United States President's Commission on CIA activities within the United States
Encyclopedia
The U.S. President's Commission on CIA activities within the United States was set up under President Gerald Ford
in 1975 to investigate the activities of the Central Intelligence Agency
and other intelligence agencies within the United States. The commission was led by the Vice President, Nelson Rockefeller
, and is sometimes referred to as the Rockefeller Commission.
The commission was created in response to a December 1974 report in The New York Times
that the CIA had conducted illegal domestic activities, including experiments on U.S. citizens, during the 1960s. The commission issued a single report in 1975, touching upon certain CIA abuses including mail opening and surveillance of domestic dissident groups. It publicized Project MKULTRA
, a CIA mind control
study.
It also studied issues relating to the John F. Kennedy assassination
, specifically the head snap as seen in the Zapruder film
(first shown on television in 1975), and the possible presence of E. Howard Hunt
and Frank Sturgis
in Dallas, Texas
.
A larger investigation, the Church Committee
, was set up on 27 January 1975 by the U.S. Senate
. The Nedzi Committee was created in the U.S. Congress
on 19 February 1975. It was replaced by the Pike Committee five months later.
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
in 1975 to investigate the activities of the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
and other intelligence agencies within the United States. The commission was led by the Vice President, Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st Vice President of the United States , serving under President Gerald Ford, and the 49th Governor of New York , as well as serving the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations in a variety of positions...
, and is sometimes referred to as the Rockefeller Commission.
The commission was created in response to a December 1974 report in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
that the CIA had conducted illegal domestic activities, including experiments on U.S. citizens, during the 1960s. The commission issued a single report in 1975, touching upon certain CIA abuses including mail opening and surveillance of domestic dissident groups. It publicized Project MKULTRA
Project MKULTRA
Project MKULTRA, or MK-ULTRA, was the code name for a covert, illegal CIA human experimentation program, run by the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence. This official U.S. government program began in the early 1950s, continued at least through the late 1960s, and used U.S...
, a CIA mind control
Mind control
Mind control refers to a process in which a group or individual "systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator, often to the detriment of the person being manipulated"...
study.
It also studied issues relating to the John F. Kennedy assassination
John F. Kennedy assassination
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
, specifically the head snap as seen in the Zapruder film
Zapruder film
The Zapruder film is a silent, color motion picture sequence shot by private citizen Abraham Zapruder with a home-movie camera, asU.S. President John F...
(first shown on television in 1975), and the possible presence of E. Howard Hunt
E. Howard Hunt
Everette Howard Hunt, Jr. was an American intelligence officer and writer. Hunt served for many years as a CIA officer. Hunt, with G...
and Frank Sturgis
Frank Sturgis
Frank Anthony Sturgis , born Frank Angelo Fiorini, was one of the Watergate burglars.-Early Life and Military Service:...
in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
.
A larger investigation, the Church Committee
Church Committee
The Church Committee is the common term referring to the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, a U.S. Senate committee chaired by Senator Frank Church in 1975. A precursor to the U.S...
, was set up on 27 January 1975 by the U.S. Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
. The Nedzi Committee was created in the U.S. Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
on 19 February 1975. It was replaced by the Pike Committee five months later.
See also
- Church CommitteeChurch CommitteeThe Church Committee is the common term referring to the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, a U.S. Senate committee chaired by Senator Frank Church in 1975. A precursor to the U.S...
- COINTELPROCOINTELPROCOINTELPRO was a series of covert, and often illegal, projects conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation aimed at surveilling, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting domestic political organizations.COINTELPRO tactics included discrediting targets through psychological...
- Family Jewels (Central Intelligence Agency)Family Jewels (Central Intelligence Agency)The Family Jewels is the informal name used to refer to a set of reports that detail activities conducted by the United States Central Intelligence Agency. Considered illegal or inappropriate, these actions were conducted over the span of decades, from the 1950s to the mid-1970s...
- Human experimentation in the United StatesHuman experimentation in the United StatesThere have been numerous experiments performed on human test subjects in the United States that have been considered unethical, and were often performed illegally, without the knowledge, consent, or informed consent of the test subjects....
- Nedzi Committee
- Pike Committee
- Plausible denialPlausible DenialPlausible Denial is the title of a book by American lawyer, Mark Lane that chronicles his legal defense of Victor Marchetti, a former-CIA agent who wrote an article for The Spotlight about the JFK assassination and was sued for defamation by E...
- Project MKULTRAProject MKULTRAProject MKULTRA, or MK-ULTRA, was the code name for a covert, illegal CIA human experimentation program, run by the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence. This official U.S. government program began in the early 1950s, continued at least through the late 1960s, and used U.S...
- Hughes-Ryan ActHughes-Ryan ActThe Hughes-Ryan Act is a 1974 United States federal law that amended the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. The Act was named for its co-authors, Senator Harold E. Hughes and Representative Leo Ryan...
Additional reading
See Chapter 3, "The Politics of Spying: The Rockefeller Commission and the CIA," in Kenneth Kitts, *Presidential Commissions and National Security (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2006).External links
- Rockefeller Commission Report - the full text of the report, as scans
- Another version of the Rockefeller Commission Report including interview transcripts, memos, correspondence and other Commission files released under the JFK Records Act.
- The Pike Committee Investigations and the CIA