Identifier

FBI_00016

Title

FBI COINTELPRO-New Left Targets & Tactics in the Detroit Metro (1)

Creator

Hoover, J. Edgar (FBI) & Detroit Field Office

Description

This document details a wide range of FBI counterintelligence tactics used against “New Left” activists in the Detroit metro, Ann Arbor, and at the University of Michigan. It describes efforts to disrupt groups like the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the White and Black Panther Parties, and the “Weather Underground”, among others, through anonymous letters, surveillance, and the exploitation of internal disputes and racial tensions. The document also outlines the Bureau’s coordination with local institutions, targeting of faculty and attorneys, and the use of fabricated information to intimidate or discredit individuals. These activities illustrate the extent and systematic nature of FBI operations against campus activism as revealed in this 184-page report.

Source

100-HQ-449698-15-Detroit, 1 June 1968 to 20 November 1970, Federal Bureau of Investigation Records, "COINTELPRO - New Left", Detroit FBI Files - Black Freedom.

Theme

Criminalization and Resistance, Community and Resistance

Type

Government Records, Media Reports

Level 1 Tag

Surveillance

Detroit

Government Correspondence

Social Movements

"Race

Racism

Racialization"

Activism

COINTELPRO

Level 2 Tag

COINTELPRO - Miscellaneous

Communism

Socialism

Anti-War Movement

Black Power

Labor Movement

Racial Unrest

Profiling

Informants

Propaganda

Infiltration

Intimidation

Abuse by Government

Race & Ethnic Identity

The New Left

Level 3 Tag

Radical Education Project

Students for a Democratic Society

Black Panther Party

White Panther Party

Worker Student Alliance

K. Ross Toole

Weather Underground

Michigan Daily

Robert J. Huber

Young Socialist Alliance

Morton Sobell

University of Michigan

Detroit News

Communist Party of the United States of America

Federal Bureau of Investigation

J. Edgar Hoover

Date

1968-06-01 to 1970-11-20

Location

Detroit, MI & Washington, D.C.

Rights

Public Domain acquired through Freedom of Information Act