The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been monitoring the work of American journalists reporting on the riots in Portland, Oregon, by circulating “intelligence reports” about them to other federal agencies in a measure that has been reported. as a clear violation of constitutional right to a free press.
The Washington Post obtained the intelligence reports that were compiled by the unit within DHS known as the “intelligence and analysis office.” The newspaper said the reports were distributed last week to law enforcement and other agencies.
They specifically referred to two prominent American journalists whose reports revealed the disorder within the contentious deployment of Trump administration federal agents to quell the protests in Portland.
One of the journalists, Mike Baker of the New York Times, had released a leaked DHS memorandum discussing the prevailing confusion among federal agents dispatched to Portland. The memorandum showed that the camouflaged officers had little understanding of the nature of the protests being asked of the police.
The second journalist was Benjamin Wittes, who edits the Lawfare national security blog. He had also released leaked DHS documents, one of which was a memo advising department officials not to disclose information to journalists.
Only after the Post published its bomb article did Chad Wolf, the acting DHS secretary, issue a statement saying he was immediately stopping the practice of gathering information on members of the press and ordering an investigation into what happened.
The revelation that DHS officials had not only been monitoring the work of journalists covering Portland, but had been disseminating their findings as “intelligence reports” normally reserved for terror suspects or foreign adversaries, sparked immediate protest.
In a Twitter thread, Wittes said he was considering his legal options. He called the content of the information collected in his report “innocuous enough,” but said he was concerned that DHS officials had shared his work “as an intelligence report … If this activity is okay, is it okay?” build a complete public record file? information about a journalist?
Jameel Jaffer, director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, postulated that this was just the tip of an iceberg. “An agency that is so arrogant about compiling intelligence reports on establishment numbers like these is almost certainly compiling more comprehensive reports on others.”
Ned Price, a former CIA intelligence officer who acted as Barack Obama’s special assistant in the White House, said he had never advised a colleague in the intelligence community to quit his job. “But if this is what you are being asked to do, you should give up entirely.”
The relationship between the Trump administration, federal agents, called “Trump troops,” sent to Portland, and the press has been in trouble on several levels. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing DHS for the abrupt treatment of journalists covering events in federal court in downtown Portland.
The ACLU complaint says federal agents, led by the border patrol, have been assaulting reporters in violation of a court order. Several members of the press have been shot at close range despite being clearly identified as journalists and photographers.
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