It’s appalling stuff but it’s a very small fraction of what the FBI actually does.
We set out to give people a better picture what this counterintelligence stuff is. We got all these documents after writing our first book, which was focused more specifically on the largest Maoist group in the United States, the Revolutionary Union. The second book [came from] looking at these documents.
What we saw was that these informants had gotten to the very top of leftist organizations.
A revelation we had while researching the book was that wiretapping comes when there isn’t human intelligence. If you and I are having a conversation, and I’m an informant, I can give a much better recreation to my handlers. I can also maneuver you in the conversation. I can testify in court, theoretically, although many informants won’t.
We realized there was a kind of methodology. When there are not live people, there’s a premium on electronic surveillance.
MU
AJL