For any interested colleagues on this list, 

Last year, I filed a FOIA request 1071371-000 and recently received the FBI file for "Science for the People." It is 638 pages and covers the years 1970-1974. The file was organized under "REVACT" (Revolutionary Activity) and cross-listed with "NEWLEFT" (New Left Activity) and "CHICOM" (Chinese Communist).

The FBI sent agents to watch SftP protests and leafletting in various cities and to pose as journalists at AAAS events. They read "Science for the People" magazine. The file frequently quotes at least one long-term inside informant who attended local collective meetings but had little access to national paperwork. FBI agents watched the SftP members board the flight to China from San Francisco on 21 February 1973, and noted their return. After 1974, the FBI closed the file, apparently losing interest as they finally concluded that SftP was not a threat to law and order. 

With few exceptions, most of the names in the file have been redacted due to USC Title 5 Sec 552(b) by the FBI:

- information still classified
- in the interest of national security
- related to internal practices of an agency (FBI staff)
- information only available under litigation
- unwarranted invasion of personal privacy (citizens names)
- information compiled for police purposes that might violate privacy, confidential sources, or practices of FBI

I have appealed the redaction of most of the names. You can see the FBI's electronic reading room at http://foia.fbi.gov/alpha.htm . I don't expect SftP is to hit this "best of" list, so I will organize, scan, and post the entire file this summer.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

~Melanie McCalmont
Madison, WI