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Lessons from COINTELPRO: Building a Movement in the Face of Repression
Recent crackdowns on the animal rights and environmental justice movements have left many activists feeling that their communities are under siege. From the prosecution of the SHAC 7 to the arrests of thirteen individuals for arsons committed over a ten-year span, a war is being waged against these movements by the U.S. government.
While all of this may seem terrifying in its unfamiliarity to younger activists, the tactics being employed by the FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force are anything but new. Whisperings of ‘COINTELPRO’ have appeared in various articles about the backlash against eco-activism, but what does this generation really know about the Counter-Intelligence Program aimed at groups such as the Black Panther Party (BPP) and the American Indian Movement (AIM)? Today’s activists are heirs to a history of social and political battles from wars that are not yet over. Without seeing today’s struggles for animal rights and environmental justice in a broader historical and social context, we run the risk not only of repeating painful lessons of the past, but of isolating ourselves and weakening our movements.
Any FBI campaign against a particular group or movement is bound to expose certain weaknesses. After all, this is the intent of such government attacks. We need to build a culture of resistance and concrete support for people targeted by these government attacks, and also look seriously at the challenges revealed by this repression in order to prevent self-annihilation, mass fear, and demobilization. What we can learn from our own weaknesses can strengthen how we move forward and inform the movement we’re building. Today, the criminalization of dissent and the labeling of acts of resistance as terrorism compel us to look at how COINTELPRO functioned and continues under the cloak of the Patriot Act.
COINTELPRO
The FBI’s secret Counter-Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) was initiated in 1956 under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover and “officially” ended in 1971 when details of the program were widely aired in the mainstream press. Its stated purpose was simple: to “neutralize” groups that the FBI deemed a threat to national security. The program targeted groups or individuals that challenged the existing power structure and expressed opinions opposed to the policies (foreign or domestic) of the government of the United States.
In his book The War at Home, Brian Glick details four main COINTELPRO tactics used against groups like the BPP, the AIM, and the Puerto Rican Independence Movement: infiltration, psychological warfare, legal harassment, and extralegal force, including assassination.
Many FBI tactics served multi-layered purposes. Government informants infiltrated groups ranging from non-violent anti-war activists to the Black Panthers. They were used to gather information, disrupt political organizing, and generate an atmosphere of suspicion and fear. Infiltration, in combination with their campaign of psychological warfare, was used to “neutralize” dissent. In addition, the FBI attacked from the outside, like in 1968 when J. Edgar Hoover labeled the Black Panthers “the greatest threat to the internal security of the country” in order to demonize them and justify assaults against their members and offices.
THE FATE OF ONE GENERATION
Legal attacks and extralegal force were used extensively during COINTELPRO. At least 27 Black Panthers were killed, including Mark Clark and Fred Hampton in Chicago, Bunchy Carter and John Huggins in LA, and Bobby Hutton in Oakland. The FBI and other government agencies also targeted Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X. In the 1970s, 60 AIM activists were killed on the Pine Ridge reservation alone. Angel Cristobal, a Puerto Rican Independista and Vieques activist, was murdered in a Florida prison, and the FBI and police agencies tortured captured activists. Many social justice organizations were disrupted or destroyed completely by these government attacks, and the groups were forced to divert their resources to defending activists who were arrested, harassed, and called before grand juries. Over 100 political prisoners, victims of COINTELPRO attacks and frame-ups, remain behind bars, many now in their second and third decades of imprisonment.
ECO-DEFENDERS AS TERRORISTS?
The similarities between COINTELPRO and present government repression are remarkable. Much like Hoover’s comment about the threat of the Panthers, John E. Lewis, Deputy Assistant FBI Director, stated in 2004 that “investigating and preventing animal rights extremism and eco-terrorism is one of the FBI’s highest domestic terrorism priorities.” What better way to discredit a movement in the post-9/11 climate than to label its proponents terrorists?
The federal government, corporations, and the media have redefined the word “terrorist.” Last year, animal liberationist Peter Young was indicted on “Animal Enterprise Terrorism” charges for liberating mink, marking the Orwellian nature of the current public discourse on terrorism. By including property destruction and any interference with business as usual under the ever-increasing umbrella of terrorism, the government has one more tool in their public relations campaign against eco-justice.
The FBI remains skilled in psychological warfare. Recently, the FBI disrupted a demonstration in support of grand jury resisters in San Francisco. They announced the increased reward for a fugitive subject of the grand jury. An agent that had been harassing activists in their homes attempted to distribute “wanted” posters among the crowd, a tactic that succeeded in drawing some of the media attention away from the political witch-hunt, catching the activists off guard, and diluting their message.
The grand jury itself remains one of the government’s favorite tools of harassment. In the last year alone, federal grand juries convened to investigate animal rights and environmental justice activists in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Sacramento, San Diego, New Jersey, and Colorado. The FBI’s desperation to solve ‘cold cases’ means they have rounded up many suspects with little or no evidence. Desperate for information, they’re coercing activists into talking before the statute of limitations can expire.
Since grand juries are secret proceedings, activists are often unaware of them until someone in their community is subpoenaed. Grand juries try to push activists who resist FBI and police visits to risk imprisonment for maintaining their non-cooperation. This coercion can keep activists occupied with court battles that divert them and their movements from their main political work. The shroud of secrecy and the fear of imprisonment succeed when people cooperate and implicate more activists or furnish information that reinforces the government’s offensive.
Eventually grand juries result in indictments. The Eugene indictments of several people on conspiracy charges alleging their connections to the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) illustrate this point. With these indictments, we are also learning there are informants in our midst. Though most activists are aware of the theoretical existence of infiltrators, it is a different matter to learn of an actual act of betrayal and to witness the subsequent fallout.
Though we have yet to see the FBI or other government agents using the fourth main tactic of COINTELPRO in their “Green Scare”—extralegal force and violence—it is not from moral aversion. The government understands that the general public would not support such tactics against the environmental justice or animal rights movements at this time. Yet they do feel unrestrained in terrorizing the Arab, Palestinian, and Islamic populations, and imprison¬ing innocent people of color without charges. They justify the torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo but they realize that such tactics used against largely white, middle-class activists would be bad PR.
BUILDING THE MOVEMENT
So what do we do about the challenges ahead? What does a community do when the fear of imprisonment is a stronger motivating factor than commitment to principles? Now we have an opportunity to learn from history. For many the instinct is to withdraw and avoid talking about issues of substance, strategy, and increased resistance. Some people may even avoid talking to certain activists for fear of being seen by the government as guilty by association. Yet now, more than ever, is when we must fight those urges and do the exact opposite: communicate, find common ground, and come together.
