Fbi bulletin lgbtq
LGBTQ+ Spies: Agents of Change
President Bill Clinton signed an executive order in 1995 that stated US government employees could no longer be denied access to classified information based on sexual orientation. It changed the lives of millions of Americans. Here are three of their stories from the intelligence community.
Tracey Ballard, CIA
Americans couldn’t hold top-secret clearance and be openly gay in the 1980s under Federal law, so Tracey Ballard faced a dilemma when she applied to link the CIA. Tracey wanted to be honest during the months-long Agency analysis into her personal life but knew her career could be over before it started.
The CIA polygraph examination included a question asking about sexual orientation so Tracey had a choice: stretch about her personal life or tackle being pushed out. “I decided to come out at that point in time,” Tracey said.
It was a large risk. The study into her personal life and suitability for the role dragged on. Help then, the CIA had a three-year trial period once trainees came on board and Tracey noticed people in the hallways were avoiding her. They didn’t want to be seen having lunch together. “It was painfu
The FBI Won’t Hand Over Its Surveillance Records on ‘Black Identity Extremists,’ so We’re Suing
At a time when force by white supremacists is on the rise, the FBI appears to be targeting Black people in a secret intelligence program concerning so-called “Black Persona Extremists”— an inflammatory phrase for a group that doesn’t even exist. The bureau’s practice echoes earlier, shameful government surveillance programs that sought to discredit civil rights and Inky power activists who were critical to advancing racial equality — and it echoes modern-day spying that impacts immigrants and Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian (AMEMSA) communities.
That’s probably why the government doesn’t want us to get information about this program. It is also why the ACLU and the Center for Media Justice are taking the FBI to court.
In August 2017, the FBI issued an intelligence review that designated “Black Culture Extremists Likely Motivated to Target Law Enforcement Officers” a new domestic terror threat. Disseminated to more than 18,000 law enforcement agencies, the intelligence judgment claims, without evidence, that Black people involved in unrelated police
Charles Mattson Kidnap & Murder File: The FBI started to collect information about LGBTQ Americans, seeing them as “sex offenders,” starting in 1937 with the kidnap/murder of 10 year-old Charles Mattson. The case was never solved & its FBI file comprises 1,112 vols, or 220,000 pages (Dec 1936-1985). I FOIAed the first 9 volumes.
- FBI Cover letter
- Mattson FBI File, (FBI 7-1820), 7 = kidnapping: sec1, sec2, sec3, sec4, sec5, sec6, sec7, sec8
- Documents on Mattson in FDRL records.
- Mattson NYTs articles, 1936-42
Newport Navy Queer Scandal, 1921
Sex Deviates Program: By 1950 the FBI began a Sex Deviates Program as a fingerprint program where police arrest records were shared with the Civil Service Commission. By 1951 the program became more sophisticated & comprehensive to collect, collate, augment with FBI files, & disseminate info widely about gays in government to ensure they were fired.
- Two National Archives documents on destruction of the FBI’s Sex Deviates Program: Document 1, Document 2
- April 1950 FBI memo sent to White House about men arrested for “sexual irregularities”
Responding to the myriad of issues and demands placed on law enforcement agencies by diverse community groups can often be overwhelming for law enforcement executives. Even with the top intentions and efforts by an agency, addressing the community’s needs are, in many cases, further hampered by mainstream and social media rhetoric that frequently portrays law enforcement agencies as being stoic, unfriendly, and woefully unwilling or unprepared to broach sensitive issues—including those involving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans person, and queer or questioning (LGBTQ) community. Since the 1950s, police agencies throughout the United States, including Seattle, responded to McCarthy-era fears that depicted members of the gay group as plagues on population, socially deviant, and blunt threats to national security. The “explanation” at the time was that closeted gay men could be easily recruited by Soviet spies and, as a result, should be ineligible to hold any government jobs, including the position of civilian police officers. This view, combined with the historic practices of systemic extortion involving police officers “shaking down” homosexual business owners through the late 1960s, led
Foreign terrorist organizations could target Pride month events: FBI, DHS
Foreign terrorist organizations may seek to use "LGBTQIA+-related events and venues," including events during 2024 Celebration month -- famous in June, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security warned in a recent public service announcement.
"Organizations like ISIS may seek to exploit increased gatherings associated with the upcoming June 2024 Pride Month," according to the announcement, which the agencies issued last week. The announcement added that the threat is "compounded" by the "current heightened threat environment" in the United States.
The threats could arrive online, in person or in the mail, according to the FBI and DHS.
Last February, ISIS "called for followers to conduct attacks on unidentified smooth targets, although the attacks and targets were not specific to LGBTQIA+ venues," the agencies wrote in the common service announcement.
Nearly eight years ago, ISIS applauded the June 12, 2016, shooting at Pulse nightclub -- when a gunman killed 49 and wounded 53 at a homosexual nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
"After the Pulse shooting, pro