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Though government documents usually make for dull reading, the newly released FBI file on Apple co-founder Steve Jobs tells of brilliance, ambition, and a $1 million bomb threat.
Much of the file comes from a background check the FBI conducted in 1990, when President George H. W. Bush was considering Jobs for an appointment to the president’s Export Council, the Huffington Post reports.
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The FBI interviewed no less than 29 individuals for the 191-page report, which has brought to light several new Jobs tidbits. Among the new information is the revelation that in 1985, someone made a bomb threat against Apple, saying he wanted $1 million.
“An unidentified male caller made a series of telephone calls to [redacted] of Apple computer Inc. […] and advised that ‘devices’ had been placed in homes of captioned individuals [redacted] and one million dollars must be paid,” the file said.
Authorities never determined who was behind the threat.
Many of the people interviewed for the file praised Jobs’ his work ethic and vision. The file also gleans Jobs’ complicated nature. One individual said: “although the Appointee [Jobs] is basically an honest and trustworthy person, he is a very complex individual and his moral character is suspect.”
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Another questioned Jobs’ technical skill. The person said Jobs was “technically oriented but […] in the opinion of many, not an engineer.”
The names of those interviewed been redacted, though there are clues to the identities of the interviewees. The Huffington Post speculates the mother of his daughter Lisa, Chris-Ann Brennan, was among them.
The file is available online here.
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