FBI Origins and Early Activities (1908-1940s)

• Founded 1908 as Bureau of Investigation, renamed FBI 1935
• Created after President McKinley assassination 1901, Theodore Roosevelt proposed new investigative body
• Early congressional concerns about "secret police department"
• Founded July 26, 1908 by Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte
• First major task: enforcing Mann Act (transporting women across state lines for prostitution) 1910
• 1920s-30s: targeted organized crime, bootlegging operations
• Merged with Bureau of Prohibition 1933
• Apprehended notorious gangsters: John Dillinger, Ma Barker, Machine Gun Kelly, Baby Face Nelson

WWII Japanese American Internment

• FBI maintained list of 5,000+ "troublemakers" before Pearl Harbor
• Mass arrests of innocent Japanese American men without warrants 1942
• Executive Order 9066 required relocation to government internment camps
• Almost 70,000 Japanese Americans plus Italian/German descendants arrested
• Most were American-born citizens
• Supreme Court ordered suspension of mass arrests 1944
• All 10 internment camps shut down by 1946
• Executive order not officially revoked until 1976 by President Gerald Ford

Pedro Albizu Campos Surveillance (1930s-1965)

• Target: President of Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico, independence leader
• FBI covert surveillance throughout political career
• Three arrests: 1937 (plans to overthrow US government), 1950 (attempted murder), 1954 (House of Representatives assault - wasn't present)
• Surveillance extended to friends and family until death 1965
• Documents revealed through Freedom of Information Act by Congressman Luis Gutierrez 1980s
• Claimed prison radiation experiments during incarceration

Sex Deviant Program (1950-1977)

• April 1950: FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover disseminated list of 393 names
• Targeted government employees arrested for "sexual irregularity" (homosexuality)
• Executive Order 10450 barred all gay people from federal employment
• Continued through 1950s-60s until 1975 (federal civil service lifted ban)
• State Department lifted ban 1977
• 300,000 pages of compromising information destroyed by FBI officials 1977
• Executive Order 10450 not fully repealed until 2017

COINTELPRO Program (1956-1971)

• Covert, often illegal FBI program to infiltrate, destabilize, discredit political groups
• 85% of surveilled groups were civil rights organizations, not extremist groups
• Targets included: civil rights groups, feminist groups, animal rights advocates, environmentalists, trade unions, Vietnam War opponents
• Tactics included: forged letters/documents, falsified evidence arrests, biased documentaries, denying platforms
• Created hostility between activist groups through false information
• Example: forged letter to Ron Karenga (US Organization) about fake Black Panthers assassination plot

Gary Thomas Rowe Jr. - KKK Informant Coverup

• FBI informant recruited 1960 to infiltrate KKK Eastview Klavern 13
• Led violent attack on Freedom Riders bus 1961 (police gave 15-minute head start)
• Potential suspect in 16th Street Church bombings 1963 (killed 4 young girls)
• Shot and killed white activist Viola Liuzzo 1965
• FBI covered up murder, spread rumors about Liuzzo (heroin addict, communist, promiscuous)
• Rowe testified against other car occupant, entered witness protection
• Later claimed complete immunity from FBI in exchange for information

Celebrity Surveillance

• FBI monitored celebrities involved with Communist Party, Civil Rights Movement, anti-war activities
• Targets included: Jane Fonda, Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan

Modern Era Tactics (1970s-Present)

Environmental/Indigenous Activism

• Early 1970s: planted 500+ bugs, opened 2,000+ pieces of mail
• Targeted Earth First, American Indian Movement
• Reagan Administration counterterrorism measures = extension of COINTELPRO
• Authors claim FBI destabilized American Indian Movement for uranium mining access on Lakota tribal land

Digital Age Entrapment

• 2007: FBI agent posed as Associated Press member to catch 15-year-old bomb threat suspect
• Created fake AP article with tracking software link
• Director James Comey claimed "above board," AP called "unacceptable"

Bronx Synagogue Plot (2009)

• FBI concocted fake terrorism plot to shoot down military planes, bomb synagogues
• Informant Shahed Hussain (Pakistani national, convicted fraudster) recruited 4 local Muslim men
• Offered James Cromitie $250,000 to bomb Riverdale Jewish Center
• FBI provided weapons, fake bombs, selected targets, paid for groceries
• Judge Colleen McMahon called defendants "thugs for hire," not religious martyrs
• Defense argued entrapment due to FBI's extensive involvement

Eric McDavid Case (2000s)

• Eco-anarchist group infiltrated by FBI informant "Anna" (really Zoe Voss)
• Voss acted as agent provocateur, provided cabin, bomb materials, recorded activities
• McDavid arrested January 13, 2006, sentenced 20 years
• Released 2015 when FBI withheld 2,500 pages of evidence including love letters
• FBI exempted Voss from lie detector test
• Voss involved in 12 other similar anarchist groups

Black Lives Matter Surveillance (2018)

• Atlanta Black Star reported harassment similar to COINTELPRO tactics
• FBI internal documents described stalking tactics against "black identity extremists"

Larry Nassar Coverup (2021)

• DOJ report found FBI agents covered up sexual abuse by Olympic gymnastics doctor
• USA Gymnastics filed allegations 2015 to Indianapolis FBI field office
• Response extremely slow and limited in scope
• Two agents lied during interviews
• Agent Jay Abbott was seeking job on Olympic Committee during investigation