The John Lennon FBI file and INS letters

The text of document NY19 (see Page 2) was previously blacked out in its entirety under the National Security-Foreign Government Information exemption. The document, described by the FBI as a "Letternead Memorandum" from the Legal Attache in London, was said to contain "information provided by a foreign government." Release of the information on this page, the FBI claimed from 1983 until 2006, "can reasonably be expected to inter alia: lead to foreign diplomatic, economic and military retaliation against the United States."

The document, apparently based on information from Britain's MI5 intelligence agency, reports on Lennon's interview with Tariq Ali and Robin Blackburn, published in the "Red Mole" -- and widely known to the public at the time. It also reports that Lennon met with French Marxist Regis Debray, also well known at the time, and that he signed a petition in support of Prince Sihanouk, the head of the Cambodian government, who was a neutralist. Release of this information in 2006 does not seem to have led to "military retaliaion against the United States."