Proposal to create counterintelligence unit receives bipartisan pushback

By: Mitch Perry

Outlets: Florida Phoenix

Published: February 24, 2026

Words: 740

Last Updated: 2 weeks, 2 days ago

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A bill (HB 945) that would create a statewide counterterrorism and counterintelligence unit within the Florida Department of Law Enforcement received pushback from Democrats and one Republican in a committee hearing Tuesday.

One lawmaker said it evoked echoes of COINTELPRO, the FBI special counter-intelligence program created to neutralize political dissent in the 1950s and ’60s.

The primary goal of the unit would be to “detect, identify, neutralize, and exploit adversary intelligence entities, international and …

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