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War At Home

War at Home:
Covert Action Against U.S. Activists
and What We Can Do About It
by Brian Glick
South End Press, 1989; ISBN 0-89608-349-7

From the introduction:

"Government harassment of U.S. political activists clearly exists today, violating our fundamental democratic rights and creating a climate of fear and distrust which undermines our efforts to challenge official policy.

"Similar attacks on social justice movements came to light during the 1960s. Only years later did we learn that these had been merely the visible tip of an iceberg. Largely hidden at the time was a vast government program to neutralize domestic political opposition through 'covert action' (political repression carried out secretly or under the guise of legitimate law enforcement).

"The 1960s program, coordinated by the FBI under the code name 'COINTELPRO,' was exposed in the 1970s and supposedly stopped. But covert operations against domestic dissidents did not end. They have persisted and become an integral part of government activity. This book is designed to help today's activists learn from the history of COINTELPRO, so that future movements can better fight this war at home.

"The opening section reviews what we know about COINTELPRO. It explains how the program was uncovered when the FBI and police were compelled to release previously secret documents. It outlines COINTELPRO's methods and targets and assesses its contribution to the decline of the movements of the 1960s.

"The next section shows that domestic covert action did not end when COINTELPRO was officially disbanded. It remained in effect under other names and it continues to be a serious threat today. Persisting under Democratic as well as Republican administrations, it has become a permanent feature of U.S. politics.

"The final section discusses what we can do about this danger. It analyzes the specific methods used in COINTELPRO — infiltration, psychological warfare, harassment through the legal system, and extralegal force and violence — and proposes to limit or deflect their impact on our movements. It shows that these methods do not protect 'national security' or combat terrorism, as claimed by the government, but actually serve to foment violence and subvert democracy. Various tactics are suggested for publicly exposing the reality of domestic covert action and mobilizing broad-based protest against its continued use.

"Excerpts from key COINTELPRO documents are reproduced at the back of the book, along with a list of resource groups and additional readings.

"Domestic covert action is a powerful deterrent to democratic discussion of public policy and effective organizing for social change. We need to take it seriously without being distracted from our main goals. Please talk with other activists about the analysis and recommendations presented here. Adapt the guidelines to the conditions you face. Point out problems and suggest other approaches.

"Now is the time to begin fighting the hidden war at home."

Contents:

Introduction

A HISTORY TO LEARN FROM

• COINTELPRO: Covert Action Against the Domestic Dissidents of the 1960s
  
  
  • How We Learned About COINTELPRO
    
    
  • How COINTELPRO Worked
    
    
  • COINTELPRO's Main Targets
    
    
  • How COINTELPRO Helped Destroy the Movements of the 1960s

THE DANGER WE FACE

• Domestic Covert Action Remains a Serious Threat Today
  
  
  • Domestic Covert Action Did Not End in the 1970s
    
    
  • Domestic Covert Action Has Persisted Throughout the 1980s
    
    
  • Domestic Covert Action Has Become a Permanent Feature of U.S. Government

PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE

• What We Can Do About Domestic Covert Action
  
  
  • Learning the Methods of COINTELPRO and How to Protect Ourselves Against Them
    
    
    1. Infiltration by Agents and Informers
       
       
    2. Psychological Warfare From the Outside
       
       
    3. Harassment Through the Legal System
       
       
    4. Extralegal Force and Violence
    
    
  • Exposing Domestic Covert Action as Undemocratic and a Form of Terrorism
    
    
  • Publicly Opposing the Government's Continued Use of Domestic Covert Action
    
    
  • Not Letting Political Repression Divert Us From Building Strong Movements for Social Justice

COINTELPRO Documents

Notes

Further Reading

About the Author

Resource Organizations

About the Author

Brian Glick is a lawyer who was active in SDS and the civil rights and antiwar movements of the 1960s, and who continues to work in the social justice and anti-intervention movements. Co-author of The Bust Book: What to Do Until the Lawyer Comes and The Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual, he has served as legal counsel for Geronimo Pratt, the Republic of New Afrika, the New York 3, and other targets of political repression. He currently represents community groups in New York City.

Reviews

"Brian Glick has produced a useful tool, a book which not only details COINTELPRO and its illegal actions in the '60s — that is, gives us back a piece of our history — but, more importantly, tells us what we can do about domestic covert action directed against us right now. In these times, Glick's book becomes a necessity."

