Grassley, Leahy Press DOJ for Information on Law Enforcement’s Use of Stingray
Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., want the Department of Justice (DOJ) to provide information on “whether law enforcement’s use of technology capable of scanning data from thousands of cell phones is part of a domestic test operation…
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on behalf of the intelligence community,” said a Monday joint release about a March 18 letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Acting Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates. Grassley and Leahy sent a letter to the DOJ in June and December last year asking about the use of cell-site simulators, also known as “IMSI Catchers,” “dirtboxes,” or “Stingrays,” which “mimic standard cell towers and force affected cell phones to reveal their approximate location and identifying serial number,” the March 18 letter said. The FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) both “maintain that they do not use the devices in this way,” and said they “purge any data collected from non-targeted telephones once an investigation is complete,” the letter said. But the Wall Street Journal reported March 10 that the “USMS field-tested various versions of this technology in the United States on behalf of the Central Intelligence Agency,” the letter said. “If this report is true, such practices raise additional concerns,” and the DOJ’s “failure to answer” previous questions have “heightened our concerns,” the letter said. The senators asked the DOJ to provide a written response to their questions by March 27. Questions included: Does DOJ policy ever permit the use of cell-site simulators to capture the content of communications domestically? Has DOJ or any DOJ entity tested cell-site simulators or other surveillance technology on behalf of the intelligence community, by employing the devices in the course of domestic law enforcement operations? What, if any, DOJ policy governs the testing and deployment of new surveillance technology?