Defense Intelligence Agency Buys Phone Location Data Without Warrants, Memo Says

A sign for the National Security Agency (NSA), U.S. Cyber Command and Central Security Service, near the visitor's entrance to the NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Md., on Feb. 14, 2018. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

A U.S. intelligence agency is buying phone location data without using warrants, according to a newly released document.

In a memo dated Jan. 15 (pdf) to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) said analysts had searched U.S. device location data five times in the past 2 1/2 years.