Compatible . No doubt, there is a need for intelligence communities to operate, threats exist. Foreign and domestic threats are real. Theyve been real throughout u. S. History. But for over a century in addition to taking action against real threats to the lives of american citizens, bureaus and agencies within the United States government have surveilled those who have expressed what they call Strong Political views that run counter to the prevailing government political paradigm. This challenges the notion that if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear. I will come back to that later in our discussion. Maybe you adhere to that view, maybe you are on the fence about it, maybe you reject it. That is fine. We will discuss it later. But the history of abuse of surveillance necessitates that discussion. The same tools used to protect can be used against citizens for sometimes nefarious reasons. Going back in history, in 1908, Teddy Roosevelts attorney general creates a squad of special investigators known as the bureau of investigation and by the 1930s, the federal bureau of investigation, the fbi. In the fbis own history, they have a long narrative of their history and they link the creation of the fbi to the Progressive Movement. It was very active at that period of time. The Progressive Movement says that the federal government must intervene to Foster Justice in an industrial society. That fostered that unrest and terrible working conditions and so forth. So the Progressive Movement inspires things like the fda, to ensure the food youre getting has labels and what you are eating is actually what you think you are eating. It will eventually lead to child labor laws, but it also creates this nationwide Law Enforcement body that is able to keep tabs on criminals throughout the country that did not exist prior to this time. The fbis history explains the creation in the face of the rise of crime and corruption in politics and big business, all of it accompanying the turn of the century as well as National Security concerns, particularly with regard to anarchism. As well as threats of war times. Subversion and espionage that we talk about the other week when we talk about free speech. The fbi in 1939 makes its first effort to infiltrate groups. Antienlistment groups, antimilitarist groups. They will spy on the American Civil Liberties union, the evangelical association of churches, the nationwide labor federation, the naacp, the new orleans womens center, the American Friends Service committee, the quaker social justice organization, the womens Peace Movement led by jane adams, prolabor singers liek pete seeger, et cetera. Sometimes these people and organizations are investigated for decades. These are not violent revolutionary threats. But rather political dissidents who oppose certain aspects of u. S. Policy, and perhaps the particular form of government we have, but they do this through pacific means. As we noted on our speech on free speech, political spying will begin right around 1908 and will run until about 1924 and then will stop for about a decade. The impetus to stop it is the first red scare. Immediately after the first world war, november of 1918 and into 1919, a number of actions will raise a lot of concerns about government surveillance. The seattle general strike in early 1919 shuts down the city. Tens of thousands of workers go on strike across industries. In the spring of 1919 a bomb plot is broken up and then there is a wave of anarchist bombings in the summer targeting prominent people including the attorney general. His house is down on r where r hit massachusetts. They create the radical division to deal with this resurgence of anarchi anarchism. Headed by j. Edgar hoover. It compiles files on roughly 200,000 individuals. The bureau uses those files to round up suspected radicals in a series of raids in 1919 and 1920. This occurs in 40 cities across the United States. Some people rounded up are wellknown, like emma goldman, other people are arrested simply because they appeared foreign. Many of those arrests were held incommunicado for months. Some were put on a boat and sent to russia for alleged anarchist beliefs. There is tremendous political backlash because of this. In particular because many of those rounded up again are not engaged in radical violent behavior. Maybe they hold radical views, but nonetheless they have not engaged in anything. Some of them are simply immigrants. Immigrants from russia, from southern and eastern europe. So the political backlash brings the fbis spying to a halt. People that may have been inclined to support this roundup at first, especially in light of immigration quotas put in place. It totally shut down immigration from east asia as we will talk about next week. 1929 sees the end of a ten year long Intelligence Organization known by the black chamber, made up of people from the state department and Army Intelligence essentially for ten years starting in 1919 and running until 1929, Western Union had provided the black chamber with information. This was shut down by henry stimson. He opposed spying on the u. S. diplomatic allies, not spying in general, but spying on u. S. Diplomatic allies. Saying dont read each others mail. There is a Supreme Court case at the end of the 1920s about wiretapping, whether tapping into someones phone conversation, does that violate the Fourth Amendment . Here is what the Fourth Amendment says, the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated and no warrant issued but upon probable