FBI Says It Has No Clue How Many Americans It Spies On; Senator Calls for Reform

Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The FBI has no idea how many Americans it spies on.

Time reports that the FBI keeps very few records on domestic surveillance, a discovery that incensed Sen. Rob Wyden, D-Ore.

Wyden requested information on the number of American citizens who are subject to FBI surveillance and ended up with more questions than answers.

“The FBI does not track how many queries it conducts using U.S. person identifiers,” the letter says. “the FBI does not distinguish between U.S. and non-U.S. persons for purposes of querying Section 702 collection.”

Wyden was not happy about what he called a “huge gap in oversight.”

“When the FBI says it conducts a substantial number of searches and it has no idea of what the number is, it shows how flawed this system is and the consequences of inadequate oversight,” Wyden said in a statement.

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