A secret CIA mass surveillance program captured personal data from at least “some” American citizens, according to a partly declassified letter. Details of the program were even withheld from the Senate Intelligence Committee until last year, but mass surveillance usually relates to monitoring internet and phone usage.
Very few details have been revealed, and two members of the committee have urged the Central Intelligence Agency to disclose to the public some key facts about the program …
The WSJ reports that a classified letter was sent to the CIA by senators Ron Wyden and Martin Heinrich, after they learned of the program in April of last year. The letter has now been partly declassified, though is still heavily redacted.
The nature of the type of collection isn’t made clear in the heavily redacted letter. It couldn’t be determined when the surveillance occurred or if the intelligence program is currently operational. It was also not clear whether another U.S. intelligence agency was performing the actual surveillance that supported the functioning of the CIA program, which isn’t unusual.
The senators’ letter urged the CIA to inform the public about the program, including what kinds of records have been collected, as well as the spy agency’s relationship with its sources of intelligence, the legal framework of the program, the amount of Americans’ records being maintained and how often searches of U.S. data are performed.
“This declassification is urgent,” the senators wrote [as the program was run] “entirely outside the statutory framework that Congress and the public believe govern this collection.”
That concern relates to two things. First, the project was authorized under Executive Order 12333, from the Reagan era, and not under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which requires greater oversight. Scrutiny of mass surveillance was further tightened following Edward Snowden’s revelations about the NSA Prism program.
Second, the CIA is prohibited by law from spying on US citizens. Its operations should target foreign nationals only, but mass surveillance of phone and internet usage will tend to capture data from Americans engaged in communication in or with the target country, which intelligence agencies label “incidental collection.”
The CIA has responded only in broad terms.
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, and conducts our activities, including collection activities, in compliance with U.S. law, Executive Order 12333, and our Attorney General guidelines. CIA is committed to transparency consistent with our obligation to protect intelligence sources and methods.
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