One of the most enjoyable tidbits from the “family jewels” CIA document dump so far is that Brit Hume was spied on by the CIA:

Personal surveillance was conducted on [Jack] Anderson and three of his staff members, including Brit Hume, now with Fox News, for two months in 1972 after Anderson wrote of the administration’s “tilt toward Pakistan.” The 1972 surveillance of Marchetti was carried out “to determine contacts with CIA employees,” the summary said.

It’ll be fun to see what he says on “Special Report” tonight.

Full disclosure: My dad was Anderson’s editor and my mom was later his book agent. So maybe there’s a file on them too.

Update: Two emails:

I also knew Jack well, having worked with him and his staff in Publishing a newsletter called Jack Anderson Confidential.
Jack was one of the most gracious, kind, and insightful men I’ve ever met. Also one of the most tenacious when on a story, with his staff (I worked most closely with Mike Binstein). While I may not have agreed with all of his reporting (and targets), his integrity was unassailable, and he and his staff were far from being Communists (or even socialists). Jack’s staff over the years included some talented people, and he prepared them well. I miss Jack, and especially his stories over dinner, which were never short of jaw-dropping.
Thanks for sticking up for Brit and Jack, and for bringing back some great memories. Wish I could have seen you at Oxford!

And:

How was that full disclosure of anything relevant? Has someone claiming
“full disclosure” ever actually made a disclosure of any importance to
what they were talking about? How about just calling these asides what
they are — “Random vaguely related brag that shows how connected I am”

Me: Well, in response to the second email let me second the first. I didn’t know Jack Anderson well and we no doubt didn’t see eye-to-eye. But I think he was a man of enormous integrity and the kind of columnist American journalism is sorely missing these days. There aren’t many reportorial columnists out there and we could use a lot more. Anderson was dogged and determined, and a bit odd, but you have to be to sleuth out as much as he did from the ocean of B.S. out there. He was deeply patriotic and the fact that the CIA was spying on him is funny to me now, but it’s scandalous on the merits. As for mentioning my family connection, I was just trying to have some fun and calling attention to the ludicrousness of treating Anderson (and Hume) like they were enemies of the state.