We are facing a crisis in the eco-justice and animal rights movements. How we handle it will determine if we succeed or fail as a movement. One example of strength in the face of daunting obstacles is the case of the SHAC 7. Their fight with the government didn’t begin last year when they were arrested for Animal Enterprise Terrorism. The feds had been trying to find a way to shut down Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty since the day they started making a difference in the struggle to close the notorious animal-testing lab Huntingdon Life Sciences. They even tried indicting some SHAC activists under the Hobbes (extortion) Act, a law designed to target organized crime. Though they faced constant harassment and the threat of imprisonment for exercising their rights to free speech, the SHAC 7 neither wavered in their political commitment nor attempted to save themselves by implicating others.
Part of our strength lies in the support of our fellow activists in prison. In a recent statement, Jeff “Free” Luers, who was sentenced to an astounding 22+ years for a $40,000 SUV arson in Eugene, demands “recognition of political status for our prisoners. All incarcerated and accused members of the Earth Liberation Front and other Earth Liberation prisoners are political prisoners. Our actions that brought us to prison are political in nature. Our trials are about our politics. Our sentences are increased because of our political motives.” We agree, and also see that there have been campaigns to recognize and free U.S. political prisoners for decades. Many political prisoners remain locked up despite national and international demands for their release and recognition as victims of government repression and frame-ups.
Some campaigns have succeeded in winning the release of framed former Panthers like Geronimo Gi Jaga and Dhoruba Bin Wahad, both of whom were imprisoned for over 20 years. A massive campaign in Puerto Rico and in the U.S. succeeded in freeing Puerto Rican Nationalist prisoners held in 1979 after over 25 years of captivity. Eleven other Independistas were excarcerated in 1999. None of the people that continued to stand up for their principles, though the whole system was mobilized against them, could have maintained such strength without a strong movement behind them.
LEARNING FROM OUR ALLIES, MOVING FORWARD
Last year, a state grand jury was convened in San Francisco to investigate a 34-year-old case that involved the death of a police officer. Several former members of the Black Panther Party were subpoenaed to testify. Some of these men hadn’t spoken to one another for at least two decades, yet when they received their subpoenas they all chose to resist. Men in their sixties and seven¬ties were jailed for refusing to cooperate with the grand jury. Two of them had been recently harassed at their homes by the same San Francisco cops that participated in their 1973 torture in a New Orleans jail. Some had serious health issues, but they remained silent. The end result? The grand jury expired and to date no indictments have been issued. Victory was realized because these men understand that the movement is more important than any one individual.
A strong movement means embracing and living the ideals we espouse—not just paying lip service to the fight for a just world. Although some may not want to admit it, this means leaving the “American” value of individualism behind. In order to succeed and remain a strong movement, the community must come before the individual. The right question to ask when faced with government pressure is not, “How can I make this easiest on myself?” but, “What will be best for my community, the movement we are trying to build, and the fight for social justice?” From that perspective, the choices are clearer, and do not include cooperating with government agencies, betraying friends, and compromising our vision and future.
We do not exist in a vacuum. Animal rights and environmental justice activists are natural allies in the struggle for a more just and healthy world. We have a responsibility to build connections and networks with groups that have similar goals. We can learn from their struggles, build alliances, and support common objectives while strengthening our movements and theirs. In the long term, building bridges is the only way to realize our vision of a more sustainable, just, and humane society.
Any FBI campaign against a particular group or movement is bound to expose certain weaknesses. After all, this is the intent of such government attacks. We need to build a culture of resistance and concrete support for people targeted by these government attacks, and also look seriously at the challenges revealed by this repression in order to prevent self-annihilation, mass fear, and demobilization. What we can learn from our own weaknesses can strengthen how we move forward and inform the movement we’re building. Today, the criminalization of dissent and the labeling of acts of resistance as terrorism compel us to look at how COINTELPRO functioned and continues under the cloak of the Patriot Act.
COINTELPRO
The FBI’s secret Counter-Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) was initiated in 1956 under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover and “officially” ended in 1971 when details of the program were widely aired in the mainstream press. Its stated purpose was simple: to “neutralize” groups that the FBI deemed a threat to national security. The program targeted groups or individuals that challenged the existing power structure and expressed opinions opposed to the policies (foreign or domestic) of the government of the United States.
In his book The War at Home, Brian Glick details four main COINTELPRO tactics used against groups like the BPP, the AIM, and the Puerto Rican Independence Movement: infiltration, psychological warfare, legal harassment, and extralegal force, including assassination.
Many FBI tactics served multi-layered purposes. Government informants infiltrated groups ranging from non-violent anti-war activists to the Black Panthers. They were used to gather information, disrupt political organizing, and generate an atmosphere of suspicion and fear. Infiltration, in combination with their campaign of psychological warfare, was used to “neutralize” dissent. In addition, the FBI attacked from the outside, like in 1968 when J. Edgar Hoover labeled the Black Panthers “the greatest threat to the internal security of the country” in order to demonize them and justify assaults against their members and offices.
THE FATE OF ONE GENERATION
Legal attacks and extralegal force were used extensively during COINTELPRO. At least 27 Black Panthers were killed, including Mark Clark and Fred Hampton in Chicago, Bunchy Carter and John Huggins in LA, and Bobby Hutton in Oakland. The FBI and other government agencies also targeted Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X. In the 1970s, 60 AIM activists were killed on the Pine Ridge reservation alone. Angel Cristobal, a Puerto Rican Independista and Vieques activist, was murdered in a Florida prison, and the FBI and police agencies tortured captured activists. Many social justice organizations were disrupted or destroyed completely by these government attacks, and the groups were forced to divert their resources to defending activists who were arrested, harassed, and called before grand juries. Over 100 political prisoners, victims of COINTELPRO attacks and frame-ups, remain behind bars, many now in their second and third decades of imprisonment.
ECO-DEFENDERS AS TERRORISTS?
The similarities between COINTELPRO and present government repression are remarkable. Much like Hoover’s comment about the threat of the Panthers, John E. Lewis, Deputy Assistant FBI Director, stated in 2004 that “investigating and preventing animal rights extremism and eco-terrorism is one of the FBI’s highest domestic terrorism priorities.” What better way to discredit a movement in the post-9/11 climate than to label its proponents terrorists?
