ROCKEFELLER COMMISSION

Headed by Vice President Nelson Rockefeller and appointed by President Gerald Ford, the Rockefeller Commission investigated allegations of misconduct made against the Central Intelligence Agency in December 1974 by journalist Seymour Hersh. The commission concluded that the CIA had acted beyond its 1947 charter but it was overshadowed by the simultaneous congressional Pike and Church Committees. In contrast, the Rockefeller Commission took evidence in private, using the Vail Report prepared by Director of Central Intelligence William Colby, and reported directly to the president on 6 June 1975. Details of the report, including references to the assassination plots, leaked almost immediately.