COINTELPRO: a legacy the FBI doesn't want you to know about!
On March 8, 1971, as most of the country was watching "the fight of the century" boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, a group of anti-war protestors called the Citizen’s Commission was breaking into an FBI field office in Media, Pennsylvania. What they found and later leaked to the media were files on an Illegal FBI program called COINTELPRO which was designed to attack groups and people deemed "National Security Threats" by then FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. Muhammad Ali was among the many targets. Groups that were targeted included the Civil Rights Movement (including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.), the American Indian Movement, Students for Democratic Society, nationalist groups seeking independence for Puerto Rico and groups seeking a reunification of Ireland.
William Sullivan headed the program with a five-prong attack using any means necessary.
1) Create a negative public image of the group,
2) Create internal conflicts within the group,
3) Create dissension between groups,
4) Restrict the ability to protest and cut off public resources of the group, and
5) Use character assassination and false arrests to restrict the ability of individuals to participate in group events
The Church Committee investigated the FBI and the CIA and found that COINTELPRO violated specific prohibitions and infringed on the constitutional rights of citizens. The FBI believed the law did not apply to programs serving National Security interests and used illegal surveillance. The COINTELPRO operation prevented the exercise of first amendment rights.
Most of the groups targeted by COINTELPRO were peaceful nonviolent groups that were in no way a National Security threat. Even if actual "National Security threats" like the Mafia and KKK were targeted, I still would not condone it. These were illegal and destructive methods, and it leaves a black eye on the FBI. I ask this question many times, why is J. Edgar Hoover's name still on FBI buildings?
