â
One memo, dated late 1962, explicitly warns that Kennedyâs initiatives âundermine operational autonomy and pose a risk to long-term agency viability.â
That’s bureaucratic speak for: âThis president is a problem.â
đ The Pentagon-CIA Alliance
JFK also clashed with the military brass, particularly over Vietnam. He favored withdrawal; they wanted escalation. The 2025 files hint at an unofficial alignment between hawks at the Pentagon and top CIA strategists-sharing intel, circumventing presidential directives, and protecting joint Cold War agendas.
A buried memo marked âSensitive-Eyes Onlyâ discusses plans for “strategic continuity in the event of a leadership vacuum.”
That phrase raises serious questions.
Was the CIA preparing for Kennedyâs replacement?
Or merely anticipating instability?
Either way, they werenât aligned with him-they were preparing around him.
𧩠Why This Changes the Narrative
JFKâs assassination has often been painted as a tragedy of circumstance. But the 2025 files reframe it as the potential climax of an institutional rebellion.
This wasnât a rogue agent or lone gunman operating in a vacuum.
This was a moment built on years of friction, mistrust, and political threats.
When the president is talking about destroying the CIA,
and the CIA is talking about insulating itself from the president,
you donât need a conspiracy theory.
You need a flowchart.
đ Conclusion: Was Kennedy Too Dangerous for the Establishment?
We may never know every detail of what happened on November 22, 1963. But the 2025 documents strip away any illusions about the harmony between JFK and his intelligence network.
They werenât on the same team.
They werenât even in the same game.
And the final move was made in broad daylight.