The FBI, led by J. Edgar Hoover, responded by operating a covert counterintelligence program, known as COINTELPRO, that targeted civil rights leaders and activists, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, who were deemed dangerous or suspected of Communist Party affiliation. FBI agents also infiltrated black community and activist organizations, sought to undermine political education efforts, and illegally and legally surveilled, targeted, jailed, and killed activists.
