Family Fights FBI Over Late Journalist's Papers

April 19, 2006 — -- When the FBI approached the family of the late columnist Jack Anderson and asked it if it could have the famed journalist's notes and papers as part of a criminal investigation, the family wanted to honor Anderson's own principles.

"He would not want FBI agents crawling through his papers unrestricted," said Kevin Anderson, the columnist's son.

Anderson's family considered cooperating with the FBI's request, Kevin Anderson said, until the government made it clear it believed it had a duty to remove any papers it considered sensitive.

Complying would have gone against his father's wishes, he said.

"This was not the type of government criminal investigation that dad would support. It wasn't about trying to catch Osama bin Laden," Anderson said.

But the FBI contends Anderson's notes contain classified data.

"It's been determined that among the papers, there are a number of U.S. government documents containing classified information," said Bill Carter, an FBI spokesman. He noted that it is illegal for a private person to possess classified documents.

The papers are part of the estate of Jack Anderson, the self-described muckraker who wrote a hugely popular column that was syndicated in hundreds of newspapers in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. The FBI request comes at a time when journalists have come under increasing fire from government officials to turn over sensitive material.

Howard Rosenberg, a former investigative reporter who worked for Jack Anderson and is now an ABC News producer, believes that Anderson would not have allowed the government any access to his work.

"Jack himself would fight such an invasion with every legal measure at his disposal, I believe," he said.

In his "Washington Merry-Go-Round" column, Anderson reported dozens of scoops, from congressional ethics scandals to the CIA involvement in a plot to kill Fidel Castro. With the name recognition that came from his popular reporting, Anderson turned his column into a media empire, which included magazines, radio and regular appearances on ABC's "Good Morning America."