HOME •
Chronology of Terror •
Bibliographies •
Valuable Websites •
About This Site •
SITE MAP
ACTION •
NEWS •
Solutions •
Candles in the darkness •
Revealing Quotes 1
2
3
4 •
Letters •
SEARCH
War At Home
War at Home:
Covert Action Against U.S. Activists
and What We Can Do About It
by Brian Glick
South End Press, 1989; ISBN 0-89608-349-7From the introduction:
Government harassment of U.S. political activists clearly exists today, violating our fundamental democratic rights and creating a climate of fear and distrust which undermines our efforts to challenge official policy.
Similar attacks on social justice movements came to light during the 1960s. Only years later did we learn that these had been merely the visible tip of an iceberg. Largely hidden at the time was a vast government program to neutralize domestic political opposition through “covert action” (political repression carried out secretly or under the guise of legitimate law enforcement).
The 1960s program, coordinated by the FBI under the code name “COINTELPRO”, was exposed in the 1970s and supposedly stopped. But covert operations against domestic dissidents did not end. They have persisted and become an integral part of government activity. This book is designed to help today’s activists learn from the history of COINTELPRO, so that future movements can better fight this war at home.
The opening section reviews what we know about COINTELPRO. It explains how the program was uncovered when the FBI and police were compelled to release previously secret documents. It outlines COINTELPRO’s methods and targets and assesses its contribution to the decline of the movements of the 1960s.
The next section shows that domestic covert action did not end when COINTELPRO was officially disbanded. It remained in effect under other names and it continues to be a serious threat today. Persisting under Democratic as well as Republican administrations, it has become a permanent feature of U.S. politics.
The final section discusses what we can do about this danger. It analyzes the specific methods used in COINTELPRO — infiltration, psychological warfare, harassment through the legal system, and extralegal force and violence — and proposes to limit or deflect their impact on our movements. It shows that these methods do not protect “national security” or combat terrorism, as claimed by the government, but actually serve to foment violence and subvert democracy. Various tactics are suggested for publicly exposing the reality of domestic covert action and mobilizing broad-based protest against its continued use.
Excerpts from key COINTELPRO documents are reproduced at the back of the book, along with a list of resource groups and additional readings.
Domestic covert action is a powerful deterrent to democratic discussion of public policy and effective organizing for social change. We need to take it seriously without being distracted from our main goals. Please talk with other activists about the analysis and recommendations presented here. Adapt the guidelines to the conditions you face. Point out problems and suggest other approaches.
Now is the time to begin fighting the hidden war at home.
Contents:
Introduction
A HISTORY TO LEARN FROM
- COINTELPRO: Covert Action Against the Domestic Dissidents of the 1960s
- How We Learned About COINTELPRO
- How COINTELPRO Worked
- COINTELPRO’s Main Targets
- How COINTELPRO Helped Destroy the Movements of the 1960s
THE DANGER WE FACE
- Domestic Covert Action Remains a Serious Threat Today
- Domestic Covert Action Did Not End in the 1970s
- Domestic Covert Action Has Persisted Throughout the 1980s
- Domestic Covert Action Has Become a Permanent Feature of U.S. Government
PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE
- What We Can Do About Domestic Covert Action
- Learning the Methods of COINTELPRO and How to Protect Ourselves Against Them
- Infiltration by Agents and Informers
- Psychological Warfare From the Outside
- Harassment Through the Legal System
- Extralegal Force and Violence
Exposing Domestic Covert Action as Undemocratic and a Form of Terrorism
Publicly Opposing the Government’s Continued Use of Domestic Covert Action
Not Letting Political Repression Divert Us From Building Strong Movements for Social Justice
COINTELPRO Documents
Notes
Further Reading
About the Author
Resource Organizations
About the Author
Brian Glick is a lawyer who was active in SDS and the civil rights and antiwar movements of the 1960s, and who continues to work in the social justice and anti-intervention movements. Co-author of The Bust Book: What to Do Until the Lawyer Comes and The Jailhouse Lawyer’s Manual, he has served as legal counsel for Geronimo Pratt, the Republic of New Afrika, the New York 3, and other targets of political repression. He currently represents community groups in New York City.
Reviews
“Brian Glick has produced a useful tool, a book which not only details COINTELPRO and its illegal actions in the ’60s — that is, gives us back a piece of our history — but, more importantly, tells us what we can do about domestic covert action directed against us right now. In these times, Glick’s book becomes a necessity.”
