programs directed against domestic groups from mid-1956 until- In these programs, the FBI went beyond the collection of in-
telligence and conducted clandestine operations to “disrupt” and
“neutralize” target groups and individuals within the United States.
The origins of COINTELPRO were in the Bureau’s jurisdiction to
investigate hostile foreign intelligence activities on American soil. In
1956, the FBI decided that a formal counterintelligenceprogram, co-
ordinated from headquarters, would be an effective weapon in the fight
against the American Communist Party and its sympathizers within the
United States. The Bureau’s covert action programs were aimed at five
perceived domestic threats: the Communist Party of the United States
(1956–1971); the Socialist Workers Party (1961–1969); white hate
groups (1964–1971); black nationalist hate groups (1967–1971); and
the New Left (1968–1971). COINTELPRO activities against these
groups comprised 2,370 separate counterintelligence actions, including
many “dirty tricks,” among which were such actions as mailing anony-
mous letters to a member’s spouse accusing the target of infidelity; us-
ing informants to raise controversial issues at meetings in order to
cause dissent; falsely labeling a group member as an informant; en-
couraging street warfare between violent groups; contacting an em-
ployer to get a target fired; notifying state and local authorities of a tar-
get’s criminal law violations; and using the Internal Revenue Services
(IRS) to audit a professor in order to audit political dissidents. In the
politically charged atmosphere of the Vietnam War, during which
there was near paranoia about the government’s actions against its own
people, the FBI decided to discontinue COINTELPRO. The program
came to an end on 27 April 1971.
COLBY, WILLIAM E. (1920–1996). Tenth director of central intelli-
gence (DCI), serving between 4 September 1973 and 30 January 1976.
Colby was a Princeton graduate who served in the Office of Strategic
Services(OSS) during World War IIand earned a law degree from
Columbia in 1949. He joined the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC)
in 1950, serving tours in Italy and South Vietnam. He was chief of sta-
tion (COS) in Vietnam in 1960 and, later, Director of Civil Operations
and Rural Development Support, which was the pacification program
that included Operation PHOENIX. He later became deputy director
of central intelligence(DDCI) under DCI Richard Helms.COLBY, WILLIAM E.•3105-398 (2) Dictionary.qxd 10/20/05 6:27 AM Page 31