On Oct. 26, Americans received word that President Donald Trump announced he would be declassifying the “Kennedy Files,” the long-restricted documents of the FBI and CIA on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

The “Kennedy Files” are the files which contain information from the investigation of the intelligence agencies regarding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which the government has kept from the public up until now. After the initial announcement, the release of the documents has since been postponed by President Trump on request from the FBI and CIA until April 26, 2018 for the purposes of verifying that none of the documents being released contain any information which could result in the compromise of national security, law enforcement or intelligence gathering methods.

“Kennedy’s assassination is followed by the assassinations of other prominent figures: Malcolm X, in 1965, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, in 1968,” said Douglas Slaybaugh, professor of history. This is particularly relevant in that it leads to a culture of mistrust of government by the American people. “There’s going to be the credibility gap Lyndon Johnson creates by lying about what the U.S. is doing in Vietnam. Richard Nixon will have another credibility gap related to both his Vietnam policy but also his Watergate cover up.”

The release of the files also brings up the question of the role of the government in restricting data as opposed to the right of the public to access information in a free society. “There is information that the CIA may acquire that should not be disseminated with the public,” said John Hughes, professor of political science. “They may be acquiring information that if were divulged, would expose their methods, how they acquire data, expose people who work for them, and put people’s lives at risk.”