cause and particularly describing the place to be searched and the person or things to be seized. William taft joins the Supreme Court and speaks for the courts decision to rule against the notion that wiretapping violates the Fourth Amendment and that will last roughly 40 years. Here is what he says, in favor of wiretaps, claming they dont violate the Fourth Amendment. Congress may of course protect the secrecy of telephone messages by making them inadmissible evidence in federal criminal trials by direct legislation. If Congress Wants to rule on it, it can. But the courts cannot adopt such a policy by attributing a large and unreasonable meaning to the Fourth Amendment. If one installs a telephone into his house with connecting wires, intends to project his voice to those quite outside, those wires are not within the protection of the Fourth Amendment. The cases we have cited nor any of the many federal decisions brought to our attention hold the amendment to have in my opinion a defendant unless there has been an official search and seizure against his person or seizure of his personal and tangible effects or invasion of his house for the purpose of making such a seizure. An act by government officials would make society suffer and give terminals greater immunity than before. What he is saying here is if you are using a telephone machine, it is connected to wires that go outside of your house to speak to someone going outside of your home and thus someone tapping into your life is not actually going into your home and searching your belongings. That is outside your home and doesnt fall inside the Fourth Amendment. This is how the court rules in 1928. But i want to hit on the last thing he says. Let me say it again, a standard which would forbid the exception of evidence by government officials would make society suffer and give criminals greater immunity than has been known here heretofore. Brandeis dissented here. Heres what he said, in particular regarding tafts last comments. Which are in some ways saying the ends justify the means. Decency, security, and liberty alike demand that government officials shall be subjected to the same rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen. Existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. Existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law skrub scrupulously. It teaches the whole people by example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law. It invites every man to become a law unto himself. It invites anarchy. If the ends justify the means, that the government can commit crimes to secure the conviction of a criminal, it would bring terrible retribution. This court should resolutely set its face political spying ends in the 1920s to 1926 when Franklin Roosevelt requests it be resumed. What we see is that government surveillance doesnt target any particular group nor one particular party or ideology. Franklin roosevelt, the great liberal democrat, requests that political spying be reinstated in 1936, led by j. Edgar hoover appointed head of the bureau of investigation at the age of 29, younger an i am. Hoover helped put together a list, but nonetheless escaped the political fallout. The blade came down on the heads of a few people higher up than him. The bureau rebounded within the decade. Hoover emphasized the role as a Crime Fighting organization. Particularly in the 1930s, with famous criminals like john dillinger. And the reputation of the fbi rebounds. Fdr, concern about soviet spies and concerned about fascists. This is the mid1930s. Fascism is on the rise in europe. There are several u. S. Based groups that rise large enough that the American Nazi Party can hold a rally in Madison Square garden. After hitler invades poland, the fbi is authorized to investigate treason, sabotage, all crimes. Hoover adds to the list subversive activities. It is unclear how much Franklin Roosevelt, how much the attorney general knew of the extent of what hoover would do. There is no record of the meeting and exactly what was said and roosevelt has bigger fish to fry in some sense. He has an economic depression that continues to grind along. He will ultimately have the war to deal with, but even prior to the United States century, there is a looming war, but hoover renews this. His renewal is authorized outside the courts and he discourages roosevelts legislation because he is sure he wont get approval. Congress has been suspicious of the bureau to even be created in the first place, the creation of a secret police force. Fdr approves the resumption of political spying without congressional approval. He supports hoovers suggestion which will not pass to have every american fingerprinted. The Newest Technology at the time. Groups that dont want to go to war in europe, trying to ensure that america wont come involved in anything happening over there. Fdr says he sees nothing wrong investigating groups false teachings. His house had been bombed, and that may have colored his views of political dissidents. Fdr has hoover look into political opponents as well. In particular, he has the fbi investigates several senators and public figures including charles lindbergh, all of whom oppose any intervention in europe. Hoover learns from the experience that he can curry neighbor and gain leverage by digging into any of the president s perceived enemies. For example, he never blackmails the kennedy brothers, but he does give robert kennedy, the attorney general, monthly updates of everybody he knows, accusations against him and family