The federal government, corporations, and the media have redefined the word “terrorist.” Last year, animal liberationist Peter Young was indicted on “Animal Enterprise Terrorism” charges for liberating mink, marking the Orwellian nature of the current public discourse on terrorism. By including property destruction and any interference with business as usual under the ever-increasing umbrella of terrorism, the government has one more tool in their public relations campaign against eco-justice.
The FBI remains skilled in psychological warfare. Recently, the FBI disrupted a demonstration in support of grand jury resisters in San Francisco. They announced the increased reward for a fugitive subject of the grand jury. An agent that had been harassing activists in their homes attempted to distribute “wanted” posters among the crowd, a tactic that succeeded in drawing some of the media attention away from the political witch-hunt, catching the activists off guard, and diluting their message.
The grand jury itself remains one of the government’s favorite tools of harassment. In the last year alone, federal grand juries convened to investigate animal rights and environmental justice activists in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Sacramento, San Diego, New Jersey, and Colorado. The FBI’s desperation to solve ‘cold cases’ means they have rounded up many suspects with little or no evidence. Desperate for information, they’re coercing activists into talking before the statute of limitations can expire.
Since grand juries are secret proceedings, activists are often unaware of them until someone in their community is subpoenaed. Grand juries try to push activists who resist FBI and police visits to risk imprisonment for maintaining their non-cooperation. This coercion can keep activists occupied with court battles that divert them and their movements from their main political work. The shroud of secrecy and the fear of imprisonment succeed when people cooperate and implicate more activists or furnish information that reinforces the government’s offensive.
Eventually grand juries result in indictments. The Eugene indictments of several people on conspiracy charges alleging their connections to the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) illustrate this point. With these indictments, we are also learning there are informants in our midst. Though most activists are aware of the theoretical existence of infiltrators, it is a different matter to learn of an actual act of betrayal and to witness the subsequent fallout.
Though we have yet to see the FBI or other government agents using the fourth main tactic of COINTELPRO in their “Green Scare”—extralegal force and violence—it is not from moral aversion. The government understands that the general public would not support such tactics against the environmental justice or animal rights movements at this time. Yet they do feel unrestrained in terrorizing the Arab, Palestinian, and Islamic populations, and imprison¬ing innocent people of color without charges. They justify the torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo but they realize that such tactics used against largely white, middle-class activists would be bad PR.
BUILDING THE MOVEMENT
So what do we do about the challenges ahead? What does a community do when the fear of imprisonment is a stronger motivating factor than commitment to principles? Now we have an opportunity to learn from history. For many the instinct is to withdraw and avoid talking about issues of substance, strategy, and increased resistance. Some people may even avoid talking to certain activists for fear of being seen by the government as guilty by association. Yet now, more than ever, is when we must fight those urges and do the exact opposite: communicate, find common ground, and come together.
We are facing a crisis in the eco-justice and animal rights movements. How we handle it will determine if we succeed or fail as a movement. One example of strength in the face of daunting obstacles is the case of the SHAC 7. Their fight with the government didn’t begin last year when they were arrested for Animal Enterprise Terrorism. The feds had been trying to find a way to shut down Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty since the day they started making a difference in the struggle to close the notorious animal-testing lab Huntingdon Life Sciences. They even tried indicting some SHAC activists under the Hobbes (extortion) Act, a law designed to target organized crime. Though they faced constant harassment and the threat of imprisonment for exercising their rights to free speech, the SHAC 7 neither wavered in their political commitment nor attempted to save themselves by implicating others.
Part of our strength lies in the support of our fellow activists in prison. In a recent statement, Jeff “Free” Luers, who was sentenced to an astounding 22+ years for a $40,000 SUV arson in Eugene, demands “recognition of political status for our prisoners. All incarcerated and accused members of the Earth Liberation Front and other Earth Liberation prisoners are political prisoners. Our actions that brought us to prison are political in nature. Our trials are about our politics. Our sentences are increased because of our political motives.” We agree, and also see that there have been campaigns to recognize and free U.S. political prisoners for decades. Many political prisoners remain locked up despite national and international demands for their release and recognition as victims of government repression and frame-ups.
Some campaigns have succeeded in winning the release of framed former Panthers like Geronimo Gi Jaga and Dhoruba Bin Wahad, both of whom were imprisoned for over 20 years. A massive campaign in Puerto Rico and in the U.S. succeeded in freeing Puerto Rican Nationalist prisoners held in 1979 after over 25 years of captivity. Eleven other Independistas were excarcerated in 1999. None of the people that continued to stand up for their principles, though the whole system was mobilized against them, could have maintained such strength without a strong movement behind them.
LEARNING FROM OUR ALLIES, MOVING FORWARD
Last year, a state grand jury was convened in San Francisco to investigate a 34-year-old case that involved the death of a police officer. Several former members of the Black Panther Party were subpoenaed to testify. Some of these men hadn’t spoken to one another for at least two decades, yet when they received their subpoenas they all chose to resist. Men in their sixties and seven¬ties were jailed for refusing to cooperate with the grand jury. Two of them had been recently harassed at their homes by the same San Francisco cops that participated in their 1973 torture in a New Orleans jail. Some had serious health issues, but they remained silent. The end result? The grand jury expired and to date no indictments have been issued. Victory was realized because these men understand that the movement is more important than any one individual.
A strong movement means embracing and living the ideals we espouse—not just paying lip service to the fight for a just world. Although some may not want to admit it, this means leaving the “American” value of individualism behind. In order to succeed and remain a strong movement, the community must come before the individual. The right question to ask when faced with government pressure is not, “How can I make this easiest on myself?” but, “What will be best for my community, the movement we are trying to build, and the fight for social justice?” From that perspective, the choices are clearer, and do not include cooperating with government agencies, betraying friends, and compromising our vision and future.
We do not exist in a vacuum. Animal rights and environmental justice activists are natural allies in the struggle for a more just and healthy world. We have a responsibility to build connections and networks with groups that have similar goals. We can learn from their struggles, build alliances, and support common objectives while strengthening our movements and theirs. In the long term, building bridges is the only way to realize our vision of a more sustainable, just, and humane society.
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please diseminate to widest possible audience
a species that hires bodyguards to protect it looses the ability to protect itself and is doomed to extinction
CRIMES COMMITTED BY THE F.B.I.
SUGGESTED READING LIST
Bari, Judi. TIMBER WARS. Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1994.
