In the eye of the Sphinx: US army intelligence collection and surveillance, 1965–1970

Abstract

ABSTRACT From 1965 to 1970, the United States Army executed a widespread program of surveillance of civilian political activity within the United States. The program’s originator was the US Army Intelligence Command, a geographically widespread counterintelligence organization built for the mission of protecting the army from foreign intelligence adversaries. Within Intelligence Command, this mission engendered an organizational culture that valued supporting the army above all else, including regulatory and legal restrictions. When the domestic disorders of the late 1960s necessitated repeated federal responses, Intelligence Command became the primary instrument for collecting information related to civil disturbances. Imbued with this culture, counterintelligence agents across the country conducted continuous surveillance of individuals, groups, and activities across the political spectrum. Yet, even when later exposed and under intense public scrutiny, Intelligence Command’s mission focus never wavered, thereby demonstrating the danger when the culture of an intelligence organization clashes with its legal limits.