Carriers’ Failure to Notify Lawmakers of Government Requests Raises Concerns Over Independence and Separation of Powers

Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat and member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has revealed that three major US cellphone carriers – AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon – did not have provisions to notify lawmakers about government surveillance requests, despite a contractual requirement to do so. In a letter to fellow Senators, Wyden stated that an investigation by his staff found that the companies were not notifying Senators of legal requests, including those from the White House, to surveil their phones.

According to Wyden’s letter, the companies “have indicated that they are all now providing such notice.” However, this revelation comes in the wake of a report last year by the Inspector General, which revealed that the Trump administration in 2017 and 2018 secretly obtained logs of calls and text messages of 43 congressional staffers and two serving House lawmakers, imposing gag orders on the phone companies that received the requests.

The secret surveillance requests were first revealed in 2021 to have targeted Adam Schiff, who was at the time the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. Wyden wrote in his letter that “executive branch surveillance poses a significant threat to the Senate’s independence and the foundational principle of separation of powers.” He emphasized that if law enforcement officials can secretly obtain Senators’ location data or call histories, their ability to perform their constitutional duties is severely threatened.

AT&T spokesperson Alex Byers stated that the company is complying with its obligations to the Senate Sergeant at Arms and has received no legal demands regarding Senate offices under the current contract. However, when asked whether AT&T received legal demands before the new contract, Byers did not respond.

Verizon and T-Mobile did not respond to a request for comment. Wyden encouraged his Senate colleagues to switch to carriers that now provide notifications, citing carriers Google Fi, US Mobile, and cellular startup Cape, which have policies to notify customers about government demands whenever they are allowed to do so.

The issue of surveillance highlights the need for transparency and accountability in government requests for data. Wyden’s letter notes that after Congress enacted protections in 2020 for Senate data held by third-party companies, the Senate Sergeant at Arms updated its contracts to require phone carriers to send notifications of surveillance requests. However, none of these protections apply to phones that are not officially issued to the Senate, such as campaign or personal phones of Senators and their staffers.

The revelation of secret surveillance requests has sparked concerns over the independence of the Senate and the separation of powers. As Wyden’s letter notes, “executive branch surveillance poses a significant threat to the Senate’s independence and the foundational principle of separation of powers.” The issue is likely to be closely watched by lawmakers and advocates for transparency and accountability in government.