Historian Jonathan Wiener, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, has finally freed the last 10 pages of the FBI’s secret files on John Lennon, 21 years after his effort began:
- U.S. District Judge Robert Takasugi rejected government arguments Tuesday that releasing the last 10 pages would pose a national security risk because a foreign government secretly provided the information. The government was not publicly identified.
….Wiener … sued the U.S. government for the documents in 1983 under the Freedom of Information Act. He received 248 pages in 1997 as part of a settlement.
The previously released files, which were gathered from 1971 to 1972, include memos detailing Lennon’s donations to a group planning to demonstrate at the 1972 Republican National Convention. But they contain no allegations Lennon was involved in planning or committing illegal acts. [AP]
That is one tenacious Wiener. Congrats! I would guess the FBI fought the final release due to potential embarrassment rather than any actual security issue. No one likes to look stupid.
Wiener originally sought the information for his 1984 book, Come Together: John Lennon in His Time – the ’97 material went into Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files.