The Shopping Cart
How the Government Bought What It Was Banned From Collecting
Summary
In 2015, Congress shut down bulk phone-records collection. The FBI, ICE, CBP, DIA, DEA, and Secret Service now buy the same data from commercial brokers — no warrant required. On March 18, 2026, FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed the practice under oath and declined to stop it.
Where we are
In production. The data-broker pipeline that begins at ordinary retail and ends at federal law-enforcement procurement is the piece's spine. Fact-Checker has verified the specific procurement contracts against SAM.gov filings.
What we know
- FACT
Federal law-enforcement agencies have procured commercial data-broker feeds that include grocery-loyalty, retail-purchase, and location-history data on U.S. persons.
SAM.gov contract awards, cross-referenced against ACLU and EFF FOIA reporting
What we're checking
- PROBABLY TRUE
The commercial-data procurement pathway substantially bypasses the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement in ways that have not been substantively tested in federal courts.
Fourth Amendment constitutional scholarship; pending litigation