US internal security policy with a British accent: the influence of decolonisation on FBI activities

ABSTRACT

The article dwells on the development of views of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on the process of decolonization. Certain cases and relations with other counterintelligence agencies are used to see the shaping by the American counterintelligence of their own unique approach to the decay of the colonial system. At the same time, work in the same areas and, often, against the same organizations, the FBI gradually borrowed in direct or indirect ways many of the methods of their British counterparties. The article makes a conclusion on the change of the FBI’s perspective on the problem of decolonization and gives a justified view of the COINTELPRO program as the quintessence of borrowing of the British experience by the American federal agents.

KEYWORDS:

• Decolonization
• FBI
• J. Edgar Hoover
• Nation of Islam
• Malcolm X

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ A.G. Theoharis, J.S. Cox, The Boss, J. Edgar Hoover and the Great American Inquisition (Temple, Temple University Press, 1988); Ibid. The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide Ed. by A.G. Theoharis  (N.Y., Greenwood, 2000); K. O’Reilly, ‘Racial Matters’: The FBI’s Secret File on Black America, 1960–1972 (N.Y., Free Press, 1989); and T. Weiner, Enemies: A History of the FBI (N.Y., Random House, 2012).

² Nevertheless, the close contacts between MI-5 and MI-6 did not eliminate conflicts: in the very beginning of establishment of both agencies, when questions arose of their functions, or after the exposure of the ‘Cambridge Five’, a ring of Cambridge graduates recruited by the USSR who made careers, among other places, in MI-5 (Guy Burgess of the Foreign Office had started his career at MI-5 as had Anthony Blunt, advisor to King George VI) and MI-6 (Kim Philby who had several high positions at the MI-6). See more: K. Walton, British Intelligence at the Times of the Cold War (M., Centropoligraph, 2016), 67–122; and P. Knightley, Kim Philby, KGB’s Super Spy (M., Republic, 1992).

³ Riebling M. Wedge, The Secret War between the FBI and CIA (N.Y., Knopf, 1994), 200–237.

⁴ On the history of personal confrontation between Donovan and Hoover, see: A. Levin Ya, “Hoover vs. Donovan. Sources of rivalry between the FBI and CIA,” Modern and Current History Journal 5, no. 17 (2017): 226–233.

⁵ Having undertaken the task of doing intelligence work in the countries of Latin America, the SIS encountered some challenges, staffing being the major of them. The FBI had few agents with a good command of foreign languages or with an experience of long-term residence in target countries. To perform their foreign missions, the SIS agents posed as journalists of ‘Newsweek’ owned by the millionaire Vincent Astor, friend of the SIS Director Percy Foxworth, stockbrokers of ‘Merryl Lynch’, managers of the ‘United Fruit Company’, employees of the ‘American Telephone and Telegraph Co.’ or the ‘US Steel’ group. Apart from Astor, Nelson Rockefeller millionaire and assistant to the Secretary of State for Latin America also helped the agents by providing cover for them. However, those covers were easily blown due to the agents’ unawareness of the roles they had to perform. Understanding of the nature of intelligence operations lacking, the SIS agents experienced failure after failure, were massively misinformed or simply eliminated. See more: NARA. RG. 65. Federal Bureau of Investigation, File: History of SIS Division.

⁶ To assist Stephenson, Ian Fleming famous for his spy novels was seconded to Washington for a few months. On the influence exercised by Britain on the formation of the American intelligence, see: H. M. Hyde, Room 3603: The Incredible True Story of Secret Intelligence Operations During World War II(London, Lyons Press, 1963), 169.

⁷ The exposure of the ‘Cambridge Five’ had a generally bad effect on the relations of the American and the British secret services. Thus, the American intelligence decreased the amount of information to be exchanged with Britain, by several times. See more: B. Page, D. Leitch, P. Knightley, Philby: The Spy Who Betrayed a Generation (London, Trafalgar Square, 1968), 140.

⁸ A. Theoharis, The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide (N.Y., 2000), 300.

⁹ L. James, E. Leake, Decolonization and the Cold War: Negotiating Independence (N.Y., Bloomsbury Academic, 2015), 50, 75, 130–139.

¹⁰ In the case of Great Britain, the question is of liaison officers for security under the embassies coordinating the counterintelligence and, sometimes, intelligence effort of the country. Liaison officers for security became especially important in the era of decolonization. In some cases of gaining independence (most successful for the metropole) with the former colony retaining membership in the British Commonwealth, the liaison officers for security, depending on the level of trust from the authorities of the new independent country, could become counsellors to the heads of states, establish exchange of intelligence information with the former metropole and even manage the establishment and development of law enforcement, intelligence and counterintelligence services of the former colony. In the USA, starting from 1940 a similar program has been in place, the ‘Legat’ (abbreviated from ‘Legal Attache’). Formally, the legal attache’s function does not go beyond organization of work of the US diplomatic offices within the framework of legislation of the country of residence and resolution of legal questions, such as extradition, for example. In reality, their functions are much broader: legal attaches are responsible for the collection of data, recruitment and deployment of stations. One may suggest that the system of legal attaches in the form it has been known after WWII is in many aspects copied from their British counterparty. See more: A. Theoharis, The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide (N.Y., 2000), 486–487.