— Margaret Randall
author of Sandino’s Daughters
“This is a must handbook for private study and group discussion by all progressive and radical activists. Today’s defense depends on our knowledge of yesterday’s repression. The message: the political police haven’t forgotten us — we can’t afford to forget them and their methods.”
— Phillip Agee
former CIA agent, author of
CIA Diary: Inside The Company
“This book ... is one of the most important contributions to the subject yet written.”
— John Conyers
U.S. House of Representatives
“War At Home describes activities that can only be accurately described as government-sponsored terrorism against those of its own citizens who are so brash as to engage in a serious struggle for justice, democracy, and peace. It shows that every disgraceful tactic that our government uses in its ‘covert’ activities abroad it also uses in its little understood covert ‘war at home.’”
— David Dellinger
peace activist
“Brian Glick has given us not only a brilliant and chilling account of the government’s dirty war against its own people, but has provided a complete battle plan to combat it.”
— Haywood Burns
National Lawyers Guild
National Conference of Black Lawyers
“The breadth and scope of the massive FBI investigation of CISPES indicates that the Bureau was engaged in an illegal campaign to stifle dissent, and that its violation of Constitutional rights of citizens who oppose unpopular U.S. wars continues. War At Home is a timely and important book which every activist working for peace and justice at home and abroad must read.”
— Angela Sanbrano
Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES)
Related sites
WAR AT HOME
by Brian Glick
http://www.publiceye.org/liberty/War_at_Home/Glick_Overview.htmlPolitical Research Associates (publiceye.org) provides valuable excerpts of the book.
COINTELPRO, FBI Counterintelligence, Covert Operations, Black Bag Jobs, Church Committee
http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointel.htmA very comprehensive site on COINTELPRO. Includes:
The full text of the book: The COINTELPRO Papers: Documents from the FBI’s Secret Wars Against Dissent in the United States by Ward Churchill & Jim Vander Wall.
The full text of COINTELPRO: The Untold American Story, a compilation by Paul Wolf with contributions from Robert Boyle, Bob Brown, Tom Burghardt, Noam Chomsky, Ward Churchill, Kathleen Cleaver, Bruce Ellison, Cynthia McKinney, Nkechi Taifa, Laura Whitehorn, Nicholas Wilson, and Howard Zinn.
- Excerpts from the Church Senate Committee Hearings (1 & 2), 1975
- Links to a wealth of related sites and articles
War At Home
a book by Brian Glick
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/FBI/WarAtHome_page.htmlThirdWorldTraveler.com provides excerpts from the book.
FBI Alert in Vermont
http://www.uvm.edu/~wmiller/FBIalert.htmlA very interesting report from two New England veteran activists.
The Official Judi Bari Website
http://www.judibari.org/
“...this website [is] dedicated to the legacy of Judi Bari, the renowned environmental and social justice leader who organized nonviolent protests against liquidation logging of California’s redwood forests.
“Judi died March 2, 1997 of breast cancer.
“Judi was severely injured and nearly killed in a still-unsolved bomb attack when a motion-triggered shrapnel bomb exploded directly under the driver’s seat of her car in Oakland, CA on May 24, 1990. Darryl Cherney, Judi’s organizing partner who was in the passenger seat, received lesser injuries.
“In a politically motivated effort to demonize Judi and Earth First! in public opinion, the FBI tried to frame the nonviolent activists, blaming the victims for the bombing. A two-month national media smear campaign was sustained by a series of false police claims of finding evidence linking manufacture of the bomb to Judi.
“But when the FBI and Oakland Police failed to produce any such evidence, the District Attorney refused to file charges. To this day the FBI has never retracted the false charges, and never apologized. The FBI’s sustained propaganda campaign against Judi and Earth First! succeeded in fooling some into believing they were violent extremists.
“As the 11th anniversary of the bombing nears, the bombers are still free because, as overwhelming evidence filed with the court proves, instead of mounting a genuine investigation of the bombing, the FBI and Oakland Police:
- falsified evidence
- lied to the media and the courts
conspired to frame and demonize Judi Bari and Earth First! for political reasons
blamed the victims in spite of clear evidence of their innocence
targeted nonviolent environmentalists in a sham investigation of the bombing
- ignored evidence pointing to the real bombers
- covered up their own wrongdoing
“A year after the bombing, when it was clear that officials were making no real effort to solve the bombing, Judi and Darryl filed a federal civil rights suit against the FBI and Oakland Police. The suit charges violation of constitutional rights by conspiracy to interfere with the right to organize politically, by false arrest, unlawful search and seizure, and denying equal protection of the law in allowing the real assassins to go free.
