Custodial Detention Index (CDI) was based on massive list of US residents compiled by FBI during 1939-1941, in the frame of a program called variously "Custodial Detention" and/or "Alien Enemy Control". The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a Federal police force which is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1941 calendar). ...

The Custodial Detention Index was a list of suspects and potential subversives classified as "A", "B", and "C"; the ones classified as "A" were destined to be immediately arrested and interned at the outbreak of war. Category A were leaders of Axis-related organizations, category B were members deemed "less dangerous", and category C were sympathizers. The actual assignment of the categories was however based on the perceived individual commitment to the person's native country, rather than the actual potential to cause harm; leaders of cultural organizations could be classified as "A", members of non-political cultural organizations could be rated "B", and "C" could be the individuals who donated to or expressed support for pro-Nazi and pro-Fascist organizations.

The program involved creation of individual dossiers from secretly obtained information, including unsubstantiated data and in some cases even hearsay and unsolicited phone tips, and information acquired without judicial warrants by mail covers and interception of mail, wiretaps, covert searches. While the program targeted primarily Japanese, Italian, and German "enemy aliens", it also included some American citizens. The program was run without Congress-approved legal authority, no judicial oversight, and outside of official legal boundaries of the FBI. A person against which an accusation was made was investigated and eventually placed on the index; it was not removed until the person died. Getting on the list was easy; getting off it was virtually impossible. [1] Mail cover is a law enforcement investigative technique. ... Postal Interception is the act of illegaly retreiving anothers mail for the purpose of ensuring that the mail is not delivered to the recipient or to spy on him or her. ... Telephone tapping or Wire tapping/ Wiretapping (in US) describes the monitoring of telephone conversations by a third party, often by covert means. ... In law during wartime, an enemy alien is a person who is a citizen of a country which is a state of war with the land where he or she is found. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ...

According to the press releases at the beginning of the war, one of the purposes of the program was to demonstrate the diligence and vigilance of the government by following, arresting, and isolating a previously identified group of people with allegedly documented sympathies for Axis powers and potential for espionage or fifth column activities. [2] The factual accuracy of this article is disputed. ... Espionage is the practice of obtaining information about an organization or a society that is considered secret or confidential (spying) without the permission of the holder of the information. ... Fifth Column, from left to right: Caroline Azar, G.B. Jones, Beverly Breckenridge. ...

The list was later used for Japanese American internment. Jerome War Relocation Center in Jerome, Arkansas The Japanese American Internment refers to the forcible relocation of approximately 112,000 to 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans, 62 percent of whom were United States citizens, from the West Coast of the United States during World War II to hastily constructed...

Attorney General Francis Biddle, when he found out about the Index, labeled it "dangerous, illegal" and ordered its end. However, J. Edgar Hoover simply renamed it to Security Index. [3] The Security Index itself was merged together with the Agitator Index and the Communist Index (itself renamed to the Reserve Index in 1960) to the Administrative Index (ADEX) in 1971, and discontinued in 1978, though the records are still kept as inactive at FBI headquarters and 29 field offices. [4] [5] In most common law jurisdictions, the Attorney General is the main legal adviser to the government, and in some jurisdictions may in addition have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions. ... The Nuremberg judges, left to right: John Parker, Francis Biddle, Alexander Volchkov, Iona Nikitchenko, Geoffrey Lawrence, Norman Birkett candice(May 9, 1886 – October 4, 1968) is a hater Biddle was one of four sons of Algernon Biddle, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania. ... Hoover in 1961 John Edgar Hoover KBE (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was the founder of the FBI in its present form and its director from May 10, 1924 until his death in 1972. ...

See also

• Japanese American internment