I found
this buried in the back of the print edition of today's
L.A. Times, and it immediately sent me looking for my tin-foil hat.
A Bay Area historian on Friday reported the theft of three boxes of confidential FBI documents, some detailing government surveillance of presidential hopeful John F. Kerry when he was a spokesman for a 1970s veterans group protesting the Vietnam War.
[...]
Nicosia had received 20,000 pages of internal FBI surveillance files in 1999 through a Freedom of Information Act request. At the time, he was researching "Home to War," a chronicle of the Vietnam protest years. But the release came too late for use in the book, which was largely about Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Kerry was among the leaders of the group, which was founded in 1967 and drew 10,000 members nationwide.
Nicosia said he suspected that the thieves were specifically in pursuit of the files because a camera and other expensive items in the home were left untouched. He added that he did not know exactly what material was taken because it was not cataloged or marked. Three of 14 boxes of files that had been stacked in his kitchen are missing. He said he was moving the remaining documents to a secure location Friday afternoon.
[...]
He added that he had no idea why the thieves didn't take all 14 of the boxes. "My guess is that they were surprised during the act and didn't have time to take everything -- maybe the dog next door barked," Nicosia said.
He said that while the boxes had been tightly packed when released by the FBI, he saw signs that ones not previously opened had been riffled.
Lovenguth said police were investigating the case as a burglary. "Our investigating is ongoing," he said. "We're waiting for the victim to tell us exactly what was missing so we know what we're looking for."
"Whoever did this wanted to know something about John Kerry," Nicosia said.
Shouldn't this be bigger news? I mean, I guess it could just be some politically-aware thieves who wanted some John Kerry memorabilia, but I find that very unlikely. This smells like a dirty-tricks operation to me.
I wonder when we'll start seeing the contents of the stolen files on Fox News?