Consumer Affairs: Senators say CIA has been gathering data on Americans in secret program

CIA says it takes privacy seriously

The CIA has been down this road before. In 2017, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) warned the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that the CIA Director must not “turn the enormous surveillance powers of the agency against the American people.” It noted that the CIA has “a long history of unlawful surveillance” and pointed to a Freedom of Information Act case pursued by EPIC which revealed that the CIA spied on staff members of the U.S. Senate.

This time around, the CIA is getting out in front of Wyden and Heinrich’s claims by firmly disagreeing with the senators’ interpretation of the situation. Kristi Scott, the agency’s privacy and civil liberties officer, said the CIA takes its responsibility to safeguard the privacy and personal liberties of Americans seriously.

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