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You're listening to episode 107 of Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World,

where we look at mysteries from the twin perspectives of faith and reason.

In this episode, we're talking about the Citizens Commission to investigate the FBI,

and their daring 1971 burglary to expose FBI secrets.

I'm Dom Bettenelli, and joining me today is Jimmy Akin. Hi Jimmy.

Howdy, Dom.

In 1971, a group of nine concerned citizens decided that they needed to take matters

into their own hands and begin an investigation of the FBI.

They named themselves the Citizens Commission to investigate the FBI, which is a nice obvious name,

but they weren't content to just collect press clippings or interview representatives of the agency.

In their eyes, the press wasn't reliable, and FBI representatives wouldn't tell them the truth.

So they decided upon a daring plan to get to the truth, to find out the FBI's real secrets,

they would break into an FBI office in the dead of night.

They did, and they came away with a treasure trove of confidential files,

and when the files were released, it shook the FBI, and the agency has never been the same.

So who were these civic-minded burglars? What secrets did they discover, and how did the FBI retaliate?

And that's what we'll be talking about on this episode of Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World.

So Jimmy, what do we need to say before we begin?

Today, we're going to be telling the story of how, in 1971, a group of people exposed a widespread

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