FBI details plan for intelligence service Officials argue for a new directorate within
the bureau and respond to congressional critics who would rather create a separate agency.
6.5.04 Richard B. Schmitt L.A. Times
Wash.D.C. The FBI pressed ahead Friday with plans to restructure its intelligence operations, even
as the announced departure of CIA dir. George J. Tenet stirred debate over the future shape of the nation's
intelligence agencies. Bureau officials offered up details of a proposed intelligence service within the FBI, a
"directorate of intelligence" that would have budget authority over FBI intelligence assets and programs.
The proposal amounted to a preemptive strike against congressional critics and others who said that a more
sweeping overhaul of U.S. intelligence services was needed because of breakdowns exposed after 9.11.01. The proposal already was drawing criticism for being too
timid; even bureau officials acknowledge that the approach was more evolutionary than revolutionary, a somewhat
more elaborate version of its existing intelligence office.
Tenet, who said Thursday that he would leave office 7.11.04, is a staunch ally of FBI dir. Robert S. Mueller III in
opposing some more far-reaching reform proposals, incl creation of an independent domestic intelligence-gathering
service, modeled after Britain's Security Service, known as MI5, that would separate law enforcement
agents in the FBI from domestic intelligence collection.
Critics of that approach argued that creating another agency would exacerbate many problems, incl a chasm in
intelligence sharing, that Justice Dept has spent 3 years trying to fix. They warned that any dramatic changes in the
intelligence-gathering bureaucracy while the nation remained under an elevated threat of terrorist attack also could
be perilous.
FBI officials said the timing of Tenet's resignation and the new proposal, unveiled by Mueller at a congressional
hearing Thursday, was coincidental. "The proposal was not meant to blunt anything," FBI exec. asst dir. in charge
of intelligence Maureen Baginski said at a briefing for reporters. "The proposal really is the next logical step in
developing the program."
Former Russian teacher Baginski, whom Mueller hired from National Security Agency about a year ago, stands as the presumed leader of the
beefed-up intelligence organization, which would require congressional approval. Since joining the FBI, Baginski
has given the bureau a crash course in how to build an intelligence apparatus. She has established new
requirements for gathering information, helped the bureau assess its intelligence-gathering capabilities and figured
out new ways to share its intelligence with state & local law-enforcement authorities. She also is overseeing
the hiring of hundreds of intelligence analysts to assess threats and is helping develop a career track for analysts to
raise their profile compared with the bureau's better-known corps of special agents.
Under the proposal, the new intelligence chief would have added budget authority. Baginski declined to say how
much of the FBI's $4.6-billion budget that would include if the proposal were approved today. She said the
"directorate" title also would help raise the stature of the evolving intelligence community within the bureau,
compared with its traditional law-enforcement duties.
"The budgeting part is huge," she said. "And calling this a directorate … is a big deal. It is a vote of
confidence." The critical personnel, including the growing cadre of analysts, are largely under Baginski's wing. The
major exception is the bureau's office of language translators, who would be melded into the operation. Baginski
said she would also get additional administrative and other staff of about 100 people.
Agents in the field who collect the intelligence would for the most part still report to their field-office bosses. FBI
says having analysts and agents working side by side is one of the proposal's great potential strengths. But critics
are concerned because analysts often end up under the thumb of agents, supporting individual criminal
investigations rather than wide-ranging intelligence operations. The question is whether the FBI cops &
robbers culture could absorb the newcomers or whether they would feel outgunned.
In theory, "analysts will take charge and ultimately drive collection, directing FBI special agents in the field to collect
intelligence that will fill the gaps in our understanding of domestic terrorism," intelligence & national security
specialist Alfred Cumming w/ nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said in testimony before the same
House panel that heard Mueller on Thursday. But, Cumming cautioned: "The jury is still out as to whether analysts
will supplant crime-fighting special agents in the FBI's pecking order."
WASHINGTON - The abrupt resignation of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director George Tenet adds new grist
to Washington's rumor mills, already churning at warp speed due to the ongoing prisoner-abuse scandal in Iraq and
reports that the Bush administration's favorite in Baghdad turned over critical information to Iran.
Whether Tenet, who also served for seven years as the director of central intelligence (DCI) -- a post that
theoretically oversees all of Washington's 16 intelligence agencies -- was pushed or decided to resign of his own
accord is the question of the day. And, if he was pushed, why now, just five months before the presidential
election?
