Beyond The Horizon

ICYMI: The Secret CIA Data Collection Program

In today's update we dive into the new article out from the AP discussing how the CIA is collecting data on Americans. For those of us who have been paying attention however, this is not new. In fact, this is exactly what Edward Snowden warned us of. Let's dive in and check it out.

(Commercial at 12:19)

To contact me:

bobbycapucci@protonmail.com

source:

https://apnews.com/article/congress-cia-ron-wyden-martin-heinrich-europe-565878d7299748551a34af0d3543d769

Duration:: 17m
Broadcast on:: 11 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

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Uncover opportunity and move upward at MossAtoms.com. What's up everyone and welcome back to the program. Well, wouldn't you know it? Now the Senate is coming out and saying that the CIA has a secret program that collects Americans data? Well, wouldn't you know? Didn't Edward Snowden tell us this already? And didn't these same congressmen and senators try and put him in prison for it? But now, they're letting the American people know, folks, that the CIA's been collecting your data. No shit. How long have I and other people been sitting around here telling you this? Telling you that these people are not trustworthy. Their charter does not permit them to do any of this on American soil. But yet here they are, collecting our data, building profiles on us, while, at the same time, getting us all riled up against each other to hate each other. Don't you see what they're doing here? Don't you see the misdirection? They are obviously building profiles on people. They have been doing it for a very long time. And Edward Snowden, he should be an American hero. He shouldn't be somebody who's living in exile in a place like Russia. But yet here we are talking about, oh, the home of freedom. The freedom of speech. And none of that seems to be true anymore, huh? It's about time, though, that these senators and these congressmen own up to the fact that we all knew about, and that is that the intelligence agencies have zero respect for the constitution and for your privacy. Let's jump into this article from the AP News, and let's see what they are talking about. Headline Senators, CIA has secret program that collects American data. This article was authored by Noman Merchant. The CIA has a secret, undisclosed data repository that includes information collected about Americans, two Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee said, that doesn't terrify you. I don't know what it does. We're talking about the CIA here, folks. The group of rendition, the group of black sites, the group of regime change. And you want them to have a profile built on you? I saw some concerning posts on Twitter in regards to this, people saying, oh, well, I have nothing to hide, so, oh, yeah, that's a great way to look at it. I have nothing to hide, so just shit on my rights. While neither the agency nor lawmakers will disclose specifics about the data, the senators alleged the CIA had long hidden the details about the programs from the public and Congress. Again, these are the people that you're trusting when they come out and tell you about what's going on in Ukraine or around the world. These are the same people. And the way that people will just trust the CIA or the FBI, depending on if their political parties in power, is disturbing as hell. We have to hold these people to a higher level of integrity. They have the power to literally ruin anyone's life. They can go after whoever they want. And people are comfortable with them building data profiles on Americans, huh? Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico sent a letter to top intelligence officials calling for more details about the program to be declassified. Okay, I'm sure that's going to happen. The CIA will say, "Oh, this is an ongoing investigation, and we can't disclose details of this in the whole mind." Large parts of the letter, which was sent in April 2021 and declassified Thursday, and documents released by the CIA were blacked out. Leiden and Heinrich said the program operated outside the statutory framework that Congress and the public believe governed this collection. So again, what are you going to do about it? All this talk, oh, they did this, they did that, but never anything happens. And I'm tired of all these tough talkers in Congress and Senate. Then they do nothing when issues like this pop up. Here's an idea, get off of your hands, stop being an idiot, and hold people responsible. You know, they always talk about auditing this and auditing that. What are we going to audit these bureaucracies as citizens? Because they obviously are not doing what they're supposed to be doing. And if you're not following your basic charter, if you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing, then what in the hell is it that you are up to? There have long been concerns about what information the intelligence community collects domestically driven in part by previous violations of American civil liberties. Now, you can't even bring that up anymore because the second you start talking about civil liberties, people want to paint you as part of this group or that group. When in reality, it's one of the bedrock of classic liberalism. And to see people shy away from it. To see people talk about, oh, well, I don't care if