Church Committee - Definition and Overview

The Church Committee is a popular term referring to the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, a Senate committee chaired by Senator Frank Church (D-ID) in 1975. The committee investigated illegal intelligence gathering by the CIA and FBI after such activities had been revealed by the Watergate affair.

In 1975 and 1976, the Church Committee published fourteen reports on the formation of U.S. intelligence agencies, their operations, and the abuses of law and of power that they had committed, together with recommendations for reform, some of which were enacted by Congress.

Among the matters investigated were attempts to assassinate foreign leaders, including Patrice Lumumba of the Congo, Fidel Castro of Cuba, Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican Republic, the Diem brothers of Vietnam, and Gen. Rene Schneider of Chile.

Together, the Church Committee's reports have been said to constitute the most extensive review of intelligence activities ever made available to the public.

External links

• Church Committee reports (Assassination Archives and Research Center) (http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/reports/contents.htm)
• Church Report: Covert Action in Chile 1963-1973 (U.S. Dept. of State) (http://foia.state.gov/Reports/ChurchReport.asp)

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