The U.S. FBI’s History of Violating Americans’ Civil Liberties

The U.S. FBI’s History of Violating Americans’ Civil Liberties

There is no doubt that the FBI, established in 1908, has played a crucial role in maintaining national security and enforcing federal laws. However, throughout its existence, the agency has been involved in numerous and continuous acts that have violated every one of our civil liberties protected by the Bill of Rights.  These violations range from illegal mass raids to the unconstitutional detention of over 120,000 American citizens and legal aliens – all in the name of security.

Yes, having an effective and professional federal organization that protects our Democratic Republic from actual internal and external threats is of vital importance.  However, protecting our country can, and must, be done in a manner that protects our civil liberties – which is also of vital importance.  Simply put, protecting our country and our civil liberties are not mutually self-exclusive.  To the contrary, without our civil liberties our Democratic Republic is no longer democratic, so what would there be left to protect?

At first, I was going to write a single article.  However, due to the extensive violations of our civil liberties, Toad and I decided a series of articles was necessary to adequately cover the subject.  The series will consist of:

1. The First Red Scare and Palmer Raids (1918-1921). In 1918 the FBI (then called the Bureau of Investigation) established the General Intelligence Division – led by J. Edgar Hoover – to combat a non-existent communist threat. In the next three years Hoover collected over 450,000 secret files on Americans and had the FBI conduct the infamous Palmer Raids.
2. Unconstitutional and unlawful Targeting of Gays (1937 to at least Hoover’s death).
3. Internment of Japanese-Americans On The Mainland and Denial of Civil Liberties For Everyone Living In Hawaii (1941-1947). The FBI’s unlawful and unconstitutional arrest of Japanese Americans on the A-B-C List because they committed the non-crime of being Japanese-Americans. This article will also include the Army’s unconstitutional rounding up and interning over 120,000 other Japanese-Americans in prison camps who were not on the A-B-C list.  FDR not only fully supported these unconstitutional acts, but actively demanded them.
4. The Second Red Scare (1947-1957). Hoover and the FBI played a central role in the Second Red Scare by conducting illegal surveillance, leaking information to the press, engaging in illegal break-ins, and once again creating and maintaining secret files on Americans.
5. “Counterintelligence Program” (CoinTelPro)1956-1971. The FBI hadn’t finished their involvement in the Second Red Scare when Hoover and gang embarked on an even more ambitious endeavor to suppress civil liberties and launched CoinTelPro. During this 15-year period, the FBI routinely conducted illegal electronic surveillance; engaged in secret break-ins; sent fake documents to people’s wives, employers and friends to destroy their marriages, reputations and careers; and used friendly journalists to plant fabricated stories in the press. CoinTelPro targeted Communists, Socialists, the KKK, Black Panthers, the Civil Rights movement, anti-war protestors (Vietnam), the free speech movement, the new left, and even the Women’s Liberation Movement. All unconstitutionally and in violation of existing law.
6. Abuses of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) (2008to the present). Beginning in 2008 and continuing to the present the FBI has routinely violated the FISA act and unlawfully, and we believe unconstitutional conduct warrantless searches for criminal investigations.
7. The Steele Dossier (2016-2017). Use of the Steele Dossier to unlawfully obtain FISA warrants in an attempt to subvert a presidential election, and when that failed, to usurp the authority of a sitting president.
8. Targeting Disfavored Groups (2016 to present).The FBI has been targeting Americans who belong to ‘disfavored groups.’ These include the double standard of applying the law. (2016 – present).  DOJ and FBI investigating parents who protest the actions of their local school boards (2021 – present). Use of intimidation tactics against people in the pro-life movement. (2022– present). And, FBI targeting Catholics who prefer the Latin mass as extremist “Radical-Traditionalist Catholics.” (2023 – present).