In times of great terror and panic, a nation's citizens must decide what they value most: their right to privacy or the lives of the innocent. Government surveillance is criticized, however there are times in a nation's history when, to ensure the safety of its citizens, it is necessary to police the country for potential dangers that may exist in the world. The government-launched program, COINTELPRO – a series of illegal projects organized throughout the twentieth century by the Federal Bureau of Investigation – although heavily criticized for its unconstitutional grounds – was justified because it benefited the nation during a time of upheaval. COINTELPRO is commonly condemned by historians and professors such as Brandeis University sociology professor David Cunningham, who claims that the FBI's counterintelligence program was merely a form of repression that allowed the government to suppress issues it considered troublesome (234). this is not the case. COINTELPRO became necessary due to great social unrest, individuals posed a threat to society and created profitable operations for the United States. COINTELPRO was founded by the FBI in 1956 as a government counterintelligence program. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was instrumental in creating the program. After the era of McCarthyism better known as the Second Red Scare, Hoover was concerned about the institution of communism gaining popularity in the United States. This sparked the creation of COINTELPRO. The program originally focused on infiltrating the Communist Party into the United States and then instilling disorder and confusion through numerous tactics. The program primarily used espionage to allocate...... middle of paper ......versity, nd Web. 07 December 2013. .Los Angeles Times (1964). “Klan Rebirth Feared in Cross Burning.” Editorial. Los Angeles Times [Los Angeles] January 20, 1964: 1. http://hn.bigchalk.com/hnweb/hn/do/search. ProQuest Company. Network. December 10, 2013. Roy, Joseph T. “New Black Panther Party.” http://www.splcenter.org/. Southern Poverty Law Center, n.d. Web. December 10, 2013. Trueman, Chris. "The Black Panthers." The Black Panthers. http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/, 2000. Web. 09 December 2013. Winter, Catherine. "American RadioWorks - King's Last March." King's Last March. prod. Kate Ellis and Steven Smith. American RadioWorks. Nd American RadioWorks - King's Last March. American public media. Network. December 10, 2013. Transcript.