The Long Arm of the FBI

Jack Anderson was a newspaper columnist and investigative reporter who broke many stories embarrassing to the Nixon White House, the FBI and the CIA. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972, and died in December 2005. Among those who worked for him, and studied under his tutelage, was Brit Hume, now managing editor for Fox News... no left-wing liberal network.

Anderson sometimes obtained information from "insiders" who supplied him with secret documents and memos not intended for public viewing. So angry were members of the Nixon Administration, that a top aid employed thugs to poison him, a plot that dissolved when conspirators of the Watergate break-in were captured.

Now, the FBI wants legal permission to go through Anderson's files which have been donated to George Washington University for use by scholars and researchers. Some think the move is a "fishing expedition" by the Bush Administration to frighten reporters who might engage in similar investigative journalism in the future.

Could it be that the Bush Administration has something to hide?