By Jennifer Valentino-DeVries
July 14, 2011
Are U.S. intelligence agencies tracking American citizens’ location through cellphones and GPS devices?
It might sound outlandish, but Sens. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) and Mark Udall (D., Colo.) are raising questions about whether the government might be doing just that, according to an early copy of a letter written by the senators and expected to be released later today.
In a letter to the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, the senators demand information on whether the agencies he leads, including the NSA and the CIA, “have the authority to collect the geolocation information of American citizens for intelligence purposes.”
“If yes, please explain the specific statutory basis for this authority,” the letter states. Wired’s Danger Room blog reported on the planned letter earlier Thursday.
The letter also asks how many Americans have had their communications monitored under authority granted by 2008 legislation amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. “Have any apparently law-abiding Americans had their communications collected by the government?” they write.
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/07/14/senators-ask-intelligence-agencies-about-location-tracking-of-americans/