Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Jack Kerouac's FBI Files Part 4 - Conclusion


Here is the final part in the on-going saga of determining whether Jack Kerouac has an FBI file. As you can see by the letter above in response to my FOIPA request, the FBI was "unable to identify responsive main file records." Of course, one must put this in the context of the previous sentence: "We were not able to search all of the manual indices because the Boston and New York indices have been transferred to Headquarters and are not yet searchable."

What does it all mean? Jack Kerouac may have an FBI file and he may not.

One thing is for sure: if he does, I do not have a copy of it.

So much for clear, black-and-white answers to things.

3 comments:

redcoltken said...

Interesting! Do you think he did have one and its just lost in a bureaucratic shuffle?

Rick Dale, author of The Beat Handbook said...

Ken, I absolutely think he has/had one, and they're either intentionally lying about it OR it's lost in the bureacracy OR it's truthfully in those records they say aren't yet "searchable."

Crystal said...

That's great - Dear Mr. Richard. They couldn't even get the salutation correct. How could you ever expect them to find a file that would be 40 years old?