FBI monitors activists, court documents show
Groups say Bush is trying to stifle political opponents
7.18.05 Eric Lichtblau NY Times
Wash.D.C The FBI has collected at least 3,500 pages of internal documents in the last several years on a handful of civil rights and anti-war protest groups in what the groups charge is an attempt to stifle political opposition to the Bush administration.
The FBI has in its files 1,173 pages of internal documents on the American Civil Liberties Union, the leading critic of the Bush administration's anti-terror policies, and 2,383 pages on Greenpeace, an environmental group that has led acts of civil disobedience in protest over the administration's policies, the Justice Department disclosed in a court filing earlier this month in federal court in Washington.
The filing came as part of a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act brought by the ACLU and other groups that maintain that the FBI has engaged in a pattern of political surveillance against critics of the Bush administration. A smaller batch of documents already turned over by the government sheds light on the interest of FBI counterterrorism officials in protests surrounding the Iraq war and last year's GOP National Convention.
FBI and Justice Dept officials declined to say what was in the ACLU and Greenpeace files, citing the pending lawsuit. But they emphasized that as a matter of both policy and practice, they have not sought to monitor the political activities of any activist groups, and that any intelligence- gathering activities related to political protests are designed to prevent disruptive and criminal activity at demonstrations, not quell free speech. They said there may be an innocuous explanation for the large volume of files, like preserving requests from or complaints about the groups in agency files.
But officials at the 2 groups said they were troubled by the disclosure.
"Why would the FBI collect almost 1,200 pages on a civil rights organization engaged in lawful activity? What justification could there be, other than political surveillance of lawful First Amendment activities?" said ACLU executive dir. Anthony D. Romero.
Protest groups charge that FBI counterterrorism officials have used their expanded powers since 9.11.01 to blur the line between legitimate civil disobedience and violent or terrorist activity in what they liken to FBI political surveillance of the 1960s.
In all, the ACLU is now seeking FBI records since 2001 or earlier on some 150 groups that have been critical of the Bush administration's policies on the Iraq war and other matters.
Justice Dept is opposing the ACLU's request, saying it does not involve a matter of urgent public interest, and dept lawyers say the sheer volume of material will take them eight to 11 months to process for Greenpeace and the ACLU alone.
The files that the FBI has already turned over in recent weeks center on two other groups that were involved in political protests in the last few years, and those files point to previously undisclosed communications by bureau counterterrorism officials regarding activity at protests.
6 pages of internal FBI documents on a group called United for Peace and Justice, which led wide-scale protests over the Iraq war, discuss the group's role in 2003 in preparing protests for last year's GOP National Convention. A memo by counterterrorism personnel in the FBI's Los Angeles office circulated to other counterterrorism officials in New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Washington makes reference to possible anarchist connections of some protesters and the prospect for disruptions but also quotes from more benign statements protesters had released on the Internet and elsewhere to prepare for the GOP convention.
A second file turned over by the FBI on the group American Indian Movement of Colorado includes 7 pages of internal documents and press clippings related to protests and possible disruptions in the Denver area in connection with Columbus Day.
Be on guard for raging grannies
7.6.05 Patt Morrison L.A. Times
I saw "War of the Worlds" over the weekend, partly to get it over with, like a dental checkup, and partly so Tom Cruise can't now wag his hectoring finger in my face about space aliens.
And I came away thinking that the heroics in that 117 minutes weren't Cruise's. They belonged to the uniformed extras that I took for the National Guard, citizen-soldiers driving straight into scorched-earth skirmishes with merciless Martians while the rest of America was running screaming in the opposite direction. That's pretty much what the real Guard has been doing in Iraq, sometimes just as lamentably ill-equipped.
Then I get into the office and read about a California National Guard unit that supposedly spent last Mother's Day keeping a spy-eye on protesters at the state Capitol, Raging Grannies, CodePink and a group whose members had relatives killed in Iraq. The San Jose Mercury News quoted an e-mail exchange between Guard officers three days before the protest:
"Sir, Information you wanted on Sunday's demonstration at the Capitol."
Zoe Lofgren, the Democratic member of the House from San Jose and ranking member on an intelligence and information-sharing subcommittee, wants to know more. Joe Dunn, the Democratic state senator from Santa Ana, wants documents, files and hearings. The national National Guard is sending someone from D.C. to look into this.
