He has encountered his fair share of redacted documents, and when the redaction was lifted wondered, again and again, what on earth the fuss was about; more worryingly, and more recently, he has been involved in terrorism cases where, as in the ricin trial, what turned out to be extremely flimsy evidence was used to fan public fear.
The redaction was widely assumed to be a consequence of political pressure applied by Beijing.
Further, the legal justification used for the redactions is questionable, according to the watchdogs' letters.
So they've redacted it and hidden it, even though the paragraphs that they've redacted, about 80percentt of the redactions are on unclassified paragraphs.
The editors told me all the redactions were made to conceal sources, and that "none of the redacted material contradicts the points made in the story".
The NRC, which described the redacted information as a security risk, has responded by saying that the redactions were made in consultation with other federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Energy Regulation Commission and the Army Corps of Engineers.
One of the lawyers in the Portland case, Paul Mones, said the files would be available online when the redactions were completed.
A C.I.A. spokesman, Paul Gimigliano, said the redactions were to prevent terrorists from learning about the agency's interrogation methods, which he called "safe, lawful and effective".
It will also ask whether the redactions were made at the request of the UK, or by the US authorities themselves.
Sources told The Independent that the redactions were not relevant to Operation Yewtree, the ongoing Scotland Yard investigation into Savile's crimes which has since uncovered 450 potential victims.
