Top 10 Shocking Declassified FBI Secrets

What do you do when you can’t stop Soviet spies? You feed them lies. For 23 years, the FBI ran Operation Shocker, a covert deception program designed to mislead the KGB with fake intel—especially about U.S. nerve agent research. It all started with Army Sergeant Joseph Edward Cassidy, a planted defector the Soviets fully bought into. Cassidy handed over forged documents, all approved by top U.S. brass, to throw Soviet analysts off track. But the real shocker? Two FBI agents died in a plane crash tied to the operation's surveillance. The truth was kept from their families for years. Even worse: some experts believe the fake intel may have helped the Soviets develop Novichok, one of the deadliest nerve agents ever made.

It started with a fake company, a fake investor, and some very real bribe money. Abscam was an FBI sting operation where agents posed as representatives of a wealthy Arab Sheikh offering cash in exchange for political favors. The targets? Public officials from local to federal. At the end of the operation, six congressmen and one U.S. Senator were caught on hidden cameras accepting bribes. Originally dubbed “Arab scam,” the FBI later claimed it meant “Abdul scam.” Ultimately, the branding didn’t matter. What mattered was that it worked. The footage was damning, the trials swift. Every single prosecution ended in conviction. Abscam pulled back the curtain on corruption in high places. Sometimes the best way to catch a crook is to just let them cook.

For years, they were the stuff of rumor and rage: 28 classified, redacted pages of a 2002 congressional report on 9/11. They were sealed from the public for over a decade, sparking years of questions and speculation. In 2016, the pages were finally declassified. Their contents were damning, if not surprising. The FBI explored possible links between the Saudi government and the 9/11 hijackers. The FBI uncovered potential financial ties, never disclosing them to the public. Was it a cover-up, or was the government just trying to prevent an international incident? Well, just five years later, President Biden declassified another 16-page report linking the hijackers to Saudi nationals in the U.S.

What do you get when you mix Cold War paranoia with a shovel and a blank check? Operation Monopoly: the FBI’s ill-fated boondoggle to tap into Russian intelligence straight from the source. In 1977, the FBI began digging a massive tunnel dug directly under the Soviet Embassy. It was wired for surveillance but over the course of a quarter-century, provided no valuable intelligence whatsoever. In 2001, the FBI discovered why: Robert Hanssen, one of the worst moles in FBI history, told the Soviets all about the tunnel while it was still being dug. For over 20 years, the FBI spent hundreds of millions of dollars to dig and maintain a tunnel the KGB already knew about.

During the Red Scare, the FBI didn’t just investigate Hollywood: they infiltrated it. As Cold War paranoia swept the U.S., Hoover’s Bureau worked closely with studios to root out suspected communists. He found his most useful tool by using industry insiders as informants. The resultant purges left a chilling effect on the industry. Careers were derailed, lives were upended, and Hollywood became an unlikely battleground in America’s ideological war. Two of the Bureau's biggest collaborators were Walt Disney and Ronald Reagan. Disney’s motives were calculated and capitalist; he spent decades calling animators communists in order to derail their fight for worker's rights. Reagan's actions were more ideological, if not egregious. As president of the Screen Actors Guild, he reportedly informed on his own members.

After 9/11, the FBI ramped up their counterterrorism efforts. Sometimes they used controversial tactics to keep the homeland safe. According to the ACLU and other legal scholars, the Bureau often relied on dubious sting operations. These efforts didn’t just uncover terrorist plots - they manufactured them from whole cloth. The FBI leaned heavily on paid informants who targeted vulnerable individuals; often, these people suffered from serious mental health issues and had no prior criminal history. These informants would steer targets into fake terror schemes, which the FBI would then swoop in to “foil.” A 2014 report found that agents were directly involved in many of the “terror” cases they later prosecuted. The FBI called it prevention. Critics called it provocation.

In 2015, journalists uncovered that the FBI was flying hundreds of low-altitude surveillance flights over American cities. They kept these planes off the proverbial radar with a clever trick: registering them to fake companies. The aircraft carried high-resolution cameras and cell-site simulators. These “Stingrays” trick phones into connecting by posing as real cell towers, allowing FBI access. The ACLU raised alarms about the program, especially when planes flew over protests in Baltimore and Ferguson. The FBI claimed the flights were tied to specific investigations, but the scope was broad and the oversight minimal. In one case, agents logged nearly 430 hours of surveillance on a single suspect. No warrant. No transparency. Critics say the program is a dragnet in disguise—flying low, but watching everything.

In the early Cold War, the U.S. had a big fear: with Alaska under U.S. control, the Soviets were almost in their backyard. What if they invaded Alaska? So the FBI and Air Force launched Operation Washtub. Working together, they forged a secret plan to train everyday Alaskans as deep-cover spies. They recruited miners, bush pilots, and fishermen, focusing on locals who knew the land and could blend in. If the Soviets ever moved in, these agents would stay behind. As sleeper agents, they could gather intel, reporting back through hidden radios and coded messages. The FBI got out of the program after only a few months, but it continued under the Air Force’s guidance until 1959, when Alaska became a state.

On December 4, 1969, Fred Hampton, the 21-year-old chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party, was shot dead in his bed during a police raid. Official reports called it a shootout. The evidence said otherwise. Hampton was drugged by an FBI informant the night before. Police fired nearly 100 rounds, while Panthers inside fired one. Hampton never left his bed. The FBI and Chicago PD coordinated the raid using detailed floor plans and intel supplied by that same informant. A federal investigation later revealed that the Bureau had actively tried to “neutralize” Hampton’s influence. To this day, his murder is seen as one of the most blatant and chilling acts of politically motivated state violence in modern U.S. history.

Short for Counterintelligence Program, COINTELPRO was the FBI’s secret war on American activism. For 15 years, the Bureau spied on, infiltrated, and sabotaged political groups it deemed subversive. They targeted civil rights leaders, anti-war organizers, and liberation movements. The Bureau's tactics were invasive and often illegal: warrantless wiretaps, forged documents, threats, and disinformation campaigns. The Black Panthers were a top target, as was the American Indian Movement. The FBI planted informants, stoking internal divisions. They aggressively pursued AIM leaders like Leonard Peltier. COINTELPRO was exposed in 1971 after activists burglarized an FBI office and leaked its files. What they uncovered shocked the public and showed how far the government would go to crush dissent. Many believe such activities have continued even after the program’s exposure.


In its more than century-long history, the FBI has done both incredible things to keep Americans safe and terrible things in the name of freedom. Do you know some of the FBI’s dirtiest secrets? Let us know in the comments below!