The House Intelligence Committee says one agency within the Department of Homeland Security asked another to extract data from cellphones seized from protesters.
WASHINGTON — Department of Homeland Security officers considered extracting data from cellphones seized from protesters in Portland, Ore., which would have been a remarkable violation of privacy and the right to peaceable assembly, House Democrats said Friday.
Lawmakers on the Intelligence Committee called a hearing on Friday to examine the allegations of Brian Murphy, the former chief of the department’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis, who has accused department leaders of suppressing intelligence warnings of violent white supremacy and Russian election interference.
But Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the chairman of the committee, opened the hearing by revealing that it had found that homeland security intelligence analysts were sent to Portland and questioned demonstrators. The Federal Protective Service, the homeland security agency that protects federal property, requested that the analysts “extract data” from phones seized from the protesters without a search warrant, a request that went unfulfilled, Mr. Schiff said. Continue reading.