Thus much for the Republicans bringing us new visions for a modern era; all they've done in the current domestic spying flap is haul out the same old tactics clothed in slightly new self justifications. Call it GST if you want, but it's an old wolf dressed up in a new sheepskin. OPERATION SHAMROCK ran until 1975 when the Church Committee put it out of existence. SHAMROCK was a intercept program for domestic/foreign interactions, the big difference is in the technology. SHAMROCK intercepted communications from Western Union, RCA, and ITT. Perhaps it's time for a trip down memory lane when kids in t-shirts were protesting a quagmire of a war and those pesky Quakers were opposed to saving villages by destroying them? Below the fold there's some background on SHAMROCK and suggested links for more information.
What was SHAMROCK? This NSA project collected the transmissions by Western Union, ITT, and RCA from the early 1960's until 1975.
"From the early 1960s until 1973, the Church Committee found, the NSA "compiled a list of individuals and organizations, including 1,200 American citizens and domestic groups, whose communications were segregated," transcribed and the disseminated within the intelligence community. Among the missives the Church Committee found in Cold War NSA files were discussions about a peace concert, an anti-war activist's request for a speaker in New York and a newspaper correspondent's report from Southeast Asia to his magazine in New York. The NSA also examined vast numbers of telegrams."
source ."
Why did the Government run SHAMROCK? The answer to this question doesn't require much imagination. However, remember that mythological wall between the FBI and the NSA, CIA and others? That wall was more like a sieve in the early sixties.
The NSA kicked its spy campaign into high gear in the 1960s. The FBI demanded that the NSA monitor antiwar activists, civil rights leaders, and drug peddlers. The Senate Select Committee that investigated government domestic spying in 1976 pried open a tiny public window into the scope of NSA spying. But the agency slammed the window shut fast when it refused to cough up documents to the committee that would tell more about its surveillance of Americans. The NSA claimed that disclosure would compromise national security.
alternet Note that same "National Security" defense used to justify SHAMROCK is the same one we're hearing now about current Bush Administration domestic spy operations.
What did SHAMROCK actually accomplish? Not much, and certainly not much that truly kept the Commies at bay and made Americans safer in their beds at night.
Among the missives the Church Committee found in Cold War NSA files were discussions about a peace concert, an anti-war activist's request for a speaker in New York and a newspaper correspondent's report from Southeast Asia to his magazine in New York. The NSA also examined vast numbers of telegrams.
Despite the scale and intrusiveness of these efforts, the intercepts had "little intelligence value."' Most were personal or private in nature." emphasis added
source
If you'd like more information on this old scheme in a new world there are some additional references. I'd personally recommend EPIC.ORG for information on modern domesting spying and data mining operations; and, I'm certain that commenters can recommend other valuable sites as well.
Additional references:
Operation Shamrock
Operation Shamrock I can't vouch for the veracity of information on this site, but it does echo information given in other places.
Domestic Spying by Christian Erickson UC DavisThis is a working draft and the author asks that permission be given before citations are given. It contains good information and is worth the time reading it.
Bamford and NSA
Wired
Wired
EPIC
and EPIC articles by topic
You may also want to Google "operation" or "project Harvest" which was part of Operation SHAMROCK for additional information. There are many sites with information about the Church Committee that pop up in a quick Google search. Please be warned that much of this material is in PDF format.