Intelligence Director Removes Key Privacy Safeguards for Raw Intelligence
The Director of National Intelligence has announced new rules that permit intelligence agencies to disseminate "raw" signals intelligence without first removing or "minimizing" personal information. EPIC and other civil liberties groups opposed these changes in a letter last year to the Director, explaining that the changes would "fatally weaken existing restrictions on access to the phone calls, emails, and other data the NSA collects." The Director said that the new rules would "prohibit recipient elements from querying raw [intelligence] for a law enforcement purpose." But EPIC previously highlighted the risks of consolidating personal data in a FOIA lawsuit, EPIC v. ODNI, against the Director of National Intelligence.