A New Church Committee? Not Exactly, But Close Enough.

One of the most famous Congressional committee investigations in history was conducted over the course of 1975-1976 under the chairmanship of Senator Frank Church (D-ID). It was formally called the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities. But it was known informally as the Church Committee.

It was genuinely bipartisan (something rare today) and included prominent Republicans such as John Tower, Barry Goldwater, and Howard Baker along with top Democrats including Walter Mondale and Gary Hart.

The targets of the investigation were the CIA, NSA, FBI, and the IRS. It was prompted by leaks about the CIA’s MKULTRA program that involved the drugging and torture of U.S. citizens who were forced to take LSD and other drugs as part of experiments on mind control. (The “MK” in MKULTRA was CIA code for “mind control”). Other programs exposed included FAMILY JEWELS, which involved covert assassinations of foreign leaders.

One of the most shocking disclosures involved Operation SHAMROCK in which major telecommunications companies shared message traffic with the NSA from 1945 to 1975. Abuses by the FBI and IRS were equally egregious and illegal.

The impact of the Church Committee was momentous. The committee’s report led to executive orders by President Ford and President Reagan banning the assassination of foreign leaders. Many other reforms were enacted.

Still, nothing in Washington is permanent. It has been almost 50 years since the Church Committee finished its work. The same government agencies – CIA, NSA, FBI, and IRS – joined now by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and others are back to breaking the law.

The CIA offered illegal leaks to promote the impeachment of Donald Trump. The NSA illegally spied on U.S. citizens by inventing claims against their foreign interlocutors. The FBI illegally promoted the January 6 riots by salting the peaceful crowd with agents provocateurs. The FBI also violated the First Amendment by working with Twitter to censor those who disagree with the White House party line.

The IRS is gearing up to induct 87,000 armed agents to put pressure on small businesses and entrepreneurs. The DOJ selectively prosecutes January 6 rioters (mostly unarmed trespassers) while ignoring the role of Antifa and BLM in burning down hundreds of U.S. cities in the summer of 2020.

There are many other cases of abuse that could be listed. Is anything being done to protect the rights of Americans from the illegal acts of government agencies? Hopefully, yes.

As reported in this article, Republicans in the House of Representatives have created a special new committee to review the weaponization of intelligence and law enforcement agencies to attack conservatives. The Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government will be headed by Jim Jordan (R-OH), who is a staunch conservative and brilliant lawyer who asks probing questions.

It may be too much to expect bipartisan support for this committee; all 211 Democrats in the House voted against it. But it may not be too much to expect significant exposure of wrongdoing and possible reforms as was the case with the Church Committee. Let’s hope so.

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