Church Committee

The Senate investigation of 1975 and 1976 that exposed intelligence abuses

Overview

The Senate Select Committee chaired by Frank Church investigated assassination plotting, domestic surveillance, and covert meddling from 1975 to 1976. Its public reports documented CIA schemes against foreign leaders including Fidel Castro, FBI programs targeting dissidents under COINTELPRO, and decades of concealed activities. The committee's work produced the permanent intelligence committees in Congress and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, building the oversight architecture that endures. It remains the deepest look any democracy has taken into its own secret services.