It stated that the collection shall consist of copies of all U.S. government records relating to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and that they are to be housed in the NARA Archives II building in College Park, Maryland.

The collection also included any materials created or made available for use by, obtained by, or otherwise came into the possession of any state or local law enforcement office that provided support or assistance or performed work in connection with a federal inquiry into the assassination.

[2] The ARRB stated that the film "popularized a version of President Kennedy's assassination that featured U.S. government agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the military as conspirators.

"[3] The act requires that each assassination record be publicly disclosed in full and be made available in the collection no later than the date that is 25 years after the October 26, 1992 date of enactment (which was October 26, 2017), unless the President of the United States certifies that: (1) continued postponement is made necessary by an identifiable harm to the military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or conduct of foreign relations; and (2) the identifiable harm is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

By the time the board disbanded, all Warren Commission documents, except income tax returns, had been released to the public, with only minor redactions.

After the enactment of the federal law that created the ARRB, the board collected a large number of documents and took testimony of those who had relevant information of the events.

[6] The Committee finished its work in 1998 and in its final report, the ARRB outlined the problems that government secrecy created regarding the murder of President Kennedy.

For example, the board interviewed the physicians who treated the president's massive head wound at Parkland Hospital in Dallas.

[8] This was a highly trained team of emergency care physicians, some of whom testified in secret before the Warren Commission.

[9] Other information consists of a large number of documents from the FBI and CIA that were required to cooperate with the turnover of relevant records held secret by these agencies.

[10] The board also found that, conflicting with the photographic images showing no such defect, a number of witnesses, including at both the Autopsy and Parkland hospital, saw a large wound in the back of the president's head.

[19] On October 21, 2017, US President Donald Trump stated on his Twitter account that he would allow release of the remaining documents.

He tweeted:[20] "Subject to the receipt of further information, I will be allowing, as President, the long blocked and classified JFK FILES to be opened."

His statement left open the possibility that some documents could still be withheld under the JFK Records Act if their release would harm military operations, law enforcement or foreign relations.