JFK Files: Section on Would-Be Whistleblower Who Was Found Dead Goes Viral - But There's a Catch

The release of Kennedy assassination files on Tuesday ignited a firestorm of social media discussion surrounding a crime that altered history over six decades ago.

One aspect, in particular—the account of a potential whistleblower with CIA connections—seemed to gain more traction than others.

While the story itself has circulated before, a new detail emerged that had not previously been public.

Emily Brooks, a journalist for the political news outlet The Hill, shared a post about the revelation on the social media platform X.

Among the over 1,000 documents declassified by the National Archives was a July 1967 file concerning John Garrett "Gary" Underhill, a former journalist with ties to both the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence. Underhill had claimed that the CIA played a role in the November 1963 assassination in Dallas.

Underhill’s allegations were first detailed in June 1967 by Ramparts, a now-defunct publication, which reported that he had fled Washington “in a hurry” the day following President John Kennedy’s assassination.

According to Ramparts, Underhill told confidants that “a small clique within the CIA was responsible for the assassination.”

In May 1964, Underhill was discovered dead in his Washington, D.C., apartment. Authorities ruled his death a suicide, yet Ramparts pointed to several factors that cast doubt on this conclusion.

Underhill had been shot behind his left ear, and an automatic pistol was found positioned on his left side. However, he was right-handed, the magazine reported.

A man claiming to possess inside knowledge about Kennedy’s death meeting a suspicious end inevitably fuels speculation—even if the circumstances of his case have been publicly known for nearly 60 years.

Yet, Tuesday’s document release introduced a new component to the Underhill narrative.

One individual cited in the Ramparts report as an associate of Underhill was Samuel Cummings, the proprietor of Interarmco—an arms brokerage that supplied the rifle used by Kennedy’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, via retailer Klein’s Sporting Goods.

Cummings, who has since passed away, was a towering figure in the arms trade. His 1998 New York Times obituary identified him as “the undisputed philosopher-king of the arms trade.”

The newly disclosed file reveals that, in 1954, Cummings served as the “principal agent of the CIA-owned companies known as International Arms Company and Interarmco Ltd.” (His Times obituary stated that he later departed the agency to assume control of the business.)

According to the document, he became the company’s sole proprietor in 1958 by issuing a $100,000 promissory note (equivalent to roughly $1.1 million in 2025), payable in four installments.

Despite severing official employment with the CIA, Cummings continued to collaborate with the agency as both an “informant” and a contractor engaged in “disposing of arms,” the document states.

Thus, the firearm used by Kennedy’s assassin ultimately came from a company that had been previously owned by the CIA. At the time of the assassination, the company was under the ownership of a former CIA agent who still maintained ties with the intelligence agency—an agency frequently implicated in Kennedy’s death.

As with all matters linked to the Kennedy assassination, the declassification of files has led to further speculation and scrutiny. The widespread interest in Tuesday’s revelations—illustrated by a post from conservative commentator Colin Rugg on X amassing over 2.5 million views—underscores this continued intrigue.

With ABC News reporting that 1,182 files spanning more than 60,000 pages have been made public in two separate releases, it is almost certain that even more questions will arise.