ABSTRACT
The US intelligence community functions under laws and regulations which limit what it can do and which mandate a set of procedures for carrying out various functions. The military services carried on intelligence activities related to combat requirements and the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted some investigations that would be considered "intelligence activity," but there was no central intelligence unit and no organized intelligence community. The unchallenged record makes it clear that the intelligence agencies did engage in a number of activities which clearly violated the Constitution and the laws of the land. In developing the rules which affect surveillance of Americans, intelligence agency officials divide their requirements into several categories related to the status of the person brought under surveillance. In 1980 Congress revised the system for its oversight of covert operations as part of a set of procedures for general congressional review of intelligence community activity.
