Based on the DEA's responses, the EFF determined that the agency only had one database throughout the program's whole lifespan. That database was only searched if authorities had "reasonable articulable suspicion," and it was regularly culled by deleting records older than a couple of years. The agency swears that the database was never used again after 2013 and that it was finally deleted in January 2015.

That said, the government admitted that it still retains some info from the database, particularly entries that came up when the DEA did a particular query. Authorities assure that the remaining data is stored in non-searchable PDFs, though, and that they destroyed the results to their other queries once investigations were complete. Despite the USTO's demise, the EFF continues to be wary of surveillance programs and warns that the NSA "likely continues to collect international call record information in bulk."