black bag job

black bag job

n.
1. A warrantless, illegal entry and search of a premises by the FBI in order to gather information. This practice was discontinued in 1967 and found to be unconstitutional shortly thereafter.
2. A similar entry and search conducted by an agent of the US federal government.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
References in periodicals archive ?
Johnny Boy Records will be providing the music for shows including political thriller Operating Naked - a Black Bag Job, reality show Synchronicity the Beauty Whisperer and espionage drama Cloak and Dagger.
Edgar Hoover's day, that was called a "black bag job." It is totally unconstitutional, and it should be criminally illegal.
During the course of its investigations, the Church Committee obtained two secret memoranda of 1966 and 1967 that recorded Hoover's order banning future break-ins--in the FBI's parlance, "black bag jobs. "The July 1966 memo described in detail the special records procedure, Do Not File, that Hoover had instituted in 1942 to preclude discovery of this bureau practice.
Felt, at the time the head of the FBI's counterterrorist effort, issued orders authorizing 13 surreptitious break-ins (known as "black bag jobs") of suspected Weather Underground hideouts.
The following spring, Felt and FBI Counterintelligence Chief Edward Miller effectively blew the whistle on themselves by publicly admitting that they had authorized the "black bag jobs" assuming full responsibility for them.
It permits breakage and entry, without court orders; expanded wiretaps; black bag jobs; computer raids.
Edgar Hoover's time "black bag jobs" -- secret searches by the FBI, done without warrants.
Moreover, while there is a "sunset" clause in the Patriot Act -- requiring Congress to review the law in four years to see if it's gone too far -- the "black bag jobs" are not subject to the sunset clause.
Following the bombing of the Pentagon in 1972, Felt had authorized 13 surreptitious entries (commonly known as "black bag jobs") of suspected Weather Underground hideouts.