Black bag operation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Black Bag Operations (or "black bag jobs") are covert or clandestine surreptitious entries into structures to obtain information for Human Intelligence operations. This usually entails breaking and entering into denied areas. Some of the tactics, techniques and procedures associated with Black Bag Operations are: lock picking, safe cracking, key impressions, fingerprinting, photography, electronic surveillance (including audio and video surveillance), mail manipulation (flaps and seals), forgery and a host of other related skills.

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[edit] Use in the FBI

In Black Bag Operations, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents illegally entered offices of targeted individuals and/or organizations, and photographed information found in their records. This practice was used by the FBI from 1942 until 1967. In July 1966, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover ordered the practice discontinued.[1]

The use of "black bag jobs" by the FBI was declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court on 19 June 1972 in the Plamondon case, 407 U.S. 297.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Federal Bureau of Investigation - Freedom of Information Privacy Act
  • Peter Wright. Spy Catcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer. Penguin USA, 1987. ISBN 0-670-82055-5.

[edit] External links