F.B.I. Confirms It Is Purchasing Americans’ Location Data Without Warrants, Director Patel Tells Senate
The FBI has confirmed that it is actively purchasing commercially available data—including information that can reveal people's movements and location histories—according to Director Kash Patel, who disclosed the practice during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Wednesday.
This marks the first official acknowledgment since 2023 that the bureau is buying such data. In that earlier testimony, then-Director Christopher Wray stated that the FBI had purchased location data in the past but was not doing so at the time.
“We do purchase commercially available information that’s consistent with the Constitution and the laws under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and it has led to some valuable intelligence for us,” Patel told senators at the committee’s annual Worldwide Threats hearing.
Since a 2018 Supreme Court ruling (Carpenter v. United States), law enforcement has generally needed a warrant to obtain location data directly from cellphone carriers. But data brokers provide a workaround: they collect and sell vast troves of personal information—often scraped from apps, ads, and other sources—allowing agencies to buy it without judicial oversight.
Critics, including many lawmakers, argue this circumvents constitutional protections. On March 13, Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) introduced the Government Surveillance Reform Act, which would require federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies to obtain a warrant before purchasing Americans’ personal data. A companion bill in the House was introduced by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio).
“Doing that without a warrant is an outrageous end run around the Fourth Amendment, it’s particularly dangerous given the use of artificial intelligence to comb through massive amounts of private information,” Wyden said at Wednesday’s hearing.
Committee Chairman Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) defended the purchases, emphasizing their public availability.
“The key words are commercially available. If any other person can buy it, and the FBI can buy it, and it helps them locate a depraved child molester or savage cartel leader, I would certainly hope the FBI is doing anything it can to keep Americans safe,” he said.
The Defense Intelligence Agency Director James Adams also confirmed during the hearing that his agency buys commercially available information.
The disclosures highlight a long-running tension in U.S. surveillance policy: the balance between national security tools and privacy safeguards in an era when personal data is commodified and easily accessible to both governments and private entities. The new bipartisan reform effort signals growing momentum to close the so-called "warrant loophole" for bought data, even as defenders insist it remains essential for tracking serious threats.
