NSA Spied on MLK, War Critics

Nothing new under the sun, right? The National Security Agency spied on Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali, and other critics of the Vietnam War during the 1960s, according to classified documents revealed Wednesday. The spying program was discovered in the 1970s, when it was shut down, but its targets had never been known. The NSA also spied on journalists from The New York Times and The Washington Post, and two members of Congress. Alarmed by the intensity of antiwar dissent, President Lyndon Johnson asked U.S. intelligence agencies if the protests had been masterminded by foreign powers, and to create “watch lists” of war critics.