The F.B.I. attempted to stop the political activity of Judi Bari and Daryl Cherney by exploding a
bomb under their car. Daryl Cherney and Judi Bari filed a Civil lawsuit against the FBI and Oakland police. A jury awarded them $4.4 million dollars in 2003. see http://www.judibari.org
Bowen Roger. INNOCENCE IS NOT ENOUGH: The Life and Death of Herbert Norman
New York USA M.E. Sharpe Inc 1988
Looks at FBI murder of Herbert Norman, Canadian Ambassador to Egypt.
Buitrago, Ann Mari. F.B.I. FILES. Grove Press, 1981.
Covers the procedures for obtaining and interpreting your F.B.I. file.
Burnham, David. ABOVE THE LAW. Scribner, 1996.
Looks at secret deals and fixing of cases by the Justice Department.
Buttino, Frank. A SPECIAL AGENT. William Morrow, 1993.
Investigates F.B.I. attacks on gay agents during the 1980’s.
Carson, Clayborne. MALCOLM X: THE F.B.I. FILE. Carroll & Graf, 1991.
Looks at the role of the F.B.I. in the assassination of Malcolm X.
Cashill,Jack, Sanders,James. FIRST STRIKE Thomas Nelson Press, 2003
Overwhelming evidence presented by Dr. Cashill on the downing of TWA Flight 800
by a missle over Long Island and the ensuing cover-up by FBI agents.
Charns, Alexander. CLOAK AND GAVEL. University of Illinois Press. 1992.
After reviewing thousands of pages of FBI documents the attorney author
exposes the FBI illegal phone tapping of the Supreme Court and how the FBI fix court
cases and manipulate Congress and State legislatures.
Churchill, Ward. AGENTS OF REPRESSION. South End Press, 1988.
Professor Churchill gives first hand accounts of F.B.I. death squad activities.
Churchill, Ward. THE COINTELPRO PAPERS. South End Press, 1990.
Explores how the F.B.I. disrupts legitimate political activities and engage in Death Squad activities.
Criley, Richard. THE F.B.I. VS. THE FIRST AMENDMENT. First Amendment Foundation, 1990.
Looks at the destruction of the First Amendment by the F.B.I.
Davis, John. MAFIA KINGFISH: CARLOS MARCELLO AND THE ASSASSINATION OF JOHN F.
KENNEDY. McGraw-Hill, 1989.
Pivotal book in understanding how the FBI has uses the Mafia to carry out political and other murders of our political and civil rights leaders.
De Camp, John. THE FRANKLIN COVERUP. AWT Publishers, 1992.
A former Republican state senator from Nebraska writes about a pedophile ring involved in the
kidnaping, sexual torture and murder of children that went all the way to the Bush White House.
Attorney DeCamp discusses the FBI role in the coverup of this case and the murder of a special
prosecutor appointed to investigate the pedophile ring.
Dempsey, James X. and David Cole. TERRORISM AND THE CONSTITUTION: SACRIFICING CIVIL
LIBERTIES IN THE NAME OF NATIONAL SECURITY. Los Angeles, CA: First Amendment
Foundation, 1999. Examines FBI campaign of terror to undermine civil liberties.
Diamond, Sigmund. COMPROMISED CAMPUS. Oxford University Press, 1992.
Professor Diamond attempts to get F.B.I. files showing collaboration between the F.B.I. and colleges
and universities from 1945-1955.
Donner, Frank. PROTECTORS OF PRIVILEGE. University of California Press, 1990.
Looks at collaboration between local police and the F.B.I. to stifle first amendment rights.
Dwyer, James. TWO SECONDS UNDER THE WORLD. Diane publishers 1997.
The most important book you will read on understanding FBI involvement in 9-11
terrorist act at the World Trade Center. This book lays out in detail how the FBI engineered
the first World Trade Center explosion.
Emerson, Steven and Brian Duffy. THE FALL OF PAN AM 103. G.B. Putnam's Sons, 1990.
Oliver Revell was the number 2 man at the F.B.I. until he was demoted by F.B.I. Director
William Sessions to the Dallas Field Office. His son Chris Revell had tickets for
Pan Am 103, but he changed his flight two days before the plane exploded over Lockerbie,
Scotland. See Ross Gelbspan's book, BREAK-INS, DEATH THREATS AND THE FBI to get a
fuller picture of Oliver Revell.
Foerstel, Herbert. SURVEILLANCE IN THE STACKS. Greenwood Press, 1991.
Looks at attempts by the F.B.I. to get librarians to spy on the American public.
Gallagher, Dorothy. ALL THE RIGHT ENEMIES. Penguin Books, 1988.
The F.B.I. utilized the Mafia to carry out its executions against political activists from 1930 through
1970. Carlos Tresca was one of their victims.
Gelbspan, Ross. BREAK- INS, DEATH THREATS, AND THE F.B.I. South End Press, 1991.
This Pulitzer Prize winning reporter formerly with the Boston Globe, details F.B.I. collaboration
with the death squads in El Salvador and their attacks upon American groups opposed to those death
squads.
Glick, Brian. WAR AT HOME. South End Press, 1989.
Attorney Glick details the F.B.I.’s covert war against political activists.
Hoffman, David. THE OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING AND THE POLITICS OF TERROR. Feral
House, 1998.
Contains detailed evidence about the FBI alliance with the terrorist underworld,
and how FBI agent provocateurs are behind many of the current bombings that have plagued the United States since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Some current thinking has FBI agents creating these acts to fill the void caused by the downfall of communism.
Hougan, Jim. SPOOKS. William Morrow, 1978.
Important book detailing the life of former F.B.I. agent Robert Maheux and his relationship with the Mafia. Groundbreaking book in understanding FBI collaboration with the Mafia, using it to carry out assassinations on President Kennedy, Martin Luther King and others. See author Bud Schultz
Kaiser, Marty . Odyssey of an Eavesdropper( My Life in electronic countermeasures and my battle against the FBI) W Carroll & Graf 2005
Author exposes wiretapping crimes committed by FBI agents as well as Business Fraud. He built the wiretapping devices for FBI agents that were later used in crimes committed against people like Martin Luther King and public officials.After exposing FBI agents kickback schemes to Congress the author became a target of retaliation by tax payer funded FBI agents.
Keith, Jim. OK BOMB. Illuminate, 1996.
Explores FBI coverup in the Oklahoma City bombing investigation.
