The F.B.I. released these materials in compliance with a Freedom of Information Act filing. While they contain a tremendous number of useful documents about Dr. King, this is still, in many ways, a very incomplete collection. As a result, the F.B.I. withheld a good deal of information when it released Dr. King's file. Many of the pages in this collection have massive amounts of material blotted out with heavy black ink. Additionally, many whole pages of material have been completely removed.
Deletions fit into several categories.
First, the F.B.I. was authorized to delete any material related solely to its own internal rules and practices. Also it was allowed to delete any records which would invade someone's personal privacy or any material which would reveal the identity of any confidential source of information. Additionally, as a result of a 1977 court order, all recordings, transcripts of recordings or descriptions of recordings which originated with F.B.I. wiretaps on Martin Luther King have been removed from the jurisdiction of the F.B.I. They were handed over to the National Archives under a court order directing that these materials remain confidential for fifty years, till the year 2027. As for the arrangement of the materials in this collection, the sixteen reels which comprise it are organized into three main sections. This part of the F.B.I. file on Martin Luther King is divided into 104 sections.