The FBI's Counter Intelligence Program amassed voluminous files developed by local police departments on suspected dissidents. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were subjected to some of this treatment, but the government refined its techniques when faced with the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, which it considered a group of politicized thugs. Under COINTELPRO, FBI agents used fake press releases to spread rumors about activists; hired undercover agents to commit crimes; paid informants to spread disinformation; attacked competing organizations in the name of other, more militant movements; and generally worked to create an air of tension. COINTELPRO was the seat of the Watergate scandal, which ultimately led to President Nixon's resignation in 1973.