Over the past ten years, the Drug Enforcement Administration has spent millions of dollars on cell phone tracking. Federal purchasing documents that are already posted online indicate the make and model of the tracking device, and often even the DEA field office that bought it.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has at least two systems that can locate an individual mobile device to within 25 feet, the agency admitted recently. Meanwhile, just down the halls of the Justice Department, the FBI insists that it can neither confirm nor deny that it has any records on the same system.

The Federal Communications Commission insists that it does not require police departments to sign a nondisclosure agreement with the FBI before acquiring or deploying cell phone trackers. The FCC’s response contradicts wording found in one such FBI nondisclosure agreement released last month by Tacoma police.

Advanced cell phone tracking devices known as StingRays allow police nationwide to home in on suspects or to log individuals present at a given location. But before acquiring a StingRay, state and local police must sign a nondisclosure agreement with the FBI, documents released last week reveal.

We’re down to five days left in our “The Spy in Your Pocket” crowdfunding campaign! Last week, the Illinois State Police released documents surrounding its 2008 purchase of a StingRay cell phone tracker.