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John Daley ReportingThe government wants to search documents obtained by late columnist Jack Anderson, who was raised in Utah. In his long career he exposed CIA plans to kill Fidel Castro and later earned a spot on Nixon's "enemies list." But his family says "no way," setting up a First Amendment fight.
Jack Anderson is making headlines again, months after he passed away, this time in a tale worthy of the scoops he once generated.
Jack Anderson, Newspaper Columnist, 1991: "Most of the people at the professional level understand that this government belongs to the people and that the people are entitled to know what goes on."
Anderson famously broke stories with classified documents, and that's what this fight is over too. Salt Lake attorney Kevin Anderson is Jack's son.
Kevin Anderson, Jack Anderson's Son: "Both my mom and I have agreed that we would be willing to go to jail for this."
At issue are 188 boxes of papers, now held by George Washington University. A few weeks after Anderson died in December at 83, FBI agents contacted his widow about documents they believed to be in his archives connected to a five-year-old criminal case involving two former lobbyists who've been charged with disclosing classified information.
University of Utah professor Tim Chambless is writing a book on Anderson. He worries the case will have a chilling effect on the press and academia, and suspects the motive here is political.
Tim Chambless, Univ. of Utah Professor: "The FBI is not going to initiate this action on its own."
Bill Carter, FBI Spokesman: "The documents remain the property of the U.S. government and contain information such as sensitive sources and methods. We have reasonable concern over the prospect that these classified documents will be made available to the public at the risk of national security and in violation of the law."
It's enough of a hot potato that one of the administration's most loyal defenders would criticize neither the FBI nor the family.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, (R) Utah: "I understand the government's desire to go through those papers, but you know, they are private papers."
Anderson's son says this is not about national security.
Kevin Anderson, Jack Anderson's Son: "I don't think there's any word short of outrageous for them trying to go back and retrieve documents that they claim are classified or top secret. Some of them are as old as forty years old."
The case could end up in court, where once again Jack Anderson would be making headlines.
The FBI has turned the case over to the Justice Department. Kevin Anderson says if forced to turn over the documents, the family will not abide and will fight the government in court.