¹¹ ‘Haganah’ is a Jewish underground organization that was active during the British mandate in Palestine. ‘Irgun’ actually separated from ‘Haganah’ working at first as its tactical organization and then turning into a separate more radical group. With the establishment of the State of Israel, it was the ‘Haganah’ that was transformed into the Israeli Defense Forces.

¹² NARA. RG 65. Federal Bureau of Investigation, File: 9–15,269 (Irgun Zvai Leumi).

¹³ ‘National Crime Syndicate’ is the conventional name given to the union of Italian and Jewish mafia created by Meyer Lansky and Charles ‘Lucky’ Luciano. Following the prosecution of Meyer Lansky by the FBI in the early 1970s, the ‘syndicate’ started falling apart and by mid-1980s its member criminal organizations yet again became parts of national mafias.

¹⁴ The question of Lansky’s extradition was one of the first major scandals between the USA and Israel in this sphere, yet the American diplomats succeeded in having him extradited. See more: NARA. RG 65. Federal Bureau of Investigation, File: 62–97928 (Meyer Lansky).

¹⁵ NARA. RG 65. Federal Bureau of Investigation, File: 9–15269 (Irgun Zvai Leumi).

¹⁶ Ibid., File: 9–15269 (Irgun Zvai Leumi).

¹⁷ NARA. RG 65. Federal Bureau of Investigation, File: 9–15269 (Irgun Zvai Leumi).

¹⁸ The same name was given to the office of MI-5 in India in the colonial period. In this way, Nehru’s government tried to emphasize the continuity in relations with Britain and the readiness to cooperate which was soon to have a practical confirmation.

¹⁹ L. James and E. Leake, Decolonization and the Cold War: Negotiating Independence (N.Y., Bloomsbury Academic, 2015), 271–273.

²⁰ The FBI’s reluctance to resume full-scale operations against organized crime in the USA was to become the reason for many conspiracy theories on the connections of the Bureau’s director with the mafia. However, neither the inspections of Hoover’s assets and connections during the first stages of work of the US Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (commonly known as the ‘Church Committee’) nor any following investigations revealed any links between Edgar J. Hoover and organized crime. At the same time, this phrase of Hoover became famous: I don’t wish a single cent deducted from the counterintelligence! It was a response to the first suggestions of Attorney General Robert Kennedy on the ‘new war on crime’. See more: T. Weiner, Enemies: A History of the FBI (N.Y., 2012).

²¹ A. Theoharis, Op. cit., 486–487.

²² K. O’Reilly, ‘Racial Matters’: The FBI’s Secret File on Black America, 1960–1972 (N.Y., 1989), 6.

²³ NARA. RG 65. Federal Bureau of Investigation, File: 105–27572 (Asian American Political Alliance).

²⁴ NARA. RG 65. Federal Bureau of Investigation, File: 105–27572 (Asian American Political Alliance).

²⁵ Ibid.

²⁶ On Garvey’s ideas, see: J. Stein, The World of Marcus Garvey: Race and Class in Modern Society (Baton Rouge, LSU Press, 2006).

²⁷ Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), from 1929 – Universal Negro Improvement Association and the African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) was a nationalist organization created by Marcus Garvey in Jamaica with the objective of ensuring the Afro-Americans and other Negroes retain the historical memory of their native lands and their cultural heritage. In dealt with educational and enlightenment activities and was striving at preparing the Afro-Americans to return to the ‘Black Continent’. To that end, the organization was active in collecting donations and in establishing relations with the leaders of African countries. After the arrest, it found itself in a crisis which was overcome in many aspects after the merger with the African Communities League – similar in views but more moderate. See more: Encyclopedia of African American History. Vol. 3/Ed. by Alexander L.M., Rucker W.C. (N.Y., ABC-CLIO, 2010), 1069–1071.

²⁸ NARA. RG 65. Federal Bureau of Investigation, File: 190–1781-6, part 1–3 (Marcus Garvey).

²⁹ Ibid., File: 190–1781-6, part 1–3, part 3–6 (Marcus Garvey).

³⁰ Ibid., part 1–2,3.

