Operation CHAOS: Difference between revisions

'''Operation CHAOS''' or '''Operation MHCHAOS''' was a [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) domestic [[espionage]] project targeting the American peoplecitizens operating from 1967 to 1974, established by President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] and expanded under President [[Richard Nixon]], whose mission was to uncover possible foreign influence on domestic race, anti-war, and other protest movements. The operation was launched under [[Director of Central Intelligence]] (DCI) [[Richard Helms]] by chief of counter-intelligence [[James Jesus Angleton]], and headed by [[Richard Ober]].<ref name="Theoharis06">{{cite book|title=The Central Intelligence Agency: Security Under Scrutiny |last=Athan Theoharis |first=Richard H. |year=2006 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=0-313-33282-7 |pages=49,175,195,203,322}}</ref><ref name="Napoli05">{{cite book|title=Intelligence Identities Protection Act and Its Interpretation |first=Russell P. |last=Napoli |publisher=Nova Publishers |year=2005 |isbn=1-59454-685-1 |pages=18–20}}</ref> The "MH" designation is to signify the program had a worldwideglobal area of operations.<ref name="Friedman05">{{cite book|title=The Secret Histories: Hidden Truths That Challenged the Past and Changed the World |first=John S. |last=Friedman |year=2005 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=0-312-42517-1 |pages=278–279}}</ref>

The CIA was charged with the collection, correlation, and evaluation of intelligence. While the Act does not specify a prohibition on collecting domestic intelligence, or a restriction to only collect foreign intelligence, [[Executive Order 12333|Executive Order 12333 of 1981]] added prohibitions to limit CIA activities. The CIA began domestic recruiting operations in 1959 in the process of finding [[Cuba]]n exiles who could be used in the [[Cuban Project|campaign against communist Cuba]] and President [[Fidel Castro]]. As these operations expanded, the CIA formed a [[Domestic Operations Division]] in 1964. In 1965, President [[Lyndon Johnson]] requested that the CIA begin its own investigation into domestic dissent—independent of the FBI's ongoing [[COINTELPRO]].<ref name=Lyon>Lyon, Verne. [https://archive.org/download/the-history-of-operation-chaos-by-verne-lyon-covert-action-information-bulletin-/The%20History%20of%20Operation%20CHAOS%2C%20by%20Verne%20Lyon%20%28CovertAction%20Information%20Bulletin%2C%20No.%2034%2C%20Summer%201990%29%20pp.%2059-62.pdf "Domestic Surveillance: The History of Operation CHAOS."] ''[[Covert Action Information Bulletin]]'', No. 34, Summer 1990, pp. 59-62. [https://covertactionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CAIB34-1990-2.pdf Full issue available].</ref>

When President [[Richard Nixon]] came to office in 1969, existing domestic surveillance activities were consolidated into Operation CHAOS.<ref name="Goldstein01">{{cite book|title=Political Repression in Modern America: From 1870 to 1976 |first=Robert Justin |last=Goldstein |year=2001 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=0-252-06964-1 |page=456}}</ref> Operation CHAOS first used CIA stations abroad to report on antiwar activities of United StatesAmerican citizens traveling abroad, employing methods such as physical surveillance and electronic [[eavesdropping]], utilizing "liaison services" in maintaining such surveillance. The operations were later expanded to include 60 officers.<ref name="Friedman05" /> In 1969, following the expansion, the operation began developing its own network of [[informants]] for the purposes of infiltrating various foreign antiwar groups located in foreign countries that might have ties to domestic groups.<ref name="Napoli05" /> Eventually, CIA officers expanded the program to include other leftist or counter-cultural groups with no discernible connection to [[Vietnam]], such as groups operating within the [[History of feminism#Late twentieth century: the postwar period and the second wave1940s|women's liberation movement]].<ref name="Theoharis06" /> The domestic spying of Operation CHAOS also targeted the [[Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C.|Israeli embassy]], and domestic [[Jew]]ish groups such as the [[B'nai B'rith]]. In order to gather intelligence on the embassy and B'nai B'rith, the CIA purchased a [[Waste collection|garbage collection]] company to collect documents that were to be destroyed.<ref name="Loftus97">{{cite book|title=The Secret War Against the Jews: How Western Espionage Betrayed The Jewish People |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780312110574 |url-access=registration |first=John |last=Loftus |author2=Mark Aarons |publisher=St. Martin's Griffin |date=April 15, 1997 |isbn=0-312-15648-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780312110574/page/322 322]}}</ref>

*[[Ramparts Magazine(magazine)|''Ramparts'' magazine]]<ref>[[Stansfield Turner|Turner, Stansfield]]. [https://archive.org/details/burnbeforereadin00turn ''Burn Before Reading'']. [[Hachette Books|Hyperion]], 2005, p. 118. {{ISBN|9780786867820}}.</ref>

{{Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson}}

{{Presidency of Richard Nixon}}