large_nj turnpike exit 9 east brunswick.JPG

File photo of the New Jersey Turnpike traffic.

(nj.com file photo)

The Justice Department has been tracking vehicles in real time around the U.S. for years, compiling a secret national database, according to reports.

The secret intelligence program, which gathers hundreds of millions of records about drivers domestically, according to The Wall Street Journal, is run by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Hundreds of licenses-plate readers have been set up in at least eight states: California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Florida, Georgia and New Jersey, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

In the Garden State, the DEA has license-plate readers on the New Jersey Turnpike near Elizabeth, The Wall Street Journal reports. Other locations were not disclosed.

The Wall Street Journal reports that many local and state law-enforcement agencies use the database in their investigations.

The agency created the program with a primary goal to combating drug trafficking by seizing cash, cars and other assets but its use has expanded to hunt for vehicles associated with other crimes, the report says.

A senior policy analyst with ACLU, Jay Stanley, told The Guardian, "This story highlights yet another way government security agencies are seeking to quietly amplify their powers using new technologies."

In February of 2014, The Washington Post reported a nation license-plate tracking plan was canceled by Homeland Security, however according to documents obtained by the ACLU, the program already existed within the DEA since 2008. What was cancelled was one solicitation for proposals from Immigrations and Customs.

The DEA has previously admitted to tracking vehicles near the southwest border to fight drug cartels and planned to gradually expand the program, reports say. However, the vastness of its expansion had not been disclosed until the ACLU obtained documents through the Freedom of Information Act.

U.S. businesses already use license-plate readers to collect debts and repossess vehicles, the report says.