A Democratic member of the United States Congress thinks it’s time for the world to know the full extent of the FBI’s infamous COINTELPRO operation and has introduced a piece of legislation that would make it so.
Rep. Bobby Rush of Illinois, who has served as the U.S. Representative for Illinois’ 1st District since 1992, introduced the bill, which would “require government agencies including the FBI and the DOJ to release records related to COINTELPRO so that the public can determine and understand the full extent of the FBI’s monitoring of American citizens and its assault on Americans’ legal and constitutional protections.”
House Democrat introduces bill to release COINTELPRO files on surveillance of Black Panthers and Fred Hampton
A Democratic lawmaker on Tuesday introduced a bill that would require the government to release its decades-old records from an FBI-run covert surveillance program that monitored the Black Panthers, as well as civil rights and anti-war activists, among others.
In addition to requiring the release of files from COINTELPRO, or the Counter-Intelligence Program, within six months of enactment, the bill would remove the name of J. Edgar Hoover who oversaw the FBI during the program from the FBI headquarters in Washington.
“I want to shine a bright light on this dark chapter of our nation’s history,” Rep. Bobby Rush of Illinois said in a statement introducing his proposal. “And I think it is very timely and very important that we do it at this moment.”
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