"They flashed their badges and said they needed access to the papers," said Feldstein, a former investigative reporter.

"We need" is FBI-speak for "we don't have a warrant but we're going to try to bully you into giving us what we want."

Although the agents claimed to be looking for evidence to use against former lobbyists for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee who allegedly obtained classified information, Anderson's son thinks the Bureau is on a fishing expedition. That suspicion deepened when the agents insisted on looking at every paper Anderson kept, and said they'd take anything stamped "Confidential" or "Secret."

"We don't think there's anything related to the current investigation there, based on the time frame and dad's poor health," [Anderson's son] said. "They made it clear they want to look at everything and by the way, if we find anything classified, we'll have to remove it. I suspect that's their real intention, to get through these papers before they become public."

This is what happened to Feldstein:

The agents who went to Feldstein's home asked if he had seen any classified documents, wanted the names of all graduate students who had looked through the papers and questioned him about where the documents are housed and who controls access to them.

"On the one hand, I think it's really disturbing to have the FBI come knocking at your door, demanding to look at things you've been reading. It smacks of a Gestapo state. On the other hand, it's so heavy handed to be almost ludicrous," Feldstein said.

There's more in this article at The Chronicle of Higher Education.