Espionage
CIA Has No Authority to Collect Intelligence on American Citizens
Everyday Spy
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"CIA has no authority to collect against U.S. citizens. They can't do it. There's no authority that's been granted to them. So if an American in Michigan radicalizes and joins ISIS through an online server and becomes a sworn member of ISIS but retains their U.S. citizenship, CIA has no authority to collect on that person."
A former CIA officer clarified the legal boundaries between intelligence agencies, revealing that CIA is legally prohibited from conducting intelligence operations on U.S. citizens even if they join terrorist organizations. He explained that FBI holds domestic threat authority while CIA is restricted to foreign human intelligence collection, addressing widespread misconceptions about agency powers.
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