When we think of America, it’s easy to get caught up in the baseball and apple pie stereotypes that we’ve concocted for ourselves. We envision ourselves as cowboys, entrepreneurs, and innovators.
But, before we were those things, we were angry citizens who realized just how dangerous and ungodly an overly powerful government could be. We understood that we did not have freedom, but that freedom was the right of every single one of us.
This pushed us to beat back the most powerful military in the world, in order to form a union that would be by the people, of the people, and for the people.
Since that time, we have been vigilant in the protection of our freedoms, and we must continue to do so today…particularly when it comes to the federal government snooping on us.
A senior Department of Homeland Security official told a Senate committee earlier this month that the department had not collected, exploited or analyzed information from the electronic devices or accounts of protesters in Portland, Ore.
But an internal DHS document obtained by The Washington Post shows the department did have access to protesters’ electronic messages and that their conversations were written up in an “intelligence report” that was disseminated to federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, as well as state and local governments.
How bad was it?
A DHS Open Source Intelligence Report dated six days before [DHS undersecretary Brian] Murphy’s briefing to the committee shows that the I & A office analyzed messages that protesters exchanged on the Telegram messaging app. They discussed which routes to take during marches and how to avoid the police.
The report describes the messages as “likely Portland-based encrypted messaging app users discuss TTPs [tactics, techniques and procedures] to evade law enforcement when being pursued.” It also states that the information came from “a Telegram chat room,” which it described as “an instant messaging service.”
It’s not clear how DHS obtained the messages and whether an informant or undercover officer had access to the Telegram group. Some officials familiar with the report, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly describe it, questioned why I & A was tracking the communications of people engaged in protests that are protected by the First Amendment.
Sure, America is going through some unprecedented times right now, but that is all the more reason for We The People to keep a close eye on what los federales are up to.
