U S Department of Justice Of ce of Legislative Affairs Of ce of the Assistant Attorney General Washington DC 20530 July 14 2015 The Honorable Charles E Grassley Chairman Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate Washington DC 20510 Dear Mr Chairman This responds to your letter to Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates dated April 27 2015 concerning the Drug Enforcement Administration s DEA purchase and overseas use of commercially-available software to collect data on foreign based non-U S person criminal targets as well as corresponding policies and procedures DEA has provided the following information in response to your letter We apologize for our delay in responding The Department is committed to using all law enforcement resources in a manner that is consistent with the requirements and protections of the Constitution and other legal authorities and with appropriate respect for privacy and civil liberties We are likewise committed to ensuring that the Department s practices are lawful and respect the important privacy interests of the American people In 2012 having encountered evidence collection challenges in a number of foreign investigations and without the resources to internally develop its own technical solution DEA sought to lawfully acquire a commercially-available tool that would allow for remote overseas deployment of communication monitoring software on foreign-based devices used by foreign-based drug traf ckers and money launderers DEA evaluated products from a number of companies offering such technology and ultimately determined that commercially-available software named Da Vinci Remote Control System RCS was the most secure and capable tool suited for needs As advertised and tested the RCS software can be remotely deployed on a device as well as installed through physical access Once deployed the software facilitates access to data on the device including communications and location information RCS is the only tool or software that DEA has purchased for this purpose DEA has spent approximately $927 000 on RCS including on the technology and associated training Although the licensing agreement extends to the end of Calendar Year 2015 DEA recently elected to cancel its contract The Honorable Charles E Grassley Page Two DEA has only deployed RCS in one foreign country and did so pursuant to foreign court authorization 116 judicial wiretap orders with the foreign host country government s cooperation and with tight access and use restrictions as further delineated below All of the targeted devices users are foreign-based non-U S persons of mutual investigative interest to both DEA and the foreign host country The foreign host country already had open criminal investigations on each target prior to deployment on their devices The foreign host country selected the devices to be targeted because conventional network intercept methods were either unavailable or unworkable and a foreign host country prosecutor obtained the authorizing wiretap orders Since DEA began this initiative in 2012 RCS has been deployed on 17 devices which were provided to 17 foreign-based drug traf ckers and money launderers pursuant to foreign court orders Because of technical dif culties with the software there has only been one success il instance of remote deployment and it was under controlled circumstances 116 a foreign-based cooperating source had access to the targeted device and was able to facilitate installation The remaining 16 deployments occurred through direct physical access to the targeted devices with a foreign-based cooperating source then providing the devices to the targeted foreign-based drug traf ckers and money launderers Further RCS has only been used to collect real-time written communications 112 chat sessions and text messages and location information of the foreign-based drug traf ckers and money launderers RCS is stored in a secure DEA-controlled and maintained section within a vetted facility in the foreign host country DEA restricts physical and system access to RCS including for con guration and deployment to designated trained U S -person DEA personnel located in the foreign host country Those personnel have authority to deploy and terminate interception facilitated by RCS in accordance with the authorized foreign judicial order Foreign host country personnel do not have unfettered access to RCS Rather they provide the targeted devices to the U S -person DEA personnel located in the foreign host country who in turn install the RCS software on the devices and then return the devices to the foreign host country personnel to be given to the foreign-based drug traf ckers and money launderers The collected data is securely transmitted to the foreign host country facility and stored at that location on a server maintained by DEA The collected data cannot be accessed remotely from the United States Vetted foreign law enforcement of cers as well as co-located DEA of cers working with them have access to the collected data for of cial investigative and evidentiary purposes The RCS administrator is a trained U S -person DEA employee working in the foreign host country and receives system noti cations regarding the use of RCS to safeguard against unauthorized use All access con gurations and use of RCS are administratively logged in a system maintained by DEA in the foreign host country with no remote access from the United States U S -person DEA personnel located in the foreign host country run system checks on RCS to ensure it is only deployed on authorized foreign-based targets At all times DEA maintains The Honorable Charles E Grassley Page Three control of RC8 and DEA has the ability to unilaterally terminate deployment including on in-use devices DEA is not aware of any instances of misconduct or misuse relating to the deployment of RCS We hope this information is helpful Please do not hesitate to contact this of ce if we may provide additional assistance regarding this or any other matter Sincerely PA Ali 254 Peter J Kadzik Assistant Attorney General cc The Honorable Patrick J Leahy Ranking Member Committee on the Judiciary U S Department of Justice Of ce of Legislative Affairs Of ce of the Assistant Attorney General Washington