Church Committee

Operation CHAOS Church Committee

The most extensive program of illegal domestic spying by the CIA on Americans was Operation CHAOS. CHAOS was the centerpiece of a major CIA effort begun in 1967 in response to White House pressure for intelligence about foreign influence upon American dissent. The mission of CHAOS was to gather and evaluate all available information about foreign links to racial, antiwar, and other protest activity in the United States, including the women's movement. In addition to the CHAOS program, this book covers domestic mail opening by the CIA and FBI, surveillance of Americans by the National Security Agency (NSA), political abuses of tax information involving the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and improper surveillance of private citizens by the U. S. military.