FREEDOM WATCH : Anderson’s Files

Terry Anderson spent 6 1/2 years as a hostage in Lebanon and now he wants to learn as much as possible about what his government knew of his ordeal, what it knew about his radical Muslim captors and what it did to try to win his freedom. Washington bureaucrats, however, apparently regard this information as none of Anderson’s business.

His requests for relevant files under the Freedom of Information Act have been rejected, and so now Anderson has filed suit against 13 government agencies, including the FBI, the CIA and the State Department. Why the rejections? An FBI form letter to Anderson says that before records can be handed over all persons named in them must sign notarized “waivers of personal privacy.” Presumably this would require Anderson to return to Lebanon and get his former tormentors’ permission to see the files. Simple enough.

The mind boggles at this latest manifestation of bureaucratic obtuseness and, far worse, at the disregard of the Freedom of Information Act underlying it. Anderson, as he has made clear, isn’t asking for the names of informers or secret agents. He’s asking for information about his ordeal at the hands of terrorists. Is his government now really more concerned about the “privacy” of those thugs than about the rights of one of its victimized citizens?

Common sense along with common decency makes clear this is not something that should have to be resolved in a courtroom. Let the proper officials issue the orders to give Anderson the information he’s entitled to. Anything less would be indefensible.