OVERSIGHTWhy Church Committee Alums Urged New House Panel to Avoid Partisanship
The bipartisan Church Committee of the mid-1970s was created in the wake of New York Times stories on intelligence abuses by the CIA targeting American dissidents. It uncovered decades of intelligence and Civil Rights abuses by the FBI, CIA, and the NSA, and led to sweeping oversight reforms. House Republicans this month launched a House Judiciary subcommittee to look into the “weaponization” of the federal government. It would be a good idea to follow the bipartisan – and non-partisan — example of the Church Committee.
U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan launched a House Judiciary subcommittee this month to look into the “weaponization” of the federal government. The Ohio Republican says the examination of various investigations is modeled after the much-admired, bipartisan Church Committee of the mid-1970s (named after its chair, Democratic Sen. Frank Church of Idaho). The committee was created in the wake of New York Times stories on intelligence abuses by the CIA targeting American dissidents. It uncovered decades of intelligence and Civil Rights abuses by the FBI, CIA, and the NSA, and led to sweeping oversight reforms.
In response to Jordan’s nod to the Church Committee, more than two dozen former staff members of the committee sent Jordan a letter on Feb. 15 counseling him to avoid any hint of partisanship. To understand why the group offered this advice, Christina Pazzanese of the Harvard Gazette spoke with Frederick “Fritz” A.O. Schwarz Jr., ’57, L.L.B.’60, chief counsel for the Church Committee and one of the letter signers. He is now chief counsel for the office of the president at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. Interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Christina Pazzanese: The Church Committee’s mandate was very broad and initially focused on the CIA. Did you or the committee have any expectations of what you might uncover?
Frederick Schwarz Jr.: I don’t think anybody had any idea how much we might find, how much misbehavior there had been in the U.S. government, in the agencies. Certainly, the CIA, but frankly, the FBI was the greatest problem that we uncovered and exposed. People would say, “Oh, you’re looking at intelligence — that means the CIA.” But I think the FBI was the more important problem because the CIA’s behavior was a problem for America’s reputation around the world, but the FBI’s behavior was undermining American democracy at home.
