You've seen the black-and-white footage. The motorcade. The umbrella man. The frantic scramble of Jackie Kennedy onto the trunk of the Lincoln Continental. It’s the most analyzed 26 seconds in human history. But for over sixty years, one theory has stayed stuck in the American psyche like a splinter: the idea that JFK was killed by CIA operatives or assets.
Honestly, it’s not just a "conspiracy theory" anymore. It’s a cultural fixture.
Depending on who you talk to, the Central Intelligence Agency was either a loyal protector or a rogue "state within a state" that viewed President John F. Kennedy as a literal threat to national security. The tension wasn't subtle. After the Bay of Pigs disaster in 1961, Kennedy famously whispered about wanting to "splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds."
He didn't do that. Instead, he fired the legendary Director Allen Dulles.
But did that anger lead to a hit? With the massive release of over 80,000 documents in early 2025 by the National Archives, we finally have enough puzzle pieces to move past the Oliver Stone movie scripts and look at the actual evidence.
The Motive: Why the Agency Hated the 35th President
Spies don't just kill people for fun. They need a reason. In the early 60s, the "reason" was basically everything Kennedy stood for regarding the Cold War. The CIA, specifically the clandestine services, was built on a foundation of aggressive anti-communism. Kennedy, especially after the Cuban Missile Crisis, was pivoting. He was talking to Khrushchev. He was looking for a way out of Vietnam.
To the old guard at Langley, this looked like treason. Or at least, extreme incompetence.
The Bay of Pigs Betrayal
The CIA spent months training Cuban exiles to invade the island and topple Castro. They expected Kennedy to provide U.S. air cover. When the invasion started failing, Kennedy held back. He refused to escalate into a full-blown war. The Agency felt abandoned. They had lost their "private war," and they blamed the young guy in the Oval Office.
Operation Northwoods
This is a real thing. Look it up. In 1962, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the CIA proposed a plan to commit acts of terrorism in American cities—bombing buildings, sinking boats of refugees—to blame it on Cuba and justify an invasion. Kennedy rejected it flat-out. He then removed General Lyman Lemnitzer, the guy who brought him the plan.
The rift wasn't just a disagreement. It was a divorce.
Lee Harvey Oswald: The Man Who Knew Too Much (About the CIA)
The Warren Commission called Lee Harvey Oswald a "loner." A loser. A guy who just happened to be in the right window at the right time. But the more files we see, the less "lone" Oswald looks.
You’ve got to ask: How did a former Marine radar operator with a high-level security clearance "defect" to the Soviet Union, offer to give them secrets, and then just... come back? He wasn't arrested. He wasn't even interrogated that hard. In fact, he got a government-subsidized loan to move his Russian wife back to the States.
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Basically, it doesn't pass the sniff test.
The Mexico City Mystery
Six weeks before the shooting, Oswald went to Mexico City. He visited the Soviet and Cuban embassies. The CIA was watching him. They had cameras on those doors. They had phone taps. Yet, after the assassination, the Agency claimed they didn't know much about him.
The 2025 document releases confirmed that the CIA was tracking Oswald much more closely than they ever admitted to the Warren Commission. Why lie if he was just a random nut?
The "Patsy" Defense
"I'm just a patsy." That's what Oswald shouted to reporters in the hallway of the Dallas Police Department. If JFK was killed by CIA planners, they needed a fall guy. Oswald was perfect. He had the "communist" ties they could point to, even if those ties were carefully managed or even manufactured.
The 1979 Reversal: When the Government Admitted Conspiracy
Most people forget that there were two major investigations. The first was the Warren Commission in 1964. It said Oswald did it alone. Case closed.
But then came 1979. The House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) took another look. They used acoustic experts to analyze a police dictabelt recording from Dealey Plaza. Their conclusion? There was a "high probability" of two gunmen. They officially stated that Kennedy was "probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy."
The HSCA didn't name the CIA as the killers, but they slammed the Agency for being "deficient" in sharing information. It’s the classic "limited hangout"—admitting a small mistake to cover up a bigger one.
The 2025 Document Releases: What’s New?
For decades, the government held back thousands of pages citing "national security." In early 2025, the final batch of unredacted files hit the public. We didn't find a memo that said "Kill Kennedy - signed, the CIA." Spies aren't that stupid.
What we did find were the names of the "handlers."
- George de Mohrenschildt: A wealthy Russian aristocrat who befriended Oswald in Dallas. He had deep ties to the intelligence community. In 1977, he committed suicide right before he was supposed to testify to the HSCA.
- David Atlee Phillips: A high-ranking CIA officer. Some researchers, like Gaeton Fonzi, believed Phillips was the man Oswald met in Mexico City.
- E. Howard Hunt: The Watergate burglar. On his deathbed, he reportedly made a "confession" to his son, claiming he was part of a CIA-led "Big Event" to take out the President.
These files show a pattern of "active surveillance." The CIA knew exactly who Oswald was. They knew he was a threat, or they were using him as a tool. Either way, they weren't the clueless bystanders they claimed to be in 1964.
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Sorting Fact from Fiction
It's easy to get lost in the weeds. Let’s look at what we actually know versus what is just a good story.
What is Fact:
- The CIA and Kennedy were in a state of bureaucratic war.
- The CIA withheld information from the Warren Commission.
- Oswald was being monitored by the CIA's Counterintelligence (CI) SIG division.
- The HSCA concluded a conspiracy was "probable."
What is Theory:
- The CIA hired professional hitmen to fire from the "Grassy Knoll."
- The Agency tampered with the Zapruder film.
- The CIA killed Oswald via Jack Ruby to keep him quiet.
The evidence doesn't point to a "the CIA did it" letter. It points to a "the CIA let it happen" or "elements of the CIA facilitated it" scenario. If you're looking for a smoking gun, you're looking for something that was likely shredded in 1963.
What Most People Get Wrong
People think a conspiracy has to involve every single person in the Agency. That's not how it works. A operation like this would be a "vest pocket" operation. Maybe five or six people. If JFK was killed by CIA assets, the vast majority of the Agency would have been as shocked as the rest of the world.
It’s about the "rogues." The guys who felt the country was being lost and decided they were the only ones who could save it.
Actionable Insights for Researching Further
If you want to get to the bottom of this, don't just watch YouTube videos. You need to look at the primary sources.
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- Download the HSCA Report: It’s available on the National Archives website. Read the sections on "the performance of the intelligence agencies." It’s eye-opening.
- Check the Mary Ferrell Foundation: This is the gold standard for JFK research. They have digitized almost every document released since the 90s.
- Look into "Operation Northwoods" and "MKUltra": These aren't theories. They are declassified programs that prove the CIA was willing to consider (or do) unthinkable things in the name of the Cold War.
- Read "JFK and the Unspeakable" by James Douglass: This is widely considered the best book on the political motives behind the assassination.
The story of the JFK assassination is really the story of the 20th century. It’s about the moment America lost its innocence and started doubting its own leaders. Whether the CIA pulled the trigger or just looked the other way, the files show they were in the room.
The "truth" isn't a single document. It's the cumulative weight of thousands of pages that say the official story was a lie. We may never have a confession, but we have the receipts of the conflict that led to that November day in Dallas.
To truly understand this, look at the timeline of the 1963 records release schedule. Most of the most sensitive "personality files" on CIA officers linked to Oswald are now public. Start there. Compare the names in the files to the names mentioned in the 1979 HSCA testimony. That’s where the real story is hiding.