CIA: Is the American Intelligence Agency Out Of Control?

-
logo of cia
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.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spanish Dog Fouling Law: Are Spanish Politicians Pursuing The Wrong Agenda?

-
Image
 Dog fouling Spain has some of the strictest laws regarding pets possession in Europe. One of its laws governing animal possession in Spain, for example, bans having exotic creatures as pets and requires dog, cat and ferret owners to declare their animals to the authority within three months of bringing them into the country. Until recently, however, Spain has no law nor sanction for failure to clean up after dog fouling in public places. It was up to dog owners whether to clean up such mess. This has now changed following the introduction of the dog fouling law. The new law states that the fine for any person failing to clean up after his or her dog fouling in a public place such as a park or kids play ground should be 1500 euros. The rationale for this legislation is to deter dog owners from leaving their dogs messing up public places such as parks. Regular visitors to parks can testify how the sight of such dog foul can be an eyesore. However, asking dog owners wh
Read more

Social Media Networks: Calls For Tighter Regulations

-
One of the most fascinating technological inventions of the twenty first century is the development of social media networks such as YouTube, Twitter, and Face book. These social media networks make it possible for people to meet new people and make friends, locate old friends and family members, or to form a relationship that can result in marriage. They also provide a platform in the form of advertising for conducting businesses. Despite these benefits provided by the social media networks certain things can go awfully wrong on the networks. The most recent example of how the social media network can be turned into a weapon of criminality is the case last week involving threatening rape and murder messages sent to a number of British women on Twitter. Feminists are attempting to use this incident to rally for support for tighter regulations on activities being conducted within social media networks. Is it possible to control activities within these networks? Having legislat
Read more

Marketing Tricks: How Many Times Have You Fallen Victim?

-
Image
 Fat free food Whereas business owners call them marketing strategies, none business owners regard them as marketing tricks. Regardless of what you like to call them, businesses cannot survive without marketing tricks. Marketing tricks are the flywheel that keeps businesses engine running. We tend not to be concerned about them because of our perception that we are familiar with them and can avoid them. However, a careful look at the marketing tricks used by businesses will reveal that many of us have fallen victims of them in the past and can still fall victim of the malpractice in future. Let us consider two of these popular tricks used in supermarkets. The first marketing trick used by retailers is relating to the slogan “75% reduced fat”. Items labelled 75% reduced fat are often displayed on supermarket shelves. Some of us who are conscious of our health tend to go for them to avoid consuming excess fat. Excess fat in the body is considered to be a risk factor for
Read more