Pulitizer winner, to be trashed by the government after death
FBI Wants Access to Dead Writer’s Papers — First of all I missed the fact that Jack Anderson died last year. Apparently few news outlets were proud of the fact that he was proably the last of his type in the business — a relentless newshound trained by Drew Pearson, another extinct type of journalist. Nowadays people just do what they’re told and that’s the news we get.
So now there’s this weird witch hunt going on. The idea here is pure intimidation. It goes like this: “OK, you whistle-blowers, maybe we can’t get you while the guy is alive, but we’ll get you eventually!” It sends a clear message. And that message is to shut up! That’s clearly what this is all about. If these guys were so cock-sure that there is classified information, why did they have to wait until Anderson was dead to dig through to find it? Creepy.
In addition, the agents told the family they planned to remove from the columnist’s archive — which has yet to be catalogued — any document they came across that was stamped “secret” or “confidential,” or was otherwise classified.
His account is similar to conversations described by Mark Feldstein, a George Washington University journalism professor and Anderson biographer. Feldstein said he was visited by two agents at his Washington-area home in March.
“They flashed their badges and said they needed access to the papers,” said Feldstein, a former investigative reporter. Anderson donated his papers to the university, but the family has not yet formally signed them over.
FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko, a spokesman in Washington, confirmed that the bureau wants to search the Anderson archive and remove classified materials before they are made available to the public. “It has been determined that, among the papers, there are a number of U.S. government documents containing classified information,” Kolko said, declining to say how the FBI knows.
The documents contain information about sources and methods used by U.S. intelligence agencies, he said.
…Anderson died in December at age 83 after a career in which he broke several big scandals and earned a place on President Nixon’s “enemies list.” Authorities on several occasions tried to find the source of leaked information that became a staple of his syndicated column.
Given his history, Anderson’s family might already have been skeptical when the FBI came calling. The timing only deepened suspicion. The AIPAC investigation dates back at least five years. “And right after he dies, they contact his widow,” Kevin Anderson said.
Big media sees nothing
Notice how the big media is saying nothing about the big picture here.
Finally, read this from an excellent bio page of famous people who died in 2005:
A devout Mormon, Anderson looked upon journalism as a calling. He was considered one of the fathers of investigative reporting, renowned for his tenacity, aggressive techniques and influence in the nation’s capital. Anderson won a 1972 Pulitzer Prize for reporting that the Nixon administration secretly tilted toward Pakistan in its war with India. He also published the secret transcripts of the Watergate grand jury. Such scoops earned him a spot on President Nixon’s “enemies list.” Watergate conspirator G. Gordon Liddy has described how he and other Nixon political operatives planned ways to silence Anderson permanently – such as slipping him LSD or staging a fatal car crash – but the White House nixed the idea.
Over the years, Anderson was threatened by the Mafia and investigated by numerous government agencies trying to trace the sources of his leaks. In 1989, police investigated him for smuggling a gun into the U.S. Capitol to demonstrate security lapses. Known for his toughness on the trail of a story, he was also praised for personal kindness. Anderson’s son Kevin said that when his father’s reporting led to the arrest of some involved in the Watergate scandal, he aided their families financially.
Anderson began his newspaper career as a 12-year-old writing about scouting activity and community fairs in the outskirts of Salt Lake City, Utah. His first investigative story exposed unlawful polygamy in his church. He was a civilian war correspondent during World War II and later, while in the Army, wrote for the military paper Stars and Stripes.
Step one: make it illegal to expose classified information to the public, no matter how vague you put it (such as the wiretapping thing).
Step two: classify everything that has to do with your illegal activities.
Step three: if someone gets a hold of it, threaten them even though they should be the one threatening you.
So, if they can steal files from deal people, then wouldn’t it give them an incentive to kill the guy, write him up as a terrorist, and classify the whole incident so nobody will ever know?
I fully agree that my generation (late 30s) idea of “hard news” and what was served up a generation is sadly, very different. But I find it interesting comparing the number of comments to this story (2) vs. the number of comments (21) on the below story about a movie star (Mr. Cruise). I continue to be amazed by the continued interest in a celeb’s life – I would say who cares, but clearly, many do. One might note that Mr. Cruise has a new film coming out shortly PR wise.
Sam, give this time…the Cruise thing posted in the afternoon, and the Anderson post was in the evening….long after most blog readers had gone home for the night. (After all, most read blogs during breaks at work, I’m certain.)
The Anderson thing is scary. I wish the media would cover it in depth. It’s a new story, so ….let’s keep our fingers crossed.
THinking is hard! And no one like to believe that their government is working against them… I mean, we give them money and vote them in, right?
and stars sure are purdy…
as frank zappa said “The ONLY thing that seems to band all nations together, is that their
governments are universally bad….”
I, too, miss Anderson and his generation.
