The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), stood up in March 1941 as the "Truman Committee," is the oldest subcommittee of the
(formerly the Committee on Government Operations).
History
The
Truman Committee (itself successor to the
Nye Committee
The Nye Committee, officially known as the Special Committee on Investigation of the Munitions Industry, was a United States Senate committee (April 12, 1934 – February 24, 1936), chaired by U.S. Senator Gerald Nye (R-ND). The committee investig ...
1934–1936) stood up from March 1941 to 1948, the Investigations Subcommittee of the
Committee on Expenditures in Executive Departments took over two key aspects of the Truman Committee. First, Investigations Subcommittee took the Truman Committee's investigation of war contracts and procurement of the
Hughes XF-11
The Hughes XF-11 (redesignated XR-11 in 1948) was a prototype military reconnaissance aircraft designed and flown by Howard Hughes and built by Hughes Aircraft for the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). Although 100 F-11s were ordered in ...
reconnaissance aircraft and the
Hughes H-4 Hercules flying boat (''Spruce Goose''). Second, the subcommittee also assumed responsibility for the records of the Truman Committee.
Under the chairmanship of
Homer S. Ferguson of Michigan (1948) and
Clyde R. Hoey
Clyde Roark Hoey (December 11, 1877May 12, 1954) was an American Democratic politician from North Carolina. He served in both houses of the state legislature and served briefly in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1919 to 1921. He was Nor ...
of
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
(1949-1952), the Investigations Subcommittee of the Committee on Expenditures in Executive Departments held hearings on such matters as
export control violations, for which Soviet spy
William Remington
William Walter Remington (1917–1954) was an economist employed in various federal government positions until his career was interrupted by accusations of espionage made by the Soviet spy and defector Elizabeth Bentley. He was convicted of ...
was called in to testify; the trial of
Nazi war criminal
The following is a list of people who were formally indicted for committing war crimes on behalf of the Axis powers during World War II, including those who were acquitted or never received judgment. It does not include people who may have commi ...
Ilse Koch
Ilse Koch (22 September 1906 – 1 September 1967) was a German war criminal who was an overseer at Nazi concentration camps run by her husband, commandant Karl-Otto Koch. Working at Buchenwald (1937–1941) and Majdanek (1941–1943), Koch ...
; and the
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
Democratic Party's sale of postal jobs, which Mississippians from rural areas attested to purchasing. A much larger scandal erupted with the "5 percenters", so-called because these men, including Presidential aide
Harry H. Vaughan, were accused of charging a 5% commission for their influence in securing government contracts. A legislative reform as a result of the hearings was a restriction of one year after leaving government employment before an attorney could practice law again before the government.
Korean War Atrocities
As news of war crimes during the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
unfolded, the Subcommittee on Korean War Atrocities was headed by
Charles E. Potter, and began an investigation of the abuse and murder of
prisoners of war such as forced marches, maltreatments, and the shooting and murdering of prisoners shortly after capture.
Joseph McCarthy
In the
83rd United States Congress
The 83rd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 1953, until January 3, 1955, during the last two weeks of the Truman administration, wi ...
, the subcommittee (now known as the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations or PSI), under its new chairman,
Joseph McCarthy of
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
, greatly increased the number of investigations and number of witnesses called. His subcommittee held 169 hearings throughout 1953 and 1954. Of the 653 people called by the Committee during a 15-month period, 83 refused to answer questions about
espionage
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...
and
subversion on constitutional grounds and their names were made public. Nine additional witnesses invoked the
Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fifth Amendment (Amendment V) to the United States Constitution addresses criminal procedure and other aspects of the Constitution. It was ratified, along with nine other articles, in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights. The Fifth Amend ...
in executive session and their names were not made public. Some of the 83 were working or had worked for the
Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
, the
Navy
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...
, the
Government Printing Office
The United States Government Publishing Office (USGPO or GPO; formerly the United States Government Printing Office) is an agency of the legislative branch of the United States Federal government. The office produces and distributes information ...
