Historical Dictionary of United States Intelligence

committee’s staff did not develop the same cooperative relationship

with CIAofficials as had its counterpart in the Senate, the Church

Committee, and so its investigations were mired in disputes with the

CIAover access to documents and declassification of information.

The final report of the committee was highly critical of U.S. intel-

ligence and of the CIAin particular. CIAofficials countered that the

report was factually erroneous, was based on bias, lacked any sem-

blance of balance, and was highly pejorative. On 29 January 1976,

the House of Representatives voted not to release the report, but it

was nonetheless leaked to The Village Voice, which published it on 16

February 1976. Despite the recriminations and the acrimony sur-

rounding the House investigations, the Pike Committee evolved into

the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI),

the intelligence oversightcommittee in the House of Representa-

tives. See alsoSENATE RESOLUTION 400; SENATE SELECT

COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE.

SELECT COMMITTEE TO STUDY GOVERNMENTAL OPER-

ATIONS WITH RESPECT TO INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES.

SeeCHURCH COMMITTEE.

SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE (SASC).Created by

the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, the committee merged

the Senate Military Affairs Committee and Naval Affairs Committee,

both of which had been in existence since 1816. The new commit-

tee’s jurisdiction was based on the Constitution’s grant to Congress

to provide for the general defense. The 13-member committee met

for the first time on 13 January 1947.

The SASC quickly became an important conduit for national se-

curity legislation. It was heavily involved in the passage of the 1947

National Security Actand the amendments to it in 1949 that estab-

lished the Department of Defense(DOD). It passed, among others,

the Selective Service Act of 1948, the Armed Services Procurement

Act of 1948, the Air Force Composition Act of 1948, the Uniform

Code of Military Justice Act of 1950, the Universal Military Training

Program Act of 1952, and the Armed Forces Reserve Act of 1952.

In its early years, the SASC lacked jurisdiction and professional

staff and so largely reacted to, rather than initiated, legislation. The

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