Sens Wyden, Paul, Leahy, Daines Question DOJ Over Government Surveillance of Americans’ Location Information

Sens Ron Wyden (D-OR), Rand Paul (R-KY), Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Steve Daines (R-MT) asked the Department of Justice a series of questions about when and how the government can collect information about Americans’ location, in a bipartisan letter to Attorney General William Barr. The senators asked Attorney General Barr how the Supreme Court’s decision in Carpenter v. United States, that the government must get a warrant to obtain location information about Americans in most circumstances, has impacted federal government surveillance, including by the National Security Agency. “In light of the Carpenter decision and the recognition of Americans’ legitimate interest in privacy around [cellular location information], the American public deserves to know how the intelligence community treats these records and other sensitive metadata in national security cases,” the senators wrote.