Wyden warns telcos still leave Senate in the dark after Trump DOJ snooping scandal

AT&T, Verizon, T-Mo failed to alert lawmakers about surveillance, senator says

Updated AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile US failed to set up systems to notify lawmakers when government snoops came calling for their phone records - a contractual obligation that went ignored until recently, according to US Senator Ron Wyden.

The Oregon Democrat on Wednesday sent a letter to his fellow lawmakers urging them to choose wireless carriers that provide notice of government snooping and warning against this type of "unchecked surveillance."

"An investigation by my staff revealed that until recently, Senators have been kept in the dark about executive branch surveillance of Senate phones, because the three major phone carriers — AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile — failed to establish systems to notify offices about surveillance requests, as required by their Senate contracts," Wyden wrote [PDF]. 

One of the three carriers admitted to Wyden's office that it handed over Senate-related phone data to law enforcement without providing the required notice, a failure the letter alleges likely violated the company's contract.

"While now rectified for Senate-funded lines, significant gaps remain, especially for the campaign and personal phones used by most Senators," Wyden continued.

An AT&T spokesperson told The Register that it is complying with its contract. "We have received no legal demands regarding Senate offices under the current contract, which began last June," the spokesperson said.

Verizon and T-Mobile US did not immediately respond to The Register's inquiries.

Following Wyden's investigation, T-Mobile has pledged to alert senators about surveillance requests targeting their campaign and personal phone lines, but only if those lines are flagged by the Senate Sergeant at Arms. Three other carriers, Google Fi Wireless, US Mobile, and Cape, already have policies in place to notify any customer about these types of government demands, with the latter two adopting those policies after outreach from Wyden's office.

Executive branch surveillance poses a significant threat to the Senate's independence

In the letter, Wyden cites a 2024 report by the Department of Justice Inspector General that found federal prosecutors, between 2017 and 2020, used sealed legal orders to obtain non-content communication records, including phone and email metadata, from two Democratic members of Congress, 43 congressional staffers from both parties, and reporters.

The records were reportedly obtained as part of classified leak investigations. In many cases, the DOJ also secured non-disclosure orders that barred providers from informing the targets their data had been seized.

"Executive branch surveillance poses a significant threat to the Senate's independence and the foundational principle of separation of powers," Wyden wrote. "If law enforcement officials, whether at the federal, state, or even local level, can secretly obtain Senators' location data or call histories, our ability to perform our constitutional duties is severely threatened." ®

Updated to add at 1538 UTC, May 22

T-Mobile sent The Register the following statement: "Customer privacy is a top priority for T-Mobile. We comply with our contractual obligations and the law, and we provide information to the government only in response to a valid legal demand."