WASHINGTON (AP) — Warning of a “crisis in public confidence,” former staffers for an influential 1975 Senate committee that investigated CIA abuses asked Congress and President Barack Obama on Monday to form a new panel to probe missteps by the nation’s intelligence agencies.

F.A.O. Schwarz Jr., former chief counsel for the Church Commission that led to the creation of today’s Senate and House intelligence oversight committees, joined more than a dozen former congressional aides in sending a letter Monday to Congress, Obama and the American public. He urged Congress to appoint a special panel to examine the secretive operations of the CIA and the National Security Agency and their impact on Americans’ civil liberties. He questioned the effectiveness of recent intelligence reviews by the Obama administration and the Senate.