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Acting Intelligence Chief says he’s “increasingly concerned” over handling of sensitive U.S. person information among agencies and orders broad review

The acting Director of National Intelligence has ordered all 17 of the intelligence community agencies to immediately review whether their handling and sharing of information that identifies U.S. persons — such as citizens and those with permanent residency — are in compliance with strict privacy policies and procedures, according to a memorandum exclusively reviewed by CBS News.

Richard Grenell, who became the acting intelligence chief in February, signed the memorandum with the subject, “Protecting the Privacy and Civil Liberties of U.S. Persons,” on April 29.  It directs agencies including the CIA, the NSA, military intelligence and Homeland Security to report back findings, and identify specific actions that will ensure the rules are followed, within 30 days.

The memo does not make clear the catalyst for the broad review.  But Grenell wrote, “As the Acting Director of National Intelligence, I serve as the approving official for dissemination of unmasked congressional identity information…I have become increasingly concerned with intelligence reports that inconsistently apply the policies and procedures governing how U.S. person identities are masked.”

Grenell continued, “To that end, I am directing all IC (Intelligence Community) elements to review their implementation of the applicable standard for disseminating U.S. person identifying information and, as necessary, modify internal procedures to ensure the rules..are consistently applied.”

In the course of intelligence collection, an agency may conduct surveillance on a target or
gather their communications. In the process, the intelligence may also incidentally capture an American citizen’s name or job title, and there is an obligation to “minimize” or hide it.

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