COINTELPRO
The FBI's secret program to infiltrate, discredit, and disrupt domestic political organizations from 1956 to 1971.
INVESTIGATION OVERVIEW
COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) was a series of covert and often illegal projects conducted by the FBI to infiltrate, discredit, and disrupt domestic political organizations. Targets included civil rights leaders, anti-war activists, feminist groups, and nationalist organizations. The program used tactics including surveillance, harassment, false information, and violence.
KEY CLAIMS
The FBI infiltrated political organizations
Leaders were targeted for discrediting or assassination
False information was spread to create divisions
The program violated constitutional rights
SUPPORTING EVIDENCE
Declassified FBI documents
Senate hearings (Church Committee)
Testimony from former FBI agents
Personal papers of targets
COUNTER ARGUMENTS
The program was officially ended in 1971
Some targets were genuinely subversive
The FBI claimed it was for national security
Not all allegations have been proven
TIMELINE
COINTELPRO begins targeting communist groups
Program expanded to civil rights and anti-war groups
Program exposed and officially ended
KEY FIGURES
J. Edgar Hoover
FBI Director who authorized COINTELPRO
Martin Luther King Jr.
Target of COINTELPRO
ORGANIZATIONS
FBI
Intelligence
CIA
Intelligence
SOURCES
RELATED ENTITIES
PEOPLE
J. Edgar Hoover
Martin Luther King Jr.
ORGANIZATIONS
FBI
CIA
TECHNOLOGIES
Surveillance
EVENTS
COINTELPRO begins targeting communist groups
1956
Program expanded to civil rights and anti-war groups
1960s
Program exposed and officially ended
1971