“‘This case is not just about me or Darryl or Earth First!,’ Judi said. ’This case is about the rights of all political activists to engage in dissent without having to fear the government’s secret police.”
“The lawsuit has been dragged out for ten years by defense motions and appeals intended to wear us down and keep the case from ever coming to trial. But we have cleared every hurdle and won every appeal. The courts have repeatedly upheld the case and have at last set a trial date of October 1, 2001.”
Final note:
It was delayed yet again, until April 8, 2002, because of the WTC terror attack. The case finally came to court and they won — in spite of the crooked judge who was totally biased, and FBI agents who repeatedly lied on the stand.
At one point during deliberations the jurors asked to have a copy of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution to refer to, and the judge actually denied it to them! They were allowed to hear it read to them once, but they couldn’t have a copy of the U.S. Constitution to read themselves. Such absurd corruption was a major reason why the jurors went against the judge’s blatant prejudice and came back with an honest verdict which found the dirty FBI guilty.
Spy & CounterSpy (mirror site)
http://www.bikershome.com/~nix/spycounterspy/home.htmlThe FBI is truly nothing short of a thinly-disguised American Gestapo. The original Spy & CounterSpy site severely criticized the FBI and revealed some of its surveillance tactics. The site is now long gone, and even its “SPYCOUNTERSPY.com” domain name has lapsed and is up for sale (as of this writing). But this mirror site still has a great deal of fascinating information that can help you protect yourself from such ruthless “Security Services” (SS) of the U.S. Corporate Mafia Government.
An example:
The right way to use PGP public-key encryption to safeguard the privacy of your email:
Uncrackable Email, Part 1
http://www.bikershome.com/~nix/spycounterspy/fs006.html
Part 2
http://www.bikershome.com/~nix/spycounterspy/fs011.html
ACLU — Safe and Free in Times of Crisis
http://www.aclu.org/safeandfree/“Trust Us, We’re the Government” — ACLU Looks at Domestic Surveillance And the Need to Watch the Watchers in Times of Crisis
American history is replete with examples of law enforcement and intelligence organizations responding to a national crisis or social upheaval by asking Congress for greater freedom in how they can spy on American citizens and immigrants. Generally, these requests come with the soothing promise: “Trust us, we’re the government; we’ll only use these powers against the bad guys.”
There’s just one little problem with that plan: The U.S. government are the bad guys.
This report gives brief summaries of several illegal and immoral U.S. government surveillance and intimidation campaigns, including the FBI’s infamous “COINTELPRO” and little-known “STOP INDEX”; a program by the U.S. military, appropriately called “CONUS”; a CIA program called “OPERATION CHAOS”; the Clinton Administration’s “FILEGATE”; and the FBI’s unwarranted investigation of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES).
COINTELPRO:
The Sabotage Of Legitimate Dissent
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/COINTELPRO/cointelpro.htmlA wealth of articles on COINTELPRO, including: “If An Agent Knocks”, “The Brian Glick history of COINTELPRO”, “The Framing Of Qubilah Shabazz”, “The Jean Seberg Smear”, “US Domestic Covert Operations”, “Actual FBI COINTELPRO documents”, “A Rough, Tough, Dirty Business”, “The FBI and Hollywood” and others.
Political Research Associates
http://www.publiceye.org/“Political Research Associates is an independent, nonprofit research center, based on progressive values, that serves as a national resource for information on antidemocratic, authoritarian, and other oppressive movements and trends. PRA is committed to advancing an open, democratic, and pluralistic society by providing useful, accurate and reliable research and analysis to activists, journalists, educators, policy makers, and the public at large.”
FBI and CIA Documents
http://www.pir.org/foia/Documents from Public Information Research, Inc. (pir.org) include:
- J. Edgar Hoover Declares War on the New Left
- CIA Document: How to Co-opt Academia
- CIA Employs Propaganda Assets to Refute Warren Commission Critics
- Report from CIA’s 1970 Anti-Allende Task Force
- FBI Report on Chile’s DINA
- Gloria Steinem Spies on Students for the CIA
Task Force on Greater CIA Openness
Q: How does the CIA draw the line between “greater openness" and an increase in illegal domestic propaganda?
