Two representatives of the Senate Intelligence Committee said that the CIA has a secret repository of data that includes information collected on Americans.
The letter has recently been declassified and is signed by Democratic Senators Ron Wyden and Martin Heinrich.
According to the document, the intelligence agency would be carrying out a secret mass surveillance program that affects the privacy of Americans.
Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee asked the agency to report publicly on the type of record it is collecting and the number of US records it maintains.
Wyden and Heinrich said the program operated “outside the regulatory framework that Congress and the public believe governs this collection.”
The senators’ letter was sent in April 2021, but part of its content was recently released.
Therefore, it is unknown what type of information the CIA collected and what the purpose of the program was. It is also unknown if this data collection is still being done.
Through a statement, the intelligence agency noted:
“The CIA has kept, and continues to keep, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence fully and currently informed of its intelligence programs, to include activities reviewed by the PCLOB. Oversight of Privacy and Civil Liberties).
In the response, the agency also pledges to be more transparent:
“The CIA will continue to seek opportunities to provide greater transparency in the rules and procedures governing our collection authorities to both Congress and the American public,” he added.
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