The Church Committee Report: Revelations from the Bombshell 1970s Investigation into the National Security State

by Matthew Guariglia, Brian P. Craig (Narrator), Beverly Gage - foreword

After fifty years, this shocking report—released in a single, accessible volume for the first time—is still the most accurate account of US government spying on its own citizens.

Fifty years ago, a government investigation led by US senator Frank Church uncovered some of the darkest state secrets of the twentieth century. The Church Committee confirmed the nation's worst fears about the unchecked power of its intelligence at the FBI, surveillance campaigns against civil rights leaders and clandestine attempts to disrupt antiwar protests; at the CIA, assassination plots against foreign heads of state, experiments with toxic substances and illegal drugs, and covert partnerships with the Mafia. The Church Committee's findings were so explosive that key members found themselves on the watch lists of the very government agencies they were investigating. Three witnesses who cooperated with the inquiry were murdered.

Amid the creep of digital surveillance and the upheavals of social protest, this must-listen volume, containing the most harrowing revelations of the Church Committee investigation, sheds valuable light on some of today's most urgent concerns.

Genres: Audiobook, Nonfiction

Audible Audio

Published January 20, 2026

Reviews

[Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got the audiobook arc from netgally.

Long and through book that goes in depth but didn't feel to dense and was easy to follow. I had no idea of most of it and it felt many times like it was the plot of an action movie and not real life. Interesting yet as scary as a non fiction can be.

[Mick B · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Too many people have been spied upon by too many government agencies and too much information has been collected!"

"For the first time, the government's domestic surveillance programs as they have developed over the past forty years can be measured against the values that our constitution seeks to preserve and protect. Based upon our full record and the findings which we have set forth above, the committee concludes that domestic intelligence activity has threatened and undermined the Constitutional rights of Americans to free speech, association and privacy. It has done so primarily because the constitutional system for checking abuse of power has not been applied."

Thank you to NetGalley, Matthew Guariglia, Brian Hochman, and HighBridge Audio for this advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

CW: Violence, assassination plots, drug experimentation, surveillance of marginalized groups

The Church Committee Report: Revelations from the Bombshell 1970s Investigation into the National Security State compiles findings from the 1970s Senate investigation into intelligence agency abuses, and there's so much here I didn't know. Over the years I'd heard stories about what the FBI and CIA did during the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and honestly I assumed a lot of it was exaggerated or incorrect. Turns out it wasn't. This era really was the wild west when it came to surveillance, and the rights of citizens were barely considered. The sections on MK Ultra and MLK Jr. fascinated me the most.

This is incredibly informative. Brian P. Craig has a great tone and speaks very clearly, which I appreciated given how dense this material is. The pacing felt too slow for me so I eventually sped it up, but that's personal preference. I was honestly surprised by how easy this was to consume via audiobook. I worried I'd get confused or that the structure of a government report wouldn't translate well to audio, but it worked fine.

My main issue is the repetition. This is an edited version of the complete Church Report, so choices were already made about what to include and exclude. There's still a lot of repetition throughout, and I wonder if it would have been more effective to condense those repetitive portions further? It might have also been more accessible if the editors had narrativized the report and included the actual text as an appendix for reference. If edits were already being made, why not go one step further to make this more accessible and less repetitive? This is especially important because the audiobook is more than 18 hours long. That's a huge commitment and probably a deterrent for many potential listeners.

This information matters. As a millennial, I wasn't taught this in school. It wasn't even touched upon in my education. The older generation knows this history because they lived through it and it was national news at the time, but for younger people this is largely hidden. Understanding what happened then feels particularly urgent right now. We're in a political moment that's leaning toward authoritarianism, and the way agencies like the FBI might be used sounds uncomfortably similar to what's documented in this report.

The audiobook format works, though if someone really wants to research this topic thoroughly, print might be better for referencing back to specific sections. The material is dense enough that being able to flip through pages could be useful.

This is essential for people concerned about surveillance and civil liberties, history buffs interested in this era, and anyone worried about current authoritarian trends. It's not light listening and the length is intimidating, but the information is too important to ignore. I wish it were more streamlined so I could recommend it more widely, but as it stands, this is for a specific audience willing to commit the time.

An important historical document that reveals shocking government abuses, though the length and repetition limit its accessibility.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A condensed but nevertheless lengthy and highly detailed account of the findings of the Church Commission investigating the government’s unauthorized activities in the 1950s-1970s.
This period covers lots of allegedly “anti-communist” wiretapping and surveillance of American citizens (including Martin Luther King, Jr) , the CIA’s interference in Latin America, the administering and/or withholding of drugs unbeknownst to the “participant” (the MK-Ultra project, Tuskegee Syphilis study, etc.), and more.

Unchecked power is corrosive. It was then, and it is again in the current administration. I’ve read separate books on several of these operations that are more accessible and digestible. This audiobook is like drinking from a firehose of data and dates. It’s overwhelming and depressing. Yet, I applaud the intent: to make the multi-volume report more accessible by focusing on the most relevant sections.

The Church Committee generated 96 recommendations to curb the abuses of power it documented.

“Some of these recommendations led to landmark reforms such as the formation of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and the passage of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (1978). Other recommendations were never enacted.

“Recommendation one: Intelligence agencies are subject to the rule of law. There is no inherent constitutional authority for the President or any intelligence agency to violate the law.” ‘Nuff said, yet there are 95 more recommendations, most of which seem to have been largely ignored.

My thanks to the author, publisher, @HighbridgeAudio, and #NetGalley for early access to the audiobook of #TheChurchCommitteeReport for review purposes. Publication date: 20 January 2026, the day after we observe Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the US.