FAS

FBI Gives Up Pursuit of Jack Anderson Papers

01.04.07 | 1 min read | Text by Steven Aftergood

The Federal Bureau of Investigation advised Congress last month that it will no longer seek to recover classified information that may be contained in the collected papers of the late Jack Anderson.

The FBI “is not seeking to reclaim any documents,” the Bureau said in response to a question from Senator Arlen Specter.

The FBI statement (pdf) was contained in the answers to questions for the record from a May 2, 2006 hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on FBI Oversight that were posted on the Federation of American Scientists web site by Secrecy News yesterday.

The Associated Press today noted the FBI’s renunciation of its pursuit of the Jack Anderson papers. Earlier in 2006, the Bureau had expressed concern that the Anderson archive may contain classified indication and approached the Anderson family to review the collection.

See “FBI Drops Its Quest for Papers of Reporter” by Laura Jakes Jordan, Associated Press, and Wendy Leonard, Deseret Morning News, January 4.