Spying on America: The FBI's Domestic Counterintelligence Program (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "On the night of March 8, 1971, a small group of burglarsalmost certainly antiwar activistscarefully made their way to the corner of Front Street and..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, New Left, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Although light on interpretation and analysis, this is nonetheless an informative account of the FBI's domestic surveillance activities. Dubbed COINTELPRO (counterintelligence program) by J. Edgar Hoover, this type of snooping began in 1956 and continued until 1971, when it was terminated after the seizure and public release by the Citizens' ? ck Committee to Investigate the FBI of classified documents from the bureau's Media, Penn., office. The author summarizes in individual chapters five COINTELPRO operations, giving clear pictures since five of them of the crude but apparently effective techniques used against the American Communist Party, the Socialist Workers' Party, white hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, radical African American organizations like the Black Panther Party, and the New Left movement, comprised primarily of antiwar activists. The book concludes with an outline of the Church Committee's 1975 investigation into FBI domestic-surveillance practices and the reforms subsequently carried out by Hoover's successor, Clarence Kelley, whose autobiography ( Kelley: The Story of an FBI Director ) Davis coauthored.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Davis--coauthor of Kelley (1987), the autobiography of former FBI director Clarence M. Kelley--delves into the FBI's secret counterintelligence program (COINTELPRO), which from 1956 to 1971 aimed to stifle dissent among domestic radical groups. J. Edgar Hoover, Davis explains, obtained a vast charter for the FBI to monitor domestic intelligence when FDR signed a special directive just prior to WW II, and managed to get the National Security Council to expand the FBI's portfolio in this arena in 1956. The author documents the Bureau's war against extremist groups of both the left and the right, such as the Communist Party U.S.A., the Socialist Workers Party, the KKK, and the Black Panthers, and shows how Hoover also employed extensive surveillance against New Left organizations like SDS. He pays particular attention to the FBI's virtually obsessive campaign to destroy the reputation of Martin Luther King. The lid was blown on these activities when, in 1971, an illegal break-in occurred at the FBI's Media, Pennsylvania, office. The perpetrators, believed to be anti- Vietnam War activists, proceeded to release to the press stolen classified documents that revealed the FBI's secret operation. To research his text, Davis interviewed FBI agents, former agents, and people who were subject to illegal surveillance or harassment. He recognizes the need for an organization like the FBI, but argues that the Bureau got out of control with COINTELPRO and severely damaged American civil liberties in the process. And Davis notes that, although congressional committees investigated the FBI in the mid-1970's, the Bureau was still committing abuses in the 1980's, particularly against groups opposed to US policy in Central America. A fair-minded and balanced report, backed by extensive research. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Praeger Publishers; 1St Edition edition (February 28, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0275934071
• ISBN-13: 978-0275934071
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
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• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #470,831 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)