COINTELPRO was a counterintelligence program run by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from roughly 1956 to 1976. It combined the efforts of the Bureau and local police forces to track, harass, discredit, infiltrate, destroy, and destabilize dissident groups in the United States.
Full Answer
What is the FBI’s COINTELPRO program?
The FBI’s counterintelligence programs (COINTELPRO) of the 1950’s, ’60s, and ’70s formed one of the most infamous domestic initiatives in US history, targeting organizations and individuals whom the FBI saw as threatening the racist, capitalist status quo.
What groups did COINTELPRO target?
Overall, COINTELPRO encompassed disruption and sabotage of the Socialist Workers Party (1961), the Ku Klux Klan (1964), the Nation of Islam, the Black Panther Party (1967), and the entire New Left social/political movement, which included antiwar, community, and religious groups (1968).
Who was in charge of COINTELPRO under Hoover?
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover issued directives governing COINTELPRO, ordering FBI agents to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize" the activities of these movements and especially their leaders. Under Hoover, the agent in charge of COINTELPRO was William C. Sullivan.
What are the COINTELPRO hearings?
Instead, they date from the 1970s, when Idaho Senator Frank Church led congressional hearings into whether intelligence agencies had gone too far in investigating U.S. citizens. At the core of the Church hearings was COINTELPRO, a program started by FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover in the 1950s.
Which government agency was responsible for COINTELPRO?
COINTELPRO, in full Counterintelligence Program, counterintelligence program conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 1956 to 1971 to discredit and neutralize organizations considered subversive to U.S. political stability.
Who was targeted by the COINTELPRO program?
COINTELPRO The FBI began COINTELPRO—short for Counterintelligence Program—in 1956 to disrupt the activities of the Communist Party of the United States. In the 1960s, it was expanded to include a number of other domestic groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, the Socialist Workers Party, and the Black Panther Party.
Who ran COINTELPRO?
The revelations about COINTELPRO, a program begun by Hoover in 1956, led to congressional hearings by the Church Committee, new rules on how and why FBI investigations should be conducted, a 10-year term limit for FBI directors, and continuing congressional oversight of the bureau by House and Senate committees.
What was COINTELPRO quizlet?
COINTELPRO is an acronym (Counter Intelligence Program) for a program of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation aimed at investigating and disrupting dissident political organizations within the United States.
What was the FBI originally called?
the Bureau of InvestigationThe FBI was established in 1908 as the Bureau of Investigation, the BOI or BI for short. Its name was changed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1935.
How many FBI directors have there been?
Federal Bureau of Investigation directors (1935–present)No.NameTerm6Robert MuellerSeptember 4, 2001 – September 4, 20137James ComeySeptember 4, 2013 – May 9, 2017—Andrew McCabe (Acting)May 9, 2017 – August 2, 20178Christopher A. WrayAugust 2, 2017 – Present12 more rows
Who investigates the FBI?
Congress—through several oversight committees in the Senate and House—reviews the FBI's budget appropriations, programs, and selected investigations. The results of FBI investigations are often reviewed by the judicial system during court proceedings.
Why was COINTELPRO formed?
The agency's Domestic Intelligence Division did more than simply spy on U.S. citizens and their organizations; its ultimate goal was to disrupt, discredit, and destroy certain political groups. The division's operations were formally known within the bureau as COINTELPRO (the Counterintelligence Program).
Who was the leader of the black Jaguar party?
Huey NewtonBlack Panther PartyAbbreviationBPPLeaderHuey NewtonFounded1966Dissolved19828 more rows
What happened to the rainbow coalition?
The coalition eventually collapsed under duress from constant harassment by local and federal law enforcement, including the murder of Fred Hampton.
Why was the FBI a cointelpro?
The official rationale for COINTELPRO was that the organizations under surveillance were likely to commit acts of violence. In fact, few arrests were ever made for violent crimes. Most targeted organizations, such as King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference, were explicitly non-violent, whereas FBI activities were often directly or indirectly responsible for violence against activists.
How was Cointelpro defeated?
COINTELPRO was defeated by the mass movements of the ’60s and ’70s. Similarly today, by building a powerful movement of workers, people of color, and young people, we can defeat these new racist, undemocratic laws.
What is the lesson of the colonial pro?
The lesson of COINTELPRO is that when the ruling class’s interests are threatened, the Constitution will not stop them from trying to repress those threats. The Patriot Act and other “anti-terrorist” legislation gives the government further repressive powers that can be used to attack the working class and the oppressed.