DC 20530 July 14 2015 The Honorable Charles E Grassley Chairman Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate Washington DC 20510 Dear Mr Chairman This responds to your letter to Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates dated April 27 2015 concerning the Drug Enforcement Administration s DEA purchase and overseas use of commercially-available software to collect data on foreign based non-U S person criminal targets as well as corresponding policies and procedures DEA has provided the following information in response to your letter We apologize for our delay in responding The Department is committed to using all law enforcement resources in a manner that is consistent with the requirements and protections of the Constitution and other legal authorities and with appropriate respect for privacy and civil liberties We are likewise committed to ensuring that the Department s practices are lawful and respect the important privacy interests of the American people In 2012 having encountered evidence collection challenges in a number of foreign investigations and without the resources to internally develop its own technical solution DEA sought to lawfully acquire a commercially-available tool that would allow for remote overseas deployment of communication monitoring software on foreign-based devices used by foreign-based drug traf ckers and money launderers DEA evaluated products from a number of companies offering such technology and ultimately determined that commercially-available software named Da Vinci Remote Control System RCS was the most secure and capable tool suited for needs As advertised and tested the RCS software can be remotely deployed on a device as well as installed through physical access Once deployed the software facilitates access to data on the device including communications and location information RCS is the only tool or software that DEA has purchased for this purpose DEA has spent approximately $927 000 on RCS including on the technology and associated training Although the licensing agreement extends to the end of Calendar Year 2015 DEA recently elected to cancel its contract The Honorable Charles E Grassley Page Two DEA has only deployed RCS in one foreign country and did so pursuant to foreign court authorization 116 judicial wiretap orders with the foreign host country government s cooperation and with tight access and use restrictions as further delineated below All of the targeted devices users are foreign-based non-U S persons of mutual investigative interest to both DEA and the foreign host country The foreign host country already had open criminal investigations on each target prior to deployment on their devices The foreign host country selected the devices to be targeted because conventional network intercept methods were either unavailable or unworkable and a foreign host country prosecutor obtained the authorizing wiretap orders Since DEA began this initiative in 2012 RCS has been deployed on 17 devices which were provided to 17 foreign-based drug traf ckers and money launderers pursuant to foreign court orders Because of technical dif culties with the software there has only been one success il instance of remote deployment and it was under controlled circumstances 116 a foreign-based cooperating source had access to the targeted device and was able to facilitate installation The remaining 16 deployments occurred through direct physical access to the targeted devices with a foreign-based cooperating source then providing the devices to the targeted foreign-based drug traf ckers and money launderers Further RCS has only been used to collect real-time written communications 112 chat sessions and text messages and location information of the foreign-based drug traf ckers and money launderers RCS is stored in a secure DEA-controlled and maintained section within a vetted facility in the foreign host country DEA restricts physical and system access to RCS including for con guration and deployment to designated trained U S -person DEA personnel located in the foreign host country Those personnel have authority to deploy and terminate interception facilitated by RCS in accordance with the authorized foreign judicial order Foreign host country personnel do not have unfettered access to RCS Rather they provide the targeted devices to the U S -person DEA personnel located in the foreign host country who in turn install the RCS software on the devices and then return the devices to the foreign host country personnel to be given to the foreign-based drug traf ckers and money launderers The collected data is securely transmitted to the foreign host country facility and stored at that location on a server maintained by DEA The collected data cannot be accessed remotely from the United States Vetted foreign law enforcement of cers as well as co-located DEA of cers working with them have access to the collected data for of cial investigative and evidentiary purposes The RCS administrator is a trained U S -person DEA employee working in the foreign host country and receives system noti cations regarding the use of RCS to safeguard against unauthorized use All access con gurations and use of RCS are administratively logged in a system maintained by DEA in the foreign host country with no remote access from the United States U S -person DEA personnel located in the foreign host country run system checks on RCS to ensure it is only deployed on authorized foreign-based targets At all times DEA maintains The Honorable Charles E Grassley Page Three control of RC8 and DEA has the ability to unilaterally terminate deployment including on in-use devices DEA is not aware of any instances of misconduct or misuse relating to the deployment of RCS We hope this information is helpful Please do not hesitate to contact this of ce if we may provide additional assistance regarding this or any other matter Sincerely PA M2754 Peter J Kadzik Assistant Attorney General cc The Honorable Patrick J Leahy Ranking Member Committee on the Judiciary                     National Security Archive    Suite 701  Gelman Library  The George Washington University    2130 H Street  NW  Washington  D C  20037    Phone  202 994‐7000  Fax  202 994‐7005  nsarchiv@gwu edu