Operation CHAOS or Operation MHCHAOS was a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) domestic espionage project targeting American citizens operating from 1967 to 1974, established by President Lyndon B. Johnson and expanded under President Richard Nixon. Operation CHAOS' mission was allegedly to uncover possible foreign influence on domestic race, anti-war, and other protest movements but it is described by many scholars as an "initiative that aimed to sever links between social movements in the United States and those abroad."