What was the FBI's counterintelligence program?
The FBI’s counterintelligence programs (COINTELPRO) of the 1950’s, ’60s, and ’70s formed one of the most infamous domestic initiatives in US history, targeting organizations and individuals whom the FBI saw as threatening the racist, capitalist status quo. Through surveillance, misinformation, frame-ups, and assassinations of radical leaders, ...
How many domestic intelligence files were spied on in 1976?
The Church Committee, a Senate body that held hearings on COINTELPRO after its exposure in the early 1970’s, estimated that as of 1976 the FBI maintained over 500,000 domestic intelligence files. Those being spied upon included student activists, the black liberation movement, the women’s liberation movement, and socialist organizations, ...
What was the FBI's goal in 1967?
In 1967, the FBI established the “Black Nationalist Hate Groups” program to “prevent a coalition of militant black nationalist groups, … prevent the rise of a messiah who could unify and electrify the militant nationalist movement,” and “prevent … groups and leaders from gaining respectability by discrediting them.”.
When did the FBI pay the informant?
In the late 1980’s an FBI informant admitted he was paid by the FBI to infiltrate and disrupt the Central American solidarity organization CISPES from 1981 to 1984.
Who held hearings that exposed Cointelpro, and spurred new domestic spying regulations?
CHIDEYA: In 1975, three years after Hoover's death, Senator Church held hearings that exposed COINTELPRO, and spurred new domestic spying regulations. Kate Martin, Director for the Center of National Securities Studies:
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Who was the former FBI associate deputy director?
Mr. OLIVER "BUCK" REVELL (Former FBI Associate Deputy Director): Probably less than 200 people in the FBI ever knew of or were involved in COINTELPRO and the other 8,000 agents were, like I was, investigating organized crime and all types of bank robberies and violent crimes and it just seemed to be to be so out of character with the FBI that I had joined and that I believed was essential to protect the rights of American citizens.
Who is the former FBI director?
Mr. J. EDGAR HOOVER (Former FBI Director): The Communist Party of America is doing everything in its power to steal the minds and the souls and the hearts of our young people.
Did the FBI discredit King?
CHIDEYA: As King's fame grew, so too did the FBI's campaign to discredit him. The Bureau compiled a tape recording of Reverend King with extra marital lovers and sent him a copy, along with an anonymous not that read in part, "King, there is only one thing left for you to do. There is but one way out for you. You better take it before your filthy, fraudulent self is bared to the nation."
Did the FISA statute preempt the President's authority to order surveillance?
Mr. REVELL: When the FISA statute was passed, Griffin Bell made a statement that this did not pre-empt the President's constitutional authority to order surveillance where it was appropriate against possible hostile organizations or nations. But as far as the Constitutionality of it, I think the President will be found to have acted within the scope of his authority.
Is wiretapping illegal?
Two civil liberties groups are suing President Bush and the National Security Agency over secret wiretapping of American citizens. The groups say the eavesdropping is both illegal and unconstitutional. George Washington University law professor, Paul Butler, will join NPR's Farai Chideya in just a moment to discuss these legal challenges. But first, Farai takes a look at the historical clash over how far the U.S. government can go in monitoring its citizens. The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. was the subject of an intense FBI campaign. The FBI's surveillance of King came under the counter-intelligence program, known by its acronym, COINTELPRO. The program tested the constitutional limits of law enforcement and stirred a civil liberties debate that continues today. Here's Farai Chideya.
Who approved the FBI counterintelligence program?
Each of these counterintelligence programs bore the approval of the then Director J. Edgar Hoover. Proposals for courses of action to be taken under these programs were subject to approval in advance, as well as to constant review, by FBI Field Office and Headquarters officials.
What is the directorate's connection to all field offices?
The directorate's connection to all field offices created a basis for ensuring that this repressive activity was implemented, even by field offices that reported an absence of activity by local chapters.
Why was the FBI counterintelligence program created?
The FBI's counterintelligence program was developed in response to needs at the time to quickly neutralize organizations and individuals who were advocating and fomenting urban violence and campus disorder. The riots, which swept America's urban centers beginning in 1965, were quickly followed by violent disorders which paralyzed college campuses. Both situations led to calls for action by alarmed Government leaders and a frightened citizenry.
Why were nonviolent organizations targeted?
Indeed, nonviolent organizations and individuals were targeted because the Bureau believed they represented a "potential" for violence so and nonviolent citizens who were against the war in Vietnam were targeted because they gave "aid and comfort" to violent demonstrators by lending respectability to their cause. The imprecision of the targeting is demonstrated by the inability of the Bureau to define the subjects of the programs. The Black Nationalist program, according to its supervisor, included "a great number of organizations that you might not today characterize as black nationalist but which were in fact primarily black." Thus, the nonviolent Southern Christian Leadership Conference was labeled as a Black Nationalist "Hate Group."
What were the targets of the CPUSA program?
The CPUSA program targeted not only Communist Party members but also sponsors of the National Committee to Abolish the House Un-American Activities Committee and civil rights leaders allegedly under Communist influence or not deemed to be "anti-Communist". The Socialist Workers Party program included non-SWP sponsors of antiwar demonstrations which were cosponsored by the SWP or the Young Socialist Alliance, its youth group."' The Black Nationalist program targeted a range of organizations from the Panthers to SNCC to the peaceful Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and included every Black Student Union and many other black student groups.
What are the targets of the New Left?
New Left targets ranged from the SDS to the Inter- University Committee for Debate on Foreign Policy, from Antioch College ("vanguard of the New Left") to the New Mexico Free University and other "alternate" schools , and from underground newspapers to students protesting university censorship of a student publication by carrying signs with four-letter words on them.
What was the Black Nationalist program?
The Black Nationalist program targeted a range of organizations from the Panthers to SNCC to the peaceful Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and included every Black Student Union and many other black student groups.
Who was the FBI informant in the Black Panther raid?
In Chicago, the first major breakthrough came in 1973 when U.S. Attorney James Thompson revealed that Chicago Black Panther Party Chief of Security William O'Neal was a paid informant for the FBI. At that time I was a young lawyer working with my colleagues at the People's Law Office on a civil rights lawsuit that we had filed on behalf of the Hampton and Clark families and the survivors of the December 4th raid. We quickly subpoenaed the Chicago FBI's Black Panther Party files and a grand total of 33 documents were produced. However, an honest Assistant U.S. Attorney included in those documents an FBI memorandum that incorporated a detailed floor plan of the interior of the BPP apartment which specifically identified the bed on which Hampton slept. The face of the memo also revealed that the floor plan, together with other important information designed to be utilized in a police raid, was based on information communicated by O'Neal to his FBI control agent who later supplied it to State's Attorney Hanrahan before the raid.
Who was responsible for the Black Panther raid?
In the wake of the raid, the Minister of Defense for the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party, Bobby Rush, stood on the steps of the bullet riddled BPP apartment and declared that J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI were responsible for the raid, but at that time there was no hard proof and it was dismissed by the media as mere rhetoric.
What did the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals find about the FBI?
In April of 1979 the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, in a landmark decision, overturned the trial judge, finding that the FBI defendants and their government lawyers "obstructed justice" by suppressing the BPP files. Most significantly, the Court of Appeals also concluded that there was "serious evidence" to support the conclusion that the FBI, Hanrahan, and his men, in planning and executing the raid, had participated in a "conspiracy designed to subvert and eliminate the Black Panther Party and its members," thereby suppressing a "vital radical Black political organization." The Court further found there to be substantial evidence that these defendants also participated in a post-raid conspiracy to "cover up evidence" regarding the raid, to "conceal the true character of their pre-raid and raid activities," to "harass the survivors of the raid," and to "frustrate any legal redress the survivors might seek." This decision withstood a challenge in the U.S. Supreme Court, and stands today as judicial recognition of outrageous Federal and local conspiratorial criminality and cover-up.
What was the FBI's focus in the 1960s?
These documents exposed the FBI’s super-secret and profoundly illegal COINTELPRO program and its focus in the 1960s on the black liberation movement and its leaders. Citing the assassinated Malcolm X as an example, Hoover directed all of the Bureau’s Offices to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, and otherwise neutralize” African American ...
When did the Church Committee report the FBI?
That same month, on April 23, 1976 , the Church Committee released its Final Staff Report on the FBI and CIA’s rampant domestic illegalities which included a chapter entitled “The FBI’s Covert Action Plan to Destroy the Black Panther Party.”.
Did the FBI produce the Black Panther files?
Two months into the trial, O’Neal’s FBI control agent blundered on the witness stand and inadvertently established that the FBI had not produced all of the Chicago Black Panther files, and the Judge, not knowing what was about to happen, ordered that they do so.