1 1 5 Deltartment ef Justiee le'fice et Legislative Affairs tit liee ttl'tltt Assistant Allul ney General i'lt' 311155 July 14 2015 The Henerahlc Charles E Grassley Chairman Tammittee en the Judiciary United States Senate Washingten DC 205m Dear Mr Chairman This respends te yeur letter te Deputy Attemey General Sally Quillian Yates dated April 2015 eeneerning the Drug Enf'ereement Administratien s DEA purchase and everseas use ef eemmercially-availahle se ware te cellect data en fereign-hased hen-lift persen criminal targets as well as Ellie s cerrespending policies and ll-LA has previded the t'ellewing intermatien in respense te yeur letter We apelegise l'er eer delay in respending The Department is eemmitted te using all law enfercement rcsettrecs in a manner that is eensistent with tlte requirements and preteetiens ef the Censtitutien and ether legal autherities and with apprepriate respeet Fer privacy and civil liberties We are likewise eemmitted te ensuring that the Department s practices are lawful and respect the impertant privacy interests el' the American peeple In EDIE having eneeuntered evidence eelleetinn challenges in a number el tereign investigatiens and Wilh ul the reseurees te internally develep its ewn teehnieal selutien DEA seught te lawfully acquire a eemmereially-available teel that wettld allew f'er remete everseas depleyntent ef' cetnmunicatien ntenitering se ware en fereign-hased devices used by f'ereign-hased drug traffickers and nteney aunderers- Ill-1A evaluated pred ucts frem a number et eempanies e ering such technelegy and ultimately determined that eemrnereially-available set tware named Da Vinei Remete Centrel System FUSE was the meat seeure and capable teel suited fer needs As advertised and tested the RC3 set lware ean be remetely depteyed en a device as well as installed threugl l physieal Dnee depleyetl the sel'tware facilitates te data en the deviee inelttding and leeatien infermatien RC3 is tlte enly teel er sef tware that DEA has purchased f er this purpese DEA has spent appresimately $921 t i en RCE including en the technelegy and asseciated training Altheugh the licensing agreement extends te the end et'C-alendar Year 2015 DEA recently eteeted te eaneet its eentraet The Honorable Charles E Grassley Page Two DEA has only deployed RES in one foreign country and did so pursuant to foreign court authorization 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 persons ofntutuai investigative interest to both DEA and the tit-reign host country The foreign host country already had open criminal investigations on each target prior to RCS's 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 l foreign-based drug traffickers and money launderers pursuant to foreign court orders Because oftechnical dif culties with the software there has only been one instance ot rernete deployment and it was under controlled circumstances no a foreign-based cooperating source had access to the targeted device and was able to facilitate installation The remaining to 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 traffickers and money launderers Further RES has only been used to collect real-time written communications chat sessions and text messages and location information of the toreign-based drug traf ckers and money launderers 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 RES 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 in accordance with the authorised foreignjudicial order Foreign host country personnel do not have unfettered access to RC3 Rather they provide the targeted devices to the LJ f-i -persen DEA personnel located in the foreign host country who in turn install the RC3 software on the devices and then return the devices to the foreign host country personnel to he given to the foreign-based drug traffickers 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 he accessed remotely from the United States Vetted foreign law enforcement of cers as well as co-iocated IlliA officers working with them have access to the collected data for ol iicial investigative and evidentiary purposes The RC5 administrator is a trained U S -person DEA employee working in the foreign host country and receives system noti cations regarding the use of to satisguard against unauthorised use- All access configurations and use are administratively logged in a system maintained by DEA in the foreign host country with no remote access from the United States S -pcrson DEA personnel located in the foreign host country run system checks on RUE to ensure it is only deployed on authorised foreign-hosed targets At all times DEA maintains The Henerahle Charles E Page Three central nf RES and 1113A has the ability ie unilaterally tenninale depleynienl including an in-uae DEA is net aware ei'any inalaneea ef' miseenduet er misuse relating to the depleyment ef RC3 We here this infamatien is helpful Please do nal hesitate to eeniaei ihia eil lee line may provide addilienal assistance regarding this er any ether matter Sincerely VA Ali 74 Peter I Eadaik Allerney General are The l airiela Leah Ranking Member Cemmiilee en 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