The FBI has launched a new electronic reading room with links to (1) files the bureau has already publicly released but never posted online; (2) records previously posted but removed when requests diminished; and (3) new, previously unreleased documents. One file documents a joint FBI, FCC, and Justice Department effort to determine whether the lyrics to the song “Louie, Louie” were indecent. (They dropped their investigation because they were unable to determine what the song’s actual lyrics were.)
Other noteworthy entries fall into categories such as “Unexplained Phenomena” (flying saucers); “Black Bag Jobs” (incidents where FBI agents illegally entered offices of targeted individuals and organizations to photograph files and install microphones), and “Jack the Ripper” (an agent’s efforts to create a psychological profile of the nineteenth-century killer).
Prepare yourself for a lot of redacted material.
