Overview

• Trump announced the directive Friday on Truth Social, instructing agencies to declassify and publish any Earhart-related files.
• Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared in 1937 on a flight from New Guinea to Howland Island during a round-the-world attempt.
• The U.S. government has long maintained the pair went down in the Pacific, and Earhart was declared legally dead in 1939.
• The FBI and National Archives have already released document batches, and some researchers, including TIGHAR’s Ric Gillespie, say nothing remains classified.
• Past large-scale releases such as the JFK, RFK and MLK files yielded few breakthroughs, though museum officials expect the move to renew public interest as searches continue.