The Hemisphere Project, revealed in 2013, gives the DEA access to a database of every phone call that has passed through an AT&T switch since 1987 - over 4 billion records per day, dwarfing the NSA's metadata program. AT&T employees are embedded in DEA offices to run searches. The program specifically instructs agents to never reveal Hemisphere as the source of information and to use parallel construction to hide its existence.
“Hemisphere is the largest known database of domestic phone records in existence, and agents are instructed to never reveal its existence in court.”
From “crazy” to confirmed
The Claim Is Made
This is the moment they called it crazy.
For decades, the federal government collected phone records on a scale that made the NSA's controversial surveillance programs look modest by comparison. Yet while Edward Snowden's 2013 revelations about the NSA dominated headlines, a parallel operation run by the Drug Enforcement Administration remained hidden in plain sight, known only to a handful of officials and AT&T employees embedded in DEA offices across the country.
The Hemisphere Project operated under a simple but extraordinary premise: the DEA should have access to every phone call record that passed through an AT&T switch since 1987. That's over 4 billion records per day, accumulated across more than 25 years. While the NSA program that shocked Americans collected metadata on domestic calls, Hemisphere gave one agency access to a historical archive that dwarfed even that scope. The difference was that almost nobody knew it existed.
AT&T had been cooperating with federal law enforcement since the beginning of the project. The telecommunications giant not only provided the data but stationed its own employees inside DEA facilities to conduct searches and retrieve information. When agents wanted to know who a suspect had called, they could simply ask an AT&T representative seated nearby to search Hemisphere's database. The convenience came with a strict condition: agents were explicitly instructed never to acknowledge Hemisphere as their source.
The official guidance to DEA agents required something called "parallel construction." Rather than cite Hemisphere when presenting evidence in court documents or search warrant applications, agents were instructed to develop an alternate investigative trail that appeared to lead to the same information through legitimate channels. This meant hiding the true origin of leads and creating false documentation to make it appear that information came from traditional detective work. The practice essentially allowed the government to use surveillance data while concealing the surveillance itself.
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Confirmed: They Were Right
The truth comes out. Officially documented.
Confirmed: They Were Right
The truth comes out. Officially documented.
When the Washington Post first reported on Hemisphere in August 2013, the DEA's response was characteristically muted. Agency officials neither confirmed nor denied details about the program's scope, instead offering vague statements about working with telecommunications companies in lawful ways. AT&T similarly declined to provide specifics. But the leaked documents obtained by journalists revealed the program's true dimensions, and the minimalist official responses effectively confirmed what was documented.
What made Hemisphere particularly significant was its duration and reach. Most Americans learned about government surveillance programs in 2013 through the Snowden revelations. But this program had been accumulating records since Ronald Reagan was president. It predated digital surveillance debates, existed without public knowledge or Congressional oversight, and represented a business relationship between a private company and law enforcement that had solidified over 26 years.
The parallel construction requirement is especially troubling in retrospect. It meant the government wasn't just collecting data—it was actively concealing how it obtained evidence that could put people in prison. Defendants couldn't effectively challenge the reliability of evidence when they didn't know its source. Defense attorneys couldn't investigate the investigative process when the process itself was hidden.
The Hemisphere case demonstrates how surveillance programs don't always emerge from dramatic leaks or public debate. Sometimes they develop quietly, one contract renewal at a time, until they become so entrenched that even their exposure barely changes anything. The program continued operating even after its revelation. Understanding what happened here matters not because it was unique, but because it likely wasn't.
Beat the odds
This had a 0.1% chance of leaking — someone talked anyway.
Conspirators
~500Large op
Secret kept
0.5 years
Time to 95% exposure
500+ years
