# COINTELPRO Full Disclosure Act: What You Need to Know

COINTELPRO was a secret FBI program that ran from the 1950s through the 1970s, targeting civil rights leaders, anti-war activists, and various political groups. The government conducted surveillance, infiltrated organizations, and sometimes used illegal tactics against American citizens. This bill is about finally getting all those records out into the open so the public can see what happened.

Here's what the bill actually does: It requires the federal government to release all COINTELPRO records to the public within six months of the law passing, with very limited exceptions. If a government agency claims that releasing a document would cause serious harm—like endangering someone's life, compromising national security, or exposing an undercover informant—they can hold it back. But even then, they have to explain why in writing. After 25 years, virtually all remaining records must be released anyway, unless top officials like the President or the head of the FBI personally sign off on keeping them secret and can justify it to the National Archives.

The bill also creates a special review board made up of five people appointed by the President to check whether government agencies are being too secretive with these documents. This board will look at cases where agencies claim they need to keep records hidden and decide if they're right. The National Archives will set up a special collection of all these COINTELPRO records in one searchable place so researchers, journalists, and ordinary citizens can access them easily. Before any records are released publicly, the government has to try to notify victims or their families a week in advance, out of respect for people who were affected by these programs.

Essentially, this bill prioritizes transparency about a controversial chapter of American history. It won't affect most people's daily lives, but it matters for historians, researchers, civil rights advocates, and anyone interested in understanding what their government did decades ago. The main impact is that decades-old secrets will finally become public knowledge.