WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) routinely operates within the United States, current CIA Director John Brennan acknowledged in a 2007 paper termed "Intelligence to Meet the Challenges of the 21st Century" and released by WikiLeaks.
"The FBI, Department of Homeland Security, National Security Agency, CIA and Department of Defense are all engaged in intelligence activities on US soil," Brennan wrote.
On Wednesday, WikiLeaks released the 2007 paper that has been hacked from Brennan’s private AOL e-mail account.
Brennan added in the paper that the CIA, along with the other US intelligence services, had to obey the laws of the United States.
"[T]hese activities must be consistent with our laws and reflect the democratic principles and values of our nation," he noted.
Obama brought Brennan, who had previously run the National Counterterrorism Center under President George W. Bush, into the administration right after taking office as his adviser on homeland security and counterterrorism.
In the 2007 paper, Brennan also advocated strong congressional oversight to prevent secret programs and abuses of power by the US intelligence community.
"Stringent oversight of activities — by the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government must be an essential part of the system," he stated.
WikiLeaks said it would release additional documents from Brennan’s private e-mail account on succeeding days.
Also WikiLeaks revealed that John Brennan wrote that US President George W. Bush’s sweeping 2004 reforms of the US intelligence community resulted in confusion and competition.
“[T]he ineffective implementation of those reforms has resulted in confusion and competition among intelligence agencies,” Brennan wrote.
Brennan wrote in the paper that the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 created the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and called for a transformation of the Intelligence Community, but it failed in its broader purpose.
Brennan also indicated he believed Bush and his administration had failed to respect the rights of US citizens sufficiently with their sweeping adoption of new powers.
“In light of the seriousness of the transnational terrorist threat, we need to set the appropriate balance between conducting domestic intelligence operations and protecting the privacy rights and liberties of US persons,” Brennan added in the paper.
President Barack Obama brought Brennan, who had previously run the National Counterterrorism Center under Bush, into his administration right as his adviser on homeland security and counterterrorism.
