[2 / 0 / ?]
Quoted By:
'CIA building huge database on international money transfers'
WASHINGTON - The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is amassing a huge database of international money transfers that includes the financial and personal data of millions of Americans, according to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
Under the programme, the Federal Bureau of Investigation works with the CIA to collect large amounts of data on international transactions of Americans and others under the agency's terror investigations. The programme is authorised by the same provision of the Patriot Act after the sept 11, 2001 terror attacks that allowed the National Security Agency (NSA) to collect nearly all US phone records, officials familiar with the operation told WSJ.
And like the NSA programme that has caused an uproar both in the US and abroad, the large-scale collection of data is authorised by a secret national security court known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
The programme therefore shows how different US spy agencies, and not just the NSA, are using the same legal authority to collect data.
The data, collected from Western Union and other US money transfer companies, includes transfers to and from the US but not solely domestic transactions. And most of the records are solely foreign, according to the newspaper.
It said some lawmakers learnt about the programme earlier this year and raised concerns over the occasional use of US Social Security numbers and other data to tie financial activity to a single individual.
But the programme has helped uncover terror ties and financial patterns, former US government officials told the WSJ.
Although the CIA is barred from collecting intelligence on Americans, it can obtain data at home if it serves foreign intelligence purposes. And the CIA programme helps track terror financing around the globe, current and former US officials told the WSJ.
AGENCE-FRANCE-PRESSE
WASHINGTON - The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is amassing a huge database of international money transfers that includes the financial and personal data of millions of Americans, according to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
Under the programme, the Federal Bureau of Investigation works with the CIA to collect large amounts of data on international transactions of Americans and others under the agency's terror investigations. The programme is authorised by the same provision of the Patriot Act after the sept 11, 2001 terror attacks that allowed the National Security Agency (NSA) to collect nearly all US phone records, officials familiar with the operation told WSJ.
And like the NSA programme that has caused an uproar both in the US and abroad, the large-scale collection of data is authorised by a secret national security court known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
The programme therefore shows how different US spy agencies, and not just the NSA, are using the same legal authority to collect data.
The data, collected from Western Union and other US money transfer companies, includes transfers to and from the US but not solely domestic transactions. And most of the records are solely foreign, according to the newspaper.
It said some lawmakers learnt about the programme earlier this year and raised concerns over the occasional use of US Social Security numbers and other data to tie financial activity to a single individual.
But the programme has helped uncover terror ties and financial patterns, former US government officials told the WSJ.
Although the CIA is barred from collecting intelligence on Americans, it can obtain data at home if it serves foreign intelligence purposes. And the CIA programme helps track terror financing around the globe, current and former US officials told the WSJ.
AGENCE-FRANCE-PRESSE
