Kash Patel acknowledged during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing that the agency purchases Americans’ location data for intelligence purposes.
FBI Director Kash Patel acknowledged under oath that the agency is once again purchasing Americans’ data and location history, claiming that doing so yields “valuable intelligence.”
This revelation emerged on Wednesday (March 18) during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, when Democratic Senator Ron Wyden pressed Patel on whether the FBI would cease acquiring such private data without a warrant.
Testifying before the committee, Patel stated, “The FBI utilizes every tool at its disposal to fulfill its mission. We purchase commercially available information that is consistent with the Constitution and laws enacted under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and this has yielded valuable intelligence for us.”
In response, Wyden asserted that purchasing information on Americans without obtaining a warrant constitutes “a massive loophole to bypass the Fourth Amendment.”
Wyden remarked, “So, you are stating that the agency will purchase Americans’ location data. I believe that is precisely what you have conveyed in the language of intelligence. And I simply wish to state that, as we embark on this debate, engaging in such practices without a warrant amounts to circumventing the Fourth Amendment.”
“This is particularly alarming because artificial intelligence is being employed to sift through vast amounts of highly private information. This serves as compelling evidence as to why Congress must pass our bipartisan, bicameral legislation—the Government Surveillance Reform Act.”
The FBI’s Previous Stance
In 2023, then-FBI Director Christopher Wray informed senators that the agency had previously purchased access to individuals’ location data but was not doing so at that time.
Wray stated, “To the best of my knowledge, we do not currently purchase information from commercial databases that includes location data derived from internet advertising.” He added, “I am aware that, in the past—specifically for a particular national security pilot project—we did purchase some such information. However, that initiative has not been active for some time.”