TechCrunch reports that major U.S. telecommunications firms AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon were noted by Senate Intelligence Committee member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., to have failed to inform the Senate regarding federal surveillance requests on lawmakers' mobile devices despite being mandated to do so as part of their contracts.
"Executive branch surveillance poses a significant threat to the Senate's independence and the foundational principle of separation of powers. If law enforcement officials, whether at the federal, state, or even local level, can secretly obtain Senators' location data or call histories, our ability to perform our constitutional duties is severely threatened," said Wyden in a letter to fellow senators. Neither T-Mobile nor Verizon has responded to Wyden's allegations but AT&T said that it is adherent to requirements imposed by the Senate Sergeant at Arms. Such a development comes after the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General reported that a pair of House lawmakers and dozens of congressional staffers had their call and text logs covertly obtained by the Trump administration between 2017 and 2018.
"Executive branch surveillance poses a significant threat to the Senate's independence and the foundational principle of separation of powers. If law enforcement officials, whether at the federal, state, or even local level, can secretly obtain Senators' location data or call histories, our ability to perform our constitutional duties is severely threatened," said Wyden in a letter to fellow senators. Neither T-Mobile nor Verizon has responded to Wyden's allegations but AT&T said that it is adherent to requirements imposed by the Senate Sergeant at Arms. Such a development comes after the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General reported that a pair of House lawmakers and dozens of congressional staffers had their call and text logs covertly obtained by the Trump administration between 2017 and 2018.