"I want a fair and reasonable inquiry into what they're doing," Lofgren said, whether it's "spying on the mothers of dead soldiers and Raging Grannies," or as the Guard told her, there's a "misunderstanding."
Dunn has already requested every bit of related paper and e-mail and is ready to ask for subpoenas if the Guard balks. Late Tuesday, the Guard told him "it would be inappropriate to provide any details" to him before coordinating with the military's own investigation.
For the sake of argument, let's accept that the Guard was just monitoring the event via news coverage. That would mean 2 unlikely things: that the Guard, unlike a lot of people in government, starting with Arnold Schwarzenegger, believes what it reads in the paper or sees on TV. And two, that there's real information in video of old ladies waving peace placards. Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Stan Zezotarski told the Mercury News, "Who knows who could infiltrate that type of group and try to stir something up? After all, we live in the age of terrorism…." I must have missed the shot of the septuagenarian wearing the "I Am Really an Al Qaeda Grandma" button.
Another Guard spokesman, Lt. Col. Doug Hart, told me it's all a mix-up and that "intel" is just a gussied-up word meaning any information "We do not spy on people. We don't collect information on people or groups." The Guard was merely keeping a "scrapbook" of news events about itself doing duty at brush fires or Rep. Bob Matsui's funeral. Schwarzenegger's office had alerted the Guard because of protesters' demands that the Guard come home from Iraq. Now, Hart said, people are confusing the Guard's clipping service with its real terrorism intelligence unit at the California Justice Dept.
Hart, reluctantly, added that Zezotarski's ominous comments were just "an opinion." If that's all there is to it, I'll be mightily relieved. I'd hate to think that the Guard, already spread thin on multiple tours in Iraq, would still muster manpower for a granny-watch.
Here's why we're twitchy. Federal agencies, from the early Cold War into the 1970s, collected dossiers on thousands of blameless Americans. I have the FBI files of a really suspicious character: former LAPD cop and Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley.
The LAPD ran a similar operation as long ago as the 1920s and as recently as the 1970s. And for 30 years, a state legislative subcommittee kept files on 20,000 Californians, filled with irresponsible and nasty hearsay, sexual innuendo and rumors masquerading as intelligence.
Against that backdrop, "intelligence" and "monitor" are quite rightly red-flag words; "terrorism" could, like "communism" and "anarchism," be used to justify domestic spying. The California National Guard has important work to do, and more people than those protesters think its soldiers should come home to do it: Protect us here against terrorists, earthquakes, brush fires, and even space invaders.
More imperial intrigue as CIA director resigns
6.4.04 Jim Lobe IPS
In a speech to CIA employees at agency HQ outside Wash.D.C., Tenet insisted Thursday his decision was based exclusively on the ''well-being of my wonderful family, nothing more, nothing less''. That was echoed by Bush himself, albeit in rather curious circumstances. Just a few minutes after a routine photo opportunity on the White House lawn with visiting Australian PM John Howard, the president reappeared before reporters to say Tenet had informed him of his decision to leave ''for personal reasons'' Wednesday evening.
''I told him I'm sorry he's leaving'', Bush, who appears to have had an unusually warm relationship with Tenet and had long resisted right-wing pressure to fire him, said haltingly. ''He's been a strong leader in the war on terror, and I will miss him''. As has become customary, Bush took no questions and simply walked away.
But, as Tenet himself anticipated in his farewell, some observers suggested his decision may not have been
entirely voluntary and could, in fact, mark the first of a series of high-level administration departures over the
coming weeks as Bush's re-election campaign struggles to persuade voters to forget about setbacks in Iraq.
''I think he's being pushed out'', said former CIA dir. Stansfield Turner in an interview on CNN. ''The president feels he has to have someone to blame''.
''They want to use him as a scapegoat for everything that's gone wrong'', one congressional aide told IPS. ''But I
don't think that's going to work. While the CIA obviously fell down in major ways, everyone knows by now that the Pentagon has been at the heart of this whole mess''.
Even as Tenet was bidding good-bye, reports that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has begun
interviewing, in some cases with lie detectors, sr Pentagon civilians close to former Iraqi exile Ahmad Chalabi to
determine who told him that U.S. intelligence had broken the codes Tehran uses to communicate with its spies
dominated newspaper headlines. Those reports came in the wake of a NYTimes article Wednesday that said
Chalabi had informed Iran's top operative in Baghdad the codes had been broken.
