Is the CIA's Program Gathering Massive Information on U.S. Citizens--U.S. Congressmen Want Transparency

Two U.S. Senators urged the CIA to increase transparency about the newly discovered program after the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) allegedly collected large amounts of data containing information from multiple U.S. citizens. ..

The existence of the program became public on February 10, US time. This is because the Democratic Party's Senators Ron Wyden and Martin Heinrich's letter to the CIA was declassified on the same day in April 2021. Many parts of the published letter are blacked out. Wyden and Heinrich, members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, should declassify the CIA's Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) report in this letter. I was requesting. He also called for declassification of the letter itself.

When the letter was published, it was mostly blacked out, and the type and timing of the collected data was not clear. It is not known if the program is still in place. According to the letter, this large amount of data collection was approved and carried out under a presidential directive. It is said that it was carried out without the supervision of the parliament, the judiciary, and the administrative agency, regardless of the framework established by the parliament.

Both lawmakers issued a statement on the 10th calling for the importance of the PCLOB report.

"These documents show how many concerns US citizens have about privacy and human rights have passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) under a presidential directive, and the CIA is informed. It also applies to whether you are collecting and handling. "

Both chambers argue that the CIA should provide more information, such as the types of records collected and the legal basis for the collection. The PCLOB report also noted that there were problems with the handling and investigation of US citizens' information in the CIA's program.

The CIA has not commented on CNET's coverage. In a statement to The Wall Street Journal, CIA Privacy and Human Rights Officer Kristi Scott said the CIA "recognizes and takes seriously" its obligation to "respect the privacy and human rights of U.S. citizens." There is. "We are committed to being transparent in line with our obligation to protect sources and methods of sensitive information," the CIA said.

This article was edited by Asahi Interactive for Japan from an article from overseas Red Ventures.