From 1967 to 1973, the National Security Agency operated Project MINARET, a domestic espionage program that searched intercepted communications for names placed on executive-branch watch lists. The program began with monitoring Americans traveling to Cuba and alleged narcotics traffickers, then expanded under President Lyndon B. Johnson to antiwar activists and under President Richard Nixon to civil-rights leaders, journalists, and senators. More than 5,925 foreigners and 1,690 organizations and U.S. citizens appeared on the lists; 1,650 Americans were targeted, including Martin Luther King Jr., Whitney Young, Muhammad Ali, Jane Fonda, Tom Wicker, Howard Baker, and Art Buchwald.
The NSA passed reports to the FBI, CIA, Secret Service, Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, and Defense Department without warrants or judicial oversight. Agencies reportedly concealed the NSA’s role by returning or destroying reports after two weeks and marking them Top Secret. NSA Director Lew Allen testified in 1975 that the program produced more than 3,900 reports on watch-listed Americans. Senator Frank Church’s 1975 investigation exposed MINARET, while a 1977 Justice Department review concluded that wiretap laws had been violated. The 1972 Keith decision rejected warrantless electronic surveillance for domestic espionage, and the scandal helped lead to the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which established warrant and judicial-review procedures.