But I can’t imagine his type of journalism coming back because it relies on the power of the truth. Remember that? You see it in old movies, “We’re going to publicly reveal the truth and break this thing wide open!”
Now if anyone publicly tells the truth, they get “Swift Boated. ” The story changes to the character of the messengers, the public gets confused, and the truth is lost.
Witness these generals who dare tell the truth about Rumsfeld. The story is now about THEM, not how bad Rumsfeld has done his job.
Greg,
I couldn’t have said it better. The only thing I would add is that this administration is more prepared for controversy because they KNOW what they do is wrong. Their preparedness, however, is almost entirely wrapped up in secrecy and classifying documents.
1. V, let me tell you something that happened to me last Saturday while sitting on a park bench in New York harbor right across the waters from the Statue of LIBERTY which was about 3/4 mile away. I got on my cellphone and started BULLSHITTING about conspiracy theories such as the coming Armegeddon (06/06/06), nukes, Bush, etc. Then I noticed a guy who seemed out of place in this tourist area on the most-southern tip of Manhattan video-taping me. Next thing, (and I’m 100% not kidding) an ominous black military helicopter with no markings was hovering in the air at a 45 degree angle from where I was sitting DIRECTLY in front of me! It stayed there, hovering in perfect place, for about five minutes. It was not a Black Hawk helicopter. The best way to describe it is that it was what a Stealth Bomber would look like if it had an helicopter offspring. It stayed there until my phonemate and me conversed about “uh oh, there’s a black helicopter here to get us, Armeggedon is here, let’s give em a couple of cans of tuna because only food will have any worth…” WE WERE JUST KIDDING, MAN. The helicopter flew away after that.
Call me paranoid but still, there is a chance that our phone conversations are not private especially in “sensitive” areas like the vicinity of the Statue OF LIBERTY.
Just to make it clear. I LOVE America as stated and set forth in the U.S. Constitution which is supposed to guarantee our FREEDOM and PROTECTION. NEVER lose sight about this blog as stated in the Terms of Use:
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“This website does not guarantee the accuracy of any information and users cannot sue us for stupidly believing everything they read. Most of what is on this website is BULLSHIT and should be treated as such.”
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Terms of Use: http://www.dvorak.org/blog/html/terms.html
The FBI just wants Jack Anderson’s files to do their work for them. Too often the government uses the veil of secrecy to classify something that is controversial and NOT in the interest of national security. It should be pointed out that it is a federal crime to classify soemthing a secret merely because it is controversial. How often is that law enforced?
To steal a line from an ancient philosopher: Who watches the watcher.
Now that Jack Anderson is gone there are fewer people watching the watcher.
Greg, you got it backward. Dan Blather did the obfuscating, the SwiftBoaters were telling the truth and helping prevent someone who committed treason from getting the Presidency.
It would be interesting to see what Jack Anderson would report about Iraq. Somehow I doubt it would be the mainstream media’s take that not a single good thing has happened there – day after day it’s all bad….
Me: if Kerry committed treason, have him charged. Nobody ever has charged Kerry with this “crime” despite that the “evidence” is on videotape! Otherwise shut your hole.
I’m unsure about how serious you were about that black helicopter story, but it was entertaining. I suspect it reflected the BULLSHIT terms of use comment. (I’m surprised more people do not read the terms of use — it’s actually a legal document).
But let’s assume this actually did happen and it was true. Can you imagine what would happen if New Yorkers (especially the goofball youth) got hold of this information? They’d be on the phone all day with idle chit-chat designed to get a helicopter to show up. It would be hilarious.
11. site admin, I was serious. I did some research and the closest I could find that matched what I saw was this:
http://www.mh-53pavelow.com/
except that the one I saw was more black (but maybe so because it was in front of the sun in the sky).
Conspiracy theories aside, it is STILL LEGAL to dissent RIGHT NOW. However, IF martial law were declared, NEW RULES would be in effect. I wouldn’t talk “conspiracy” THEN even kidding around because the men in black might take it seriously. 🙂
#7 As creepy as your story is : the problem is the balance. I truly have no problem with NSA monitored conversations from folks on cell phones near very important facilities. You knew you were just bullshitting with your friend on the phone, but what if it wasn’t bullshit talk. What if you were truly a “bad guy” and lets face it, I care a MASSIVE amount that nothing ever happens to the Statue of Liberty. Call me corny, I don’t care. the problems as I see them is what limits the government employs with their monitoring. And what can and cannot be legally said.
As this topic started with the story re Mr. Anderson : I will suggest to anyone who hasn’t watche it yet, the BBC’s nightly news covering the US is very good; and “hard news” not the bullshit we all see in MSM.
For me, it’s on the PBS channel at 11pm nightly.
Of course they waited until Mr. Anderson was dead, they figured they could intimidate his widow.
