Intelligence Pathologies the Church Committee
The Church Committee Investigations which began in 1974 after the Watershed Scandal in President Nixon's administration found that intelligence agencies had unlimited executive power. The committee found that intelligence agencies abused this power and harassed and disrupted targeted groups and individuals, spied on citizens, assassination plots, manipulation and infiltration of businesses and media. Recommendations made by the Church Committee in the 1970s concerning intelligence agencies have been overlooked. As President Nixon's administration gave more executive power to intelligence agencies during his reign, so did President Bush. Intelligence agencies acquired executive authority after 9/11 are founded on the rhetoric of the war on terrorism, finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and identifying the link between Iraq and Al-Qaida. The agencies have carried out executive authority of unwarranted surveillance at home and abroad, arresting and detaining citizens and groups in secret prisons abroad, using enhanced interrogation, and denying detainees legal representation. It is evident these executive power has made intelligence agencies intractable after 9/11 as they were in the post cold war era. This executive power has made intelligence checkpoints like the congressional oversight committees, FISA court and the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act invaluable.