Former U.S. National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism
Richard A. Clarke said that what is known about the crash is "consistent with a car cyber attack". He was quoted as saying "There is reason to believe that intelligence agencies for major powers — including the United States — know how to remotely seize control of a car. So if there were a cyber attack on [Hastings'] car — and I'm not saying there was, I think whoever did it would probably get away with it."
[68] Earlier the previous day, Hastings indicated that he believed he was being investigated by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation. In an email to colleagues, which was copied to and released by Hastings' friend, Army
Staff Sergeant Joe Biggs,
[69] Hastings said that he was "onto a big story", that he needed to "go off the radar", and that the FBI might interview them.
[70][71] WikiLeaks announced that Hastings had also contacted
Jennifer Robinson, one of its lawyers, a few hours prior to the crash,
[72] and the
LA Weekly reported that he was preparing new reports on the CIA at the time of his death.
[73] His widow
Elise Jordan said his final story was a profile of CIA Director
John O. Brennan.
[74]
The FBI released a statement denying that Hastings was being investigated.
[61]
Suck it bitch.
The
FBI file on Michael Hastings and its attachments (totaling 21 pages) were released to the public on September 24, 2013,
[82][83][84] after investigative journalist
Jason Leopold and
MIT doctoral candidate
Ryan Shapiro filed a joint suit in July 2013 against the FBI for ignoring their
FOIA requests for the file.
[85]
The FBI failed to respond to the requests within the allotted 20-day period.
[86] On August 15, Leopold released a statement that read, "The Department of Justice (DOJ) has indicated that the FBI has likely located responsive records pertaining to investigative journalist Michael Hastings".
[87] Al Jazeera, along with Shapiro, released results from a FOIA request showing that the FBI's
Washington field office had opened a file on Hastings in June 2012 to store "unclassified media articles" and "memorialize controversial reporting by
Rolling Stone magazine on June 7, 2012". The attorney who filed the FOIA lawsuit, Jeff Light, suggested that it was uncommon for the FBI to open such files on reporters.
[88][89]