Michael Hastings, the journalist whose devastating 2010 article about General Stanley McChrystal effectively ended the commander’s career, died in a car accident yesterday in Los Angeles. He was 33.
Hastings was famous for his no-nonsense attitude toward government officials, and through Jason Leopold’s Freedom of Information requesting and reporting it’s clear Hastings was much-discussed at the Department of Homeland Security.
With Hastings’ tragic death, we now have a window into what the Federal Bureau of Investigation may have collected about him. The FBI is required to release any requested file on an individual as long as the person consents or is no longer living.
MuckRock users Phil Mocek and Robert Delaware both requested his FBI file today. Given the FBI’s average response time of 107 days, it may be a long wait before we know whether Hastings’ activities caught the attention of the Bureau.
Read the full file embedded below or on the request page.
Image via Occupy.com