, the
Department of the Treasury, the
Office of War Information
The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was a United States government agency created during World War II. The OWI operated from June 1942 until September 1945. Through radio broadcasts, newspapers, posters, photographs, films and other ...
, and the
Office of Strategic Services. Others were or had been employed at the Federal Telecommunications Laboratories in New Jersey, the secret radar laboratories of the
Army Signal Corps
The United States Army Signal Corps (USASC) is a branch of the United States Army that creates and manages communications and information systems for the command and control of combined arms forces. It was established in 1860, the brainchild of Ma ...
in New Jersey, and
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...
defense plants in Massachusetts and New York. Nineteen of the 83, including well known communist party members
James S. Allen,
Herbert Aptheker, and
Earl Browder, were summoned because their writings were being carried in
United States Information Agency
The United States Information Agency (USIA), which operated from 1953 to 1999, was a United States agency devoted to " public diplomacy". In 1999, prior to the reorganization of intelligence agencies by President George W. Bush, President Bil ...
libraries around the world.
The hearings also investigated such matters as communist
infiltration of the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
;
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
atrocities; and the transfer to the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
of occupation
currency plates. From December 1952 to July 1953,
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...
was an assistant counsel of PSI.
In April 1954, McCarthy's exchange of charges with
Secretary of the Army Robert T. Stevens led to the appointment of a special subcommittee of the PSI to investigate the charges. Chaired by
Karl E. Mundt of
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...
, the proceedings became known as the
Army–McCarthy hearings.
Labor racketeering and organized crime
From 1955 until 1972,
John Little McClellan
John Little McClellan (February 25, 1896 – November 28, 1977) was an American lawyer and a segregationist politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a U.S. Representative (1935–1939) and a U.S. Senator (1943–1977) fr ...
of
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...
chaired the PSI. McClellan continued extensive hearings of the Army Signal Corps at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, and added new inquiries relating to communist activities in the United States and to business activities and alleged improper activities by
Eisenhower Administration
Dwight D. Eisenhower's tenure as the 34th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1953, and ended on January 20, 1961. Eisenhower, a Republican from Kansas, took office following a landslide victory ...
appointees and political associates. In the
86th Congress
The 86th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 195 ...
(1957), members of the Subcommittee were joined by Members of the
Committee on Labor and Public Welfare on a special committee (the
Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management) to investigate labor racketeering. Chaired by Senator McClellan and staffed by
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...
, the Subcommittee's chief counsel, and other staff members, this special committee directed much of its attention to criminal influence over the
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), also known as the Teamsters Union, is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of The Team Drivers International Union and The Teamsters National Union, the un ...
, most famously calling Teamsters' leaders
Dave Beck
David Daniel Beck (June 16, 1894December 26, 1993) was an American labor leader, and president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters from 1952 to 1957. He helped found the "Conference" system of organization in the Teamsters union, and s ...
and
Jimmy Hoffa to testify. The televised hearings of the special committee also introduced Senators
Barry Goldwater and
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
to the nation, as well as leading to passage of the
Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act.
After the select committee expired in 1960, the PSI continued to investigate labor racketeering and other labor-related matters. From 1961 through 1968, it also investigated
gambling
Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three el ...
and
organized crime
Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
in which
Joseph Valachi
Joseph Michael Valachi (September 22, 1904 – April 3, 1971) was an American mobster in the Genovese crime family who is notable as the first member of the Italian-American Mafia to acknowledge its existence publicly in 1963. He is credited wit ...
testified about the activities of the
Sicilian Mafia, the
Billie Sol Estes case, irregularities in missile procurement, procurement of the
General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark
The General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark is a retired supersonic, medium-range, multirole combat aircraft. Production variants of the F-111 had roles that included ground attack (e.g. interdiction), strategic bombing (including nuclear weapons c ...
fighter plane, excessive risks in underwriting
Federal Housing Administration
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA), also known as the Office of Housing within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is a United States government agency founded by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, created in part by ...
mortgages,
riots, and
civil disorders, the
Agency for International Development
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 ...
commodity import program, and procurement of railway bridges for
South Vietnam under the
counter-insurgency program. The Subcommittee's investigations also led to passage of major legislation against organized crime, most notably the
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization.
