The CIA Got Caught Spying On Americans Again. Make Them Stop
Deep Dive I, the first PCLOB report partially declassified by the senators, focuses on a program targeting potential sources of ISIS funding with connections to Americans and suggests that data from American citizens is being unmasked at a high rate. Former CIA analyst and Cato Institute scholar Patrick Eddington put it this way:
The report also notes that requests by CIA and non-CIA elements for the unmasking of [U.S. Person] data or identities is common and seemingly on a large scale . . . If you look at the redacted portion on the number of unmasking request, the redaction encompasses at least 8 and perhaps as many as 10 numeric characters potentially a huge number.
I find it hard to believe that there are literally tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people in this country who are engaged in financial transactions that were designed to benefit ISIS, he later told The Hill. Moreover, according to the PCLOB report, analysts are not required to provide a justification for initiating queries on U.S. citizens.
That darn CIA.