John C. Raines (February 17, 1933 – November 11, 2018) was an American sociologist, anti-war activist, and a key figure in the 1971 break-in at an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, which exposed the agency's COINTELPRO program.
Early Life and Career Raines was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He earned his Ph.D. in social ethics from Union Theological Seminary in 1967. He became a professor of Religion at Temple University in Philadelphia, where he taught for over 40 years, specializing in social ethics, urban poverty, and the sociology of religion. Throughout his academic career, he was known for his progressive views and active engagement in social justice causes.
The Media FBI Break-in On March 8, 1971, Raines, along with his wife Bonnie Raines and six others, executed a covert operation against the FBI. Operating under the name "Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI," the group broke into an FBI field office in Media, Pennsylvania. They stole thousands of secret documents that revealed the full extent of the FBI's counterintelligence program, COINTELPRO. These documents demonstrated the FBI's systematic efforts to surveil, infiltrate, discredit, and disrupt various domestic political organizations, including civil rights groups, anti-war movements, and left-wing political parties.
The stolen documents were subsequently mailed to various news outlets, leading to public outrage and congressional investigations. The revelations from the Media documents were instrumental in exposing widespread government surveillance abuses and ultimately led to significant reforms in intelligence agency oversight.
Anonymity and Revelation For over 40 years, Raines and the other members of the Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI maintained their anonymity, despite an extensive FBI investigation that failed to identify them. The statute of limitations on their actions eventually expired. In 2014, John and Bonnie Raines, along with some other members of the group, publicly revealed their identities for the first time in an article published in The New York Times and in a documentary film titled "1971." They stated their motivation was to encourage greater transparency from government and to highlight ongoing concerns about surveillance.
Later Life and Legacy Raines continued to teach and write about social justice issues, poverty, and ethics until his retirement. He passed away in 2018 at the age of 85. His actions in the Media break-in are widely recognized as a pivotal moment in American history, significantly contributing to public awareness of government overreach and sparking important debates about civil liberties and democratic accountability.