COINTELPRO (FBI program)
From Kook Science
COINTELPRO (portmanteau of "Counterintelligence Program") was a U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) program of covert projects intended to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize"[1] the activities and leadership of black nationalist and civil rights activist groups in the United States, including the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM), the Nation of Islam (NOI), and the Black Panther Party, as well as other dissident political groups, such as the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), and the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).
The efforts of COINTELPRO involved extensive, often illegal, surveillance of individuals, including wiretapping, bugging, break-ins, and mail interception, information from which was used in psychological warfare operations against individuals, including smear campaigns and anonymous threats, all intended to create an atmosphere of pressure and disarray within targeted groups.
Despite being ostensibly shuttered by exposure in 1971, the tactics used by the agency under the guise of COINTELPRO have not effectively been halted, as a chilling program of surveillance continues to be used against domestic dissident groups, even up to the present day, according to findings of the U.S. Justice Department and other organisations.
References
- ↑ Hoover, J. Edgar (1967-08-25), COUNTERINTELLIGENCE PROGRAM - BLACK NATIONALIST - HATE GROUPS - INTERNAL SECURITY, http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/COINTELPRO/COINTELPRO-FBI.docs.html, "[...] The purpose of this new counterintelligence endeavor is to expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or OTHERWISE NEUTRALIZE [emphasis added] the activities of black nationalist hate-type organizations and groupings, their leadership, spokesmen, membership, and supporters, and to counter their propensity for violence and civil disorder. The activities of all such groups of intelligence interest to the Bureau must be followed on a continuous basis so we will be in a position to promptly take advantage of all opportunities for counterintelligence and inspire action in instances where circumstances warrant. The pernicious background of such groups, their duplicity, and devious maneuvers must be exposed to public scrutiny where such publicity will have a neautralizing effect. Efforts of the various groups to consolidate their forces or to recruit new or youthful adherents must be frustrated. NO OPPORTUNITY SHOULD BE MISSED TO EXPLOIT THROUGH COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TECHNIQUES THE ORGANIZATIONAL AND PERSONAL CONFLICTS OF THE LEADERSHIPS OF THE GROUPS AND WHERE POSSIBLE AN EFFORT SHOULD BE MADE TO CAPITALIZE UPON EXISTING CONFLICTS BETWEEN COMPETING BLACK NATIONALIST ORGANIZATIONS."