Revisited: COINTELPRO 2.023
The government's domestic spying program never stopped. It only evolves.
Today is MLK day. Today, as they did last year, the fbi tweeted about MLK and say they honor ”one of the most prominent leaders of the Civil Rights movement and reaffirms its commitment to Dr. King’s legacy of fairness and equal justice for all.” Based on their ever present hubris and refusal to acknowledge their intrusive, years long wiretapping of Dr. King and their attempts to coerce him into committing suicide, it seemed like a good day to revisit COINTELPRO 2.023. There are quite a few more subscribers to my Substack this year too, so hopefully you all find it worthwhile.
On Monday the FBI tweeted, “On this 40th anniversary of #MLKDay as a federal holiday, the #FBI honors one of the most prominent leaders of the Civil Rights movement and reaffirms its commitment to Dr. King’s legacy of fairness and equal justice for all.” The FBI can rarely be counted on to stick to the facts these days. For instance, it is not the 40th anniversary of MLK Day. It is the 38th anniversary. But hey, can’t let pesky facts get in the way of a good tweet.
For all you fact checkers who want to jump the gun and take the FBI at their word, which would be your first mistake, MLK Day was first celebrated in January of 1986. Although it was signed into law in late 1983, it took over two years to actually be celebrated (since the government moves so rapidly). Furthermore, even though it was a federal holiday, not all states recognized it until 2000. These are easily verifiable facts. Even an indefinitely suspended FBI agent can find them.
Two days after Dr. King gave his infamous “I have a dream” speech, FBI Assistant Director William Sullivan, who was third in command of all the FBI, circulated a memo with the subject line, “COMMUNIST PARTY, USA NEGRO QUESTION.” Of Dr. King, Sullivan wrote, “We must mark him now, if we have not done so before, as the most dangerous Negro of the future in this Nation from the standpoint of communism, the Negro and national security.” Always national security. The FBI and other powerful governmental agencies so frequently invoke the “national security” line. But of course, because who doesn’t want strong “national security.”
The FBI didn’t stop there though. About a month and a half after Sullivan’s memo, then Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy authorized wiretaps on Dr. King. This was done without any warrants seeking to wiretap him. It was done without any court or judge’s authority. It was done simply because FBI Director Hoover asked that it be done under the guise that one of Dr. King’s closest advisors, Stanley Levison, was a “secret member” of the Communist Party.
Hoover had an obsession with communists. He hated them. He didn’t believe the FBI should have to adhere to the law because, well, “national security.” You see, the communist threat was too great. They were trying to take over the country. Since they posed such a grave threat, due process didn’t apply to them. As far back as at least 1919 Hoover had conducted secret intelligence operations against US citizens. Russian aliens, anarchists, radical leftists and communists, or anyone suspected of such activity, would face the FBI’s wrath; and they did. More than 6,000 people were arrested after Hoover sent out the order on January 1, 1920. This massive operation, known as the Red Raids, resulted in maybe 1 in 10 being found guilty of a deportable offense, according to Tim Weiner Pulitzer Prize winning author of Enemies: A History of the FBI.
Hoover’s obsession, in part, is what led to Dr. King being wiretapped. As mentioned in FBI, Christmas Lie, the FBI’s “Counterintelligence Program,” or COINTELPRO, started at the behest of Hoover under the certain threat to “national security” is another part. Hoover’s insatiable thirst for power and control, even at the expense of the Constitution, law and civil rights in order to thwart what and who he saw as America’s enemies was the cornerstone.
In late 1964, about a year after the FBI’s wiretapping misadventures of Dr. King began, they upped the ante even further. The FBI anonymously delivered audio tapes, purportedly of Dr. King’s infidelity, and a letter to Mrs. Coretta Scott King. Later received by Dr. King himself, the letter decries him as an evil fraud, amongst other degrading remarks, and closes by telling him, “King, there is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is. You have just 34 days in which to do it (this exact number has been selected for a specific reason, it has definite practical significant). You are done. There is but one way out for you. You better take it before your filthy, abnormal fraudulent self is bared to the nation.”
