Former President Ford Admits CIA Compromised the Warren Commission's Probe of JFK Assassination

January 9, 2008

Former US President Gerald Ford in 2004

In a foreword to a new edition of the Warren Commission Report, the late president states that the CIA destroyed or kept from investigators critical secrets connected to the assassination of President Kennedy.

by Don Fulsom

In his final public words, former President Gerald R. Ford said the CIA destroyed or kept from investigators critical secrets connected to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The stunning admission by Ford—a member of the Warren Commission that investigated the JFK assassination—is contained in the foreword to a new edition of the commission's report, A Presidential Legacy and The Warren Commission. Ford died in late 2006 at the age of 93.

In the new book, Ford said the commission's probe put "certain classified and potentially damaging operations in danger of being exposed." The CIA's reaction, he added, "was to hide or destroy some information, which can easily be misinterpreted as collusion in JFK's assassination."