U.S. Law Enforcement Kept Database of U.S. Phone Calls Overseas

U.S. law enforcement until last year maintained a database of international phone calls that was obtained from telecommunications companies under subpoenas that dont require court approval.

The database tracked phone numbers that initiated and received calls and the time and duration of the communications. It allowed investigators to query a number when they had a reasonable articulable suspicion that it was linked to a federal criminal investigation, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official said Thursday in a court filing.

The records didnt include content of the calls or personal identifying information, according to the filing.

A description of the database was disclosed as part of a case in federal court in Washington involving a suspect accused of illegally exporting U.S. goods and technology to Iran.

The National Security Agency collects phone records from U.S. telecommunications companies under a program that was disclosed by former government contractor Edward Snowden. Civil liberties groups argue that such data collection violates privacy. Government officials say its essential to combat terrorism. Those data collections must be reauthorized periodically by a special U.S. intelligence court.

The U.S. stopped using the law-enforcement database in 2013, according to the court document, a declaration filed by Robert Patterson, an assistant special agent in charge at the DEA. The program tracked calls from the U.S. to certain foreign countries, including Iran, according to Patterson.

In addition, all of the data has been deleted and the information is no longer being collected, according to a Justice Department statement today.

To contact the reporter on this story: Justin Blum in Washington at jblum4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Gordon at cgordon39@bloomberg.net Bernard Kohn, Stephen West

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U.S. Law Enforcement Kept Database of U.S. Phone Calls Overseas