the civil liberties of my insert opponent here are stepped on is very concerning to me. But what's going on with the CIA here is all of us are at risk. Even if you have nothing to hide, you really want these guys digging around on your phone or building a profile on you like the Stasi? I certainly do not. That is not how this is supposed to work. I am not comfortable with it, and I will continue to speak out against it. And if we would have just listened to Edward Snowden, when Edward Snowden came out and told us all of this was going on, we'd be in a way better place. But of course not. Why would we listen to Edward Snowden? Why would we listen to him? What does he know? It's not like he actually helped write these programs. It's not like he actually worked behind the scenes. Let's just listen to the government. You know, the same people that Doug walked us into fake wars. The same people that create artificial wedge issues for us to fight about. These are the people we're going to trust implicitly, huh? Okay, have fun. But the spy agency's sprawling collection of foreign communications often snares Americans' messages and data incidentally. Intelligence agencies are required to take steps to protect U.S. information, including redacting the names of any Americans from reports unless they are deemed relevant to an investigation. The process of removing redactions is known as unmasking. Oh, now they want to talk about unmasking? We saw a whole lot of that going on about four or five years ago. A whole lot of very, let us say, liberal use of that sort of thing. And I have to tell you, the CIA, the FBI, I don't know if they can ever fix their reputations at this point. They say, oh, well, it doesn't matter because, you know, all of this stuff gets blacked out. You know, when we collect the Americans information, we just redact all of that and, yeah, right, stop it. We all know that power corrupts. And when these people have this kind of power and they're able to build profiles of Americans, it's unacceptable. Literally against the law for them to do it, but nobody cares, right? Let's yell out and scream a little bit more about our cousin John. CIA recognizes and takes very seriously our obligation to respect the privacy and civil liberties of U.S. persons in the conduct of our vital national security missions, Christy Scott, the agency's privacy and civil liberties officer said in a statement. I mean, yeah, you take it so seriously that you continue to do it. You take it so seriously that when you're outed by somebody like Edward Snowden, you set him up like he is some kind of evil man, like he should be sent to Guantanamo or underneath Guantanamo, when in reality, the dude's a hero, an American hero, he should be treated as such. He should be given a full pardon and allowed to come home and live his life in peace, because everything he told us about the scumbag tactics of the CIA are actually happening. The CIA released a series of redacted recommendations about the program issued by an oversight panel known as the privacy and civil liberties oversight board. Oh, yeah, because we all know internal investigations work great. Yeah, we're going to regulate ourselves. Give me a break already. And the CIA, especially if anyone's ever needed oversight, a civilian oversight, it's the damn CIA. According to the document, a pop-up box warned CIA analysts using the program that seeking any information about U.S. citizens or others covered by privacy laws requires a foreign intelligence purpose. Well, it doesn't matter. They can just go to the foreign court and get themselves whatever they want these days. Nobody checks. Nobody cares. There's no safeguards. There's no protections for the American people. However, analysts are not required to memorialize the justification for their queries, the board said. No, of course not. There's always a loophole, always an out for the CIA agents, so that when they do conduct some of this scumbaggery and they get slapped for it, they get caught for it, maybe, they can just say, "Ah, well, what are you talking about? I didn't have any. There's no documentation proving this." And on and on it goes, huh? Both senators have long pushed for more transparency from the intelligence agencies. Nearly a decade ago, a question wide imposed to the nation's spy chief, presaw critical revelations about the NSA's mass surveillance programs. So you've been in Congress or the Senate for all these years, and you've had really done nothing to help out. Put out these reports, act like you care, but really, who was held responsible? And whenever one of these CIA people's brought up so they can get a new position in front of Congress, that's right. Let's just confirm them and let them go through. The CIA needs to be revamped. There needs to be a complete reshuffle at the top, and it needs to be audited. In 2013, Widenass, then director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, if the NSA collected any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans, Clapper initially responded, "No." He later said, "Not winningly." James Clapper is an epic liar, okay? The whole lot of those dudes that were running the FBI under Obama, bunch of liars. Before that, bunch of liars. And they continue to do that. You really think that they're going to out themselves? You think a guy, a company man like James Clapper is ever going to