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Legal Challenges Highlight DHS Surveillance Practices
Recent court cases have examined Department of Homeland Security collection of data from U.S. residents. The filings describe surveillance methods used by multiple federal agencies.
May 27, 5:39 PM·1m read1 source
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Recent legal challenges have examined federal surveillance programs conducted by the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies. Court documents describe collection of communications and biometric data from individuals inside the United States.
The National Security Agency maintains a workforce of about 60,000 employees focused on domestic surveillance. Agency practices include applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for warrants based on probable cause of contact with foreign persons.
Homeland Security personnel use mobile devices capable of capturing fingerprints at 15 feet and iris data at 15 inches. Officers can access bank, health, legal, and commercial records during encounters with individuals already entered in federal databases.
Law enforcement agencies also deploy Stingray devices that mimic cell tower signals to determine the location of mobile phones. The devices operate without two-way communication with the targeted phone.
The FBI has adopted zero-click software for data collection.
Court filings in the current cases have not yet produced final rulings on the constitutionality of these methods.
