COINTELPRO (1956-1971) targeted civil rights leaders, anti-war activists, and political organizations. The program was exposed in 1971 when the Citizens' Commission broke into an FBI office and leaked documents.
“The FBI has been systematically surveilling and disrupting civil rights organizations and anti-war movements through infiltration and disinformation.”
From “crazy” to confirmed
The Claim Is Made
This is the moment they called it crazy.
When Americans learned in 1971 that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had secretly infiltrated the Civil Rights Movement, surveilled Martin Luther King Jr., and systematically disrupted domestic political organizations, many dismissed it as impossible. The FBI was, after all, the nation's premier law enforcement agency—surely it wouldn't target its own citizens for their political beliefs.
Yet the evidence was undeniable. On March 8, 1971, members of the Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI broke into a field office in Media, Pennsylvania, and stole nearly a thousand classified documents. What they found and subsequently leaked to journalists would expose one of the most extensive domestic surveillance operations in American history: COINTELPRO, short for Counterintelligence Program.
COINTELPRO had operated since 1956, initially justified as a counterintelligence measure against communist organizations. But the program's actual scope was far broader. Between 1956 and 1971, the FBI used its resources to surveil, infiltrate, and actively disrupt civil rights leaders including Martin Luther King Jr., anti-war activists, Black nationalist organizations, and various political groups deemed threats to national security. The targets weren't foreign agents—they were American citizens exercising their constitutional rights.
For years, the FBI flatly denied any wrongdoing. The bureau initially claimed the leaked documents were either fabrications or taken out of context. Officials argued that necessitated monitoring potential subversive elements. The attitude from FBI leadership was that these operations were necessary, legal, and certainly not the widespread systematic campaign the documents suggested.
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Confirmed: They Were Right
The truth comes out. Officially documented.
Confirmed: They Were Right
The truth comes out. Officially documented.
The stolen documents told a different story. The files detailed specific operations, code names, and directives to infiltrate organizations, sow discord among leaders, and create false letters designed to damage reputations and spark infighting. One FBI memo instructed field offices to "neutralize" Black Panther Party members. Another detailed a campaign to discredit Martin Luther King Jr. through anonymous letters and media manipulation. These weren't isolated incidents—they were systematic, authorized, and deliberate.
By the early 1970s, as more documents became public and congressional investigations began, the FBI's denials became untenable. The Church Committee, formally the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations, conducted a comprehensive investigation beginning in 1975 and confirmed that COINTELPRO was real, extensive, and had operated exactly as the leaked documents described. The program had affected thousands of individuals and organizations across decades.
The legacy of COINTELPRO extends beyond historical interest. It established a documented precedent: the nation's top law enforcement agency, operating in secret and without meaningful oversight, had weaponized its power against citizens based on their political views. This wasn't a conspiracy theory spread by fringe voices—it was verified through official government documentation and later congressional investigation.
Today, as debates continue about surveillance capabilities, intelligence agency oversight, and the balance between security and civil liberties, COINTELPRO serves as a crucial reference point. It demonstrates why public skepticism toward official denials matters. It shows why whistleblowers who leak classified documents, regardless of legal consequences, can serve a democratic function. And it reminds us that institutions, however prestigious, require transparency and accountability—because without them, they will abuse their power.
The question COINTELPRO raises isn't whether government agencies can be trusted. The question is how we build systems that don't require such trust to begin with.
Beat the odds
This had a 1.2% chance of leaking — someone talked anyway.
Conspirators
~200Network
Secret kept
15.2 years
Time to 95% exposure
500+ years
