Newly released documents show that the Gerald Ford administration attempted to block a landmark Senate report detailing CIA assassination plots against foreign leaders. The report, published 50 years ago, led to major reforms in intelligence oversight. The documents were released by the National Security Archive amid speculation that Donald Trump may have authorised the assassination of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
A secret memo addressed to Dick Cheney, then Ford's chief of staff, recommended outright opposition to the report, led by Senator Frank Church. Ford accepted the recommendation, warning that publication would cause 'damage to the nation'. The memo suggested that strong White House opposition might persuade the committee to revise the most harmful areas.
The documents also reveal strong antipathy from CIA Director William Colby and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Kissinger feared the investigation could be 'as damaging to the intelligence community as McCarthy was to the foreign service', potentially stifling the imagination of intelligence personnel.
The Church committee's report, published on 20 November 1975, exposed CIA attempts to kill Fidel Castro and involvement in the assassinations of Patrice Lumumba and General René Schneider. It concluded that assassination was 'incompatible with American principles, international order, and morality'. The following year, Ford signed an executive order banning assassination of foreign leaders outside war situations.
Peter Kornbluh of the National Security Archive said the report's significance is heightened by current speculation about Maduro. He noted that 50 years on, the US has moved 'in the wrong direction', with presidents openly discussing assassination plots. The archive argues that the moral consensus against such tactics has been forgotten.