Kelly, John F. TAINTING EVIDENCE. The Free Press 1998. The book is based on testimony of FBI lab Whistleblower Dr. Frederick Whitehurst , an employee of the FBI for 17 years. Shows how bad the FBI Lab is run. Dr. Whitehurst was the chemist who analyzed Timothy McVeigh's clothes for traces of ammonium nitrate and was removed from the case when he did not find any bomb residue.
Lehr, Dick & O'Neill, Gerard. BLACK MASS. Public Affairs, 2000.
Looks at the FBI's collaboration in Boston with the Mafia and Irish Mob between 1960 and 2001 in which they collaborated in the murder of 21 women,children and men. Important book showing how the FBI uses the Mafia to commit political and other assassinations .
Melanson, Phillip. THE MURKIN CONSPIRACY. Praeger, 1989.
Professor Melanson looks at the F.B.I.’s role in the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Melanson, Phillip. THE ROBERT KENNEDY ASSASSINATION. Shapolsky, 1991.
Professor Melanson is in charge of the Robert Kennedy archives at the University of Massachusetts.
He details the F.B.I.’s role as one of the principal architects of the assassination of Robert Kennedy.
Messerschmidt, Jim. THE TRIAL OF LEONARD PELTIER. South End Press, 1983.
Looks at the miscarriage of justice in the F.B.I.’s handling of the Leonard Peltier case.
Oklahoma City Bombing Investigative Committee. THE FINAL REPORT.2001. The best book by far
providing overwhelming evidence of FBI involvement in the Oklahoma City Bombing .
Navasky, Victor. INVESTIGATING THE F.B.I. Doubleday, 1973.
Contains material presented at a major conference at Princeton University in 1971 investigating
crimes committed by the FBI.
Neff, James. MOBBED UP. Dell Publishers 1988.
Important book in understanding FBI collaboration with the Mafia especially how the Bureau
uses the Mafia to carry out its political assassinations.
Nelson, Jack. THE F.B.I. AND THE BERRIGANS. Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1972.
Looks at F.B.I. death squad directed against Nobel Peace Prize nominee Phil Berrigan and his
brother, Jesuit priest Daniel Berrigan.
Olsen, Jack. LAST MAN STANDING: THE TRAGEDY AND TRIUMPH OF GERONIMO PRATT.
Doubleday, 2000.
Provides supporting evidence for the idea of the F.B.I. as a death squad. Examines the F.B.I. acts of genocide against Afro-Americans . Looks at how FBI agents framed Geronimo Pratt, a Afro American Viet-nam vet who spent over 25 years in prison before a judge released him saying he was innocent and framed by FBI agents.
O’Reilly, Kenneth. RACIAL MATTERS. Free Press, 1989.
Professor O’Reilly looks at a file called Racial Matters that the F.B.I. is keeping on Black America.
Parenti, Michael. DIRTY TRUTHS. City Lights Books, 1996.
Dr. Parenti looks at F.B.I. involvement in the assassination of labor leader Walter Reuther while he was organizing protests against the Vietnam War. It includes the essay “Why the Left is Afraid to look at the Assassination of JFK”.
Pepper, William. ORDERS TO KILL. Carroll and Graf, 1995.
Attorney Pepper represented James Earl Ray in his bid for a new trial and won a landmark case in civil court in December 1999 for the Martin Luther King Jr. family. The jury in the case concluded hat the F.B.I. was involved in the assassination of King. His book details our government’s involvement and provides photographic evidence of the F.B.I.’s role in this assassination.
Pepper,William. ACT OF STATE: THE EXECUTION OF MARTIN LUTHER KING Verso Press, 2003
The evidence from the 1999 Civil Trial in Memphis brought by the King family in which the jury concluded FBI agents were principal architects in the assassination of Martin Luther King.
Powers, Richard Gid. SECRECY AND POWER. Free Press, 1987.
A biography of J. Edgar Hoover and his quest for power.
Powers, Tyrone. EYES TO MY SOUL. Majority Press, 1996.
Professor Powers an afro-american, talks about his 9 years working as an F.B.I. agent, and the
FBI FRUHMENSCHEN program. White agents tried to kill him when he was writing this book.
Ranalli, Ralph. DEADLY ALLIANCE. Harper Torch, 2001
Boston Globe reporter Ralph Rannali exposes FBI collaboration with the Boston Mafia from 1960-
2001 where they ran a Murder Inc. President Bush asserted Executive Privilege in 2002 preventing
Congress from seeing the Federal Prosecutor’s Investigative files on this case.
Robbins, Natalie. ALIEN INK. William Morrow, 1992.
Ms. Robbins acquired the F.B.I. files on the major writers and artists of the 20th century, and
examines F.B.I. attacks upon them and their freedom of expression.
Schultz, Bud and Ruth. IT DID HAPPEN HERE. University of California Press, 1989.
Contains interviews with human rights activists who survived F.B.I. assassination attempts.
Schultz, Bud and Ruth. THE PRICE OF DISSENT. University of California Press , 2001
The sequel to IT DID HAPPEN HERE with more interviews with civil rights activists and union
organizers and anti-war protestors who survived FBI assassination attempts and with family members of people who were murdered.
Seymour, Sheri. COMMITTEE OF THE STATES. Self-published, 1989.
The F.B.I. infiltrated the California Militia 10 years before the Oklahoma City bombing. The
book illustrates how easy it was for the F.B.I. to infiltrate the group and get it to make bombs.
Shows with child-like simplicity how easy it was for FBI agent provocteur to get Timothy McVeigh
to make bomb and drive the truck.
Sharkey, Joe. ABOVE SUSPICION. Simon & Schuster, 1993.
Looks at the F.B.I. coverup involving one of its own agents who murdered an informant after he got her pregnant.
Suarez, Manuel. REQUIEM ON CERRO MARAVILLA. Waterfront Press, 1987.
Looks at F.B.I. collaboration with local police in the arrest, handcuffing, and death squad execution of two teenagers in Puerto Rico.
Summers, Anthony. OFFICIAL AND CONFIDENTIAL. G.B. Putnam and Sons, 1993.
This is the book on which the PBS Frontline documentary on J. Edgar Hoover and his friendship
with the Mafia is based.
Theoharis, Athan. THE F.B.I. Garland Publishers, 1994.
Professor Theoharis has compiled a comprehensive listing of books and articles about the F.B.I. up to 1994.
Thomas, Kenn. THE OCTOPUS. Feral House, 1996.
