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| AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File |
The CIA has a secret, undisclosed data repository that includes information collected about Americans, two Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee said Thursday. While neither the agency nor lawmakers would disclose specifics about the data, the senators alleged the CIA had long hidden details about the program from the public and Congress.
Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico sent a letter to top intelligence officials calling for more details about the program to be declassified. Large parts of the letter, which was sent in April 2021 and declassified Thursday, and documents released by the CIA were blacked out. Wyden and Heinrich said the program operated “outside the statutory framework that Congress and the public believe govern this collection.”
There have long been concerns about what information the intelligence community collects domestically, driven in part by previous violations of Americans’ civil liberties. The CIA and National Security Agency have a foreign mission and are generally barred from investigating Americans or U.S. businesses. But the spy agencies’ sprawling collection of foreign communications often snares Americans’ messages and data incidentally.
Intelligence agencies are required to take steps to protect U.S. information, including redacting the names of any Americans from reports unless they are deemed relevant to an investigation. The process of removing redactions is known as “unmasking.”
“CIA recognizes and takes very seriously our obligation to respect the privacy and civil liberties of U.S. persons in the conduct of our vital national security mission,” Kristi Scott, the agency‘s privacy and civil liberties officer, said in a statement. “CIA is committed to transparency consistent with our obligation to protect intelligence sources and methods.” --->READ MORE HERE
The Central Intelligence Agency has been carrying out a mass surveillance program on American soil, according to documents declassified at the request of two U.S. senators.
Details of the program are scarce, but Democrats Ron Wyden and Martin Heinrich—both of whom are on the Senate Intelligence Committee—said late Thursday that it involves the bulk collection of data and features "serious problems associated with warrantless backdoor searches of Americans."
This appears to be the most significant exposure of an intelligence agency's bulk data collection in the U.S. for nearly a decade. And it could not come at a worse time for the U.S.'s efforts to maintain Big Tech's ability to keep serving European users.
No oversight
In 2013, the first revelation to emerge from National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden—before he even came forward as the source, and certainly before he told the world how the U.S. monitored foreigners—was that the NSA had been secretly collecting Verizon customers' phone records within the U.S. That program was authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), but this newly revealed operation is not.
Instead, the CIA program is authorized under Executive Order 12333, a Reagan-era order that hugely expanded the data-collecting capabilities of U.S. intelligence agencies. According to the senators, that means a lack of oversight from courts, Congress, and even the executive branch itself. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to related stories:
WSJ: Secret CIA Bulk Surveillance Program Includes Some Americans’ Records, Senators Say
CIA mass surveillance program captured data from ‘some’ American citizens
Senators Ask CIA to Declassify Reports About ‘Bulk Collection’ of American Citizens’ Data
CIA mass surveillance program captured data from ‘some’ American citizens
Senators Ask CIA to Declassify Reports About ‘Bulk Collection’ of American Citizens’ Data
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