FBI releases Lennon surveillance documents
The final pages of US government documents detailing John Lennon's left-wing activities in the early 1970s have been released following a 25 year legal battle.
Historian Jon Wiener first asked for the Federal Bureau Of Investigation (FBI) surveillance report on Lennon in 1981, just months after the former Beatle was murdered in December 1980, to aid his book Come Together: John Lennon In His Time.
Although Wiener was given some files, his request for them all was turned down by the FBI due to freedom of information laws. The organisation argued the Lennon files could lead to political, diplomatic or economic retaliation against America.
In 1997, the FBI handed Wiener a number of files in a settlement after he sued the US government.
However, the final 10 pages continued to remain unseen - until now.
They show Lennon was monitored in 1971 and 1972, and that the Imagine star turned down a request for money to fund a left-wing bookshop in the UK.
"I doubt that Tony Blair's government will launch a military strike on the US in retaliation for the release of these documents," said Wiener.
"Today, we can see that the national security claims that the FBI has been making for 25 years were absurd from the beginning."
In the early 1970s, US President Richard Nixon's government wanted to deport British Lennon, who lived in New York City, claiming the popular musician's left-wing sympathies represented a national threat to America - this battle is the subject of recent documentary The US V John Lennon.
