FBI/Activities 1971-2001

 FBI/Activities 1971-2001

Date	1971 - 2001
Perpetrators	FBI
Description	FBI activities between the official end of COINTELPRO and 911

FBI activities between the official end of COINTELPRO in 1971 and 911 in 2001.

The 1970s saw several challenges for the Bureau. The COINTELPRO was exposed and was officially closed in 1971. J. Edgar Hoover, who had dominated the Bureau for half a century, died in May 1972. Later in the decade, the FBI came under scrutiny in the House Committee on Assassinations. The infiltration and disruption of political dissent continued uninterrupted.

In the 1980s the FBI moved to bring Congress to heel, with several sting operations against politicians.

In the 1990s the Bureau became more involved in the War on Terror, and was active in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Events

• FBI played a central role in the Watergate coup.
• Subverting the peace movement against the interventions in Central America
• Infiltrating and disrupting alternative press.
• Abscam
• BRISPEC sting operation
• Six top FBI officials dead before testifying HUAC
• Waco Massacre
• Gene Viernes
• Tupac Shakur
• 1993 World Trade Center bombing

Arab-American "terrorism"

In 1991, the FBI "interviewed" more than 100 Arab-American business leaders in what the leaders described as "fishing expedition". Nazih Deyda, a regional director of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, told how the conversation, officially asking for help to combat "terrorism", soon took a different turn. The officers, Deyda said, began asking about his political beliefs, his views of Israel and of President Saddam Hussein of Iraq. "They asked me did I know any terrorists," he said.

Kate Martin , then head of the ACLU commented "One of the questions that we don't know the answers to is, where did they get the list of people they are interviewing? Did they already have a list of people to be talked to in the event of war with Iraq? That's the first thing you need to repeat the World War II experience. That also began with interviews, and then it accelerated." The possibility that Arab-Americans might one day be interned in camps similar to those that held Japanese-Americans in World War II was much discussed in the Arab-American community. James Zogby, president of the Arab-American Institute in Washington, stated that the questioning "puts a chill on legitimate political activity that our community is entitled to carry out".The interview program was cleared with senior staff members of the National Security Council.

 

Related Quotation

Page	Quote	Author	Date
Joe Biden	“But there's a big difference between mistakes and malevolence. The record of the Waco incident documents mistakes, mistakes in gathering intelligence; mistakes in planning and executing operational plans. And law enforcement should and must be held accountable for such mistakes. What the record from Waco does not evidence, however, is any improper motive or intent on the part of law enforcement. I believe this is a very important point to make to the American public, because there are a growing number of people across the country who are seizing on the incident at Waco, as well as Ruby Ridge, to suggest that law enforcement is our enemy...[...]..David Koresh and the Davidians set fire to themselves and committed suicide.”	Joe Biden	1995

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References

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