Abstract
Throughout the long reign of J. Edgar Hoover, the F.B.I. voraciously compiled information on suspected national-security threats -- and often put it to damaging use. Beginning with a campaign against the Communist Party, U.S.A., in 1956, the bureau's notorious Cointelpro programs aimed to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit or otherwise neutralize" their targets. The nearly continuous monitoring of John Kerry's antiwar activities in the early 70's only hints at the sweep of surveillance efforts at the time.