W/ Bush admin deeply concerned about Iran's nuclear program, as well as its ability to disrupt Washington's efforts to stabilize neighboring Iraq, the information is considered a major security breach. 2 weeks ago, Chalabi's own residence & HQ were raided by Iraqi police & U.S. agents and a $340,000 monthly stipend that his Iraqi National Congress (INC) group had been receiving from the Pentagon for intelligence-gathering was cut off.
Chalabi, who heatedly denied the allegations, has blamed the report on the CIA which, after backing the INC with
millions of dollars in covert assistance in the early 1990s, broke with him after an aborted coup d'etat launched by a rival exile group headed by Iyad Allawi, who last weekend was selected as Iraq's new prime minister.
Allawi's emergence at the top was seen as a decisive victory of the CIA & State Dept over their neo-
conservative rivals at the Pentagon & VP Cheney's office, who have championed Chalabi since 1998.
In recent days, Chalabi has lashed out against Tenet personally, accusing him of concocting the charges against him. Asked about Tenet's sudden resignation, Chalabi repeated those accusations, telling reporters that the CIA director's role in developing U.S.-Iraq policy has ''not been helpful to say the least''. Tenet, he added, had provided ''erroneous information about weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to President Bush, which caused the govt much embarrassment at the UN and his own country''.
The latter charge appeared particularly ironic in view of the growing consensus, both in the administration and in
Congress, that ''defectors'' provided by Chalabi's INC were the most important source of faulty, in some cases
apparently fabricated, reports of Baghdad's pre-war WMD programs.
While the CIA & other intelligence agencies were skeptical of many of these reports, they were fed directly into the White House via Chalabi's backers in the Pentagon & Cheney's office, according to numerous published reports.
Nonetheless, in at least one case, Chalabi's charge about Tenet's own role in faulty WMD evidence appears to
have been correct. According to journalist Bob Woodward's new book, 'Plan of Attack', a critical moment in the run-up to the war occurred when Bush himself expressed doubt that the public would be persuaded by the CIA's
evidence of the threat posed by Iraq's WMD. ''From the end of one of the couches in the Oval office, Tenet rose up, threw his arms in the air. 'It's a slam-dunk case!' the DCI said'', Woodward reported, adding that Tenet repeated the phrase a second time when Bush asked whether he was confident about the evidence.
That account, on which Tenet has not commented, has proved very damaging to his position among war critics,
particularly moderate GOP & Democratic lawmakers, who until then had seen him as a restraining influence on Bush during the run-up to the war. Tenet's loss of support from the war skeptics, as well as ongoing scandals around the performance of the CIA and interrogation techniques that amounted to torture, resulting in at least one death during the "war on terrorism", may have played a decisive role in his decision to resign now.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are very angry at recent CIA delays in clearing a pending report on
intelligence community's performance before the war, which is itself expected to be strongly critical of Tenet. The commission established to investigate the causes of 9.11.01 is expected to be similarly critical.
In addition, Tenet, who has talked to friends about wanting to leave the agency for at least 2 years, had become a lightning rod for anger by GOP right-wingers in Congress & neo-conservatives, who have long agitated for his removal in part because of his status as the highest-ranking holdover from former President Clinton
admin.
''By leaving now, Tenet will be depriving them of a highly visible target'', said the Capitol Hill aide. ''I'm sure people at the CIA appreciate that, because they don't like being in the middle of a highly-charged political debate''. Another hint that it was Tenet himself who decided to leave now was suggested by the fact that his resignation will not take effect until 7.11.04, seventh anniversary of his swearing in. The timing bolsters the notion that he is leaving on his own terms, while Bush's failure to announce a successor, in the eyes of some analysts, indicates the White House was caught unawares by Tenet's departure.
For now his successor will be current CIA deputy dir. John McLaughlin, career intelligence officer generally well
respected in Congress. Whether Bush will retain McLaughlin through the November elections or make a political
appointment will be a critical decision. It was widely rumored 6 months ago, when Tenet last indicated he wanted to leave, that Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz would be moved to CIA, but Washington insiders now say that Wolfowitz, highest-ranking Bush admin neo-conservative and Chalabi's most effective champion, would not survive Senate confirmation hearings.
Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage has also
expressed interest in the job in the past, but, as unconditional ally & friend of Sec.State Powell, he would be a major target of right-wing GOP hawks & neo-conservatives, to the extent the latter retain much influence in the White House.
