Robert Novak
On three separate occasions in the 1980s, the FBI opened investigations into information leaked to newspaper columnist Robert Novak, The Washington Post reported Thursday.
The information comes from documents released by the FBI to The Post in response to a Freedom of Information request filed after Novak’s death last year.
According to the records, the FBI opened two investigations in 1983 — one concerning a column that described a telegram from the U.S. Secretary of Defense to his counterpart in Israel and a second probe into remarks made by Novak on a broadcast of “The McLaughlin Group.” The records did not say what Novak said on the show that caused alarm.
The FBI opened a third investigation into 1987 column that contained information SS-20 nuclear missiles, according to the records.
In all three cases, the records did not definitively indicate whether the source of the leaks was ever found, according to the Post.
Read more on the investigations here.
