Earlier this year, FBI Director Kash Patel sat before the Senate Intelligence Committee and confirmed what privacy watchdogs have long suspected.
Asked by Sen. Ron Wyden to commit to not purchasing Americans’ location data, Patel responded without flinching: “The FBI uses all tools to do our mission.” The bureau is buying detailed profiles of American citizens from their movements, habits, and associations from commercial data brokers. No warrant necessary, no judge, no probable cause—just a purchase order made by some low-level staffer.
What seems to be a clear violation of the 4th Amendment is a Washington problem, one that has been festering for years across administrations on both sides of the aisle.
The Department of Homeland Security has been purchasing data from brokers like Venntel and Babel Street as far back as 2017, spending millions of taxpayer dollars to track the movement of millions of Americans without a warrant. ICE has been using that data to identify and arrest immigrants. CPB used it to monitor activity along the southern border, and well beyond it. The NSA has confirmed the purchase of Americans’ internet browsing data. This shadow surveillance infrastructure was built quietly, across multiple administrations, and has continued to grow.
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