- The Washington Times - Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Four senators pushed for additional information from the Department of Homeland Security regarding cellphone surveillance around Washington, Reuters reported Wednesday.

Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden, Ed Markey, along with Republican Sens. Rand Paul and Cory Gardner have asked that information about possible surveillance on cellphones in the area be made public. There was a report of cellphone-site simulators around Washington that DHS briefed other agencies about in February, but it has not released the information publicly. 

“The American people have a legitimate interest in understanding the extent to which U.S. telephone networks are vulnerable to surveillance and are being actively exploited by hostile actors,” wrote the senators in a joint letter according to Reuters.

DHS said in a letter to Mr. Wyden in March that the agency had not attributed the sites to “specific entities or devices” but said the behavior was consistent with “International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) catchers,” according to the report.  

• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.

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