CIA has been secretly collecting data on Americans in bulk, senators say

The Central Intelligence Agency has conducted a secret, bulk surveillance program without congressional approval for years and two senators have called for new information about the program that includes data on Americans, according to a statement on Thursday.

Their letter to the top intelligence officials was partially declassified on Thursday. The two accused the CIA of conducting the program  "entirely outside the statutory framework that Congress and the public believe govern this collection, and without any of the judicial, congressional or even executive branch oversight that comes with FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] collection."

The program operates under the authority of Executive Order 12333, the document that broadly governs intelligence community activity and was first signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981.