Privacy, wiretapping and the citizen Congress’ battle to set legal boundaries on government wiretapping in the 1970s

The issue of citizen privacy in the context of national security and intelligence and counterintelligence efforts has been a highly politicized issue for the greater part of the twentieth century and one that has yet to be adjudicated as we begin the twenty-first century. My study focuses on the issue of the warrantless wiretapping of American citizens for intelligence ends and how this practice was regulated by the U.S. Congress. The overarching debate among both legislators during my period of research was how to strike the best balance between the needs of intelligence agencies to act against threats to the country, and the right of private citizens to be free from the specter of pervasive surveillance. These efforts were aimed at the integration of Congress into issues of privacy, the regulation of intelligence-based wiretapping and oversight.
My research into the resurgence of Congress in the 1970s and their efforts to regulate and create oversight mechanisms on the executive branch has expanded the understanding of this period in several ways. The articulation of the pre-1970s body I term as the White House – Intelligence Community Relationship gives us a greater understanding of how the presidency and the intelligence agencies functioned in the absence of meaningful Congressional regulation and oversight and how intelligence agency personnel were able to create and exert an authority independent of the Office of the President. This revised understanding of Schlesinger’s Imperial Presidency Model gives weight to the vast intelligence bureaucracy that created policy as much as enacted it. We see in my thesis that Congress members successfully avoided destroying the White House – Intelligence Community Relationship and instead became part of it. When we understand their regulatory and oversight work as a means to this end, we can more accurately evaluate the successes enjoyed by pro-reform Congress members in this period.