Investigates the F.B.I.’s role in the killing of investigative reporter Danny Casolero while he was
investigating the October Surprise.
Turner, William. THE ASSASSINATION OF ROBERT KENNEDY. Thunder Mouth Press, 1993.
Written by a former F.B.I. agent, it looks at the F.B.I.’s involvement in the assassination of Robert
Kennedy.
Turner, William. REARVIEW MIRROR foreword by Oliver Stone. Penmarin Books CA 2001.
More updated information on FBI involvement in President Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin
Luther King Assassination written by a former FBI agent.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. WHO IS GUARDING THE GUARDIANS? A Report on Police
Death Squad activities. 1981.
Wiener, Jon. GIMME SOME TRUTH. University of California Press, 1999.
Professor Wiener looks at the 14 year battle with the F.B.I. to get them to release their files on
John Lennon.
SUGGESTED WEB SITES AND VIDEOS
http://www.copvcia.com
http://www.narconews.com
http://www.okcbombing.org
http://www.unansweredquestions.org
http://www.911inquiry.org
http://www.heatisonline.org
http://www.whistleblowers.org
http://www.zpub.com/notes/fbi-shame.html
VIDEOS:
WACO:RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
SILENCED Jack Cashill
THE GREAT DECEPTION Barry Zwicker
TRUTH&LIES 911 Mike Ruppert
AFTERMATH:UNANSWEREDQUESTIONS
FBI agents arrested or sued in civil court for Pedophilia:
Edward Rodgers former head of FBI Child Abuse Program
http://www.headwatersproductions.co...s/article4.html
John Conditt former head of FBI internal affairs investigations.
http://www.freespeech.com/archives/002000.html
a species that hires bodyguards to protect it looses the ability to protect itself and is doomed to extinction
CRIMES COMMITTED BY THE F.B.I.
SUGGESTED READING LIST
Bari, Judi. TIMBER WARS. Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1994.
The F.B.I. attempted to stop the political activity of Judi Bari and Daryl Cherney by exploding a
bomb under their car. Daryl Cherney and Judi Bari filed a Civil lawsuit against the FBI and Oakland police. A jury awarded them $4.4 million dollars in 2003. see http://www.judibari.org
Bowen Roger. INNOCENCE IS NOT ENOUGH: The Life and Death of Herbert Norman
New York USA M.E. Sharpe Inc 1988
Looks at FBI murder of Herbert Norman, Canadian Ambassador to Egypt.
Buitrago, Ann Mari. F.B.I. FILES. Grove Press, 1981.
Covers the procedures for obtaining and interpreting your F.B.I. file.
Burnham, David. ABOVE THE LAW. Scribner, 1996.
Looks at secret deals and fixing of cases by the Justice Department.
Buttino, Frank. A SPECIAL AGENT. William Morrow, 1993.
Investigates F.B.I. attacks on gay agents during the 1980’s.
Carson, Clayborne. MALCOLM X: THE F.B.I. FILE. Carroll & Graf, 1991.
Looks at the role of the F.B.I. in the assassination of Malcolm X.
Cashill,Jack, Sanders,James. FIRST STRIKE Thomas Nelson Press, 2003
Overwhelming evidence presented by Dr. Cashill on the downing of TWA Flight 800
by a missle over Long Island and the ensuing cover-up by FBI agents.
Charns, Alexander. CLOAK AND GAVEL. University of Illinois Press. 1992.
After reviewing thousands of pages of FBI documents the attorney author
exposes the FBI illegal phone tapping of the Supreme Court and how the FBI fix court
cases and manipulate Congress and State legislatures.
Churchill, Ward. AGENTS OF REPRESSION. South End Press, 1988.
Professor Churchill gives first hand accounts of F.B.I. death squad activities.
Churchill, Ward. THE COINTELPRO PAPERS. South End Press, 1990.
Explores how the F.B.I. disrupts legitimate political activities and engage in Death Squad activities.
Criley, Richard. THE F.B.I. VS. THE FIRST AMENDMENT. First Amendment Foundation, 1990.
Looks at the destruction of the First Amendment by the F.B.I.
Davis, John. MAFIA KINGFISH: CARLOS MARCELLO AND THE ASSASSINATION OF JOHN F.
KENNEDY. McGraw-Hill, 1989.
Pivotal book in understanding how the FBI has uses the Mafia to carry out political and other murders of our political and civil rights leaders.
De Camp, John. THE FRANKLIN COVERUP. AWT Publishers, 1992.
A former Republican state senator from Nebraska writes about a pedophile ring involved in the
kidnaping, sexual torture and murder of children that went all the way to the Bush White House.
Attorney DeCamp discusses the FBI role in the coverup of this case and the murder of a special
prosecutor appointed to investigate the pedophile ring.
Dempsey, James X. and David Cole. TERRORISM AND THE CONSTITUTION: SACRIFICING CIVIL
LIBERTIES IN THE NAME OF NATIONAL SECURITY. Los Angeles, CA: First Amendment
Foundation, 1999. Examines FBI campaign of terror to undermine civil liberties.
Diamond, Sigmund. COMPROMISED CAMPUS. Oxford University Press, 1992.
Professor Diamond attempts to get F.B.I. files showing collaboration between the F.B.I. and colleges
and universities from 1945-1955.
Donner, Frank. PROTECTORS OF PRIVILEGE. University of California Press, 1990.
Looks at collaboration between local police and the F.B.I. to stifle first amendment rights.
Dwyer, James. TWO SECONDS UNDER THE WORLD. Diane publishers 1997.
The most important book you will read on understanding FBI involvement in 9-11
terrorist act at the World Trade Center. This book lays out in detail how the FBI engineered
the first World Trade Center explosion.
Emerson, Steven and Brian Duffy. THE FALL OF PAN AM 103. G.B. Putnam's Sons, 1990.
Oliver Revell was the number 2 man at the F.B.I. until he was demoted by F.B.I. Director
William Sessions to the Dallas Field Office. His son Chris Revell had tickets for
Pan Am 103, but he changed his flight two days before the plane exploded over Lockerbie,
Scotland. See Ross Gelbspan's book, BREAK-INS, DEATH THREATS AND THE FBI to get a
fuller picture of Oliver Revell.
Foerstel, Herbert. SURVEILLANCE IN THE STACKS. Greenwood Press, 1991.
Looks at attempts by the F.B.I. to get librarians to spy on the American public.
Gallagher, Dorothy. ALL THE RIGHT ENEMIES. Penguin Books, 1988.
