SAC, Albany August 25, 1967
PERSONAL ATTENTION TO ALL OFFICES
Director, FBI
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE PROGRAM
BLACK NATIONALIST - HATE GROUPS
INTERNAL SECURITY
. . . The purpose of this new counterintelligence endeavor
is to expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise
neutralize the activities of black nationalist hate-type
organizations and groupings, their leadership, spokesmen,
membership, and supporters, and to counter their propensity for
violence and civil disorder. The activities of all such groups
of intelligence interest to the Bureau must be followed on a
continuous basis so we will be in a position to promptly take
advantage of all opportunities for counterintelligence and to
inspire action in instances where circumstances warrant. The
pernicious background of such groups, their duplicity, and
devious maneuvers must be exposed to public scrutiny where such
publicity will have a neutralizing effect. Efforts of the
various groups to consolidate their forces or to recruit new or
youthful adherents must be frustrated. No opportunity should be
missed to exploit through counterintelligence techniques the
organizational and personal conflicts of the leaderships of the
groups and where possible an effort should be made to capitalize
upon existing conflicts between competing black nationalist
organizations. When an opportunity is apparent to disrupt or
neutralize black nationalist, hate-type organizations through the
cooperation of established local news media contacts or through
such contact with sources available to the Seat of Government, in
every instance careful attention must be given to the proposal to
insure the targeted group is disrupted, ridiculed, or discredited
through the publicity and not merely publicized . . .
You are cautioned that the nature of this new endeavor is
such that under no circumstances should the existence of this
program be made known outside the Bureau and appropriate within-
office security should be afforded to sensitive operations and
techniques considered under the program.
No counterintelligence action under this program may be
initiated by the field without specific prior Bureau
authorization.
[source: Brian Glick, _The War At Home: Covert Action
Against U.S. Activists and What We Can Do About It_, 1989,
South End Press, Boston]
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