Church Committee
In 1975, a Senate committee chaired by Frank Church began investigating abuses by U.S. intelligence agencies. Its hearings and reports made years of secret surveillance and disruption public.
The Senate gave the committee a mandate to examine intelligence activities at home and abroad. It gathered agency records and questioned officials in both open and closed sessions. Some of its work concerned programs that had operated across several administrations.
One set of records showed how the FBI had used COINTELPRO to disrupt political organizations. Targets included the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, opponents of the Vietnam War, and Martin Luther King Jr. Other committee reports examined domestic surveillance and CIA plots against foreign leaders.
The committee heard from roughly 800 witnesses and reviewed about 110,000 documents before issuing its final report in April 1976. Its work helped lead to a permanent Senate intelligence committee and new rules for intelligence oversight.
Bibliography:
- U.S. Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities. (1976). Final Report. S. Rept. 94-755.
- U.S. Senate Historical Office. (n.d.). Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (The Church Committee).