members. On the one hand, perhaps this is helpful personal knowledge. But it also ensures the kennedys know that hoover knows everything that everybody is doing. The kennedys have the inclination to shut down what they may be doing, they will know in the back of their mind that hoover has tabs on anything they have been doing. The restoration of spying takes place in the context of an emerging National Security state, one we are familiar with today. When the Second World War ends, the cold war begins shortly thereafter. The House Unamerican Activities Committee and the federal governments massive Loyalty Program designed to snuff out anybody that might have dissenting political views, all rely on fbi reports. In 1956, the fbi goes on the offensive. Creating cointelpro, cpusa. Specifically designed to target the communist party. It is specifically counterintelligence rather than prosecutorial. Theyre not trying to dig up evidence to go to court, theyre trying to destroy political enemies of the government. One, Legal Proceedings against communist Party Leaders have been very successful in sending a number of them to prison. The laws are favorable during this period of time, but it also exposed fbi informants. Hoover was not keen on that. And in 1956 and 57 the court begins to roll back laws put in place in the late 30s and early 40s that had given free reign to round up anybody that is a member of a group that might overthrow the United States government, which in court terms was interpreted loosely. It was used to put top leaders of the communist party in jail. Leaders, by the way, who were operating for a foreign party. But this rollback leads to the creation of this program. Hoovers calls for actions over influence over the masses, information leading to confusion and disunity, penetration of specific channels in human life, espionage, and sabotage potential. Of those, the last two are illegal, but influence over the masses, ability to create controversy, penetration of specific channels of American Life where Public Opinion is molded, you may find the ideas of the communist party to be reprehensible, nonetheless, those are not specifically illegal things. It effectively destroys what remains of the communist party. From 1966 to 1971 there are 1,388 actions against the communist party. It dropped to maybe 1,000 active members in the 60s. Large part of that is due to legal measures used against the party. They take a huge hit in 1956 when khruschev comes to power in the soviet union. He was a monster who conducted show trials of political enemies and people he thought might be political enemies. That has a huge effect turning people away from the communist party. But hoover takes he will not let it go, even though the party is well past the point where its even a remotely conceivable threat to the United States. Planting evidence to suggest Party Leaders are informants, right . Plant evidence and hope somebody comes along and believes they are an fbi informant, creating a fake communist organization. Are you a marxist or a trotskyite, they foster that dissent. My personal favorite of these, operation hoodwink, send false documents to provoke a fight between the communist party and the sicilian mafia. The fbi is well aware of how the cosa nostra deals with threats. Here is the suggestion on how to deal with this. Lets see. This is an agent requesting bureau permission to mail the following letter to be mailed to the same Teamster Union locals in the philadelphia area. Dear union boss, i am the loyal union man who wrote you in january. I have more news from you. You will remember that i told you i heard from my commie brotherinlaw the leaders of the party had been in moscow. Among the instructions was trying to get rid of the hoodlums and undocumented in this country. I talked to my brotherinlaw and he asked how things were going, he told me he knew there would need a lot of gangsters in my union, but told me that in february several leaders were in hungary meeting Party Leaders of other countries and it came out again that his party is going to clean up the gangster controlled unions in this country. I told him he was all wet. But i didnt use those words. Im concerned these commies mean business. Here is an anonymous, fake letter that the fbi is going to send. Suggesting that the International Communists will be targeting the sicilian mafia. This is a lie. The fbi says internally, with respect to the above letter, it is a act that members of the communist party were in budapest, hungary, to attend a meeting of the communist workers party. Two of the three leaders have returned to the United States, however, the information in the letter in hungary, it came out again how this party is going to clean up the gangsters has no basis in fact. A few typographical errors will be inserted into the letter. Blah, blah, blah. This is a plot to create dissent. The fbi knows what will happen if mafia comes after them, the plan is to create dissent. The plan is for someone to retaliate violently. There is no evidence that this actually worked, by the way, but it is not for lack of trying. Its also used to attack a unitarian minister and members of this congregation who circulated information against the House Unamerican Activities Committee. The fbi attempts to smear a lawyer to sink his campaign. This is not surveillance of violent threats, this is something different. The fbi will also the target the black Civil Rights Movement. The fbi began investigating the naacp for communist links, finds nothing, none