New 2025 files reveal that dozens of pivotal records were deliberately misfiled, mislabeled, or hidden in unrelated collections-by people who were supposed to protect the historical record.
📂 Lost in the System-or Buried There?
For decades, researchers filed FOIA requests for JFK-related materials only to be told:
"No responsive documents found."
But the 2025 release reveals that wasn’t always true.
In fact, many crucial files were sitting in completely unrelated record groups-some even labeled "unclassified correspondence" or "agricultural exports."
These weren’t mistakes.
They were strategic misplacements.
🗃️ File Example 1: "Oswald Travel Report – USSR Contact"
This 3-page CIA document was found in a folder titled:
"Cultural Outreach – Radio Programming, 1959-64."
It included:
- Internal notes confirming Oswald had contact with Soviet diplomatic staff in Mexico City
- A coded cable referring to Oswald’s "return window recommendation – TASHKENT to TEX"
Why was it filed under radio outreach?
A 2025 CIA metadata review notes:
"Rerouted per compartmentalization directive – ExecAuth 90-C"
📉 File Example 2: "Parkland ER Staff Timeline – Restricted Version"
This timeline-detailing who touched the body, who made statements, and who was present-was misfiled under:
"NIH Nursing Records – 1960s Staffing Schedules."
The 2025 scan shows a crossed-out cover page with the original title:
"Medical Staff Eyewitness Timeline – Emergency Room 1"
A note from NARA reads:
"Filed under innocuous heading per request from NSC liaison (1968)."
📁 The “Recategorization Directive”
A CIA memo dated August 1967 outlines a process called "administrative obscuration," instructing records managers to:
- Refile materials by non-obvious index terms
- Use dual-record identifiers to prevent full FOIA access
- Embed JFK-related items in broader Cold War intelligence dumps
One chilling line:
"If files cannot be destroyed, they must be diluted."
🧠 Mislabeling as Strategy
The ARRB 2025 review found that:
- At least 174 JFK-related items were in non-assassination boxes
- 9 files were inside collections related to Southeast Asian agricultural reform
- 3 key memos tied to Oswald’s FBI file were buried under "Bureau training materials"
Archivists flagged the inconsistencies-but were ordered not to escalate.
🔚 Bureaucracy Became the Cover-Up
What the 2025 files show is that history wasn’t lost-it was hidden in plain sight, using the very systems meant to preserve it.
It wasn’t fire that destroyed the truth.
It was filing cabinets.
