Newly declassified documents made public in the National Security Archive at George Washington University show how the National Security Agency (NSA) spied on Americans who were opposed to the Vietnam War in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This new documentation underscore the persistent, systemic abuses within the NSA on violating American citizens privacy.
In the summary of the declassified documents, "Disreputable if Not Outright Illegal": The National Security Agency versus Martin Luther King, Muhammad Ali, Art Buchwald, Frank Church, et al., the archivists, Matthew Aid and William Burr, explain what type of Americans fell on secret NSA watch list programs in the past. They write:
The names of the NSA's targets are eye-popping. Civil rights leaders Dr. Martin Luther King and Whitney Young were on the watch list, as were the boxer Muhammad Ali, New York Times journalist Tom Wicker, and veteran Washington Post humor columnist Art Buchwald. Also startling is that the NSA was tasked with monitoring the overseas telephone calls and cable traffic of two prominent members of Congress, Senators Frank Church (D-Idaho) and Howard Baker (R-Tennessee). The NSA fought disclosure of this information for five years before being compelled by the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP) to declassify and release the information.