COINTELPRO | FBI, Surveillance, Political Activism

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class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/COINTELPRO/additional-info">References & Edit History</a> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="/facts/COINTELPRO">Quick Facts & Related Topics</a> </div> <div class="mb-30 tlr-read-next"> <div class="text-gray-900 p-5 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-10 mb-10"> Read Next </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal tlr-img-with-side-link ml-15 link-gray-900 mb-10" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/story/have-any-us-presidents-decided-not-to-run-for-a-second-term"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/22/232222-050-C7D008B3/Hand-ballot-box-vote-election.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop" alt="Close up of a hand placing a ballot in a ballot box. 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Newton Story - COINTELPRO</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="toc-header-marker"></div> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 js-header-ai-ask-button d-none btn-sm btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 mr-0 mr-lg-10 ml-5 ml-sm-10 ml-lg-0 p-10"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> <div class="caption alternate-titles">Also known as: Counterintelligence Program</div> <div class="md-byline module-spacing "> <div class="font-serif font-12"> <span class="written-by text-gray-700"> Written by </span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor" href="/contributor/Nadine-Frederique/9772590" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">Nadine Frederique</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">Social Science Analyst, Office of Research and Evaluation, National Institute of Justice, Washington, D.C. Her contributions to SAGE Publications's <em>Encyclopedia of Race and Crime</em> (2009)...</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Nadine Frederique</span></div> <div class="font-serif font-12 text-gray-700"> <span class="qa-fact-checked-by">Fact-checked by</span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 font-12" href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 text-black">Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/COINTELPRO/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button js-sections-inline-button module-spacing"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 ai-ask-button btn border-2 module-spacing btn-sm js-inline-ai-ask-button btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 p-10 ml-5"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> </div> <div class="js-qf-module qf-module px-40 px-sm-20 py-15 mx-auto module-spacing font-14 bg-gray-50 rounded"> <div class="qf-title font-weight-bold font-14 mb-10 text-center"> Quick Facts</div> <div class="facts-list mt-10"> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>In full: </dt> <dd>Counterintelligence Program</dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Date: </dt> <dd>1956 - 1971</dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Areas Of Involvement: </dt> <dd><a href="/topic/intelligence-international-relations">intelligence</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/counterintelligence">counterintelligence</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> <div class="text-center"> <a class="btn btn-sm btn-link p-0" href="/facts/COINTELPRO"> See all related content </a> </div> </div> </div> </div><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref1"><span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><strong><span id="ref1235037"></span>COINTELPRO</strong>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/counterintelligence" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">counterintelligence</a> program conducted by the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Federal-Bureau-of-Investigation" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Federal Bureau of Investigation</a> (FBI) from 1956 to 1971 to discredit and neutralize organizations considered subversive to U.S. political stability. It was covert and often used extralegal means to criminalize various forms of political struggle and derail several social movements, such as those for <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/American-civil-rights-movement" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">civil rights</a> and Puerto Rican independence.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">COINTELPRO operations were initiated against various organizations, including the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Communist-Party-of-the-United-States-of-America" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Communist Party</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Social-Democratic-Party-of-Germany" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Socialist Workers Party</a> (SWP), Puerto Rican <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nationalist-Party-Chinese-political-party" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Nationalist Party</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Black-Panther-Party" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Black Panther Party (BPP)</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/American-Indian-Movement" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">American Indian Movement</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Southern-Christian-Leadership-Conference" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Southern Christian Leadership Conference</a>, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ku-Klux-Klan" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Ku Klux Klan</a>. Tactics included intense surveillance, organizational infiltration, anonymous mailings, and police harassment. These programs were exposed in 1971 when the Citizens’ Commission to Investigate the FBI burglarized an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, stole <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="confidential" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/confidential" data-type="MW">confidential</a> files, and then released them to the press. More information regarding COINTELPRO was later obtained through the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Freedom-of-Information-Act" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Freedom of Information Act</a>, lawsuits lodged against the FBI by the BPP and the SWP, and statements by agents who came forward to confess their counterintelligence activities.</p><div class="one-good-fact-module"> </div><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">A major investigation was launched in 1975 by the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Senate-United-States-government" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">U.S. Senate</a> <span id="ref1235968"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Church-Committee" class="md-crosslink ">Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities</a>, commonly referred to as the “Church Committee,” for its chairman, Senator <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Frank-Church" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Frank Church</a> of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Idaho" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Idaho</a>. However, millions of pages of documents remain unreleased, and many released documents are heavily censored. In its final report, the committee sharply criticized COINTELPRO:</p><div class="module-spacing"> </div><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span><blockquote><p>Many of the techniques used would be intolerable in a democratic society even if all of the targets had been involved in violent activity, but COINTELPRO went far beyond that.…The Bureau conducted a sophisticated vigilante operation aimed squarely at preventing the exercise of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/First-Amendment" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">First Amendment</a> rights of speech and association, on the theory that preventing the growth of dangerous groups and the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="propagation" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/propagation" data-type="MW">propagation</a> of dangerous ideas would protect the national security and deter violence.</p></blockquote></section> <span class="md-signature"><a href="/contributor/Nadine-Frederique/9772590">Nadine Frederique</a></span> <span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":1,"pageId":1948536,"pageLength":229,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"D","adLeg":"D","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"SMALL","gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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