CIA: Is the American Intelligence Agency Out Of Control?

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is the US agency empowered by the United States Constitution to gather intelligence both within and outside of the United States.  It shares such information with other United States agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).  Until recently the perception was that the CIA conducts these activities on only a selected few individuals and agencies.  However, recent evidence shows that the extent of CIA activities is wide-scale.

CIA spies on millions of people around the world regardless of whether these individuals are involved in criminal activities according to the information leaked by the former CIA computer analyst, Edward Snowden.   It justifies this act by citing the need to preserve national security.  Many people may accept that state intelligence agencies including the CIA can and should spy on them if this will ensure their security.  However, the extent to which this social contract can be implemented is still debatable among human rights campaigners.

The American spy agency also spies on Heads of States.  The extent of this spying activity came to light last year and early this year following the revelation by Snowden.  According to this fugitive, the CIA spies on both allied and non-allied Heads of States including the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff.

When confronted with this allegation that CIA spies on US friends and allies, President Obama states that spying is a normal activity carried out by all intelligence agencies around the world.  In other words, the CIA was acting within the international law by spying on Heads of States.

It is difficult now to tell whether the CIA is acting within the international law or US constitution by spying on the Senate Intelligence Committee empowered to investigate the activities of the spy agency.  According to this allegation, a CIA agent posing as a state department agent implanted spywares on computers used by the Committee staff members.  The rationale was to monitor everything done by the Committee. 

The question that arises now is whether the CIA also spies on the US president? Although the body has not been caught in the act, it is possible to conclude that the agency spies on the president.  This raises another question about whether the CIA is out of control.  Unless the Senate acts quickly and make the agency accountable, the CIA will continue to act with impunity.