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Comment by philwelch | Hacker News Reader

The FBI has a counterintelligence/domestic intelligence mission alongside its law enforcement mission.

Following the exposure of COINTELPRO, the FBI dialed back its presence information gathering apparatus publicly, though critics of beaueau practices maintain similar programs have persisted through the following decades. Either way, 9/11 offered a chance to reinstate some of the FBI's old power and influence.

Yes, but that was curtailed due to abuses during/against the civil rights movement. It started coming back with Waco & the Oklahoma City bombing and then roared back after 9/11.

That they persecute using their law enforcement powers. The CIA operates using different powers, they don't need a warrant to surveil a subject for instance

It turns out that in practice, you only need a warrant if your endgame is to prosecute and convict people in court. The FBI’s methods have historically included criminal prosecution, but are not restricted to it.

Yeah, their involvement in the assassination of Fred Hampton and blackmail/suicidal encouragement of MLK Jr. makes this pretty clear.

I'm sure if some brave activists were to rob the correct field office (which is the only reason we ever found out about COINTELPRO) today, they'd find similar evidence for the murders of Darren Seals and other BLM figures.

> Two other men connected to the protests, Darren Seals, 29; and Deandre Joshua, 20, were found killed under similar circumstances. Joshua was found dead in a torched car in November 2014 during the Ferguson protests. Two years later, Seals was found dead in a torched car after having been shot.

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/ferguson-d...

Counterterrorism/counterintelligence is law enforcement (terrorism & spying against the US is a crime), and it is FBI’s primary mission.

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