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.

IN JULY: Journalist Walter Cronkite dies at 92

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."

FBI spokesman Bill Carter said the agency works with the National
Archives to try to ensure historically important records are preserved.
He did not respond to requests for further information Tuesday.

The destruction of the Cronkite records illustrates the FBI's policies
on keeping and destroying records, which date to a 1981 lawsuit over
public access to those records. Although the FBI's rules call for
preserving files with historical significance, researchers such as
journalist Alex Heard have criticized the agency for wiping out too many
potentially valuable records. The FBI destroyed a file on civil rights
pioneer Rosa Parks, The Detroit News reported in 2006.

Heard, who is researching a 1951 execution in Mississippi, said he was
frustrated to learn the FBI destroyed records about one of the civil
rights lawyers involved.

"They piled up the documents, and we (taxpayers) paid for it," Heard
said. "With a lot of that material, the simplest thing would be to just
keep it."

The fact that the FBI had records involving Cronkite doesn't mean the
FBI had investigated him, Hodes said. Celebrities' files often consist
of letters they wrote to FBI officials or investigations of extortion
attempts, he said.

"When famous people's files are released, a lot of times they're the
victims of crimes," Hodes said.
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