— Margaret Randall
author of Sandino's Daughters

"This is a must handbook for private study and group discussion by all progressive and radical activists. Today's defense depends on our knowledge of yesterday's repression. The message: the political police haven't forgotten us — we can't afford to forget them and their methods."

— Philip Agee
former CIA agent

"This book ... is one of the most important contributions to the subject yet written."

— John Conyers
U.S. House of Representatives

"War At Home describes activities that can only be accurately described as government-sponsored terrorism against those of its own citizens who are so brash as to engage in a serious struggle for justice, democracy, and peace. It shows that every disgraceful tactic that our government uses in its 'covert' activities abroad it also uses in its little understood covert 'war at home.'"

— David Dellinger
peace activist

"Brian Glick has given us not only a brilliant and chilling account of the government's dirty war against its own people, but has provided a complete battle plan to combat it."

— Haywood Burns
National Lawyers Guild
National Conference of Black Lawyers

"The breadth and scope of the massive FBI investigation of CISPES indicates that the Bureau was engaged in an illegal campaign to stifle dissent, that its violation of Constitutional rights of citizens who oppose unpopular U.S. wars continues. War At Home is a timely and important book which every activist working for peace and justice at home and abroad must read."

— Angela Sanbrano
Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES)

Related sites

FBI Alert in Vermont
http://www.uvm.edu/~wmiller/FBIalert.html

A very interesting report from two New England veteran activists.

The Official Judi Bari Website
http://www.judibari.org/

"...this website [is] dedicated to the legacy of Judi Bari, the renowned environmental and social justice leader who organized nonviolent protests against liquidation logging of California's redwood forests. 

"Judi died March 2, 1997 of breast cancer.

"Judi was severely injured and nearly killed in a still-unsolved bomb attack when a motion-triggered shrapnel bomb exploded directly under the driver's seat of her car in Oakland, CA on May 24, 1990. Darryl Cherney, Judi's organizing partner who was in the passenger seat, received lesser injuries. 

"In a politically motivated effort to demonize Judi and Earth First! in public opinion, the FBI tried to frame the nonviolent activists, blaming the victims for the bombing. A two-month national media smear campaign was sustained by a series of false police claims of finding evidence linking manufacture of the bomb to Judi.

"But when the FBI and Oakland Police failed to produce any such evidence, the District Attorney refused to file charges. To this day the FBI has never retracted the false charges, and never apologized. The FBI's sustained propaganda campaign against Judi and Earth First! succeeded in fooling some into believing they were violent extremists. 

"As the 11th anniversary of the bombing nears, the bombers are still free because, as overwhelming evidence filed with the court proves, instead of mounting a genuine investigation of the bombing, the FBI and Oakland Police:

• falsified evidence
  
  
• lied to the media and the courts
  
  
• conspired to frame and demonize Judi Bari and Earth First! for political reasons
  
  
• blamed the victims in spite of clear evidence of their innocence
  
  
• targeted nonviolent environmentalists in a sham investigation of the bombing
  
  
• ignored evidence pointing to the real bombers
  
  
• covered up their own wrongdoing

"A year after the bombing, when it was clear that officials were making no real effort to solve the bombing, Judi and Darryl filed a federal civil rights suit against the FBI and Oakland Police. The suit charges violation of constitutional rights by conspiracy to interfere with the right to organize politically, by false arrest, unlawful search and seizure, and denying equal protection of the law in allowing the real assassins to go free. 

"'This case is not just about me or Darryl or Earth First!,' Judi said. 'This case is about the rights of all political activists to engage in dissent without having to fear the government's secret police."

"The lawsuit has been dragged out for ten years by defense motions and appeals intended to wear us down and keep the case from ever coming to trial. But we have cleared every hurdle and won every appeal. The courts have repeatedly upheld the case and have at last set a trial date of October 1, 2001."

Related pages

The Weapons of American State Terrorism:

• Domestic Oppression
  
  
• U.S. Government Surveillance
  
  
• Torture

Police-State Brutality and the Battle of Seattle

Terrorism Begins At Home: Police Brutality in America

Mumia Abu-Jamal: Political Prisoner in America

America's Techno-Fascist Future

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