The F.B.I. utilized the Mafia to carry out its executions against political activists from 1930 through
1970. Carlos Tresca was one of their victims.
Gelbspan, Ross. BREAK- INS, DEATH THREATS, AND THE F.B.I. South End Press, 1991.
This Pulitzer Prize winning reporter formerly with the Boston Globe, details F.B.I. collaboration
with the death squads in El Salvador and their attacks upon American groups opposed to those death
squads.
Glick, Brian. WAR AT HOME. South End Press, 1989.
Attorney Glick details the F.B.I.’s covert war against political activists.
Hoffman, David. THE OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING AND THE POLITICS OF TERROR. Feral
House, 1998.
Contains detailed evidence about the FBI alliance with the terrorist underworld,
and how FBI agent provocateurs are behind many of the current bombings that have plagued the United States since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Some current thinking has FBI agents creating these acts to fill the void caused by the downfall of communism.
Hougan, Jim. SPOOKS. William Morrow, 1978.
Important book detailing the life of former F.B.I. agent Robert Maheux and his relationship with the Mafia. Groundbreaking book in understanding FBI collaboration with the Mafia, using it to carry out assassinations on President Kennedy, Martin Luther King and others. See author Bud Schultz
Kaiser, Marty . Odyssey of an Eavesdropper( My Life in electronic countermeasures and my battle against the FBI) W Carroll & Graf 2005
Author exposes wiretapping crimes committed by FBI agents as well as Business Fraud. He built the wiretapping devices for FBI agents that were later used in crimes committed against people like Martin Luther King and public officials.After exposing FBI agents kickback schemes to Congress the author became a target of retaliation by tax payer funded FBI agents.
Keith, Jim. OK BOMB. Illuminate, 1996.
Explores FBI coverup in the Oklahoma City bombing investigation.
Kelly, John F. TAINTING EVIDENCE. The Free Press 1998. The book is based on testimony of FBI lab Whistleblower Dr. Frederick Whitehurst , an employee of the FBI for 17 years. Shows how bad the FBI Lab is run. Dr. Whitehurst was the chemist who analyzed Timothy McVeigh's clothes for traces of ammonium nitrate and was removed from the case when he did not find any bomb residue.
Lehr, Dick & O'Neill, Gerard. BLACK MASS. Public Affairs, 2000.
Looks at the FBI's collaboration in Boston with the Mafia and Irish Mob between 1960 and 2001 in which they collaborated in the murder of 21 women,children and men. Important book showing how the FBI uses the Mafia to commit political and other assassinations .
Melanson, Phillip. THE MURKIN CONSPIRACY. Praeger, 1989.
Professor Melanson looks at the F.B.I.’s role in the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Melanson, Phillip. THE ROBERT KENNEDY ASSASSINATION. Shapolsky, 1991.
Professor Melanson is in charge of the Robert Kennedy archives at the University of Massachusetts.
He details the F.B.I.’s role as one of the principal architects of the assassination of Robert Kennedy.
Messerschmidt, Jim. THE TRIAL OF LEONARD PELTIER. South End Press, 1983.
Looks at the miscarriage of justice in the F.B.I.’s handling of the Leonard Peltier case.
Oklahoma City Bombing Investigative Committee. THE FINAL REPORT.2001. The best book by far
providing overwhelming evidence of FBI involvement in the Oklahoma City Bombing .
Navasky, Victor. INVESTIGATING THE F.B.I. Doubleday, 1973.
Contains material presented at a major conference at Princeton University in 1971 investigating
crimes committed by the FBI.
Neff, James. MOBBED UP. Dell Publishers 1988.
Important book in understanding FBI collaboration with the Mafia especially how the Bureau
uses the Mafia to carry out its political assassinations.
Nelson, Jack. THE F.B.I. AND THE BERRIGANS. Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1972.
Looks at F.B.I. death squad directed against Nobel Peace Prize nominee Phil Berrigan and his
brother, Jesuit priest Daniel Berrigan.
Olsen, Jack. LAST MAN STANDING: THE TRAGEDY AND TRIUMPH OF GERONIMO PRATT.
Doubleday, 2000.
Provides supporting evidence for the idea of the F.B.I. as a death squad. Examines the F.B.I. acts of genocide against Afro-Americans . Looks at how FBI agents framed Geronimo Pratt, a Afro American Viet-nam vet who spent over 25 years in prison before a judge released him saying he was innocent and framed by FBI agents.
O’Reilly, Kenneth. RACIAL MATTERS. Free Press, 1989.
Professor O’Reilly looks at a file called Racial Matters that the F.B.I. is keeping on Black America.
Parenti, Michael. DIRTY TRUTHS. City Lights Books, 1996.
Dr. Parenti looks at F.B.I. involvement in the assassination of labor leader Walter Reuther while he was organizing protests against the Vietnam War. It includes the essay “Why the Left is Afraid to look at the Assassination of JFK”.
Pepper, William. ORDERS TO KILL. Carroll and Graf, 1995.
Attorney Pepper represented James Earl Ray in his bid for a new trial and won a landmark case in civil court in December 1999 for the Martin Luther King Jr. family. The jury in the case concluded hat the F.B.I. was involved in the assassination of King. His book details our government’s involvement and provides photographic evidence of the F.B.I.’s role in this assassination.
Pepper,William. ACT OF STATE: THE EXECUTION OF MARTIN LUTHER KING Verso Press, 2003
The evidence from the 1999 Civil Trial in Memphis brought by the King family in which the jury concluded FBI agents were principal architects in the assassination of Martin Luther King.
Powers, Richard Gid. SECRECY AND POWER. Free Press, 1987.
A biography of J. Edgar Hoover and his quest for power.
Powers, Tyrone. EYES TO MY SOUL. Majority Press, 1996.
Professor Powers an afro-american, talks about his 9 years working as an F.B.I. agent, and the
FBI FRUHMENSCHEN program. White agents tried to kill him when he was writing this book.
Ranalli, Ralph. DEADLY ALLIANCE. Harper Torch, 2001
Boston Globe reporter Ralph Rannali exposes FBI collaboration with the Boston Mafia from 1960-
2001 where they ran a Murder Inc. President Bush asserted Executive Privilege in 2002 preventing
Congress from seeing the Federal Prosecutor’s Investigative files on this case.
Robbins, Natalie. ALIEN INK. William Morrow, 1992.
