DHS Has a Rogue Domestic Surveillance Program No One Knows About
By M Dowling
The Department of Homeland Security )DHS0 has a secret program gathering domestic intelligence, a revelation found in internal documents reviewed by Politico. The program, I&A, is dangerously close to a domestic surveillance program that could easily be politicized and misused. It can potentially turn us into a police state with an East German-style STASI (The Ministry for State Security).
Significant numbers of employees have raised concerns that it is illegal.
DHS’s time would be better spent securing the borders. Terrorists and criminals from around the world are pouring through.
The I&A DHS can interview anyone, even those in prison or detention centers, circumventing their lawyers. It was in place for years but halted last year to review employee concerns about its legality. It’s allegedly used to investigate trafficking and organized crime.
Politico reports:
“The inner workings of the program — called the “Overt Human Intelligence Collection Program” — are described in the large tranche of internal documents POLITICO reviewed from the Office of Intelligence and Analysis. Those documents and additional interviews revealed widespread internal concerns about legally questionable tactics and political pressure. The documents also show that people working there fear punishment if they speak out about mismanagement and abuses.
“One unnamed employee — quoted in an April 2021 document — said leadership of I&A’s Office of Regional Intelligence “is ‘shady’ and ‘runs like a corrupt government.’” Another document said some employees worried so much about the legality of their activities that they wanted their employer to cover legal liability insurance.”