Dr. King did not oblige the FBI. He did, however, conclude that the letter and tapes were sent by the FBI. He didn’t live to see that conclusion verified, so he likely was called a conspiracy theorist by the FBI. However, it was later verified by the “Church Committee;” which was discussed a bit further in Gaslighting Grifters. Since Dr. King did not comply with the FBI’s blackmail and simply kill himself, the FBI continued their warrantless, court-less, judge-less wiretaps of him. For about four more years.
The wiretaps and physical surveillance of Dr. King only stopped after his assassination in 1968. The FBI’s official narrative is that James Earl Ray, an escaped convict, solely acted to carry out the assassination of Dr. King. Officially, FBI agents traced the single shot that killed Dr. King across the street to Bessie Brewer’s rooming house where Ray had rented a room the day prior. Ray then, while fleeing immediately after the assassination, dropped a bundle in the doorway, of all places, at Canipe's Amusement Company. Inside the bundle? Binoculars, a newspaper story about Dr. King staying across the street from the rooming house at the Lorraine Motel and a .30-06 Remington rifle. Yes, all three items had Ray’s fingerprints. Quite the stroke of impeccable investigative work for those agents to find such concrete evidence so close to the crime scene.
Even though the official narrative seemed so bulletproof, Mrs. King went to her grave believing otherwise. She wasn’t the only one in the King family, much less the country or world, who disbelieved the government’s narrative either. A restaurant owner, Loyd Jowers, who ran the eatery below the room that Ray rented, took part in a mock trial hosted by HBO in 1993. Ray was found not guilty and Jowers admitted, after 25 years of stating otherwise, that he was part of the conspiracy to assassinate Dr. King. This eventually led to a real, civil trial in 1999 against Jowers in which the twelve person jury’s decision showed that Dr. King’s assassination was the result of a conspiracy which did not involve Ray. It did, however, involve Jowers and “others, including governmental agencies.”
Although the burden of proof is different (and lower) in a civil trial when compared to a criminal one, and considering that the DOJ allegedly investigated Jowers claims concluding them non-credible, Mrs. King’s, and others, beliefs were ratified. Of the civil trial she said, “The jury was clearly convinced by the extensive evidence that was presented during the trial that, in addition to Mr. Jowers, the conspiracy of the Mafia, local, state and federal government agencies, were deeply involved in the assassination of my husband.”
The FBI’s attempt to glob onto MLK Day as one of “honor” in recognition of Dr. King’s “legacy of fairness and equal justice for all” is laughable at best when similar types of abuses have only continued. Not only by the FBI, but also NSA and CIA. As mentioned in Gaslighting Grifters, the “Church Committee” unearthed numerous abuses by the government, and especially the intelligence agencies. Those included Project SHAMROCK, MINARET, CHAOS and of course the FBI’s COINTELPRO. Another CIA assault on US citizens was that of Project MKULTRA where they used LSD and other drugs to determine effective ways of mind control, psychological torture and information gathering purposes.
Another CIA operation that is often alluded to as being unearthed by the Church Committee is Operation MOCKINGBIRD. This operation focused on the CIA’s manipulation of the media and journalists; both domestically and internationally. Although MOCKINGBIRD was not mentioned by name in the committee’s final reports, it was determined that the CIA was impacting the narrative through journalists all across the globe, including domestically. The committee’s findings indicated that there were 50 journalists, however, Carl Bernstein later reported in his investigative piece, The CIA and the Media, that there were at least 400 journalists being used by the CIA. Nonetheless, MOCKINGBIRD remains only an “alleged” CIA operation.
The NSA’s Project SHAMROCK dated back to 1945, but even that doesn’t go back far enough. Prior to the National Security Agency, the US had what was called Black Chamber; a civilian code breaking agency. After World War 1 Black Chamber, working on behalf of the government, collected telegrams daily and delivered them to their government handlers in violation of the 1912 Radio Communications Act. It was eventually exposed and shutdown, but started anew with SHAMROCK.
