Pubdate: Tue, 03 Sep 2013
Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Copyright: 2013 Associated Press
Contact: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html
Website: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Authors: Gene Johnson and Eileen Sullivan, Associated Press

FEDERAL DRUG AGENTS SECRETLY GETTING NEARLY INSTANT ACCESS TO AT&T FILES

SEATTLE (AP) - For at least six years, federal drug and other agents 
have had nearly immediate access to billions of phone-call records 
dating back decades in a collaboration with AT&T that officials have 
taken pains to keep secret, newly released documents show.

The program, called the Hemisphere Project, is paid for by the U.S. 
Drug Enforcement Administration and the Office of National Drug 
Control Policy. It allows investigators armed with subpoenas to 
quickly mine the company's vast database to help track down drug 
traffickers or other suspects who switch cellphones to avoid detection.

Details of the Hemisphere Project come amid a national debate about 
the federal government's access to phone records, particularly the 
bulk collection of phone records for national-security purposes.

Hemisphere, however, takes a different approach from that of the 
National Security Agency, which maintains a database of call records 
handed over by phone companies as authorized by the USA Patriot Act.

"Subpoenaing drug dealers' phone records is a bread-and-butter tactic 
in the course of criminal investigations," Justice Department 
spokesman Brian Fallon said in an e-mail.

"The records are maintained at all times by the phone company, not 
the government. This program simply streamlines the process of 
serving the subpoena to the phone company so law enforcement can 
quickly keep up with drug dealers when they switch phone numbers to 
try to avoid detection."

The Associated Press independently obtained a series of slides 
detailing Hemisphere.

They show that the database includes not just records of AT&T 
customers, but of any call that passes through an AT&T switch.

The federal government pays the salaries of four AT&T employees who 
work in three federal anti-drug offices around the country to 
expedite subpoena requests, an Obama administration official told the 
AP on Monday.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he or she was 
not authorized to discuss the program and said that two of the AT&T 
employees are based at the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area 
office in Atlanta, one at the HIDTA office in Houston and one at the 
office in Los Angeles.

The Hemisphere database includes records that date to 1987, the 
official said, but typical narcotics investigations focus on records 
no older than 18 months.

To keep the program secret, investigators who request searches of the 
database are instructed to "never refer to Hemisphere in any official 
document," one of the slides says.

Agents are told that when they obtain information through a 
Hemisphere program subpoena, they should "wall off" the program by 
filing a duplicative subpoena directly to the target's phone company 
or by simply writing that the information was obtained through an 
AT&T subpoena.

It wasn't immediately clear what percentage of U.S. calls are routed 
through AT&T switches and, thus, have records captured in Hemisphere.

One slide says the program includes records "for a tremendous amount 
of international numbers that place calls through or roam on the AT&T network."

"While we cannot comment on any particular matter, we, like all other 
companies, must respond to valid subpoenas issued by law 
enforcement," AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said in an e-mail.

According to the slides, the program is useful for investigators 
trying to track down drug traffickers or other criminals who 
frequently change phones or use multiple phones.

If agents become aware of a phone number previously used by a 
suspect, they can write an administrative subpoena, with no judicial 
oversight required, for records about that number.

Hemisphere analysts can track the number's call history or other 
characteristics and compare it with the history and characteristics 
of phones still in use - thus winnowing a list of possible current 
phone numbers for the suspect, along with his or her location.

"Hemisphere results can be returned via e-mail within an hour of the 
subpoenaed request and include (call detail records) that are less 
than one hour old at the time of the search," one slide says.

Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy 
Information Center, said the program raises several privacy concerns, 
including that if a query returns call records that are similar to 
but not those of the suspect, agents could be reviewing call records 
of people who haven't done anything wrong.

"One of the points that occurred to me immediately is the very strong 
suspicion that there's been very little judicial oversight of this 
program," Rotenberg said.

"The obvious question is: Who is determining whether these 
authorities have been properly used?"

Washington state peace activist Drew Hendricks provided the slides to 
the AP on Monday.

Hendricks said he obtained them in response to a series of 
public-records requests he filed with West Coast police agencies, 
initially seeking information about a law-enforcement conference that 
had been held in Spokane, Wash.

In the Northwest, the DEA and Department of Homeland Security make 
most of the Hemisphere requests through administrative subpoenas, one 
slide notes.

Since late last year, AT&T has also accepted requests by court orders 
from local police agencies in Washington state.

As of June, Hemisphere had processed 679 requests from the Northwest 
High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.

And since 2007, the Los Angeles Hemisphere program had processed more 
than 4,400 requests.

In connection with the controversy over the NSA's sweeping up of call 
records, some lawmakers have suggested that phone companies store the 
records instead and allow federal agents or analysts to request 
specific data when necessary.

"This way, each query would require a specific government warrant 
before the FISA Court, and Americans would have more confidence that 
their privacy is being protected, while achieving the same 
national-security results," Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said in a 
July 31 statement.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom