COINTELPRO

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. Although covert operations have been employed throughout FBI history, the formal COINTELPRO operations of 1956-1971 were broadly targeted against organizations that were (at the time) considered to have politically radical elements, ranging from those whose stated goal was the violent overthrow of the US government (such as the Weathermen) to Martin Luther King Jr.'s Southern Christian Leadership Conference and racist and segregationist groups like the Ku Klux Klan. The document that launched the COINTELPRO operations against Black groups directed FBI agents to "track, expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize the activities" of these dissident movements and their leaders.

External links

Documentary

• "Me and My Shadow": A History of the FBI's Covert Operations and COINTELPRO - Part 1. 34:21 minute Real Audio. Produced by Adi Gevins, Pacifica Radio. 1976. Rebroadcast by Democracy Now! Wednesday, June 5th, 2002. Retrieved May 12, 2005.
• "Me and My Shadow": A History of the FBI's Covert Operations and COINTELPRO - Part 2. 13:43 minute Real Audio. Produced by Adi Gevins, Pacifica Radio. 1976. Rebroadcast by Democracy Now! Thursday, June 6th, 2002. Retrieved May 12, 2005.

Websites

• Paul Wolf's COINTELPRO website, a detailed reference site. Retrieved April 19, 2005.
• COINTELPRO STILL LIVES by Sista Shiriki Unganisha
• COINTELPRO: The Untold American Story - presented to U.N. World Conference Against Racism 2001 by the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus
• The Judi Bari case, COINTELPRO in the 1990s. Retrieved April 19, 2005.
• Fake Black Panther Party coloring book distributed by the FBI

U.S Government reports

Final Report of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities. United States Senate, 94th Congress, 2nd Session, April 26 (legislative day, April 14), 1976. . Archived on COINTELPRO sources website. Transcription and html by Paul Wolf. Retrieved April 19, 2005.

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• Intelligence Activities and the Rights of Americans, Book II

: I. Introduction and Summary

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: II. The Growth of Domestic Intelligence: 1936 to 1976

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: III. Findings

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: (A) Violating and Ignoring the Law

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: (B) Overbreadth of Domestic Intelligence Activity

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: (C) Excessive Use of Intrusive Techniques

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: (D) Using Covert Action to Disrupt and Discredit Domestic Groups

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: (E) Political Abuse of Intelligence Information

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: (F) Inadequate Controls on Dissemination and Retention

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: (G) Deficiencies in Control and Accountability

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: IV. Conclusions and Recommendations

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• Supplementary Detailed Staff Reports, Book III
• COINTELPRO: The FBI's Covert Action Programs Against American Citizens
• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Case Study
• The FBI's Covert Action Program to Destroy the Black Panther Party
• The Use of Informants in FBI Intelligence Investigations
• Warrantless FBI Electronic Surveillance
• Warrantless Surreptitious Entries: FBI "Black Bag" Break-ins And Microphone Installations
• The Development of FBI Domestic Intelligence Investigations
• Domestic CIA and FBI Mail Opening
• CIA Intelligence Collection About Americans: CHAOS Program And The Office of Security
• National Security Agency Surveillance Affecting Americans
• Improper Surveillance of Private Citizens By The Military
• The Internal Revenue Service: An Intelligence Resource and Collector
• National Security, Civil Liberties, And The Collection of Intelligence: A Report On The Huston Plan