Editing COINTELPRO (section)

{{Short description|Series of covert and illegal projects by the FBI}}
{{use mdy dates |date=June 2020}}
[[File:COINTELPRO - Jean Seberg.jpg|thumb|right|COINTELPRO memo proposing a plan to expose the pregnancy of actress [[Jean Seberg]], a financial supporter of the [[Black Panther Party]], hoping to "possibly cause her embarrassment or tarnish her image with the general public". Covert campaigns to publicly discredit activists and destroy their interpersonal relationships were a common tactic used by COINTELPRO agents.]]
'''COINTELPRO''' (a [[syllabic abbreviation]] derived from [[Counterintelligence|Counter Intelligence]] Program) was a series of [[Covert operation|covert]] and illegal<ref name="Hoerl and Ortiz, 2015">{{cite journal |last1=Hoerl |first1=Kristen |last2=Ortiz |first2=Erin |title=Organizational Secrecy and the FBI’s COINTELPRO–Black Nationalist Hate Groups Program, 1967-1971 |journal=Management Communication Quarterly |date=November 2015 |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=590–615 |doi=10.1177/0893318915597302 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0893318915597302 |access-date=6 May 2025|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="church-final-report">{{Cite book |title=Intelligence Activities and the Rights of Americans – Church Committee final report |title-link=Church Committee |date=1976-04-26 |publisher=United States Senate |series=II |page=10 |chapter=I. Introduction and Summary |access-date=2014-07-15 |chapter-url=https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_III.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140418092233/http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/pdfs94th/94755_II.pdf |archive-date=2014-04-18 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite conference |last=Wolf |first=Paul |date=1 September 2001 |title=COINTELPRO: The Untold American Story |url=https://archive.org/details/CointelproTheUntoldAmericanStory |conference=World Conference Against Racism |location=Durbin, South Africa |page=[https://archive.org/stream/CointelproTheUntoldAmericanStory/COINTELPRO#page/n11/mode/2up 11] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309125741/https://archive.org/details/CointelproTheUntoldAmericanStory |archive-date=9 March 2016 |access-date=14 February 2018 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all}}</ref> projects conducted between 1956 and 1971 by the United States [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) aimed at surveilling, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting American [[political organizations]] that the FBI perceived as [[subversive]].<ref name="Citizens">{{Cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-08-oe-jalon8-story.html |title=A break-in to end all break-ins |last=Jalon |first=Allan M. |date=8 March 2006 |work=The Los Angeles Times |access-date=2014-07-15 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203035850/http://articles.latimes.com/2006/mar/08/opinion/oe-jalon8 |archive-date=2013-12-03}}</ref><ref name="The-Dangers-of-Domestic-Spying-by-Federal-Law-Enforcement">{{Cite report |url=https://www.aclu.org/files/FilesPDFs/mlkreport.pdf |title=The Dangers of Domestic Spying by Federal Law Enforcement |date=2002 |publisher=[[American Civil Liberties Union]] |access-date=2017-11-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180205173958/https://www.aclu.org/files/FilesPDFs/mlkreport.pdf |archive-date=2018-02-05 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Morris |first=Rose |title=Chronicle of the Seventh Son Black Panther Mark Clark |publisher=Rose Morris |year=2019 |isbn=978-1733581714 |pages=209–214 |language=English}}</ref><ref name="Jeffreys-Jones">{{Cite book |title=The FBI: A History |last=Jeffreys-Jones |first=Rhodri |date=2008 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-14284-6 |location=New Haven, Connecticut |page=189 |oclc=223872966 |author-link=Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones |orig-year=2007}}</ref> Groups and individuals targeted by the FBI included [[feminist]] organizations,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.freedomarchives.org/Documents/Curr%20C101/Cointelpro%20and%20Women's%20Liberation.pdf |title=The Women's Liberation Movement and COINTELPRO |website=www.freedomarchives.org |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150724013050/http://www.freedomarchives.org/Documents/Curr%20C101/Cointelpro%20and%20Women's%20Liberation.pdf |archive-date=2015-07-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Salper |first=Roberta |year=2008 |title=U.S. Government Surveillance and the Women's Liberation Movement, 1968–1973: A Case Study |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20459215 |journal=Feminist Studies |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=431–455 |doi= |jstor=20459215 |access-date=2022-07-12 }}</ref> the [[Communist Party USA]],<ref name="Weiner 2012 195">{{harvnb|Weiner|2012|p=195}}.