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On January 27, 1975, Senator Frank Church led a new Senate committee formed to investigate allegations of U.S. government spying on its own citizens. The committee’s report laid the groundwork for today’s controversy over NSA surveillance programs.

Back in the post-Watergate era, Church and his colleagues weren’t concerned with international terrorism. But there was an overseas connection to Chile. The committee was a reaction to revelations that the FBI and CIA appeared to engage in unconstitutional surveillance of Americans during the era.

Link: Read The Church Committee Report

There are elements of the story that seem familiar today. On December 22, 1974, Seymour Hersh, a New York Times investigative journalist, reported on a previously confidential CIA operation involving Chile.

Part of Hersh’s report also detailed what appeared to be illegal spying operations on thousands of Americans by their own government.

The Church Committee labored against government concerns about revealing confidential information and it didn’t receive wide bipartisan support in Congress. But its resulting reports in 1976 led to momentum in Congress to pass the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978. Under FISA, the National Security Agency would now work with the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court to approve surveillance on Americans and foreign nationals.

Link: Read The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

Revelations in the Church Committee report included the early existence of  NSA surveillance programs that dated back to the Truman administration and the Vietnam War. Project Shamrock started in 1947 and it allowed the government to copy telegrams sent overseas without obtaining warrants. Five years later, Truman formally established the National Security Agency to handle such efforts.

read more here: https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/looking-back-at-the-church-committee