FBI to post dossier on Sen. Edward Kennedy on “Hot Topics” website

[Brian Benson]

FBI to post dossier on Sen. Edward Kennedy on “Hot Topics” website.

I assume the link is : http://foia.fbi.gov/hottopics.htm

This just in--The public will be able to learn more about Bureau surveillance of Americans, including American politicians, next Friday. On May 28, according to information just received, the FBI will post its file on the late Edward Moore Kennedy on its “Hot Topics” website.

In response to a request for the dossier on Sen. Kennedy under FOIA, the FBI wrote in March that “We have located approximately 3,010 pages which are potentially responsive” to the request. The letter adds, “This amount is a portion of the total potentially responsive materials on this subject.”

No surprise that the late J. Edgar Hoover, obsessed with holding information over the heads of politicians, would have begun a file on Teddy Kennedy.

The Bureau indicated in March that the materials would be released in portions, beginning with an interim release about which FOIA requesters would be notified. The usual language about estimated duplication fees followed, including a reminder that a small queue of less than 500 pages has the best chance of getting processed fastest.

According to today’s notification, 2,352 pages will be posted on the 28th. That means 600-plus pages ‘redacted’—omitted--from the file, according to Bureau figures, aside from further materials suggested by the earlier FOIA response. In all probability, much of the material in the file is copies of old news articles.

It is unlikely that much material can be fully included on threats against Ted Kennedy, since that material would fall under the rubric of criminal investigations. For anyone concerned about U.S. history in the 20th century, however, an interesting element of the file would have to be what it further demonstrates about the late J. Edgar’s penchant for snooping into the lives of politicians. Depending on how extensive the redactions are, the public might get a further indication of how much time and other resources FBI agents were compelled to devote to pursuing the Kennedy family.

Possibly the file may shed further light on relations between Hoover and the Nixon White House, or between Hoover and the Johnson White House, if not on more recent years.

The FBI encloses a fact sheet on reasons for redactions and exclusions in its standard FOIA response. Grounds for exclusion include intrusions on privacy, etc.

[Ron Ecker]

It's news to me that the FBI takes it upon itself to publish material requested under the FOIA. I thought that the requested material simply went to the requester, who I assume could publish it if he or she wants.

Is it just certain individuals who are honored with FBI publication?

[Christopher Hall]

This is encouraging.

Perhaps the LAPD can follow suit by releasing its file on the 1947 Black Dahlia murder.

The EMK docs should make for interesting reading and commentary.

[Brian Benson]

FBI delays release of Ted Kennedy's FBI file

By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- The FBI says it is delaying the release of thousands of pages of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's FBI file for at least another week.

Alex Brown, an official in the bureau's Record/Information Dissemination Section, says that the first installment of the voluminous file, which the bureau previously said would be made public this Friday, "is under further review."

He said it is likely to be delayed at least another week, but declined to provide any other explanation for the decision.

The file on the long-serving Massachusetts senator is highly anticipated by historians who predict that it could contain new information about potential threats to his life in the wake of the assassination of his brothers, President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy; the investigation into Kennedy's involvement in the accidental drowning of Mary Jo Kopechne when he drove his car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island in 1969; and a host of other previously unexplored details about what was otherwise an exhaustively chronicled political and private life.

The file has has already sparked some controversy even before its release: The Kennedy family has been given the rare opportunity to raise objections to the release of certain information on privacy grounds.

A spokeswoman for the Kennedy family says that Kenneth Feinberg, a former chief of staff to the late senator who managed the US fund to compensate the families of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and is now the Treasury Department’s “pay czar,’ is representing the family in the matter.

There was no immediate comment from the family on the reason for the delay.

[Michael Hogan]

FBI delays release of Ted Kennedy's FBI file

By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- The FBI says it is delaying the release of thousands of pages of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's FBI file for at least another week.

Alex Brown, an official in the bureau's Record/Information Dissemination Section, says that the first installment of the voluminous file, which the bureau previously said would be made public this Friday, "is under further review."

He said it is likely to be delayed at least another week, but declined to provide any other explanation for the decision.

The file on the long-serving Massachusetts senator is highly anticipated by historians who predict that it could contain new information about potential threats to his life in the wake of the assassination of his brothers, President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy; the investigation into Kennedy's involvement in the accidental drowning of Mary Jo Kopechne when he drove his car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island in 1969; and a host of other previously unexplored details about what was otherwise an exhaustively chronicled political and private life.

The file has has already sparked some controversy even before its release: The Kennedy family has been given the rare opportunity to raise objections to the release of certain information on privacy grounds.

A spokeswoman for the Kennedy family says that Kenneth Feinberg, a former chief of staff to the late senator who managed the US fund to compensate the families of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and is now the Treasury Department’s “pay czar,’ is representing the family in the matter.

There was no immediate comment from the family on the reason for the delay.

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Family-st...e-94909714.html