Operation CHAOS: The CIA, the Antiwar Movement and the Secret Files on Americans

As Americans protested the Vietnam War, their government asked a troubling question: were foreign powers directing the movement?

The CIA was sent to look for the answer overseas. Its reports repeatedly failed to find evidence that foreign governments controlled the antiwar movement. Yet the inquiry continued to grow. Under the codename Operation CHAOS, the Agency amassed files on Americans, indexed names and organisations, and received a steady flow of information about political activity at home.

Operation CHAOS follows the programme from its origins under President Lyndon Johnson through its expansion under Richard Nixon, its closure in 1974, and the investigations that brought its activities to light. Drawing on the Rockefeller Commission, the Church Committee and other official records, Bill Stewart examines what the CIA actually found, where investigators concluded it had exceeded its authority, and why ordinary supervision failed to stop it.

This is the story of a legitimate intelligence question pursued far beyond its proper limits — and of the files left behind when the operation ended.

For readers interested in the Vietnam era, intelligence history, civil liberties and the hidden workings of government.