Sen. Wyden Presses White House Drug Policy Office to Release Privacy Review of Federal ALPR Database

First reported: October 9, 2026 · 1 source

After 404 Media reported that the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program mirrors license plate reader data from local agencies into a federal database, Sen. Ron Wyden wrote to Office of National Drug Control Policy director Sara Carter demanding the release of a privacy assessment of the program. According to Wyden, the nonprofit contractor MITRE completed a review of HIDTA surveillance programs, including its ALPR and cell phone data projects, in 2024, but ONDCP declined to provide it to his office and has not published it. Wyden also asked for a separate analysis of automated license plate reader systems and practices. 404 Media reported that HIDTA obtains ALPR data from vendors including Flock, Axon, and Motorola through agreements with cities and towns.

Why this matters

The letter centers on whether federal aggregation of locally collected license plate data is subject to public privacy review, a question that affects any city whose ALPR system feeds federal databases. Whether ONDCP releases the MITRE assessment remains unresolved.

Key facts

Wyden's letter was addressed to ONDCP director Sara Carter and follows a 404 Media investigation published the prior month
404 Media reported HIDTA mirrors city ALPR data into federal databases via agreements involving Flock, Axon, and Motorola data
Wyden said MITRE completed a privacy review of HIDTA surveillance programs in 2024 that has never been made public
ONDCP previously ran the Hemisphere cell phone data surveillance project
As reported, ONDCP had not responded publicly to the demand; the review's contents are unknown

Sources

This summary was written from the published reporting below and links to it; BlockFlockNow does not reproduce article text.

Following 404 Media Investigation, Senator Demands Info About White House's License Plate Surveillance Program (404 Media, October 9, 2026)

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Updated October 9, 2026. Corrections: blockflock@bytebunny.io. See all documented incidents or search the full article archive.