Rep. Summer Lee Introduces COINTELPRO Full Disclosure Act During MLK Records Hearing

Bill Text (PDF) | Video (Dropbox)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - JANUARY 22, 2026 - Today, Congresswoman Summer L. Lee (PA-12)and Congressman Jonathan Jackson (IL-01) introduced the COINTELPRO Full Disclosure Act,legislation that would require the full public disclosure of government records related to the FBI's covert and unlawful COINTELPRO operations. Rep. Lee introduced the bill during a House Oversight Committee Task Force hearing titled, "Declassified MLK Records: What They Reveal and Why They Matter."

"COINTELPRO represents one of the most serious violations of constitutional rights in modern U.S. history,"said Rep Lee. "Community leaders, civil rights organizers, and everyday people were targeted simply for demanding dignity and equal treatment, and our government has a responsibility to disclose its unlawful operations to the American public. At a time when federal power is being abused, accountability is more important than ever. We cannot allow surveillance to become a tool that silences people fighting for their communities. This bill is about protecting our civil liberties and ensuring these abuses never become acceptable again."

Rep. Jackson said, "The COINTELPRO Full Disclosure Act is about truth, transparency, and healing. For decades, COINTELPRO targeted civil rights leaders, community organizers, and voices for justice, including my father, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. The full truth must be part of our national record, so future generations understand how government power was used against movements for equality. I am proud to join Congresswoman Summer Lee in this effort to ensure that no democracy can thrive in secrecy and fear."

COINTELPRO, short for Counter Intelligence Program, was created by the FBI in the 1950s during the Cold War to disrupt the Communist Party. By the 1960s, its scope expanded to target other domestic political and civil rights organizations, including the Black Panther Party and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which were deemed threats to the internal security of the United States. The program used covert and illegal methods to surveil, infiltrate, discredit, and disrupt lawful political activity-often without the knowledge of the President, Congress, or the American public. COINTELPRO has been linked to acts of extreme violence, including the assassination of Fred Hampton, Chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party. .

The COINTELPRO Full Disclosure Actwould:

• Require government agencies, including the FBI and Department of Justice, to release all records related to COINTELPRO so the public can fully understand the scope of surveillance and violations of constitutional rights.
• Mandate that six months after enactment, all COINTELPRO-related files must be released and made fully public. If an agency claims release would cause demonstrable harm, it must still release redacted versions, substitutes, or summaries conveying essential information.
• Establish an independent COINTELPRO Records Review Board composed of outside experts in history and law to review and challenge agency decisions to withhold records.
• Empower the Review Board to make recommendations to the President regarding whether partially disclosed files should be fully released.
• Require that after 25 years, any continued withholding of records must be justified in writing under narrow national security exemptions, with final review authority by senior government officials and the Archivist of the United States.

For full bill text click here.

Footage of the Congresswoman's remarks introducing the bill can be found here.

Congresswoman Summer Lee serves on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on Education and Workforce. Since taking office in January 2023, shehas delivered historic levels of federal investment totaling over $2.4 Billionbrought back to Western PA, including over $580 million for infrastructure, over $110 million for affordable transit, over $500 million to keep clean energy manufacturing at home in Pennsylvania, and over $55 million on clean energy efforts in and around schools to help keep our kids and communities safe. These investments will help improve Western Pennsylvania's infrastructure and transit, ensure cleaner air and drinking water, lower housing costs, fund research institutions, fuel clean manufacturing, fund STEM innovation and entrepreneurship, boost workforce development, and create thousands of good paying union jobs.  Lee and her team have also delivered casework and constituent services to over 3,000 constituents with issues ranging from helping our seniors and disabled community access Medicare and social security to helping folks secure housing and helping families with immigration support and passports.