If Bush were to decide not to stick with McLaughlin, the likeliest candidate is the head of the Intelligence Committee in the House of Representatives, Porter Goss R-FL. While GOP loyalist, former CIA officer Goss has had generally good relations with Democratic colleagues and is not considered particularly ideological.
|
1.22.02 Greg Guma re
PATRIOT Act, McCarren-Walters, Cointelpro & other NatSec roots,
Joint Terrorism Task Forces spying on Portland OR left & labor pre-9.11.01
"COINTELPRO" for "Counterintelligence Program", FBI secret pgm to undermine domestic political
organizations.
When traditional methods of exposure, blatant harassment and prosecution for political crimes failed to counter
growing insurgency, and even helped to fuel it, Bureau secretly used fraud & force to sabotage constitutionally protected political activity. Discovered March, 1971, when secret files were removed from an FBI office and released to news media. Freedom of Information requests, lawsuits, and former agents' public confessions increased exposure until major scandal loomed. To control damage and re-establish govt legitimacy, Congress and the courts compelled the FBI to reveal part of what it had done and to promise it would not do it again.
FBI secretly instructed its field offices to propose schemes to "misdirect, discredit, disrupt and otherwise neutralize "specific individuals & groups. Close coordination with local police & prosecutors was encouraged. Final authority rested with top FBI officials in Washington, who demanded assurance that "there is no possibility of embarrassment to the Bureau." More than 2000 individual actions were officially approved. The documents reveal 3 types of methods:
- Infiltration: Agents & informers did not merely spy on political activists. Their main function was to
discredit & disrupt. Various means to this end are analyzed below.
- Other forms of deception: FBI & police psychological warfare through bogus publications, forged correspondence, anonymous letters and telephone calls, and similar forms of deceit.
- Harassment, intimidation and violence: Eviction, job loss, break-ins, vandalism, grand jury subpoenas, false arrests, frame-ups and physical violence were threatened, instigated or directly employed to frighten activists and disrupt their movements. Govt agents either concealed their involvement or fabricated a legal pretext. Assaults incl outright political assassinations amounted to govt terrorism
Main targets of the most intense operations were directed against the black movement, esp. the Black Panther
Party. FBI & police racism, black community's lack of material resources for fighting back, and media & whites' tendency in general to ignore or tolerate attacks on black groups reflected in govt & corporate fear of the black movement because of its militance, its broad domestic base & intl support, and its historic role in galvanizing Sixties' political resistance. Many other activists who organized against US intervention abroad or for racial, gender or class justice at home also came under covert attack. Targets were in no way limited to those who used physical force or took up arms. Martin Luther King, David Dellinger, Phillip Berrigan and other leading pacifists were high on the list, as were projects directly protected by the Bill of Rights, such as alternative newspapers.
Black Panthers came under attack when their work featured free food & health care and community control of schools & police, and when they carried guns for deterrent & symbolic purposes. FBI & police
terrorism eventually provoked the Panthers to retaliate with armed actions later cited to justify repression.
Ultimately FBI disclosed 6 official counterintelligence pgms:
Communist Party-USA (1956-71)
Groups Seeking Independence for Puerto Rico (1960-71)
Socialist Workers Party (1961-71)
White Hate Groups (1964-71)
Black Nationalist Hate Groups (1967-71)
New Left (1968- 71)
Latter operations hit anti-war, student and feminist groups. "Black Nationalist" encompassed Martin Luther King
and most of the civil rights & Black Power movements. The "white hate" program functioned mainly as a cover for covert aid to the KKK & similar right-wing vigilantes, who were given funds & information, so long as they confined their attacks to COINTELPRO targets. FBI documents also reveal covert action against Native American, Chicano, Phillipine, Arab- American, and other activists, apparently without formal Counterintelligence programs.
Effect
Distorted public attitude toward radical groups to isolate them and legitimize open political repression.
Reinforced & exacerbated groups' weaknesses. Violent assaults & covert manipulation pushed groups to withdraw from grass-roots organizing and substitute armed actions which isolated them and reduced movement leadership.
Convinced victims to blame themselves & each other for problems CIP created, leaving legacy of
cynicism & despair that persists today. Operating covertly, FBI & police severely weakened domestic
political opposition without shaking the conviction of most US people that they live in a democracy, with free speech and the rule of law.
Ended?
