COINTELPRO: How a Secret Program Turned Solidarity into Suspicion

In 1971, a group calling itself the Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI broke into the FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania and walked out with a stack of files. Those documents went to the press and to members of the US Congress; four years later, the Senate's Church Committee opened its investigation of domestic intelligence activities in 1975.

In 1971, a group calling itself the Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI broke into the FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania and walked out with a stack of files. Those documents went to the press and to members of the US Congress; four years later, the Senate's Church Committee opened its investigation of domestic intelligence activities in 1975.

In 1971, a group calling itself the Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI broke into the FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania and walked out with a stack of files. Those documents went to the press and to members of the US Congress; four years later, the Senate's Church Committee opened its investigation of domestic intelligence activities in 1975.

In 1971, a group calling itself the Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI broke into the FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania and walked out with a stack of files. Those documents went to the press and to members of the US Congress; four years later, the Senate's Church Committee opened its investigation of domestic intelligence activities in 1975.