The Internal Revenue Service spent $70,000 on warrantless spying technology, according to a published report, putting it in the company of spy services such as the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency.
Documents obtained by the Guardian through a Freedom of Information Act request indicate the company gave Harris Corp. $71,652 for technology and training for its employees in 2012, in addition to an unknown number of 2009 transactions that were redacted.
The device, known as a Stingray, is a cell-site simulator that sweeps up cellular metadata and, in some cases, the content of cellular communications. The technology captures the data of every cellular device in a targeted area, which means even those who are innocent are subject to having their information monitored. The secretive technology has been used by federal law enforcement agencies for years, but the details are not widely known.
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In September, the Department of Justice required agencies under its auspices to seek warrants in order to use the technology. That included the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the U.S. Marshals Service. The Department of Homeland Security announced it would follow suit, which includes Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Secret Service.
As a result, the CIA, NSA and IRS are the only remaining federal agencies known to have the technology with no self-imposed restrictions, along with all branches of the U.S. military. Until now, it wasn’t known that the IRS had the technology, giving the agency a cover of secrecy that even the country’s top spy agencies didn’t possess.
Agents obtain authorization to use the simulators through a court order called a PEN register. The term originated in 1984 in reference to devices that identified “numbers called or otherwise transmitted” by a telephone. The statute has never been updated, even as the amount of metadata collected by telephones has grown.
“The problem is that you have an archaic legal framework for PEN registers that requires much less of a showing than a warrant would,” Adam Bates, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute, told the Washington Examiner. “These devices don’t necessarily work like wiretaps. They can interrupt service and rip data from dozens or hundreds of phones in the vicinity of their target. If it is shown that the IRS is using these devices without warrants and using them in fishing expeditions, it would be alarming.”
According to its website, the IRS employs “nearly” 3,500 employees in its criminal investigation division worldwide, with 2,500 whose jurisdiction includes tax, money laundering and Bank Secrecy Act laws. That means the number able to request a PEN register is likely above 2,500.
It is not clear whether the IRS has used Stingray in any of its investigations since 2009. The agency did not return the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
However, the revelation is certain to anger a bipartisan group of lawmakers who had already sought laws restricting use of the surveillance technology. That group includes Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who have sent several letters to the Homeland Security and Justice Departments seeking details on the program, only to be met with answers that they often found less than satisfactory.
Last week, Leahy also called for the self-imposed DHS and DOJ policies to be codified into law. “We must ensure stronger protections for the privacy rights of innocent Americans who are not the targets of an investigation,” he said in a statement.
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With the revelation about the IRS, the movement to pass such a law is likely to gain steam.
