Editing James Jesus Angleton (section)

===Church Committee and resignation===
In 1973, [[William Colby]] was named Director of Central Intelligence by [[Richard Nixon]]. Colby reorganized the CIA in an effort to curb Angleton's influence and weaken the Counterintelligence branch, beginning by stripping him of control over the Israel desk. Colby demanded Angleton's resignation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Johnson |first=Loch K. |date=2013 |title=James Angleton and the Church Committee |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26924366 |journal=Journal of Cold War Studies |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=132 |doi=10.1162/JCWS_a_00397 |jstor=26924366 |s2cid=57571672 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Angleton came to public attention when the [[Church Committee]] (formally the [[Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities]]) probed the CIA for information on domestic surveillance, specifically the operation known as [[HTLINGUAL|HT Lingual]], as well as assassination plots and the [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|death of John F. Kennedy]].<ref>{{Cite news |author=John M. Crewdson  |date=1975-09-25 |title=C.I.A. Men Opened 3 Senators' Mail and Note to Nixon |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/09/25/archives/cia-men-opened-3-senators-mail-and-note-to-nixon-panel-says-aides.html |access-date=2023-09-17 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Green |first=Lloyd |date=2023-05-07 |title=The Last Honest Man: Frank Church and the fight to restrain US power |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/may/07/last-honest-man-frank-church-book-james-risen-review |access-date=2023-09-17 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

In December 1974, [[Seymour Hersh]] published a story in ''[[The New York Times]]'' about domestic counter-intelligence activities against anti-war protesters and other domestic dissidents. Angleton's resignation was announced on Christmas Eve 1974, just as President [[Gerald Ford]] demanded Director Colby report on the allegations and various congressional committees announced that they would launch their own inquiries. Angleton told reporters from [[United Press International]] that he was resigning because "my usefulness has ended" and the CIA was getting involved in "[[police state]] activities".<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Deseret News|date= 25 December 1974|page= 1A |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=Aul-kAQHnToC&dat=19741225&printsec=frontpage&hl=en|title=President gets report on CIA spying}}</ref> Three of Angleton's senior aides retired within a week after it was made clear that they would be transferred elsewhere in the Agency rather than promoted. The counterintelligence staff was reduced from 300 to 80 people.

In 1975, Angleton was awarded the CIA's [[Distinguished Intelligence Medal]].<ref name="The New York Times; May 12, 1987">{{cite news |last=Engelberg |first=Stephen |date=May 12, 1987 |title=James Angleton, Counterintelligence Figure, Dies|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/12/obituaries/james-angleton-counterintelligence-figure-dies.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=May 8, 2017}}</ref> By this time, Angleton had been quietly rehired by the CIA at his old salary through a secret contract. Until September 1975, "operational issues remained solely the preserve of Angleton".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2017/oct/19/angleton-return/|title=The mystery of disgraced CIA spymaster James Angleton's "retirement"|website=MuckRock|date=19 October 2017 }}</ref>