AT&T and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy began the Hemisphere partnership in 2007. The program collected call-detail metadata from calls routed through AT&T exchanges, including calls involving non-AT&T customers. Records included caller and recipient numbers, dates, times, call lengths and, in some cases, location data; the database reportedly contained records dating to 1987 and generated an estimated four billion new records daily. AT&T employees were embedded in High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area offices, with their salaries paid through the ONDCP program.
A 27-slide presentation obtained through a 2013 Freedom of Information Act request by activist Drew Hendricks showed that investigators used the system beyond drug cases, including investigations involving bomb threats, alleged impersonation of a military general and a jewelry-store theft. Investigators could request data by email using administrative subpoenas rather than court warrants, and official guidance instructed them to disguise the source as “information obtained from an AT&T subpoena.” A November 2023 WIRED report identified the renamed Data Analytical Services program as providing access to trillions of domestic records, while Senator Ron Wyden’s November 20, 2023 letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland questioned its legality and warrant practices. The program’s secrecy and retention of records on people unconnected to crimes prompted continuing privacy and constitutional concerns.