These programs, COINTELPRO, SHAMROCK, MINARET, MOCKINGBIRD, CHAOS, or one’s that haven’t even been mentioned yet like XKEYSCORE and ECHELON are real. The names change. Directors of agencies come and go, but the surveillance state persists. Heads roll from time to time; not literally but figuratively with president’s replacing a disgraced figurehead on occasion, but one thing remains: the government tightening their grip on what you do, think and believe. Step outside their narrative? They will “break” you. That is the exact word used in the 1980’s when the FBI infiltrated the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES).
Full video can be seen here: Alternative Views #444
Fast forward a few more years and “national security” again gets invoked with the passing of the PATRIOT Act. Just a few years later in December 2005, a firestorm emerged because of a New York Times report titled, Bush Lets US Spy on Callers Without Courts. ATT claimed that “the law does not permit” them to comment on if they are involved with the NSA. You may recall, TITANPOINTE from the last article. That is one building in New York City. But there are more. All over the US. In 2018, Business Insider reported that there were at least eight, including TITANPOINTE, towering, windowless, bomb-proof buildings in major US cities are reportedly part of an under-the-radar partnership between AT&T and the NSA.
Today, the government has an obsession with “insurrectionists.” They hate them. They don’t believe the FBI has to adhere to the law because, well, “national security.” You see, the MAGA threat is too great. They are trying to take over the country. Since they pose such a great threat, due process doesn’t apply to them. Round them up, hold them in perpetuity, over charge (or threaten to over charge) them, and list their names in a database. The DOJ already touts their over 900 arrests of January 6th insurrectionists, radical right-wingers and conservatives, or anyone suspected of such activity, and has promised 1000 more would face the FBI’s wrath. Here are two short clips of other insurrectionists over the last few years. The first, also in DC. But not on January 6, 2020. Instead, it was January 20, 2017. The second are clips of “peaceful protests” during the summer of 2020. No massive dragnet for any of those insurrectionists though.
FBI Director Christopher Wray spoke at the annual hubris center of the world yesterday, also known as the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland. Wray’s remarks included that “the level of collaboration between the private sector and the government, especially the FBI, has made significant strides.” Wray has seemingly doubled down on the unholy forced partnership between government and the private sector, as revealed with the Twitter Files. As discussed in Gaslighting Grifters, “Federal Belly-button of the Industry,” and FBI, Christmas Lie, the Twitter Files revealed numerous examples of the government crossing the line of legality and constitutionally protected activity being trampled on by Wray’s FBI and other government agencies.
When it came to the topic of digital surveillance, Wray remarked while in the clutches of the WEF that, “the good guys are constrained by the rule of law.” When in the history of the FBI have they actually been constrained by the rule of law? They weren’t during Hoover’s reign. They aren’t now, as numerous suspended FBI whistleblowers, and others can attest to. The FBI was a “national security,” intelligence agency because of Hoover. That role only intensified after 9/11, the passage of the PATRIOT Act and “reforms” to change the FBI into even more of an intelligence agency. FBI whistleblowers were being muzzled even then. Whether it be domestic operations against US citizens by the FBI and other government entities, whistleblower retaliation, blaming Russia or “national security” for our own governmental misdeeds, one thing remains: the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Excellent article. There is a certain sad irony how the FBI and other agencies are "reformed" after being caught violating Americans' rights then go on to violate them more. FBI surveillance is exponentially more invasive now than it was then and the CIA still works with the media.
Great article--reading Bernstein’s article tomorrow. The El Salvador thing was interesting because a good friend and fellow med student knew A LOT about El Salvador due to missionaries in her church. I think her brother may have been one. She was livid & adamant the FBI and govt had set up everything going on there and were lying through their teeth. She was a quiet Mennonite and her anger made an impression! Appreciate all the truth you’re willing to share with us. And if the single shot killed JFK theory was a lie, so was the murder of MLK.