Millions of US drivers are having their license plate data scooped up by a federal law enforcement surveillance system that tracks their movements as they buzz along major American highways, according to documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. The program, like other domestic surveillance systems revealed in recent weeks, was unknown to lawmakers in charge of overseeing the Justice Department.
The documents show that technology used by the Drug Enforcement Agency to track vehicles along the Southern border has proliferated across the country in an effort to aid state and local police in their investigations into a number of non-drug related crimes.
“The primary goal of the license-plate tracking program, run by the Drug Enforcement Administration, is to seize cars, cash and other assets to combat drug trafficking, according to one government document, “The Wall Street Journal reported.
High-tech cameras positioned alongside US highways capture license plate information, location, heading, and at times, pictures of the driver. That information is fed into a national database that can be accessed by a host of law enforcement agencies across all levels.
Inevitably, huge numbers of Americans who aren’t suspected of any crime are having their whereabouts logged and stored in a police database. The agency reportedly stores the data for 3 months, down from a previous maximum of two years.
The Department of Justice claims the program is legal, however there’s no indication that it has been subject to any judicial oversight. On Capitol Hill, one lawmaker who oversees the criminal justice system said there must be “additional accountability” at the DOJ, and that the program “raises significant privacy concerns.”
“The fact that this intrusive technology is potentially being used to expand the reach of the government’s asset-forfeiture efforts is of even greater concern,” Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the ranking member on the Senate’s Judiciary Committee, told the Wall Street Journal.
In a letter last week to Attorney General Eric Holder, Sen. Leahy and the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), decried the department’s use of questionable surveillance technology prior to consulting Congress. As The Sentinel reported, the letter was in reaction to a USA Today report that revealed at least 50 law enforcement agencies including the FBI, were using radar technology to peer into peoples’ homes without a warrant.
The Senators also referenced a separate Wall Street Journal story published late last year that exposed a secret police program employing fake cell phone towers mounted on planes to scoop up bulk cell phone data on countless Americans below.
“This pattern of revelations raises questions about whether the Justice Department is doing enough to ensure that — prior to these technologies’ first use — law enforcement officials address their privacy implications, seek appropriate legal process, and fully inform the courts and Congress about how they work,” the lawmakers wrote last week in their letter.
They also asked the Attorney General for information on any other DOJ programs that that “raise similar privacy concerns.”
Monday’s disclosure about license-plate readers would certainly fit that description. However the existence of the program came by way of a Freedom of Information Act request by the American Civil Liberties Union.
More than a year-and-a-half ago, revelations about the NSA set off a debate about proper congressional oversight of US intelligence activities. Despite the talk of reform, lawmakers have yet to pass any measures to rein in snooping federal agencies–the ones whose domestic surveillance programs they know about, at least.
