FBI POLITICAL REPRESSION: A Snapshot of COINTELPRO The FBI, by infiltrating and spying on selected groups in American society, arrogated to itself the role of a thought police. It decided which groups were legitimate, and which were a danger - by FBI standards - to the Republic. It took sides in social and political conflicts...deciding, for example, that those opposed to the war in Vietnam, or whose skin was black, should be targets for FBI attention. Since the FBI acted secretly, it distorted the political process by covertly acting against certain groups and individuals. In short, the FBI filled the classic role of a secret political police. - David Wise The American Police State From some point in 1955 until mid-1971, the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted a formal but highly secret operation designed to "disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize" what it considered to be politically objectionable individuals and organizations in the United States and its Caribbean colony of Puerto Rico. (FBI Director Aug.) Dubbed COINTELPRO - a cryptonym denoting "domestic counterintelligence program" - in classified bureau documents, this campaign of raw repression was not only unconstitutional in its objectives, but patently illegal in the tactics used in pursuit of such goals. As analyst Brian Glick has observed, "COINTELPRO involved a unique experiment. Though covert operations have been employed throughout FBI history, the COINTELPROs were the first to be broadly targeted and centrally directed. FBI headquarters set policy, assessed progress, charted new directions, demanded increased production, and carefully monitored and controlled day-to-day operations." (Churchill Papers xii) The thinking underlying this development was perhaps best articulated in a congressional study of "internal subversion" in the U.S. prepared by the Doolittle Commission in 1954, toward the end of the post-World War II period of generalized political repression conventionally referred to as "McCarthyism." 1 1 A fine summary of the McCarthy period and its implications may be found in Levin. As long as [anti-communism] remains national policy, an...important requirement is an aggressive covert psychological, political and paramilitary organization more effective, more unique, and if necessary, more ruthless than that employed by the enemy. No one should be permitted to stand in the way of the prompt, efficient, and secure establishment of this mission. 2 2 Quoted...