the United States Senate and then attempted—but failed—to suppress the Church Committee’s report as well... The committee recommended that a prohibition on assassinations be written into law, even supplying language that could be used in such a statute. Their prohibition would have covered not only foreign officials but members of an “insurgent force, an unrecognized government, or a political party.On October 31 President Ford wrote Senator Church to ask that the Church Committee's report on CIA Assassinations be kept secret, fearing "grievous harm to the national interest." The committee voted to reject this demand, and Church answered his on November 4, writing, “in my view the national interest is better served by letting the American people know the true and complete story ... We believe that foreign peoples will, upon sober reflection, admire our nation more for keeping faith with our democratic ideals than they will condemn us for the misconduct itself.” Nonetheless, on November 20 the Senate convened in a secret session to debate releasing the Church assassinations report, but took no vote on whether to hold its release. Senator Church objected to President Fords executive order, arguing that "anything a president set by fiat could be changed by fiat as well, by means of a future executive action." However, the executive order has been upheld by all subsequent presidents. Pike Committee Main Article: Pike Committee The House counterpart to the Church Committee and Rockefeller Commission was the Pike Committee. The White House initially denied it access to information, nearly igniting a legal crisis. Under threat of being sued, President Ford eventually allowed the Pike Committee to access CIA documents "on loan." However, Ford prevented the Committee from officially publishing its final report, and the House did not overrule him. Large excerpts of the report were leaked to The Village Voice and published on February 16, 1976. The Committee was ultimately succeeded by the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) on July 14, 1977. See also Church Committee COINTELPRO Family Jewels (Central Intelligence Agency) Human experimentation in the United States Human rights violations by the CIA Nedzi Committee Pike Committee Plausible denial Project MKUltra Hughes–Ryan Act Werner Spitz References Further reading External links Gerald Ford White House Altered Rockefeller Commission Report in 1975; Removed Section on CIA Assassination Plots Rockefeller Commission Report – the full text of the report, as scans Another version of the Rockefeller Commission Report including