Public exposure of COINTELPRO in the early 1970s elicited a flurry of reform. Congress, the courts and the mass media condemned govt "intelligence abuses." Municipal police forces officially disbanded their red squads. A new Atty General notified past victims of COINTELPRO and issued Guidelines to limit future operations. Top FBI officials were indicted (albeit for relatively minor offenses), 2 were convicted, and several others retired or resigned. FBI founder J. Edgar Hoover died; well-known federal judge, Wm Webster, eventually was appointed to clean house and build "new FBI."
Domestic covert operations were briefly scaled down due in part to COINTELPRO success. Did not stop. In April, 1971, soon after files taken from one of its offices, FBI instructed agents that "future COINTELPRO actions will be considered on a highly selective, individual basis with tight procedures to insure absolute security." Subsequently
- virtual war on American Indian Movement from forgery of documents, infiltration of legal defense
committees, diversion of funds, intimidation of witnesses and falsification of evidence, to para-military invasion of Pine Ridge Reservation in S.Dakota, and murder of Anna Mae Aquash, Joe Stuntz and countless others;
- Sabotage protest demonstrations organization at 1972 Republican & Democratic Party
conventions. Attempted assassination of San Diego Univ. Prof. Peter Bohmer, by "Secret Army Organization" of
ex-Minutemen formed, subsidized, armed, and protected by the FBI, was a part of these operations;
- Concealment of fact that witness whose testimony led to the 1972 robbery-murder conviction of Black Panther leader Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt was paid informer who had worked in BPP under direction of FBI & L.A.P.D
- Infiltration & disruption of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and prosecution of its national
leaders on false charges (Florida, 1971-74);
- Formation & operation of sham political groups such as "Red Star Cadre," in Tampa, Fla., and the New Orleans "Red Collective" (1972-76);
- Mass interrogation of lesbian & feminist activists, threats of subpoenas, jailing of those who
refused to cooperate, and disruption of women's health collectives & other projects (Lexington, KY., Hartford and New Haven,Conn., 1975);
- Harassment of Hispanic Commission of Episcopal Church and numerous other Puerto Rican & Chicano religious activists & community organizers (Chicago, New York City, Puerto Rico, Colorado and New Mexico, 1977);
- Entrapment & frame-up of militant union leaders (NASCO shipyards,San Diego, 1979); and
- Complicity in the murder of socialist labor & community organizers (Greensboro, N.C., 1980).
[ Source presumed to be dated. Recent examples of law enforcement instigators incl. bomb
manufacture instructor of World Trade Ctr bombers, "John Doe #2" German CIA operative who coached OKC
bomber Timothy McVeigh and MKUltra psychiatrist who treated Unibomber Ted K. National security seed funding of international terrorist organizations targeting inside America is also unmentioned, Osama binLaden best known. ]
Threat Today?
… President Reagan's speeches reviving red-scare and adding domestic & international "terrorism." He pardoned FBI officials convicted of COINTELPRO crimes, praised their work, and spoken favorably of the political witchhunts he took part in during the 1950s. For the first time in US history, govt infiltration to "influence" domestic political activity has received official sanction. On the pretext of meeting the supposed terrorist threat, Presidential Executive Order 12333 (Dec. 4, 1981) extends such authority not only to the FBI, but also to the military and, in some cases, the CIA. …
[ primary Senate hearings exposing CoIntelPro were in 1976; next president was Reagan.
]
Judge Webster's reforms served to modernize FBI promoting inter-agency cooperation, using foreign and female agents to penetrate political targets, cultivating low-visibility corporate image and discreetly avoiding public attack on prominent liberals. FBI has regained respectability and won over a number of former critics.
Municipal police forces similarly revamped image while upgrading repressive capabilities. "Red squads" revived
under other names [ e.g. "Intelligence units" ] and augmented by para-military SWAT teams & tactical squads as well as highly-politicized community relations and "beat rep" programs, in which Black, Hispanic and female officers are often conspicuous. Local operations are linked by FBI-led regional anti-terrorist task forces and the national Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit (LEIU).
Increased military & CIA involvement added political sophistication & advanced technology. Army Special Forces & elite military units are now trained & equipped for counter-insurgency (known as"low-intensity warfare"). Their manuals teach essential COINTELPRO methodology, stressing earlier intervention to neutralize potential opposition before it can take hold. In 60s, while legally banned from "internal security functions," CIA managed to infiltrate Black, student and antiwar movements. It also made secret use of university professors, journalists, labor leaders, publishing houses, cultural organizations and philanthropic fronts to mold US public opinion. But it apparently felt compelled to hold back--within the country--from the kinds of systematic political destabilization, torture, and murder which have become the hallmark of its operations abroad. Now, CIA unleashed at home.
