DEA database of Americans’ phone calls revealed

The Drug Enforcement Administration formerly maintained a secret database of Americans’ telephone calls to some foreign countries, the Justice Department revealed. The document filed by the department in a California criminal case revealed that the agency collected details about Americans’ calls to certain countries believed to be closely linked to drug trafficking networks.

This is a separate monitoring than the NSA spying revealed by contractor Edward Snowden.

According to the government’s brief, the DEA tracked information about phone calls from the United States to other “designated” countries that were “determined to have a demonstrated nexus to international drug trafficking and related criminal activities.”

photo Charles Fettinger via Flickr

The government did not specify how broad the program was and only noted one of targeted countries, Iran.

The document, about a specific court case, said the records contained information about the two phone numbers on the call in question, when it occurred and how the call was billed, but no details about call’s conversation.

The program was active for years, though the Justice Department claims they ended the program in September of 2013. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D – VT) is pressing for additional information on the scheme.

photo Donkeyhotey [email protected]