The office of US Central Intelligence Agency director John Brennan has finally answered a lawmaker's question regarding the agency's take on the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Guardian said in a report. The 30 year-old legislation has been international fodder and gained attention and scrutiny between governments after former contractor Edward Snowden revealed the surveillance activities of the US National Security Agency (NSA) and its partners.
The question came from Oregon Democrat Senator Ron Wyden during a brief exchange with Brennan at a Senate intelligence committee hearing. Brennan reportedly was in attendance at that time to testify for the committee. Brennan apologized to Wyden for his inability to provide an appropriate answer to the latter's question, and promised an answer from his camp within a week.
When the Guardian asked CIA spokesman Dean Boyd about Brennan's response, he said, "Yes, the statute applies to CIA."
In an unclassified letter by Brennan to Wyden, which was dated february 3, Brennan provided a more detailed explanation to the CIA's take on the law, noting that for certain Intelligence agencies, the law has to make an exception.
One section of the Act read, "This section does not prohibit any lawfully authorized investigative, protective, or intelligence activity of a law enforcement agency of the United States, a State, or a political subdivision of a State, or of an intelligence agency of the United States."
Wyden has been the champion of the many who wishes for intelligence officials to be open about their secret operations. The growing interest in the secret operations of Intelligence agencies in the US perhaps was magnified by reports from the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times abot the CIA amassing a significant database of financial transactions, which is, when following the statute, illegal under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. CIA has cited Section 215 of the Patriot Act to deem the act as lawfully allowed. NSA has done the same when challenged by both public and the private sector about its reasons on collecting phone data of US citizens.
Federation of American Scientists intelligence expert reasoned that the CIA might need to change its ongoing stance about the issue. "CIA's evasiveness on these matters may serve the agency's short-term interest in deflecting unwanted attention, but it contributes to an atmosphere of distrust and cynicism that makes it harder to sustain intelligence operations in the long term," he added.