Procedures to insure absolute security FBI officials demanded after 1971 COINTELPRO exposure. Restoration of secrecy made easier by Administration's steps to shield covert operations from public scrutiny. Under Reagan, key FBI & CIA files re-classified "top secret." Freedom of Information Act narrowed through administrative reinterpretation. Funds for covert operations are allocated behind closed doors and hidden in CIA and defense appropriations. Govt employees face censorship even after retirement; new laws make it a federal crime to publicize information which might tend to reveal an agent's identity. Infiltration, burglary and clandestine govt intervention remain hidden until after damage is done.
Do About It?
Domestic covert action in some form through at least last 7 presidencies from one program to 6 under Kennedy
& Johnson. It flourished when an outspoken liberal, Ramsey Clark, was Atty General (1966-68). It is an
integral part of the established methods of entrenched agencies on every govt level. It enables policy-makers to
maintain social control without detracting from their own public image or the perceived legitimacy of their govt
administration. It is institutional.
Under these circumstances, there is no reason to think COINTELPRO can be eliminated by electing better public officials. Only sustained public education & mobilization by broad coalitions of political, religious and civil libertarian activists can limit it. How to cope more effectively with this form of repression.
Precautions Checklist
…
Infiltration by Agents or Informers
Agents are law enforcement officers disguised as activists. Informers are non-agents who provide information to a law enforcement or intelligence agency. They may be recruited from within a group or sent in by an agency, or they may be disaffected former members or supporters. Infiltrators are agents or informers who work in a group or community under the direction of a law enforcement or intelligence agency.
During the 60s the FBI had to rely on informers (who are less well trained and harder to control) because it had
very few black, Hispanic or female agents, and its strict dress and grooming code left white male agents unable to look like activists. As a modern equal opportunity employer,today's FBI has fewer such limitations.
Some informers & infiltrators quietly provide information while keeping a low profile and doing whatever is
expected of group members. Others attempt to discredit a target & disrupt its work by spreading rumors and making unfounded accusations to provoke or exacerbate tensions & divisions. They lead zealous activists into unnecessary danger. In a demonstration or other confrontation with police, they break discipline and call for actions which would undermine unity & detract from tactical focus.
Infiltration As a Source of Distrust & Paranoia: general use of infiltrators serves strategic function of inciting
fear that a group may be infiltrated to intimidate people from getting more involved, compromising mutual trust
which political groups depend on.
Covert Manipulation to Make A Legitimate Activist Appear to be an Agent: An actual agent will often point the finger at a genuine, non-collaborating and highly-valued group member, claiming that he or she is the infiltrator. The same effect, known as a "snitch jacket," has been achieved by planting forged documents which appear to be communications between an activist and the FBI, or by releasing for no other apparent reason one of a group of activists who were arrested together. Another method used under COINTELPRO was to arrange for some activists, arrested under one pretext or another, to hear over the police radio a phony broadcast which appeared to set up a secret meeting between the police and someone from their group.
Guidelines For Coping With Infiltration
…
Other Forms of Deception
Bogus leaflets, pamphlets: COINTELPRO documents show FBI routinely put out phony leaflets,
posters, pamphlets, etc. to discredit its targets. In one instance, agents revised a children's coloring book which the Black Panther Party had rejected as anti-white and gratuitously violent, and then distributed a cruder version to backers of the Party's program of free breakfasts for children, telling them the book was being used in the
program.
False media stories: FBI's documents expose collusion by reporters & news media
knowingly published false & distorted material prepared by Bureau agents. One such story had Jean
Seberg, a noticeably pregnant white film star active in anti-racist causes, carrying the child of a prominent Black
leader. Seberg's white husband, the actual father, has sued the FBI as responsible for her resulting still-birth,
breakdown, and suicide.
Forged correspondence: Former employees confirmed FBI & CIA have capacity to produce
"state of the art" forgery. U.S. Senate's COINTELPRO investigation uncovered series of letters forged in name of intermediary between Black Panther Party's national office and Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver, in exile in Algeria. The letters proved instrumental in inflaming intra-party rivalries that erupted into the bitter public split that shattered the Party in the winter of 1971.
