Black News - Freedom Archives

Interview with Jitu Weusi on
Cointelpro Tactics
Black News : Jitu , what exactly is ,Cointelpro?
Jitu : Cointelpro is a code word for
counterintelligence program . Cointelpro is part
of the FBI, CIA, and State Department's
unlawfual and unjustifiable intrusion in spying
and distuption of legal political activities . In
other words someone in . one of these agencies
decides that there is illegal political activity going
on and they make the decision that it's illegal .
They don't take it before a court, they don't take
it before any agencies - it's just they who decide
that there's something wrong with Dr . Martin
Luther King, or there's something wrong with
Malcolm X, or there's something wrong with
Fred Hampton, or there's something wrong with
the Black Panther or any of the known Black or
progressive organizations or individuals here in
the U.S .
Black News : How does Cointelpro function on a
national level?
Jitu : The most important vehicle for the use or
application of Cointelpro on the national level
has been the FBI . Many people should know
that its infamous founder and first director J .E .
Hoover, laid the foundation for most of the
harassment and disruptions of people's lives that
took place in this country during the 40's, 50's,
and 60's . There is the identification of those
organizations and individuals that the FBI or
certain agents within the FBI deem as being
"dangerous" to the peace and tranquility of the
U .S ., and once those people are identified there
are then a series of different transgressions made
against them . Their phones are bugged, mail is
opened, meetings are infiltrated, informers are
placed within their organizations . People are
targeted on them to provide all kinds of
information to keep track of all their
movements, everything they say, read, do,
everywhere they travel and so on . Depending
upon the level and effectiveness of their
involvement, an action is targeted against them .
There is a book that deals in-depth with a lot of
he things that I'm saying . It's called Cointelpro :
The FB s Secret War on Folitic-a-17ree-d5m . It
is written by Nelson Blackstock and published by
Vintage Press . It takes most of its information
from the cases of the Socialist Worker's Party
which was one of the major groups that forced
the Cointelpro information out into the public .
It also discusses in-depth information on the
FBI's war against the Black liberation movement
- it talks about operations against Black political
candidates, a special hatred for Blacks in
general, the harassment of Malcolm X, the
harassment of the Black Panther Party and other
militant organizations in the late 60's .
Black News : Ho w would you say itfunctions on
an international level?
Jitu : Cointelpro on an international level is
probably operated more effectively by the CIA
and by the State Department . There are a
number of good readings that deal with this -
certainly the book by the ex-CIA agent in
Angola . There are other readings about
infiltration in . Vietnam, penetrations in the
Middle East and penetrations in Africa . The
objectives there are of course to discredit and
destroy any oppositions to the U .S ., hegemony,
U.S . influence, Western imperialism . Of course
it works much in the same way as the national
program except it is a lot broader in terms of
input of men and materials and probably a bit
more effective .
Black News : What prompted you to send for
yourfiles?
Jitu : In 1971 there were suits brought against the
FBI and government agencies that were
conducting the counterintelligence programs and
these suits led to a law known as F .I .P.A . (the
Freedom of Information and Privacy Act) .
Under the F .I .P.A . it stated that individuals and
organizations had a right to gain some kind of
knowledge of the kind of information that the
government was keeping on them . In 1973 1 met
with Rev . Charles Koen of Cairo Illinois and he
informed me that his lawyers were looking into
securing the information that was kept on hi