FBI started buying Americans' location data again, Kash Patel confirms

FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed at a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing yesterday that the bureau has resumed purchasing location data on Americans without warrants, reversing a 2023 pledge. The restart comes three years after then-FBI Director Christopher Wray stated the agency had halted the practice, which he said had previously been used only for a "specific national security pilot project." Patel told senators the location data purchases have yielded valuable intelligence but declined to commit to ending the program. Senator Ron Wyden questioned Patel directly about Wray's prior assurance that the FBI no longer engaged in such purchases.