The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has released a policy framework outlining general principles governing the access, collection, processing and use of commercially available information, or CAI, across the intelligence community.
The framework highlights the potential impact on privacy and civil liberties of the collection and use of CAI by intelligence agencies and establishes that such activity should comply with applicable laws and be authorized to support a validated mission, ODNI said Wednesday.
“In keeping with my commitment to share as much as possible about the IC’s activities, we are sharing this framework which provides effective governance for the IC’s handling of CAI while also protecting Americans’ privacy and civil liberties,” said Avril Haines, director of national intelligence and a 2024 Wash100 awardee.
According to the framework, intelligence agencies must assess the integrity and quality of CAI they access or collect, consider the protection of privacy and civil liberties when gathering public information, undertake reasonable efforts to determine original CAI sources and apply to CAI appropriate safeguards tailored to protect the sensitivity of the information.
The intelligence community must also prevent the discriminatory use of CAI against certain ethnicity, race, religion, gender, gender identity and sexual orientation.