³¹ The ideology of Garveyism is focused on the reunion of Afro-American men, women and children and the expansion of their rights under the banner of their collective African origin, and repatriation of African slaves and their incomes to the native African continent. On the domestic level, Garveyism aimed at inspiring the Black Americans to actively create infrastructure, institutes and local economy and not rely on the unfriendly American government burdened with its own chores. See more: W. A. Edwards, Garveyism: An Ideology and a Movement(Berkeley, University of California Press, 1977).

³² NARA. RG 65. Federal Bureau of Investigation, File: 190–1781-6, part 4 (Marcus Garvey).

³³ Ibid., File: 190–1781-6, part 4.

³⁴ The National Archives (далее TNA). KV 2/1847. Francis Kwame Nkrumah, s. 1a: British Security Coordination, Washington DC to Security Executive, London. Forwarded to MI5. 31 December 1942.

³⁵ L. James and E. Leake, Decolonization and the Cold War: Negotiating Independence (N.Y., 2015), 303.

³⁶ R.F. Kennedy knew about extensive opening and inspection of King’s correspondence, about the surveillance of his relatives and close followers, monitoring of telephone conversations and installation of bugs in the hotel rooms and headquarters of organizations related to King. However, he considered it quite appropriate first, for a better understanding of King and then, for a possible holding him in check. See more: O’Reilly K. ‘Racial Matters’: The FBI’s Secret File on Black America, 1960–1972. N.Y., 1989. P. 130.

³⁷ K. O’Reilly, Op. cit., 8, 47, 54; A. G. Theoharis and J. S. Cox, The Boss. J. Edgar Hoover and the Great American Inquisition(Temple, 1988), 120.

³⁸ COINTELPRO (abbreviated Counter Intelligence Program) is a general name of a series of FBI programs aimed at specific public organizations and parties (COINTELPRO – Communist Party, COINTELPRO – ‘Black Hate’ (vs. organizations of Afro-American nationalists, e.g. ‘Black Panthers’), COINTELPRO – ‘White Hate’ (vs. white nationalist organizations, e.g. the Ku Klux Klan) etc.). Within those programs, the organizations considered to be dangerous by the FBI were infiltrated by informants and provocateurs whose goal was to destroy the organizations from inside, instigate factional struggle, provoke organizations for unlawful acts, etc. The leaders and prominent members were surveilled, their houses and telephone conversations monitored and their mail opened and inspected. In the event, any compromising materials were found on members of such organizations, they were publicized in mass media or used for intimidation or possible recruitment in order to discredit and destroy the organizations.

³⁹ The visit was preceded by several personal meetings and a rather heartfelt letter in which Nehru and King shared their opinions on various questions. See more: The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. Volume V: Threshold of a New Decade, January 1959-December 1960/Ed. by С. Carson, Т. Armstrong. Los Angeles, University of California Press, 2005. Р. 107–108.

⁴⁰ NARA. RG 65. Federal Bureau of Investigation, File: 100–106670 (Martin Luther King, Jr.).

⁴¹ Ibid. File: 100–106670, part 1 (Martin Luther King, Jr.).

⁴² Ibid. Part 2.

⁴³ NARA. RG 65. Federal Bureau of Investigation, File: 61–3176, part 7 (NAACP); Ibid. File: 100–433744, part 11 (SCLC).

⁴⁴ Ibid. File: 105–165706 (Black Panther Party).

⁴⁵ ‘Mau Mau’ is the name given by the British to the movement for the independence of Kenya.

⁴⁶ ‘Khmer Rouge’ is the nationalist movement in Cambodia that had formed by the last periods of the French colonial rule. The name derives from the nationality constituting the majority in the movement: the Khmers. It started its active operations during the Vietnam War in which the formally neutral Cambodia supported Northern Vietnam. The operations resulted in a coup d’etat and deposing of Norodom Sihanouk, the Prince of Cambodia with a bias to China and leftist views. With the advent of the pro-American Prime Minister Lon Nol, the civil war moved to the phase of escalation. The Khmer Rouge was characterized by radical views based on nationalism and extreme Maoism.

⁴⁷ ‘The 26^th of July Movement’ was a national Cuban movement in the socialism ideology headed by Fidel Castro and Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara.

⁴⁸ The FBI dossier contains reports based on consultations with experts; the names of the experts are wiped out. See more: NARA. RG 65. Federal Bureau of Investigation, File: 105–165706 (Black Panther Party).

⁴⁹ The Washington Post. 1969. July 16. Р. 1.

⁵⁰ The federal agents were sure that Levison had kept his contacts with the Communist Party, introduced M.L. King to the ideas of Marxism–Leninism and was an intermediary between the leader of the movement for equal rights and Soviet counterintelligence. Besides, within the operation ‘Solo’ the Bureau was receiving knowledge that the USSR was actively interested in M.L. King from their informer Morris Childs, Deputy General Secretary of the CPUSA for Liaisons with Foreign Communist Parties. See more: O’Reilly K. Op. cit. Р. 158.

