The US federal counterterrorism unit has investigated journalists

The Yahoo News network, which published a detailed article on the investigation, also found that the unit, called the Counter-Networks Division, also investigated data from staff members of Congress and possibly members of Congress themselves.

Agent Jeffrey Rambo, who admitted to checking information for journalists in 2017, told federal investigators that the practice is routine.

“When a name comes to the table, you control it through all the systems you have access to; “This is the status quo, this is how everyone acts,” Rambo was quoted as saying by Yahoo News.

The Associated Press news agency provided a copy of the report with over 500 pages of the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security. The report quotes the same sentence, but the agent’s name is covered in black ink. The Border Protection Agency is part of the structure of the Department of Homeland Security.

These findings alarmed media organizations and prompted a full explanation to be sought.

“We are deeply concerned about this apparent abuse of power,” said Lauren Easton, director of media relations at the Associated Press. “It seems to be a case where journalists have been prosecuted just because they did their job, and this is a violation of the First Amendment.”

In its statement, the Border and Customs Protection Agency (CBP) does not specifically refer to the investigation, but states that “the CBP’s controls and investigative operations, including those conducted by the Counter-Networks Division, are strictly administered by protocols of the sustainable and best practices. “The CBP does not investigate individuals without a legal and legitimate basis to take such action.”

An employee at a cafe in San Diego, owned by Mr. Rambo, said Saturday that Mr. Rambo was not available to comment immediately. He is a resident of San Diego City.

The new revelations are the latest example of how federal agencies use their power to examine the contacts of journalists and other persons.

Earlier this year, Attorney General Merrick Garland formally barred prosecutors from seizing journalists’ leaks for leaking information from investigations, allowing only a few very limited exceptions. This new guideline undoes a multi-year policy of this department. The change came amid widespread outcry over the revelation that the Department of Justice under former President Trump had obtained information from journalists, Democrat lawmakers and their aides, as well as a former White House legal adviser. Don McGahn.

During the administration of former President Obama, federal investigators secretly obtained telephone records of several journalists and editors of the Associated Press news agency. The data obtained belonged to telephone lines in offices, homes and mobile numbers.

The use of this data by Mr. Rambo and the unit in question was broader than originally thought. The inspector general filed possible criminal charges of misuse of government data and fraud of investigators, but the Department of Justice refused to press charges against Mr. Rambo and two other Department of Homeland Security employees.

Mr. Rambo expressed dissatisfaction with the Yahoo News media that the Border Protection agency did not support it and that it was presented unfavorably in the press articles.

“None of these articles identify me as a law enforcement officer who was found not to have broken the rules, and who took the action in question with a realistic intent,” he said. “The CBP does not state this, refuses to accept it, and refuses to put the law in place.”

Mr. Rambo had previously been identified as the agent who checked the travel records of journalist Ali Watkins, who was working for Politico at the time, and questioned him about its confidential sources. Ms. Watkins already writes for The New York Times.

Mr. Rambo was transferred in 2017 to this border protection unit, part of the structure of the National Target Center, based in Sterling, Virginia. He told investigators he had initially approached Ms. Watkins as part of a broader effort to push journalists to report on forced employment worldwide, as a matter of national security.

He described having undertaken similar efforts with Associated Press reporter Martha Mendoza, according to an unedited summary provided by Yahoo News. It says Mr. Rambo’s unit “had the opportunity to check on Ms. Mendoza and conclude that she is a credible journalist” before building a relationship with her, due to her expertise in writing articles on forced employment. Ms. Mendoza won the Pulitzer Prize for the second time in 2016, as part of a team that reported on slave employment in the Southeast Asian fishing industry.

Dan White, Mr. Rambo’s supervisor in Washington, told investigators that his unit controlled Ms. Mendoza through several data systems, and that “the CBP discovered that one of Ms. Mendoza’s phone numbers was linked to a terrorist. “, Says Yahoo News. Mr. White was also suggested to file criminal charges, but the suggestion was rejected.

In response, Ms Easton, of the Associated Press news agency, said: “The Associated Press is seeking an immediate explanation from the United States Agency for Border and Customs Protection as to why journalists, including investigative reporter Martha Mendoza, were checked through multiple data systems, which are used to track down terrorists and have been identified to be recruited as potential undercover informants ”.

It was Mr. Rambo’s communication with Ms. Watkins that served as the impetus for the Inspector General’s investigation. Although at first glance he contacted him because of his work against forced employment, Mr. Rambo quickly shifted towards an investigation into the leak. He even named the investigation “Operation Whistle Pig,” after the type of whiskey he drank when he met Ms. Watkins at a Washington bar in June 2017.

The only person charged and convicted as a result of Mr. Rambo’s efforts is James Wolfe, a former security chief for the Senate Intelligence Committee who had a personal relationship with Ms. Watkins. Mr. Wolfe pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with reporters.

During conversations with FBI agents, Mr. Rambo was widely asked about his interests with Ms. Watkins. He used travel records during the confrontation about Mr. Wolfe’s relationship, insisting that Mr. Wolfe was the source for her articles. Ms. Watkins acknowledged the existence of the relationship but insisted that Mr. Wolfe had not provided information about her articles.

Mr. Rambo said Ms. Watkins was not the only journalist whose data was reviewed through government data systems, although he stated during interrogations by the FBI that he had only reviewed whether Mr. Wolfe was providing classified information. Mr Rambo said he had “checked CBP data” for “15 to 20 journalists covering national security issues”, according to a summary of FBI interrogations, reflected in the inspector general’s report. general.

The New York Times spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades-Ha said the new details about Ms. Watkins’s investigation raise further concerns.

“We are deeply disturbed by the way the US Border and Customs Protection Agency conducted this investigation into the journalist’s sources. As the attorney general has clearly stated, the government should stop using leak investigations as a reason to intervene in journalism. “The time has come for the Border and Customs Protection Agency to make public the full details of what happened in the context of this investigation, so that this inappropriate behavior is not repeated.”

Ms. Watkins also said she was “deeply disturbed by the scale of the efforts of CBP and Department of Homeland Security personnel to identify sources of journalism and dig into my personal life. “It was shocking then and it remains shocking now.” / VOA /

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