Feds kept separate phone record database on U.S. calls

Kevin Johnson | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department kept a separate, giant database on U.S. calls to and from other countries for years to assist in conducting narcotics investigations before the program was suspended in 2013, according to court records and a Justice official.

The existence of the database, operated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, was detailed in court records filed Thursday in U.S. District Court here, related to an investigation involving communications between a Southern California phone number to a phone line in Iran. The investigation involved the suspected illegal importation of "technological goods'' to Iran in violation of U.S. law.

Authorities were able to access the database through administrative subpoenas rather than court orders. And it contained so-called metadata on international calls originating in the U.S. to designated countries, including Iran, that were "determined to have a demonstrated nexus to international drug trafficking and related criminal activities,'' according to the court records.

The repository was separate from the massive telephone records program by the National Security Agency, disclosed in 2013 by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Like the NSA program, the DEA database consisted of the telephone numbers, dates, times and duration of calls and billing information, court records stated. No subscriber or personal identification information was recorded in the database. Contents of the calls also were not recorded.

"This database is no longer being queried for investigatory purposes, and information is no longer being collected in bulk" according to the court declaration by Robert Patterson, an assistant special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration.

A Justice official said the program was suspended in September 2013 and "ultimately terminated."

"It has not been active nor searchable since September 2013, and all of the information has been deleted," said the official, who is not authorized to comment publicly. "The agency is no longer collecting bulk telephony metadata from U.S. service providers."

As early as March, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the then-chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, raised questions about the operation in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder.

"It would surprise most Americans to learn that these records have been primarily used by government agents to conduct routine counter-narcotics criminal investigations,'' Leahy wrote in a March 6 letter to the attorney general. "I understand the program has been suspended and is under review. I urge you not to reinstate it.''

In the letter, Leahy said that the program was never subject to court review or an internal audit by the agency.

"I am deeply concerned about this kind of suspicionless intrusion into Americans' privacy in any context, but it is particularly troubling when done for routine criminal investigations,'' Leahy said.

The senator characterized the database as containing an "enormous'' mass of records between the U.S. and an undisclosed number of countries.

"The administration has justified the NSA program on the grounds that it is designed to address the gravest threat to our nation, but this DEA program demonstrates that bulk collection of phone records from providers has not been limited to counter-terrorism purposes,'' he said.