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U.S. NEWSThursday 22 October 2015
U.S. Secret Service is allowed to
use warrantless phone tracking
MICHAEL BIESECKER girl being held hostage by
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — A human smugglers in Ari-
new policy allows the U.S.
Secret Service to use in- zona.
trusive cellphone-track-
ing technology without a But Stodder said another
warrant if there’s believed
to be a nonspecific threat allowed exception under
to the president or anoth-
er protected person. the policy would let the
Homeland Security As-
sistant Secretary Seth M. Secret Service use Sting-
Stodder described to a
House of Representatives rays in “exceptional cir-
subcommittee Wednes-
day the department’s cumstances” without
policy on the use of cell-
site simulators. meeting the legal thresh-
Civil libertarians and pri-
vacy advocates have old for probable cause.
long expressed concern
about the suitcase-size In such cases, using the
devices, known as Sting-
rays, which mimic cell- devices would require di-
towers to scoop up elec-
tronic data that can be rect approval from “exec-
used to locate nearby
phones and identify their utive-level personnel” at
owners. The devices don’t
FILE - Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, right, with CIA Director John Brennan, cen- listen in to phone calls or Secret Service headquar-
ter, and FBI Director James Comey, left, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 10, capture text messages,
2015, before the House Intelligence Committee hearing on cyber threats. Stodder said. ters and the U.S. attorney
The policy the depart-
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, FILE) ment unveiled this week for the relevant jurisdic-
is similar to the one an-
WikiLeaks publishes CIA director’s emails nounced in September by tion.
the Justice Department,
which includes the FBI. Asked whether that essen-
Federal law enforcement
officers are required to tially granted a blanket
get a warrant signed
by a judge before using exception for the Secret
Stingrays, except under
emergency “exigent cir- Service, Stodder said that
cumstances” meeting the
KEN DILANIAN Security number and the Brennan writes that in Au- constitutional standard the exemption would not
names of people Brennan gust 2007: “I have had for probable cause under
STEPHEN BRAUN worked with over a long lunch twice and dinner the Fourth Amendment, be used in routine criminal
prior career at the CIA. once with Alan Lovell, a but when there is no time
Associated Press A CIA statement called the U.K. colleague with whom to get a warrant. probes, such as a coun-
postings a “crime.” I worked closely during the Stodder cited the exam-
WASHINGTON (AP) — The “The Brennan family is the last three years of my gov- ple of kidnappings, such terfeiting investigation.
victim,” the agency said in ernment career. Alan is as a recent case where
WikiLeaks organization an unattributed statement, currently posted at the U.K. Immigration and Customs “The key exception that
in keeping with agency Embassy in Washington.” Enforcement officers used
posted material Wednes- policy. “This attack is some- Brennan’s “government a Stingray to help locate we envision is the Secret
thing that could happen career” to that point con- and rescue a 6-year-old
day from what appears to anyone and should be sisted of decades at the Service’s protective mis-
condemned, not promot- CIA. It’s not clear what
to be CIA Director John ed. There is no indication Lovell’s role was at the sion,” Stodder said. “In
that any the documents British Embassy. The State
Brennan’s personal email released thus far are clas- Department in 2009 listed certain circumstances
sified. In fact, they appear Lovell as a “counselor”
account, including a draft to be documents that a in the British Embassy. His where you could have an
private citizen with national LinkedIn profile currently
security clearance appli- security interests and ex- lists him as working at the immediate threat to the
pertise would be expected British Ministry of Defense.
cation containing personal to possess.” The documents include a president and you have
The documents all date partially written position
information. from before 2009, when paper on the future of intel- cryptic information, our
Brennan joined the White ligence, a memo on Iran, a
The material presumably House staff; before that, he paper from a Republican conclusion in drawing the
was working in the private lawmaker on CIA interroga-
was taken in a compro- sector. Aside from the par- tions and a summary of a line between secrecy and
tially completed clearance contract dispute between
mise of Brennan’s email application, none of the the CIA and Brennan’s pri- privacy here is to err on
documents appears to be vate company, the Analy-
account by a hacker who sensitive. sis Corporation, which had the side of protection.”
In a section of his secu- filed a formal protest after
told The New York Post he is rity clearance application losing a contract dealing Stodder added that such
covering foreign contacts, with terrorist watch lists. q
a high school student pro- information could be “a
testing American foreign cryptic email or some-
policy. The hacker claimed thing like that” indicating
he posed as a Verizon em- a security threat to the
ployee and tricked anoth- president where agents
er employee into revealing would lack the time or the
Brennan’s personal infor- information to determine
mation. Brennan was seek- probable cause, “but you
ing a security clearance need to locate that per-
while applying for a job as son.”
White House counterterror- Cell-site stimulators have
ism adviser. It was not im- been used for years by
mediately clear whether both state and federal
any national security infor- law enforcement agen-
mation was compromised cies, who tout them as a
in the release of the clear- vital tool to catch fugitives
ance application, which and locate suspects. q
includes his wife’s Social
