Cronkite records destroyed by FBI

[John Kerry VonErich]

From http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/cronkite.htm

WASHINGTON — The FBI destroyed its files on former CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite two years ago under a policy that has been criticized by researchers for allowing potentially valuable records to be wiped out.
A search of the agency's main index of the subjects of FBI investigations found some records tied to Cronkite's name were destroyed in October 2007, the FBI said in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by USA TODAY. Cronkite's death in July at age 92 made any FBI files about him available for release under the federal law.

The FBI should have preserved records about Cronkite, who anchored CBS' newscasts from 1962 to 1981, said Scott Hodes, a former top lawyer in the FBI's records office. All FBI records on such a prominent person should have been saved under the FBI's policies, Hodes said.

"You're not supposed to destroy records that are historically valuable," Hodes said. "Somebody should have known who Walter Cronkite was."

[booley]

1. Oopsie!

Strange that records that might put people in government or government in general in bad light have good chance of being accidently destroyed.

Oh well, nothing to be done. What's on TV?


But seriously, has anyone ever looked at the history of FOIA requests to see how often potentially damaging information gets lost. (potentially being operative here since how can an outsider know if it's damaging without reading it?)

[RaleighNCDUer]

5. Wearing my paranoid tinfoil hat, I wonder -

how many files have been destroyed because a FOIA request was filed to see them? After all, who would bother destroying files nobody is interested in? But if somebody shows some interest, THEN you know it might be important enough to warrant destruction.

So, does filing an FOIA request ever result in the automatic destruction of what is requested, followed by "oh, that was declassified and shredded years ago". Seriously, who would know? We just trust them to tell the truth? :rofl:

[HowHasItComeToThis]

7. AMERICANS NO LONGER TRUST CIA, FBI, PENTAGON, DOJ

ALL POISONED BY THE BUSH BROWN SHIRTS.

WILL WE EVER RECOVER FROM THEIR DESTRUCTION???

[indepat]

8. No 'cause little or nothing is being done to arrest the spread of the national cancer junior and his

minions unleashed and is still rampant in some agencies. Overcoming the fiscal and economic damage, not to speak of damage inflicted by war, will take decades, if not generations. :P

[HowHasItComeToThis]

12. YOU ARE CORRECT

[Thothmes]

13. That distrust of these organizations

is a whole hell of a lot older than the Bush era. Try the Johnson Administration.

[El Supremo]

2. The Age of Stupidity

Started at the time The Idiot was declared President.

[Vickers]

3. I wonder who was trying to bring him down?

:shrug:

[Captain Hilts]

4. WHAAAAAAAAAT???????????

[TrogL]

6. Probably an effort to save face

They likely contained pages of Hooversque paranoid rantings with no basis upon fact.

[troubledamerican]

9. More likely an effort to hide something substantial

We've seen Hooveresque paranoid rantings released before. They're not afraid to release those.

We've also seen a track record of major abuses from the FBI.

Just ask Sibel Edmonds. The record continues unabated.

Concluding otherwise is so premature that it makes you look afraid of any other possibilities.

[bertman]

10. J. Edmund Groover kept his most "sensitive" files in a separate room only he and his

"pal" could access. When he died those files were destroyed. JFK, RFK, MLK, and anyone else he wanted/needed dirt on was in those files.

[spanone]

11. wow, was that policy written by j. edgar hoover?