The NYT publication notes that the intelligence agency “for the most part buys and uses people’s location information to investigate foreigners overseas”
An article published Saturday by The New York Times reveals that the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), without a court order, buys databases to track the movements of Americans and citizens of other countries.
Documents obtained by the newspaper`s reporters show that in five investigations over the past two and a half years, DIA officials have tracked the movements of Americans using databases purchased from certain brokers. These are compiled for commercial purposes by analysing information gathered by smartphone apps.
“DIA appears, for the most part, to be buying and using people’s location information to investigate foreigners overseas”. – One of the agency’s tasks is said to be to “identify threats to US forces deployed around the world,” the publication said.
US law requires a court order before US authorities can ask telecom companies for information that would identify the movements of Americans, the report said. DIA is exploiting a loophole in the privacy law in this case, the paper said. They argue they do not need a court order to acquire the databases.
The paper does not specify which investigations concerning citizens of other countries the RIO is conducting. It also does not explain which countries they are referring to.