Unlocking the Files of the FBI: A Guide to Its Records and Classification SystemThis comprehensive guide explains what kinds of documents the FBI holds, where they are located, and how to gain access to them. The FBI has investigated a vast range of activities: communism, civil rights and antiwar protests, organised crime, political corruption, terrorists, and even foreign espionage. The massive amount of documentation produced on countless cases is divided into hundreds of major classifications. Now under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), more of these valuable records are open to researchers than ever before. Haines and Langbart provide a focused description of the contents of every one of the more than 278 classifications the bureau uses to organise its efforts. They also include descriptions of special, unclassified records, and a full explanation of the FOIA, with a sample letter requesting access under the act; FBI organisational charts; a sample showing how the bureau sanitises documents; and other information. |
Contents
Classifications | 3 |
An Overview of the Indexes | 219 |
J Edgar Hoovers Official and Confidential OC File | 249 |
Copyright | |
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1924 to present Access To gain activities Administration Bureau established Bureau opened cards Civil Rights classifica classification a researcher Communist contain criminal Dates Department of Justice Disposition Recommendation HQ Disposition Schedule HQ document electronic surveillance established this classification extant FBI NARA Disposition FBI's Federal field offices reported fifty-nine field offices file a Freedom files relating Foreign Counterintelligence Freedom of Information gain access gambling Hoover illegal Index Maintained individuals Information Act request information relating Interstate Transportation Justice Classification Location FBI NARA longer needed Maintained at headquarters materials-Destroy microfilm-Permanent multisectional cases-Permanent NARA Disposition Recommendation National Academy Matters National Archives offices reported opening opened this classification organized crime others-Destroy Permanent present Location FBI Program Record Group Records FBI Classification records-Destroy records-Disposal not authorized records-Permanent Related Records Department Related Records FBI Related Records Records researcher must file rolls of microfilm Service substantial destruction Systematic evidential sample Systematic informational sample tion United violations Volume HQ