CASE FILE / JFK-1963 / ACTIVE READING PACKET
Start with what can be measured. Separate the shot mechanics, the identity evidence, the intelligence record, and the conspiracy question instead of forcing them into one answer.
READ THIS FIRST
The mechanical question is narrower than the historical question. Establishing that a rifleman could make the shots does not establish why Oswald was there, whether anyone assisted him, or whether every agency later described its knowledge accurately. Those require different evidence.
The Warren Commission reported a shot interval of roughly 4.8–5.6 seconds if the middle shot missed, or more than 7 seconds if the first or third missed. Its rifle tests used a minimum operating interval of about 2.3 seconds. The Commission also cited Oswald's Marine marksmanship history. That supports possibility, not a complete theory of the assassination.
It does not treat "possible shot" as proof of lone action. It does not treat later intelligence releases as proof of conspiracy. It does not collapse witness impressions, ballistics, medical evidence, acoustics, and agency records into one undifferentiated pile.
STARTER PACKET
These links point to government-hosted source layers. Cyberdelia's local packet is metadata-first for now so the archive stays small while the collection grows.
CLAIM LEDGER / VERSION 1
The shots that struck Kennedy from behind were consistent with the sixth-floor Depository position. Both the Warren Commission and HSCA described scientific or physical evidence supporting shots from behind and the Depository vicinity.
Firing the required sequence with the Mannlicher-Carcano was mechanically possible within at least some reconstructions of the shot interval. The Warren Commission's timing analysis and rifle tests do not support the popular claim that the sequence was inherently impossible.
Official investigations identified Lee Harvey Oswald as the gunman who fired from the Depository. The Warren Commission and HSCA both reached that finding, although the HSCA differed on the broader conspiracy question.
Was there another gunman? The Warren Commission found no credible evidence of shots from another location. The HSCA later said acoustical evidence established a high probability of two gunmen and therefore concluded Kennedy was probably killed as the result of a conspiracy. Its own report also records challenges and dissent concerning the acoustics.
What, if anything, do the newest releases materially change about the core assassination narrative? NARA's 2025–26 release set is large. This packet will treat that as a document-review problem, not as a headline generator.
TIMELINE / INVESTIGATIVE LAYERS
President Kennedy is killed and Governor John Connally is wounded. Evidence collection begins under chaotic conditions that later become part of the evidentiary dispute.
The Commission concludes that the shots which killed Kennedy and wounded Connally were fired from the sixth-floor southeast window of the Texas School Book Depository and attributes the shooting to Oswald.
The HSCA again identifies Oswald as the assassin but, relying substantially on its acoustical analysis, concludes Kennedy was probably assassinated as the result of a conspiracy it could not identify.
Congress creates the statutory framework for the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection and later review/release work.
NARA posts large tranches of previously withheld or newly transferred assassination-related records, including newly inventoried FBI material.
NEXT ANALYSES
This case file will grow horizontally. Each question gets its own source packet and claim ledger rather than one mega-article pretending to resolve sixty years of dispute.
Distances, declination, vehicle position, rifle cycle time, sight picture, and what "difficult" means compared with "impossible."
What the HSCA heard, why it mattered, the authenticity/timing questions its own report acknowledged, and the later technical dispute.
Mexico City, CIA/FBI holdings, what agencies knew, what later records show, and which claims remain inference rather than documentary fact.
METHOD NOTE
Cyberdelia uses official records as source material, not as sacred text. Where official bodies disagree, the disagreement is part of the record. Where the record is incomplete, the correct label is incomplete.
Primary source layer: National Archives JFK Collection. Machine-readable packet manifest: case-files-manifest.json.