A spy, to be a spy, must operate from the inside. That is one of the principal differences between what the FBI did to student groups in the ’60s and ’70s and the FBI’s authorized surveillance of the Trump campaign

When I was a student at UC Berkeley in the ’60s and ’70s, rumors on campus had it that activist organizations like the Students for a Democratic Society had been infiltrated by the FBI, 1/5

and that at a typical SDS meeting, there were more government moles in attendance than bona fide members.

Turns out that this was not baseless paranoia at all. 2/5

Yesterday Barr claimed that the FBI had SPIED on the Trump campaign campaign, and the only open question was whether it had been adequately predicated.

This was pure nonsense.

(Comey has said he doesn’t know what the heck Barr was even talking about.) 3/5

To see what a domestic political spy operation by the government really involves, read this. 4/5

Infiltrating the LeftThe FBI has long tried to destroy socialist organizations, but its actions aren’t limited to surveillance. In the sixties and seventies, informants were key — even at the top levels of left groups.https://tinyurl.com/y4dg2h7m

(In the ’70s, government infiltrators also acted as agents provocateurs. That is even more serious, but is separate from infiltration alone, which is a matter of observation and reporting (i.e., spying)).

The key is that a spy, to be a spy, must operate from the INSIDE. 5/5