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![U.S. Naval Intelligence tasked FBI with digging up dirt on Eric Williams to sway Trinidadian elections](https://cdn.muckrock.com/news_images/2017/10/30/EWcov.jpg.800x600_q85_crop.jpg)
U.S. Naval Intelligence tasked FBI with digging up dirt on Eric Williams to sway Trinidadian elections
A FOIA request to the National Archives from early 2015 has finally yielded the Federal Bureau of Investigation file on historian and first prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Eric Williams. In addition to the FBI monitoring Williams during his tenure at Howard University, the file contains reports from Naval Intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency, who closely monitored his shift from academia into politics, including a request by Naval Intelligence that the FBI gather embarrassing personal details from William’s ex-wife in an attempt to hurt his chances during an election.
!["Eccentric with a slightly gruff manner." Philip S. Foner's FBI File](https://cdn.muckrock.com/news_images/fonercov.jpg.800x600_q85_crop.jpg)
“Eccentric with a slightly gruff manner.” Philip S. Foner’s FBI File
After an 11-month wait, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has finally released the file it maintained on renowned Marxist historian Philip S. Foner. Although the file is short - only 45 pages - it is heavily redacted, with even most of the dates blocked out. A document dated 1984 makes reference to a “security matter case” that prompted an investigation in 1946 - however, those files appear to have been entirely withheld.