The cache of 55 civil rights era documents declassified by CIA Director William J. Burns raises questions about how the CIA spied on over 7,000 US citizens and over 100 domestic organizations, in direct violation of its 1947 charter.
The illegal program, dubbed 'Operation Chaos', directed CIA assets to infiltrate and surveil Chicano, Puerto Rican, and other Latino community organizations, aiming to document their organizing efforts.
Following the 1967 riots, President Lyndon Johnson ordered federal agencies to investigate the causes, culminating in recommendations from the Kerner Commission to integrate surveillance systems.
In launching Operation Chaos, Johnson created the cultural hack used to legitimate the CIA's actions against domestic activists, raising serious ethical questions about governmental surveillance practices.
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