Church Committee

The Church Committee was formally known as the U.S. Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities. It was a U.S. Senate select committee that investigated abuses by government agencies, including the CIA, NSA, FBI, and IRS.

The Church Committee was created on January 27, 1975, after Nixon’s Watergate scandal revealed that the executive branch had directed national intelligence agencies to carry out unconstitutional tasks. Senator John Pastore introduced a resolution to the Senate on January 21, 1975, and it was approved in a 82-4 vote.

The committee's task was to conduct a wide-ranging investigation on national intelligence agencies and programs, write a detailed report, and provided legislative recommendations. All of this had to be completed within one year, though this time limit was later extended to 16 months.

The Church Committee ended up holding 126 full committee meetings, 40 subcommittee hearings, interviewing over 800 witnesses in public and closed sessions, and combing through over 110,000 documents. The Church Committee’s final report was published in April 29, 1976 in six books.

The Church Committee is an excellent example of congressional oversight and the checks and balances in place in the United States government, as the committee investigated and reformed federal agencies.

Sources:
https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/investigations/ChurchCommittee.htm
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Church-Committee