RICO was en ...
("RICO act"), which is a section of the
Organized Crime Control Act
The Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 (, October 15, 1970), was an Act of Congress sponsored by Democratic Senator John L. McClellan and signed into law by U.S. President Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April ...
passed in 1970.
In 1973, Senator
Henry M. Jackson
Henry Martin "Scoop" Jackson (May 31, 1912 – September 1, 1983) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. representative (1941–1953) and U.S. senator (1953–1983) from the state of Washington. A Cold War liberal and a ...
, a Democrat from Washington, replaced McClellan as the Subcommittee's chairman and Senator
Charles H. Percy, an Illinois Republican, became the Ranking Minority Member. During Senator Jackson's chairmanship, the Subcommittee conducted landmark hearings into
energy
In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of hea ...
shortages and the operation of the
petroleum industry
The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry or the oil patch, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The large ...
.
Nunn-Roth era
The regular reversals of political fortunes in the Senate of the 1980s and 1990s saw Senator
Sam Nunn
Samuel Augustus Nunn Jr. (born September 8, 1938) is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Georgia (1972–1997) as a member of the Democratic Party.
After leaving Congress, Nunn co-founded the Nuclear Threat Initia ...
trade chairmanship three times with Delaware Republican
William V. Roth Jr. Nunn served from 1979 to 1980 and again from 1987 to 1995, while Roth served from 1981 to 1986, and again from 1995 to 1996. Senator Roth led a wide range of investigations into commodity investment fraud, off-shore banking schemes,
money laundering, and
child pornography
Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a ...
. Senator Nunn inquired into federal drug policy, the global spread of
chemical and biological weapons, abuses in
Federal Student Aid
Federal Student Aid (FSA), an office of the U.S. Department of Education, is the largest provider of student financial aid in the United States. Federal Student Aid provides student financial assistance in the form of grants, loans, and work-s ...
programs,
computer security
Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, t ...
,
aviation safety
Aviation safety is the study and practice of managing risks in aviation. This includes preventing aviation accidents and incidents through research, educating air travel personnel, passengers and the general public, as well as the design of airc ...
, and
health care fraud.
Federal financial aid and proprietary colleges
In the early 1970s, student loan programs created by the
Higher Education Act of 1965
The Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) () was legislation signed into United States law on November 8, 1965, as part of President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society domestic agenda. Johnson chose Texas State University (then called " Southwest Te ...
and subsequent legislation had begun to produce evidence of fraud, abuse, and mismanagement. In November 1975, the Permanent Subcommittee held four days of hearings that followed on staff investigations that focused largely on West Coast Schools, a for-profit school that had grown quickly with federal loan money and closed after questions were raised about its operations. Secretary of Education
Ted Bell told the Subcommittee “It must be kept in mind that when the floodgates were opened in 1968 to allow virtually every kind of institution operating on an interstate basis to lend under the program—public, private, profit, nonprofit, noncollegiate, and correspondence schools—we had only 50 persons on the staff.”
In the late 1980s, skyrocketing student loan defaults led the Permanent Subcommittee to again examine the federal student aid programs. After an 18-month investigation and a series of hearings, the Subcommittee concluded that the student loan program, "particularly as it relates to proprietary schools, is riddled with fraud, waste and abuse." Following on the Subcommittee's work, Congress adopted
amendments An amendment is a formal or official change made to a law, contract, constitution, or other legal document. It is based on the verb to amend, which means to change for better. Amendments can add, remove, or update parts of these agreements. The ...
to the Higher Education Act that contributed to the closure of hundreds of schools. The reforms included cutting off federal aid at schools with high default rates; prohibiting the use of commission-based sales agents in recruiting; and limiting federal funding to no more than 85 percent of any for-profit college's revenue. Senator Nunn, as chair of the Permanent Subcommittee, also worked to include reforms of state oversight of colleges participating in the federal aid programs. Those reforms were adopted but were subsequently repealed before being implemented.
