Church Committee

The Church Committee (formally the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, 1975–1976) was the landmark Senate investigation chaired by Senator Frank Church that exposed illegal CIA, FBI, and NSA activities — including MKUltra, COINTELPRO, and domestic surveillance. Its final reports led to the creation of the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). See also Rockefeller Commission.

See Also

• MKUltra — the program the Committee exposed
• U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) — the agency investigated
• Richard Helms — who had destroyed most MKUltra files before the investigation
• Rockefeller Commission — the parallel presidential investigation