New Books Network Matthew Guariglia and Brian Hochman, "The Church Committee Report: Revelations from the Bombshell 1970s Investigation into the National Security State" (W. W. Norton & Co, 2026)
Mar 29, 2026
Brian Hochman, Georgetown professor of American Studies and editor of The Church Committee Report. Matthew Guariglia, historian and EFF policy analyst on surveillance and civil liberties. They discuss the Church Committee’s uncovering of CIA and FBI abuses, MKUltra and toxic experiments, NSA surveillance exposure, and the report’s lasting effects on oversight and reform.
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Long Build Up Fueled The Church Committee
- The Church Committee grew from years of mounting mistrust including the Pentagon Papers and the 1971 FBI office break-in that exposed COINTELPRO.
- Those earlier scandals created a roadmap that allowed the Committee to rapidly expand investigations beyond Seymour Hersh's 1974 stories.
Committee Divided Into Foreign And Domestic Tracks
- The Committee split its work into foreign and domestic arenas, exposing both CIA overseas abuses and FBI domestic violations like COINTELPRO.
- That structure reflected legal differences: U.S. residents had constitutional protections the Committee specifically examined.
Church Committee Introduced Americans To The NSA
- The NSA was virtually unknown to most Americans before the Church Committee; its secret partnerships and domestic data collection were first exposed there.
- Early insider tips and CIA documents let the Committee begin public hearings that opened the NSA to scrutiny.