⁵¹ K. O’Reilly, Op. cit., 218.

⁵² NARA. RG 65. Federal Bureau of Investigation, File: 105–165706 (Black Panther Party).

⁵³ ‘US Organization’ is a Black nationalist organization founded in 1965; its leaders were Hakim Jamal and Maulana Karenga. Its characteristic ideas were pan-Africanism and Black cultural unity.

⁵⁴ NARA. RG 65. Federal Bureau of Investigation, File: 105–165706 (Black Panther Party).

⁵⁵ NARA. RG 65. Federal Bureau of Investigation, File: 105–165706 (Black Panther Party); O’Reilly K. Op. cit., p. 245.

⁵⁶ Within the scope of its work on the ‘Nation of Islam’, the federal agents dealt with the issue of the fate of Fard Muhammad. After his disappearance, he was proclaimed the incarnation of Allah on the Earth by his successor. In the FBI’s opinion, by 1934 Wallace Fard had become disappointed in the Islam, in the organization itself and in his followers, and had had several conflicts with Elijah Muhammad. As a result, he ended up leaving the organization, moving to a different state and living under a different name. The attempts at finding him and establishing, in an unambiguous way, the fate of the founder of the organization, were an important point in the primary FBI program of fighting the ‘Nation of Islam’. See more: NARA. RG 65. Federal Bureau of Investigation, File: 100–43165 (Wallace Fard Muhammad).

⁵⁷ NARA. RG 65. Federal Bureau of Investigation, File: Nation of Islam [monograph]. Р. 14–21.

⁵⁸ Ibid., File: Nation of Islam [monograph], pp. 1–10.

⁵⁹ J. I. Smith, Islam in America (N.Y., Colubia University Press, 2010), 42–65.

⁶⁰ NARA. RG 65. Federal Bureau of Investigation, File: Nation of Islam [monograph]. Р. 10–14.

⁶¹ Malcolm X attracted the FBI’s attention back in 1950 at the very outset of his career in the ‘Nation of Islam’: he wrote a letter to Pres. Harry S. Truman speaking out his protest against the war in Korea and calling himself a ‘communist in spirit’. See more: Carson C. Malcolm X: The FBI File. (N.Y., Caroll & Graf, 1991). Р. 95; NARA. RG 65. Federal Bureau of Investigation, File: 100–399321 (Malcolm X).

⁶² NARA. RG 65. Federal Bureau of Investigation, File: 100–399321 (Malcolm X).

⁶³ Ibid., File: Nation of Islam [monograph]. Р. 37–48.

⁶⁴ NARA. RG 65. Federal Bureau of Investigation, File: Nation of Islam [monograph]. Р. 37–48.

⁶⁵ The New York Times. 1963. December 1. Р. 3.

⁶⁶ NARA. RG 65. Federal Bureau of Investigation, File: 100–399321 (Malcolm X).

⁶⁷ Ibid. File: 100–399321 (Malcolm X).

⁶⁸ NARA. RG 65. Federal Bureau of Investigation, File: 100–399321 (Malcolm X).

⁶⁹ Ibid. File: 100–399321 (Malcolm X).

⁷⁰ The versions of FBI being directly or indirectly linked with the assassination appeared quickly. In the first place, they refer to the disclosed secret of recruitment by the FBI of the Secretary National of the ‘Nation of Islam’ John Ali. It was Ali who contributed to the final parting of Muhammad and X and later supported Louis Farrakhan who had replaced the older Muhammad – and Farrakhan spoke in favor of the assassination several times. Shortly before the killing, Ali had been seen with the assassins of Malcolm X. See more: L. E. Lomax, To Kill a Black Man: The Shocking Parallel in the Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr (Los Angeles, Holloway House Publishing Co., 1987), 198. In the Bureau documents many reports preceding the murder had been largely wiped out: all names of informers within the ‘Nation of Islam’ had been wiped out, but it was emphasized that the Bureau was receiving knowledge from people very close to the leadership. See: NARA. RG 65. Federal Bureau of Investigation, File: Nation of Islam [monograph], part 3. Р. 14–17.

⁷¹ It is to be mentioned here that it was the work of the British in the colonies seemed to be the suitable example for the FBI: in Ulster or in Northern Ireland the leading role in the formation of counterintelligence programs was for a long time played by the Royal Constables. See more: H. Patterson and P. Teague, Between War and Peace: The Political Future of Northern Ireland (London, Lawrence and Wishhart Ltd., 1997), 43.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the grant from the Russian Science Foundation [no. 17-78-20029].