</ref> [[Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War|anti-Vietnam War]] organizers, activists in the [[civil rights movement|civil rights]] and [[Black power movement|Black power]] movements (e.g., [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] and the [[Black Panther Party]]), [[environmentalist]] and [[animal rights]] organizations, the [[American Indian Movement]] (AIM), [[Chicano]] and [[Mexican Americans|Mexican-American]] groups like the [[Brown Berets]] and the [[United Farm Workers]], and independence movements (including [[Puerto Rican independence]] groups, such as the [[Young Lords]] and the [[Puerto Rican Socialist Party]]). Although the program primarily focused on organizations that were part of the broader [[New Left]], they also targeted white supremacist groups, such as the [[Ku Klux Klan]]<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Bosi |editor-first1=Lorenzo |editor-last2=Giugni|editor-first2=Marco|editor-last3=Uba |editor-first3=Katrin|date=2016 |title=The Consequences of Social Movements|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AM89CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA66|location= |publisher= [[Cambridge University Press]]|page=66 |isbn=978-1107539211}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=White Robes and Burning Crosses: A History of the Ku Klux Klan from 1866 |last=Newton |first=Michael |publisher=McFarland |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-7864-7774-6 |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |pages=146 |oclc=877370955}}</ref> and the [[National States' Rights Party]].<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointelpro/cointel.htm |title = Groups targeted by COINTELPRO |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120910071729/http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointelpro/cointel.htm |archive-date=10 September 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The FBI engaged in covert operations targeting domestic political groups from its earliest years. Covert operations under the official COINTELPRO label took place between 1956 and 1971. However, the official chronology of the program is the subject of debate. According to a senate investigation, "If COINTELPRO had been a short-lived aberration, the thorny problems of motivation, techniques, and control presented might be safely relegated to history. However, COINTELPRO existed for years on an 'ad hoc basis before the formal programs were instituted, and more significantly, COINTELPRO-type activities may continue today under the rubric of 'investigation."<ref name=":0" /> Many of the tactics used in COINTELPRO are alleged to have seen continued use, including discrediting targets through [[psychological warfare]]; smearing individuals and groups using forged documents and by planting false reports in the media; harassment; wrongful imprisonment; illegal violence; and [[assassination]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Rethinking Society in the 21st Century |last1=Walby |first1=Kevin |last2=Monaghan |first2=Jeffery |date=2016 |publisher=Canadian Scholars |isbn=978-1-55130-936-1 |editor-last=Bezanson |editor-first=Kate |edition=4th |location=Toronto |page=[{{google books|oWO_DAAAQBAJ|page=148|plainurl=yes}} 148], note 1 |chapter=Private Eyes and Public Order: Policing and Surveillance in the Suppression of Animal Rights Activists in Canada |oclc=1002804017 |editor-last2=Webber |editor-first2=Michelle}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Globalization in the 21st Century: Labor, Capital, and the State on a World Scale |last=Orr |first=Martin |date=2010 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-230-10639-0 |editor-last=Berberoglu |editor-first=Berch |page=[{{google books|xU3FAAAAQBAJ|page=182|plainurl=yes}} 182] |chapter=The Failure of Neoliberal Globalization and the End of Empire |oclc=700167013}}</ref><ref name="FBI Secrets 1995">{{Cite book |title=FBI Secrets: An Agent's Expose |last=Swearingen |first=M. Wesley |date=1995 |publisher=South End Press |isbn=978-0-89608-502-2 |location=Boston |oclc=31330305 |quote=[Special Agent Gregg York:] We expected about twenty Panthers to be in the apartment when the police raided the place. Only two of those black nigger fuckers were killed, Fred Hampton and Mark Clark. |author-link=M. Wesley Swearingen}}</ref><ref name="itsabouttimebpp.com">{{Cite web |url=http://www.itsabouttimebpp.com/Chapter_History/pdf/Chicago/Murder_of_Fred_Hampton_1969.pdf |title=Murder of Fred Hampton |website=It's About Time – Black Panther Party Legacy & Alumni |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100215210352/http://www.itsabouttimebpp.com/Chapter_History/pdf/Chicago/Murder_of_Fred_Hampton_1969.pdf |archive-date=2010-02-15 |access-date=2009-07-19}}</ref> According to a Senate report, the FBI's motivation was "protecting [[national security]], preventing violence, and maintaining the existing social and political order".