FBI Releases Files Showing ‘Ever-Present’ Threats Against Queen Elizabeth II

Whenever the late Queen Elizabeth II visited the U.S., the FBI remained on high alert to protect her from potential threats—often from the Irish Republican Army and its sympathizers, according to 102 pages of FBI records released Monday following the monarch’s death last year.

First requested by NBC News via the Freedom of Information Act and posted on the FBI’s electronic resource library, called “The Vault,” the documents compile memos, newspaper clippings, teletype communications, and other records of Her Majesty’s visits dating back to 1976. The files reveal how the FBI, in partnership with the Secret Service and local authorities, geared up before and during the British royal’s trips to American soil.

The IRA was a paramilitary organization that sought to bring an end to British rule in Northern Ireland and unify the island under a single government. The group often used violent means to achieve their goals.