Anonymous letters & telephone calls: During 60s, activists received steady flow of anonymous letters & phone calls from govt agents. Some threatened violence. Others promoted racial divisions & fears. Still others charged various leaders with collaboration, corruption, sexual affairs with other activists' mates, etc. As in the Seberg incident, inter-racial sex was a persistent theme.
False rumors: Using infiltrators, journalists and other contacts, the Bureau circulated slanderous, disruptive rumors through political movements & communities in which they worked.
Other misinformation: favorite FBI tactic uncovered by Senate investigators was to misinform people that a political meeting or event had been cancelled. Another was to offer non-existent housing at phony
addresses, stranding out-of-town conference attendees who naturally blamed those who had organized the event. FBI agents also arranged to transport demonstrators in the name of a bogus bus co. which pulled out at the last minute. Such "dirty tricks" interfered with political events and turned activists against each other.
FBI fronts: number of Sixties' political groups & projects were actually set up and operated by the FBI. … FBI front groups are basically means for penetrating & disrupting political movements; deal with them on the basis of Guidelines for Coping with Infiltration:
Confront what a suspect group says and does, but avoid public accusations unless you have definite proof. If you do have such proof, share it with everyone affected.
Guidelines For Coping With Other Forms of Deceptions
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Harassment, Intimidation & Violence
Pressure through employers, landlords, etc: Agents' reports indicate such intervention denied Sixties' activists any number of foundation grants and public speaking engagements. It also cost underground newspapers most of their advertising revenues, when major record companies were persuaded to take their business elsewhere. It may underlie recent steps by insurance companies to cancel policies held by churches giving sanctuary to refugees from El Salvador and Guatamala.
Burglary: Former operatives confessed to thousands of "black bag jobs" in which FBI agents broke into movement offices to steal, copy or destroy valuable papers, wreck equipment, or plant drugs.
Vandalism: FBI infiltrators admitted countless other acts of vandalism, incl fire which destroyed
Watts Writers Workshop's multi-million dollar ghetto cultural center in 1973. Late 60s' FBI & police raids laid waste to movement offices across the country, destroying precious printing presses, typewriters, layout equipt, research files, financial records, and mailing lists.
Other direct interference: To further disrupt opposition movements, frighten activists, and get people upset with each other, the FBI tampered with organizational mail, so it came late or not at all. It also resorted to bomb threats and similar "dirty tricks".
Conspicuous surveillance: FBI & police blatantly watch activists' homes, follow their cars, tap phones, open mail and attend political events. The object is not to collect information (which is done surreptiously), but to harass and intimidate.
Attempted interviews: Agents extracted damaging information from activists who don't know they
have a legal right to refuse to talk, or who think they can outsmart the FBI. COINTELPRO directives recommend
attempts at interviews throughout political movements to "enhance the paranoia endemic in these circles" and "get the point across that there is an FBI agent behind every mailbox."
Grand juries: Unlike FBI, Grand Jury has legal power to make you answer its questions. Those who refuse, and are required to accept immunity from use of their testimony against them, can be jailed for contempt of court. (Such "use immunity" enables prosecutors to get around the constitutional protection against self-incrimination.) FBI & Justice Dept. manipulated this process to turn grand jury into political repression.
Frustrated by jurors' consistent refusal to convict activists of overtly political crimes, they convened over 100 grand juries between l970 and 1973 and subpoenaed more than 1000 activists. Supposed pursuit of fugitives & "terrorists" was usual pretext. Many targets were so terrified that they dropped out of political activity. Others were jailed without any criminal charge or trial, in what amounts to a U.S. version of the political internment procedures employed in S.Africa & N.Ireland.
False arrest & prosecution: COINTELPRO directives cite Philadelphia FBI's success in having local militants "arrested on every possible charge until they could no longer make bail" and "spent most of the summer in jail." Though the bulk of the activists arrested in this manner were eventually released, some were convicted of serious charges on the basis of perjured testimony by FBI agents, or by co-workers who the Bureau had threatened or bribed. Object was not only to remove experienced organizers from their communities and to divert scarce resources into legal defense, but even more to discredit entire movements by portraying their leaders as vicious criminals. Two victims of such frame-ups, Native American activist Leonard Peltier and 1960s' Black Panther official Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt, have finally gained court hearings on new trial motions. Others currently struggling to re-open COINTELPRO convictions include Richard Marshall of the American Indian Movement and jailed Black Panthers Herman Bell, Anthony Bottom, Albert Washington (the "NY3"), and Richard "Dhoruba" Moore.
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