A: With invisible ink.- DoD + DOJ = Big, Big Brother
- CIA Documents from the Tehran Embassy
- CIA HQ to Santiago station: Overthrow Allende
- Ben Bradlee: Dispatched by the CIA
- Richard Helms and BCCI
- U.S. Intelligence Fingered Charles Horman
- Operation Condor Documents
- Indonesia 1965: CIA death lists
- Technical Tips: Displaying FOIA Documents on the Web
CIA on Campus
http://www.cia-on-campus.org/Also from Public Information Research, Inc. Sections include:
- General articles
- Michigan State University
- National Student Association
- Tracking Student Activists
- International Studies and Area Studies
- Social Science
- History
- Documents
- Columbia University
- Harvard University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Princeton University
- Rochester Institute of Technology
- Rutgers University
- Tufts University
- University of California
- University of Cincinnati
- University of Massachusetts
- University of Southern California
- University of Texas at San Antonio
- Yale University
Related pages
Solutions: American Revolution 2 and a Humane Future of International Socialist Democracy
Thomas Jefferson Calling: The Time for Revolution is NOW
by John Kaminski
The Weapons of American State Terrorism:
Police-State Brutality and the Battle of Seattle
Terrorism Begins At Home: Police Brutality in America
Mumia Abu-Jamal: Political Prisoner in America
America’s Techno-Fascist Future
Related books
Cointelpro Papers:
Documents from the FBI’s Secret Wars Against Domestic Dissent
by Ward Churchill and Jim Vander WallThe full text of this book can be read online at: http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointel.htm
Secrets: The CIA’s War at Home
by Angus MacKenzie and David Weir
Derailing Democracy:
The America the Media Don’t Want You to See
by David McGowan
A People’s History of the United States:
1492 — Present
by Howard Zinn
The Beast Reawakens
by Martin A. Lee
Blackshirts and Reds:
Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism
by Michael Parenti
Corporate Predators:
The Hunt for Mega-Profits and the Attack on Democracy
by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman
Market Elections:
How “Democracy” Serves the Rich
by Vince Copeland
Democracy for the Few
by Michael Parenti
Globalize This!
The Battle Against the World Trade Organization and Corporate Rule
edited by Kevin Danaher and Roger Burbach; multiple authors
The Decline and Fall of the American Empire
by Gore Vidal
Against Empire
by Michael Parenti
The Fire This Time:
U.S. War Crimes in the Gulf
by Ramsey Clark
Desert Slaughter:
The Imperialist War Against Iraq
by the Workers League
The Real Terror Network:
Terrorism in Fact and Propaganda
by Edward S. Herman
Western State Terrorism
Alexander George, editor; essays by Noam Chomsky, Edward S. Herman, Gerry O’Sullivan and others
Terrorizing the Neighborhood:
American Foreign Policy in the Post-Cold War Era
by Noam Chomsky
Pressure Drop Press, 1991
Pirates and Emperors, Old and New:
International Terrorism in the Real World
by Noam Chomsky
The Culture of Terrorism
by Noam Chomsky
What Uncle Sam Really Wants
by Noam Chomsky
Lies My Teacher Told Me:
Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong
by James Loewen
Dumbing Us Down:
The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling
by John Taylor Gatto
Censored 2000:
The Year’s Top 25 Censored Stories
by Peter Phillips & Project Censored
The Hidden Persuaders:
What makes us buy, believe – and even vote – the way we do?
by Vance Packard
Deadly Deceits:
My 25 years in the CIA
by Ralph W. McGehee
The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media:
Decoding Spin and Lies in Mainstream News
by Norman Solomon
Toxic Sludge is Good for You!:
Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry
by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton
War, Lies & Videotape:
How media monopoly stifles truth
edited by Lenora Foerstel; multiple authorsThe Phoenix Program
by Douglas Valentine
HOME • Chronology of Terror • Bibliographies • Valuable Websites
ACTION • Solutions • Candles in the darkness • About This Site
NEWS • Revealing Quotes 1 2 3 4 • Letters • SEARCH • SITE MAP