Ms. Robbins acquired the F.B.I. files on the major writers and artists of the 20th century, and
examines F.B.I. attacks upon them and their freedom of expression.
Schultz, Bud and Ruth. IT DID HAPPEN HERE. University of California Press, 1989.
Contains interviews with human rights activists who survived F.B.I. assassination attempts.
Schultz, Bud and Ruth. THE PRICE OF DISSENT. University of California Press , 2001
The sequel to IT DID HAPPEN HERE with more interviews with civil rights activists and union
organizers and anti-war protestors who survived FBI assassination attempts and with family members of people who were murdered.
Seymour, Sheri. COMMITTEE OF THE STATES. Self-published, 1989.
The F.B.I. infiltrated the California Militia 10 years before the Oklahoma City bombing. The
book illustrates how easy it was for the F.B.I. to infiltrate the group and get it to make bombs.
Shows with child-like simplicity how easy it was for FBI agent provocteur to get Timothy McVeigh
to make bomb and drive the truck.
Sharkey, Joe. ABOVE SUSPICION. Simon & Schuster, 1993.
Looks at the F.B.I. coverup involving one of its own agents who murdered an informant after he got her pregnant.
Suarez, Manuel. REQUIEM ON CERRO MARAVILLA. Waterfront Press, 1987.
Looks at F.B.I. collaboration with local police in the arrest, handcuffing, and death squad execution of two teenagers in Puerto Rico.
Summers, Anthony. OFFICIAL AND CONFIDENTIAL. G.B. Putnam and Sons, 1993.
This is the book on which the PBS Frontline documentary on J. Edgar Hoover and his friendship
with the Mafia is based.
Theoharis, Athan. THE F.B.I. Garland Publishers, 1994.
Professor Theoharis has compiled a comprehensive listing of books and articles about the F.B.I. up to 1994.
Thomas, Kenn. THE OCTOPUS. Feral House, 1996.
Investigates the F.B.I.’s role in the killing of investigative reporter Danny Casolero while he was
investigating the October Surprise.
Turner, William. THE ASSASSINATION OF ROBERT KENNEDY. Thunder Mouth Press, 1993.
Written by a former F.B.I. agent, it looks at the F.B.I.’s involvement in the assassination of Robert
Kennedy.
Turner, William. REARVIEW MIRROR foreword by Oliver Stone. Penmarin Books CA 2001.
More updated information on FBI involvement in President Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin
Luther King Assassination written by a former FBI agent.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. WHO IS GUARDING THE GUARDIANS? A Report on Police
Death Squad activities. 1981.
Wiener, Jon. GIMME SOME TRUTH. University of California Press, 1999.
Professor Wiener looks at the 14 year battle with the F.B.I. to get them to release their files on
John Lennon.
SUGGESTED WEB SITES AND VIDEOS
http://www.copvcia.com
http://www.narconews.com
http://www.okcbombing.org
http://www.unansweredquestions.org
http://www.911inquiry.org
http://www.heatisonline.org
http://www.whistleblowers.org
http://www.zpub.com/notes/fbi-shame.html
VIDEOS:
WACO:RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
SILENCED Jack Cashill
THE GREAT DECEPTION Barry Zwicker
TRUTH&LIES 911 Mike Ruppert
AFTERMATH:UNANSWEREDQUESTIONS
FBI agents arrested or sued in civil court for Pedophilia:
Edward Rodgers former head of FBI Child Abuse Program
http://www.headwatersproductions.co...s/article4.html
John Conditt former head of FBI internal affairs investigations.
http://www.freespeech.com/archives/002000.html
One thing to avoid is spreading paranoia. It's the same with "terrorism" - compare the effect on the public of blowing up the World Trade Center with how it has been magnified a thousand times over by the media and the government in the last 5 years. The media and government are responsible for terrorizing the American people, with a color coded warning system and a string a false alarms. There is no member of Congress who would dare say that the danger of being blown up by a bomb in the US is incredibly small. You're a lot more likely to be killed by an aggressive driver, a cholesterol overdose or any of the other ways people ordinarily die.
There is no real opposition movement that threatens the US govt today. And no reason for the FBI to disrupt political organizations as they did in the 60s. They have the resources to outnumber every "radical" organization with agents who can infiltrate them and monitor everything they do. With all these thousands of counter-terrorism agents with no real terrorists to chase, it should be easy for them to make cases against environmentalists or animal rights activists, or whoever, if they plan to do anything illegal. They can put them in prison rather than just playing tricks on them.
That's the difference today. There is no need for cointelpro tactics. That's not to say that there is no political repression. There is plenty. Mosques are full of agents, all our telephone calls may be being monitored, people are afraid to send any money to organizations related to the Middle East, and people accused of crimes are being stripped of the most basic rights - Jose Padilla and many others. There are thousands of agents trying to make terrorism cases, and no real terrorists, so environmentalists are all they can come up with. But I think it's counterproductive to claim that internal politics of various groups are being manipulated from the outside. Maybe its true, but remember that accusing people of being informants and working for the FBI is one sure way to cause chaos and prevent people from working together. You're better off not worrying about informants, keeping your group compartmentalized to make it more difficult for outsiders to track what you're doing, and if you really can prove someone is an informant, wait until you have all your ducks in a row before trying to do so.
There is no real opposition movement that threatens the US govt today. And no reason for the FBI to disrupt political organizations as they did in the 60s. They have the resources to outnumber every "radical" organization with agents who can infiltrate them and monitor everything they do. With all these thousands of counter-terrorism agents with no real terrorists to chase, it should be easy for them to make cases against environmentalists or animal rights activists, or whoever, if they plan to do anything illegal. They can put them in prison rather than just playing tricks on them.
That's the difference today. There is no need for cointelpro tactics. That's not to say that there is no political repression. There is plenty. Mosques are full of agents, all our telephone calls may be being monitored, people are afraid to send any money to organizations related to the Middle East, and people accused of crimes are being stripped of the most basic rights - Jose Padilla and many others. There are thousands of agents trying to make terrorism cases, and no real terrorists, so environmentalists are all they can come up with. But I think it's counterproductive to claim that internal politics of various groups are being manipulated from the outside. Maybe its true, but remember that accusing people of being informants and working for the FBI is one sure way to cause chaos and prevent people from working together. You're better off not worrying about informants, keeping your group compartmentalized to make it more difficult for outsiders to track what you're doing, and if you really can prove someone is an informant, wait until you have all your ducks in a row before trying to do so.
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