be honest with you? Even under oath? Of course not, because what are the penalties? None. Even if he lies and purges himself. Do you really think his friends are going to pursue him? Mr. James Clapper, or Mr. Intelligence Man himself? Oh, Mike Ermentrout, lookin' MF. Former Systems Administrator, Edward Snowden, later that year, revealed the NSA's access to bulk data through U.S. Internet companies and hundreds of millions of call records from telecommunications providers. Those revelations sparked worldwide controversy and new legislation in Congress. Yeah, he called Clapper a liar, okay? Point blank, period. And again, who do you believe, James Clapper or Edward Snowden? Me personally, I believe Edward Snowden. Clapper would later apologize in a letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee, calling his response to "Widen," clearly erroneous. Oh yeah, it's a lie, okay? Let's be very honest. He lied. He lied about the whole thing. Clapper and Brennan, the whole lot of these guys that were in charge of the intelligence apparatus, were incredibly corrupt, incredibly crooked, and they have zero respect for your rights. According to Widen and Heinrich's letter, the CIA's Bolt Collection Program operates outside of laws passed and reformed by Congress. But under the authority of the executive order, 12333, the document that broadly governs intelligence community activity and was first signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981. Oh yeah, you know, 'cause let's just have the CIA be able to do whatever they want. You know, one day we'll have to revisit the whole Reagan fiasco, but man, they try and paint this dude like he's something he's not. It is critical that Congress not legislate without awareness of a CIA program, that the American public not be misled into belief that the reforms in any reauthorization legislation fully cover the IC's collection of their records. The senators wrote in the letter, there was a redaction in the letter before CIA program. Even in a basic letter, we get the redactions, right? So what's going on here is the senators, Widen and Heinrich, Bill, bitch and moan, they'll complain, they'll act like they care, but nothing's going to change. The CIA is going to continue to collect data on us, and they're going to continue to violate our civil rights at an alarming pace. Additional documents released by the CIA on Thursday also revealed limited details about a program to collect financial data against the Islamic state. The program also has, incidentally, snared some records held by Americans. Again, look, I understand that you have a job to do, and I understand that sometimes when you're conducting your business as an intelligence official, you might swoop up some information that you're not supposed to have. The problem is, I don't trust them to do the right thing when that occurs. The safeguards that are in place, they're not enough. We all know they game the system to get convictions all the time, and while I think it's a good thing that we have some things in place to catch scumbag terrorist groups or any other criminal organization, my rights and your rights shouldn't be trampled on in the process. Intelligence agencies are subject to guidelines on the handling and destruction of Americans' data. Those guidelines and laws governing intelligence activity have evolved over time. In response to previous revelations about domestic spying, they have not evolved enough because here we are once again having to talk about this as the CIA's building a profile on you. The FBI spied on the U.S. civil rights movement and secretly recorded the conversations of Dr. Martin Luther King. Do you need to hear any more about the FBI and the CIA? I mean, the people out there that champion these people? I find it gross, honestly. Oh, the FBI! What? Oh, we have to be just as cautious of them as any other group that holds power over us. And while I think that the vast majority of FBI agents are good people, that doesn't mean that the leadership structure should be trusted. The CIA, in what was called Operation Chaos, investigated whether movement opposing the Vietnam War had links to foreign countries. These reports raise serious questions about the kinds of information. The CIA is vacuuming up in bulk and how the agency exploits that information to spy on Americans. Patrick Toomey, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement. The CIA conducts the sweeping surveillance activities without any court approval and, with few, if any, safeguards imposed by Congress. So, look, I, again, like usual, this is just my opinion and how I feel about the matter. But, personally, I am not comfortable with my information being vacuumed up by the CIA. I do not trust these people. Not in the least. And I don't want them having any kind of profile built on me or the people I care about. That's for damn sure. So, what do you folks think? Are you comfortable with the CIA swooping up and vacuuming your data and your information and building a profile on you? Shoot me some email and let me know. Alright, folks, that's going to do it for this update. If you'd like to contact me, you can do that at BobbyKapucci@protonmail.com. That's B-O-B-B-Y-C-A-P-U-C-C-I at protonmail.com. You can also find me on Twitter at B-O-B-B-Y_C-A-P-U-C-C-I. The link that goes along with this episode can be found in the description box.