It’s not easy standing up to the FBI these days. If you lie to them — no proof needed, by the way — you go to prison. If you fail to cooperate with them, you go to prison.
I’m beginning to wonder what real difference there is in our current obligatory homage to the State vs. what a Russian citizen had to do 40 years ago. I keep thinking there must be some difference, but now that we are forced to bend knee to anyone with a badge (especially airport screeners) I fear that difference is less than I want to believe.
I truly have no problem with NSA monitored conversations from folks on cell phones near very important facilities. You knew you were just bullshitting with your friend on the phone, but what if it wasn’t bullshit talk.
I do because that is the problem. The Government is spending too many resources tracking useless areas and letting important ones slip by. We have a No-Fly-List to keep terrorists off of planes. It has inconvenienced thousands of people yet not caught one terrorists. Only 5% of all containers coming from abroad are now inspected. Just last week, several Chinese were found having entered the country in a container. Thousands slip past the Immigration Border Agents every day because there aren’t enough agents. To blow up the Statue of Liberty would take more explosive then one person could surreptitiously carry, let alone plant before being caught in the act. The same for almost all landmarks.
Do you really think terrorists would approach a mission without having a plan first? So why waste time monitoring these phone calls or spying on peace advocates?
#13….Sam Foley…..BBC is pretty close to real news. But having spent a lot of time in the U.K…..you learn that the BBC has an agenda just as much as our MSM. They are far more subtle about it then our media.
The BBC has a small hard on for the U.S……..lol
As to David and the black choppers. Anything I suppose is possible. After all…..Bush is President, the Pope is German and the Tories are going Green.
But how many of you anti-NSA taps folks will be the first on this blog or in public to condemn the Bush administration if another terrorist act is perpatrated on us. We don’t know how far some of these spying things have gone, but the sky is falling crowd has no idea if they haven’t done anything wrong either. There has to be some happy medium here in order to protect this country.
I hear a lot of folks complaining about airport security, but I fly in and out of the country 6 times a year, not just to the U.K. but to Egypt, Morrocco, Russia as well and have never had more than the normal screening done. Hell, my Mom puts me through a more rigorious screening after I get home from a date than the airports do.
I agree. Who is going to plan the attack in the open in front of the target over a cell phone? Even supposing that they are that stupid then the liklihood of putting any sort of smart scheme together is nil.
Not to mention the statue of Liberty is a statue, for gods sakes. Okay, so it has some historical significance (although I’d BET if you asked a dozen people on the street what it was, not one would remember). The shipping containers, the tunnels under the border in Mexico, the pushing for lots and lots of needless paranoia…IS concerning.
Is everyone forgetting that the World Trade Center was the target more than on 9/11? Why do we turn a blind eye to what sort of “intelligence” was going on back then…what happened in the time between that first “parking garage” attack, and the other one? Why was it that the Oklahoma City bombing was, initially, pinned on Bin Laden? Why would any of the measures NOW have any effect? Are they more focused or are they just making it all look like fancy ‘window dressing’. We don’t have the MONEY to protect ourselves….we’re in massive debt…trying to play war in a country that doesn’t want to be occupied. We’re importing way more than we export, and international corporations are sucking us dry (and not paying their share of taxes, because, well, our government is taking lobbying money from them to not pass any laws).
We aren’t immune to terrorism. But the Rocky and Bullwinkle concept of “bad guys” running around planning things with trench coats and briefcases is a little too simple minded. But, that’s all we can comprehend, as we are bloated from crappy fast food, under educated, and zoned out on mindless “entertainment” and fake reality shows. We wouldn’t know a terrorist if he was elected president.
I’ll BET all the real INTELLIGENT people have left the CIA and the FBI, and all the real counter-terrorism and surveillance has been gutted since the end of the cold war. The training is probably playing doom, cruising the internet, and watching a few spy movies.
Yeah….they want Jack Anderson’s files because….it makes them look like they are DOING SOMETHING.
Me >>Greg, you got it backward. Dan Blather did the obfuscating, the SwiftBoaters were telling the truth and helping prevent someone who committed treason from getting the Presidency.
Your use of the silly nickname “Dan Blather” illustrates my point. In our modern era, the focus gets shifted from a pursuit of the truth to attacking the news source.
In that case, the story got effectively shifted from Bush’s military service to the character of Dan Rather. You seem to have totally fallen for that strategy.
As for Kerry being guilty of treason for speaking about against Vietnam… that is an utterly ridiculous charge that I totally reject.
It was Kerry’s patriotic duty to tell the truth about what he experienced in Vietnam. You have every right to disagree with him but when you call him a traitor, it ruins our valued American tradition of honorable debate.
1. I never used Blather until after he started making up stories.
2. Kerry LIED about his experiences in Vietnam.