The Central Intelligence Agency was embedded in the New York Police Department to conduct surveillance operations in the United States after 9/11, a CIA inspector general's report revealed.
The New York Times reported that CIA Inspector General David B. Buckley found that the collaboration with the NYPD was filled with “irregular personnel practices” and that it lacked “formal documentation in some important instances.”
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The inspector general completed the report in December 2011, but it was classified at the time, according to the Times. The report found that four agency analysts — more than had previously been known — were assigned at various times to "provide direct assistance" to New York police.
Buckley expressed his concerns about the relationship in a covert memo to David Petraeus, who was CIA director at the time.
"While negative public perception is to be expected from the revelation of the agency's close and direct collaboration with any local domestic police department, a perception that the agency has exceeded its authorities diminishes the trust placed in the organization," Buckley wrote to Petraeus.
Ginger McCall, the director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center's Open Government Project, told The New York Times that the CIA is not permitted to engage in domestic surveillance.
"Despite the assurances of the C.I.A.’s press office, the activities documented in this report cross the line and highlight the need for more oversight," McCall said.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that got the report's executive summary and cover memo released.
The CIA announced in 2011 that its internal report found no evidence of
agency wrong-doing during its partnership with the NYPD, CNN reported.
"The CIA inspector general has completed a review of the CIA's relationship with the NYPD and has found no violation of law or executive order on the part of CIA," CIA spokesman Preston Golson said back in 2011. "The IG also found no evidence that any part of the agency's support to the NYPD constituted 'domestic spying.' "
Additionally, the CIA reportedly helped the NYPD conduct covert surveillance on Muslims living in New York and New Jersey, which poses further civil liberty and legal issues.
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