Declassified Documents Claim CIA Secretly Collected Americans’ Private Data

REUTERS

Mary Rooke

Commentary and Analysis Writer

February 11, 2022 9:02 AM ET

Two Democratic U.S. Senators on Thursday accused the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of collecting Americans’ private data without official oversight meant to protect against civil liberties violations.

Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden and Democratic New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich wrote a letter in April 2021 demanding CIA director William J. Burns and the U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines declassify a study into the CIA’s secret procedure for gathering data on U.S. citizens, according to a joint press release.

The CIA’s Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) commissioned the study to “conduct in-depth examinations” of the data collection process, according to the declassified report.

The PCLOB is an independent agency within the executive branch created to ensure intelligence agencies don’t violate Americans’ privacy and civil liberties while collecting data during terrorism investigations, explained the study’s report.

The Senators accuse the CIA of working “outside the statutory framework that Congress and the public believe govern this collection, and without any of the judicial, congressional, or even executive branch oversight that comes from FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] collection,” according to their press release.

Although the April 2021 letter written by the Senators and the documents released by the CIA were redacted, the unmasked information demonstrated “serious problems associated with warrantless backdoor searches of Americans,” Senators Wyden and Heinrich said. (RELATED: CIA Covered Up Staff Sex Crimes Committed Against Minors)

“While we appreciate the release of the ‘Recommendations from PCLOB Staff’ which highlights problems associated with the handling of Americans’ information, our letter also stressed that the public deserves to know more about the collection of this information,” Wyden and Heinrich said in their press release.

The Senators warned in their press release that the PCLOB report substantiates concerns about how the CIA collects and handles U.S. citizens’ data outside the FISA law, which requires congressional and judicial oversight.

Despite protections against U.S. intelligence agencies acting to collect Americans’ records without warrants, the CIA has “secretly conducted its own bulk program,” according to the press release.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a non-profit civil legal and advocacy organization, decried the CIA’s massive surveillance programs, according to a statement.

“These reports raise serious questions about what information of ours the CIA is vacuuming up in bulk and how the agency exploits that information to spy on Americans,” the ACLU wrote on Twitter. “This invasion of our privacy must stop.”

https://dailycaller.com/2022/02/11/cia-declassified-documents-private-data-ron-wyden-martin-heinrich/

PRIVACY & CIVIL LIBERTIES OVERSIGHT BOARD

REPORT ON CIA FINANCIAL DATA ACTIVITIES IN SUPPORT OF ISIL-RELATED COUNTERTERORRISM EFFORTS

https://www.cia.gov/static/63f697addbbd30a4d64432ff28bbc6d6/OPCL-PCLOB-Report-on-CIA-Activities.pdf

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was enacted in 1978. This legislation was the Congressional response to the exposure during multiple Committee hearings of previous abuses of U.S. persons’ privacy rights by certain components of the United States government. Those abuses had occurred, according to the government, as part of its efforts to counter

purported threats to national security. Unquestionably, such threats existed in and before 1978; beyond peradventure, however, they pale in comparison to the threats to national security that the United States currently faces. Those threats bear the face of terrorism, primarily foreign but domestic as well. Though FISA is not a legally usable tool for combating domestic terrorism, its electronic surveillance and physical search authority are legal and very effective methods for monitoring the activities of foreign powers and agents of foreign powers while they operate within the United States.

Increasingly, indeed, overwhelmingly, the current objective of such operational activities is to thwart terrorist acts.

Terrorism, as that term is used in this writing, is the use of violent acts by an organization that is not a national government for the ultimate purpose of compelling a target government to change its policy by creating fear in the minds of the populace served by the target government. More recently, the preferred form of terrorism is the suicide bomber. Perhaps the most baffling and troubling element of this form of terrorism, at least to the Western mind, is the terrorist’s

willingness to die. Such willingness magnifies the coercive effects of these acts because, quite simply, those acts virtually always result in greater death and destruction than other forms of force. It also provides a strong message to the targeted populace and its government of the likelihood of more pain and suffering if the target government fails to accede to the terrorist organization’s demands. Finally, suicide terrorists have demonstrated that they are not deterred by traditional taboos concerning targets (e.g., children) and that they are very deft at increasing the recruitment base. Both serve to create further concerns in the targeted government about the cost of future resistance to the terrorists’ demands.

https://www.fletc.gov/sites/default/files/imported_files/training/programs/legal-division/downloads-articles-and-faqs/research-by-subject/miscellaneous/ForeignIntelligenceSurveillanceAct.pdf

>>23878704

Fully aware. Obscure links to many relevant documents within. Some of which anon hadn't seen before. It may be an old article, but anyone having idly hands in need of a dig, its a hella sandbox. o7

>>23878712

Anon spoke with an attorney yesterday who knew none of this. An officer of the court, lacking knowledge. You might have known, but they didn't. Had you gotten to that person first, anon's hat would be off for you. Certainly 'we' all knew, but that's not the mission. Focus on the mission. o7

>>23878733

kek kek - for good measure. o7

>>23878909

Wasn't there an 'un-invite' to that person's funeral that we don't say the name of?