<ref name=":0">{{Cite report |url=https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_III.pdf |title=Final Report of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations With Respect to Intelligence Activities, Book III: Supplementary Detailed Staff Reports on Intelligence Activities and the Rights of Americans |date=1976 |docket=S. Rep. No. 94-755 |access-date=2017-11-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140418092233/http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/pdfs94th/94755_II.pdf |type=Final Report |archive-date=2014-04-18 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Beginning in 1969, Black Panther party leaders were targeted by the COINTELPRO and "neutralized" through tactics including assassination, imprisonment, public humiliation, and false criminal charges. Some of the Black Panthers targeted include [[Fred Hampton]], [[Mark Clark (Black Panther)|Mark Clark]], [[Assata Shakur]], [[Geronimo Pratt]], [[Mumia Abu-Jamal]],<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MdQ3DQAAQBAJ&q=mumia.+cointelpro |title=Prison Power: How Prison Influenced the Movement for Black Liberation |last=Corrigan |first=Lisa M. |date=2016 |publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi |isbn=978-1496809100 |pages=86–88}}</ref> and [[Marshall Conway]]. Common tactics used by COINTELPRO were perjury, witness harassment, witness intimidation, and withholding of exculpatory evidence.<ref name="cleaver">{{Cite journal |last=Cleaver|first= Kathleen |s2cid=141121370|date=1998 |title=Mobilizing for Mumia Abu-Jamal in Paris |url=http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/yjlh/vol10/iss2/2/ |url-status=live |journal=Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities |language=en |volume=10 |issue=2 |issn=1041-6374 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190406125116/https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/yjlh/vol10/iss2/2/ |archive-date=2019-04-06 |access-date=2018-02-25}}</ref><ref>{{Cite press release |title=25th Ann. of Panther 21 Acquittal: Program in NYC |date=22 April 1996 |url=http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/088.html |last1=On' |first1=Shaba |access-date=5 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171228131859/http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/088.html |archive-date=28 December 2017 |via=Hartford Web Publishing |url-status=live |df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |quote=Hundreds of Panthers were stopped, harassed and arrested by the police across the country. Hoover explained  the 'purpose of counterintelligence action is to disrupt the BPP and it is immaterial whether facts exist to substantiate the charge'. The effectiveness of COINTELPRO was overwhelming. Many organizations were destabilized with arrests, raids, break-ins, and killings. |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-fbis-war-on-civil-rights-leaders |title=The FBI's War on Civil Rights Leaders |last=Ogbar |first=Jeffrey O. G. |date=2017-01-16 |work=The Daily Beast |access-date=2018-02-25 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180212011752/https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-fbis-war-on-civil-rights-leaders |archive-date=2018-02-12}}</ref>

[[Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation|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.<ref name="WRH">{{Cite web |url=http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/COINTELPRO/COINTELPRO-FBI.docs.html |title=COINTELPRO Revisited – Spying & Disruption – In Black & White: The F.B.I. Papers |website=What Really Happened |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516220059/http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/COINTELPRO/COINTELPRO-FBI.docs.html |archive-date=2008-05-16 |access-date=2008-06-23}}</ref><ref name="pbsco">{{Cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/hueypnewton/actions/actions_cointelpro.html |title=A Huey P. Newton Story – Actions – COINTELPRO |website=PBS |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515150914/http://www.pbs.org/hueypnewton/actions/actions_cointelpro.html |archive-date=2011-05-15 |access-date=2008-06-23}}</ref> Under Hoover, the official in charge of COINTELPRO was assistant director [[William C. Sullivan]].<ref>{{harvnb|Weiner|2012|p=196|ps=: "Sullivan would become Hoover's field marshal in matters of national security, chief of FBI intelligence, and commandant of COINTELPRO. In that top secret and tightly compartmentalized world, an FBI inside of the FBI, Sullivan served as the executor of Hoover's most clandestine and recondite demands."}}.</ref> Attorney General [[Robert F. Kennedy]] personally authorized some of the programs,<ref>{{harvnb|Weiner|2012|p=233|ps=: "RFK knew much more about this surveillance than he ever admitted. He personally renewed his authorization for the taps on Levison's office, and he approved Hoover's request to tap Levison's home telephone, where King called late at night several times a week."}}</ref> giving written approval for limited wiretapping of Martin Luther King's phones "on a trial basis, for a month or so".<ref>{{harvnb|Hersh|2007|p=372}}.</ref> Hoover extended the clearance so his men were "unshackled" to look for evidence in any areas of King's life they deemed worthy.<ref>{{harvnb|Hersh|2007|pp=372–374}}.</ref>