What's in an FBI record?

Page from Wiggins' FBI file

This blogpost is preceded by

• "Timmerman attacks, Spring 1957"
•  "Timmerman attacks, Spring 1958"
• "Timmerman attacks: Allen University and Benedict College"
• "Timmerman attacks: the Benedict professors"
• "Timmerman attacks: the Allen University professors"
• Timmerman Attacks: Hoffman Update"
• "What was Forrest O. Wiggins up to?"

Let's take a look at what an FBI record actually looks like. The image above is part of Forrest O. Wiggins' FBI file. What is in the document?

The upper-left corner tells us that this page is a FD-263 form. A FD-263 is a cover page for a full report. The top of the form tells us that this is a report produced by the Savannah office on information it generated. The information concerns Forrest O. Wiggins and is about a "Security Matter - C." In other words, it is about a security matter concerning communists.

The report was made on August 14, 1957, and it covers the following dates: March 14; April 10, 16, 17, 19, 24, 26; May 8, 15, 23; June 12, 13, 16, 17, 19, 27; July 2, 3, 10, 26; August 5.

We can match these dates with dates from other sources to get some idea of what was attracting the FBI's interest. For example, the first date is March 14. Looking at earlier FBI records, we see that this was the day that the FBI received copies of an Allen University Bulletin containing an essay by Wiggins in which he promoted "Communist information." 

The June dates, especially the 16th and 17th, can also be explained. On the 15th, the President of Allen University asked Wiggins to resign his position. The June dates presumably reflect reports to the FBI on the back-and-forth between Wiggins and the president on resigning.

Another significant date is August 5. The next day was an Executive Board Meeting where the Allen trustees discussed dismissing Wiggins. Presumably, the FBI solicited information about what would happen at the meeting.

The dates that don't appear in other records are also interesting. For example, why are there so many April dates? I don't know, but this is something to look out for when reading other parts of the record.

The upper-right corner contains a crossed out stamp that reads "confidential." This means that the document was originally classified as confidential, but the document as currently released contains no confidential information.

The PDF that I have does not contain all the original text. Three parts of the text are redacted. The federal government is allowed to redact text under some specific exceptions. The exceptions being used are cited next to the text. Sometimes the nature of the exception shreds light as to what the missing information is.

First redacted text

The first redacted text is in a box labeled "Report made by." Presumably this is the name of the FBI agent who wrote the report. His name is being withheld under exception b7c. This exceptions allows withholding of an investigatory record that was compiled for law enforcement purposes when disclosing it would constitute an unwarranted invasion of someone's personal privacy. The standard for what  constitutes an unwarranted invasion of privacy is low since courts have ruled that just having your name in a legal report could damaging. Presumably, standard practice is to redact FBI agents names under this exception. The next exception is more interesting.

Second redacted text

This second text is also withheld under b7c. However, the nature of this text is less clear than the first. It appears that this is a sentence describing what Wiggins ("Subject") was doing.  Furthermore, the reasons for withholding this aren't pro forma: the whole paragraph is describing Wiggins' activities but nothing else is redacted. I have no idea what is discussed here, but it certainly is intriguing.

Third redacted text

The third redacted text appears to be the name, or another identifier, of a confidential informant for the FBI. This text is withheld under exceptions b2 and b7d. These are presumably the standard exceptions that are cited when withholding an informant's identity. Exception b2 allows withholding of records "related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency," while Exception b7d allows withholding of "information compiled for law enforcement purposes [which] could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source." 

Lower-left corner

From the lower-left corner of the document, we learn who got copies of the form. The form was produced by the Savannah office, and they made 3 copies which went into file 100-4211. The main office in DC received 4 copies by registered mail ("RM") that were stored in file 64-25362.

The history of this record is documented by stamps at the bottom.

Stamps on the bottom of the page

Two stamps are "Confidential" and "Subv. Control." Both have been crossed out. We've already discussed the "Confidential" stamp. I'm guessing the second stamp indicated that this file had to do with the surveillance of "subversives" (in this case, somebody who promotes "communist" ideas).

Slightly more significant is the stamp that reads "Copies Destroyed Nov 16 1961." I'm guessing that copies were destroyed as a matter of routine housecleaning. By 1961, there wasn't much interest in the records (Wiggins had left South Carolina) and keeping 7 copies of these records would have taken up a lot of space (this was pre-computers!).

Another stamp seems to read "63 Aug 26 1957 classified by." I don't know what the "63" stands for, but the August date falls a little over a week after the form was filled out. I'm guessing this indicates when the report was filled away.

There are a few notations on the document that I don't know how to interpret. For example, there is a handwritten remark directly above the (redacted) name an informant. The remark was written on August 27, 1957 which is the day after the form was classified. However, I can't make out what the rest of the text says. Let me know if you have any idea!

Handwritten remark.
Let me know if you can read it.