Lawmakers Say Data Rules Leave White House, CIA Headquarters Unprotected

Three congressional Democrats warned that federal rules restricting sales of location data to foreign adversaries omit several key government sites. C. region. U.S. adversaries from purchasing commercial location data collected near sensitive federal facilities.

The rules took effect in April 2025 and bar sales of data from more than 1,000 American devices to China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela. They also prohibit sales of data from even a single device at 736 designated sites identified by GPS coordinates.

The list of protected locations does not include the White House, Congress or CIA headquarters, according to a letter sent Thursday by Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, and Rep. Sara Jacobs of California. U.S. government personnel. C. region instead of listing individual buildings. It also recommended expanding the list of countries barred from acquiring the data.

Data brokers have sold location information to companies for advertising and market analysis. Governments have used the same datasets for law enforcement and intelligence purposes. U.S. officials by purchasing the commercially available records. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on the letter.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not respond to a request for comment.