DOJ Issued Subpoenas to Apple Without Authorization, Says Inspector General

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has reported that during the Trump administration, the Department of Justice subpoenaed Apple for data on at least two House Democrats without obtaining the required legal authorization. The report also reveals that the DOJ failed to obtain authorization for the gag orders it imposed on both Apple and Google, and that these were part of 40 non-disclosure orders (NDOs) it issued.

The OIG says that NDOs require authorization from the Attorney General before being imposed, and yet the DOJ did not get this. It also reports that the Department didn't convene a committee to consider its requests in three investigations, and for one of the investigations, it didn't obtain required certification.

The report states that the DOJ renewed most of its NDOs at least once, with one renewal being issued after the department had concluded the specified individual did not leak information. It also reveals more details about what Apple provided, noting that it did not supply any call detail records in response to one compulsory process, but did provide other data such as whether there were accounts associated with certain phone numbers.