Tenures of Collins, Levin, and Coleman
In January 1997 Republican Senator
Susan Collins
Susan Margaret Collins (born December 7, 1952) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Maine. A member of the Republican Party, she has held her seat since 1997 and is Maine's longest-serving member of Con ...
of Maine became the first woman to chair the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Her Chairmanship was also notable in that she held the Senate seat of former
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...
Senator
Margaret Chase Smith, an opponent of Senator McCarthy. Senator
John Glenn of Ohio became Ranking Member. Upon Senator Glenn's retirement from the Senate, Senator
Carl Levin became Ranking Member in 1999. In June 2001, when the Democrats resumed control of the Senate, Senator Levin assumed the chairmanship of the Subcommittee until January 2003 when Senator Norm Coleman assumed the Chairmanship. When the Democrats took control of the Senate in January 2007, the chairmanship reverted to Senator Levin.
Oil-for-Food Program Hearings
In December 2004, Coleman called for
Secretary-General of the United Nations
The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations.
The role of the secretary-g ...
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan (; 8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founde ...
to resign because of the "UN's utter failure to detect or stop Saddam's abuses" in the
Oil-for-Food Programme
The Oil-for-Food Programme (OIP), established by the United Nations in 1995 (under UN Security Council Resolution 986) was established to allow Iraq to sell oil on the world market in exchange for food, medicine, and other humanitarian needs f ...
and because of fraud allegations against
Kojo Annan, his son, relating to the same program. In May 2005 the subcommittee held
Oil-for-Food Program Hearings to investigate abuses of the Oil-for-Food program, including oil smuggling, illegal kickbacks and use of surcharges, and
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...
's use of oil vouchers for the purpose of buying influence abroad. These hearings covered certain corporations, including Bayoil Inc., and Russian politician
Vladimir Zhirinovsky
Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky, ''né'' Eidelshtein (russian: link=false, Эйдельштейн) (25 April 1946 – 6 April 2022) was a Russian right-wing populist politician and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) fr ...
. The hearings received significant media attention for the combative appearance of British politician
George Galloway of the
Respect Party
The Respect Party was a left-wing to far-left, socialist political party active in the United Kingdom between 2004 and 2016. At the height of its success in 2007, the party had one Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons and nineteen ...
, in which he forcefully rejected the allegations.
Wall Street and the Financial Crisis
On April 13, 2011 the Committee released its report on ''
Wall Street and the Financial Crisis: Anatomy of a Financial Collapse''. The 635-page bipartisan report was issued under the chairmanship of Carl Levin and Tom Coburn and also thus referred as the Levin-Coburn Report. It represents an in-depth investigation as well as a permanent record of the
financial crisis of 2007–08
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of f ...
and took over two years of research and investigations to compile. It found "that the crisis was not a natural disaster, but the result of high risk, complex financial products; undisclosed conflicts of interest; and the failure of regulators, the credit rating agencies, and the
market itself to rein in the excesses of Wall Street."
Financial Crisis Report, 2011
/ref>
Members, 117th Congress
References
Resources
* Anthony Baltakis; "On the Defensive: Walter Reuther's Testimony before the McClellan Labor Rackets Committee". ''Michigan Historical Review''. Volume: 25. Issue: 2. 1999. pp 47+.
John L. McClellan; ''Crime without Punishment'' (1962)
* Schlesinger Jr. Arthur M. ''Robert Kennedy and His Times'' (1978). Kennedy was a Committee staff member 1952-1959, and Chief Counsel 1955-59.
External links
Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
Official site
* Executive Sessions of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Government Operations, Eighty-third Congress, First & Second Sessions under Senator Joseph McCarthy (R) (1953-4)
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
an
Volume 5
(vi
Transcript of an interview with Ruth Young Watt
via Senate.gov
{{United States congressional committees
Homeland Investigations
Joseph McCarthy
United States national commissions
Government agencies established in 1941
1941 establishments in Washington, D.C.