Operation Hoodwink

OTHER DOCUMENTS recently obtained by The Crimson delineate agent F.J. Baumgardner's memorandum of October 4, 1966, which recommended "a long-range counterintelligence program designed to provoke a dispute between the Communist Party, USA, and La Cosa Nostra' under the code name of Hoodwink."

The bureau sent phony letters to mob leaders, signed by Communist Party members, protesting the working conditions of local labor union "sweatshops." The selected unions had intimate mob ties, and the FBI's goal was to disrupt both groups by expending "their energies, time, and money attacking the other."

By giving various mob leaders the impression that the Communist Party was criticizing "La Cosa Nostra," the FBI hoped for some kind of retaliation. The FBI carefully avoided specifying the exact nature of the retaliation it hoped for in bureau communications.

In assessing the tangibleresults of the new cointelpro, Hoover pointed out that the Communist Party headquarters in New York had recently been bombed--"a typical hoodlum technique," he said. But Hoover decided to cancel Hoodwink on July 31, 1968, explaining in a memo that the Communist Party was not concerned with "civic issues" and "reformism," and could not be goaded into responding to the FBI provocation.

A Congress of Sorrows

THE FINDINGS of the Senate Committee are shocking, but for some, they merely confirm long-held suspicions about the intentions of the nation's chief law enforcement agency.

These discoveries--revealed 12 years after the fact--have led to nothing but condemnation, disgust, and the moral indignation of politicians--sentiments never expressed 12 years ago because they were impolitic.

While the Freedom of Information Act makes it possible for any citizen to obtain FBI files, it is important for Congress to further action in redefining and possibly monitoring the actions of the FBI. Such measures have been taken in a small way, and more effective ways to oversee the Department of Justice are in the works.

But skepticism and vigilance are still key. A capital full of sorrowful senators is simply not enough.