Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI

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The Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI was a leftist activist group operational during the early 1970s. Their only known action was breaking into a two-man Media, Pennsylvania FBI office, and making off with over 1000 classified documents. They then mailed these documents anonymously to several American newspapers. Several news outlets refused to publish the information, as it related to ongoing operations and disclosure may have threatened the lives of agents or informants. "The complete collection of political documents ripped-off from the F.B.I. office in Media, Pa., March 8, 1971" was published for the first time as the March, 1972 issue of WIN Magazine ("Peace and freedom thru nonviolent action"), a journal associated with the War Resisters League. The documents revealed the COINTELPRO operation, and led to the cessation of this operation by the FBI. No member of the group has ever been publicly identified, or apprehended, though noted Yippie organizer Abbie Hoffman has been linked on several occasions including a suggestion dropped by the character portraying his lawyer in the 2000 film "Steal This Movie".

Though highly under-emphasized, the theft resulted in the exposure of some of the FBI's most self-incriminating documents, including several documents detailing the FBI's use of postman, switchboard opperators, etc., in order to spy on black college students and various non-violent black activist groups. For more information on this subject see COINTELPRO

[edit] External links

• LA Times Article
• WIN Magazine
• War Resisters League