What Lawyers Do

This is a little off-topic, but it was surprising to read in The Boston Globe today that the FBI had kept tabs on Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and author David Halberstam for over two decades. Of course, his reporting on Vietnam and later his best-selling book, The Best and the Brightest, was highly critical of that war. But to keep tabs on him into the late-80’s? Geez …

The information was obtained through a Freedom of Information request by students at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. The FBI did not release its entire file. 

Seeing that a well-respected journalist and author was monitored for so many years by the government, it makes you think of how unwise and subject to abuse is the government wire-tapping of U.S. citizens that was uncovered in recent years. And the ability to obtain this FBI information is an example of the value of having a Freedom of Information law. Yet more documents should be disclosed given that Halberstam recently passed away.