ICE The Latest Agency To Be Blessed By The Administration With The 'Security Agency' Accountability Shield
from the secure-from-the-public's-interest dept
ICE has joined Customs and Border Protection as a full-fledged security agency. ICE, like the CBP, has been hoping to upgrade from customs enforcement to NatSec machinery for several years now, possibly with an eye on backdoor-searching all the communications and data the NSA hoovers up.
CBP moved another step closer to becoming part of the Intelligence Community earlier this year when its employees were given the Office of Personnel Management's prized "security agency" designation. This means identifying information about CBP employees will be almost impossible to obtain through FOIA requests. Since CBP officers are now security agency officers, America would apparently be less secure if the public were able to find out which officers in particular are doing bad things while being paid US tax dollars.
Ken Klippenstein, who broke the news about the CBP's new accountability shield, has obtained another leaked memo. This one says ICE is now playing on the same opaque field as its cohort in immigration enforcement.
On June 11, the administration classified ICE as a “Security Agency,” according to a memo signed by [ICE chief Matthew] Albence and dated June 26. This new designation puts ICE employees in the same category as high-level intelligence officials, and blocks from disclosure information that is typically public, such as name, job title, and salary. The memo was provided to The Nation by an ICE official on condition of anonymity. The memo states:
I am pleased to announce that on June 11, 2020, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) approved ICE’s request to be identified as a “security/sensitive” agency for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) purposes. This designation will ensure that OPM withholds all relevant personally identifiable information (PII) of all ICE personnel where it processes FOIA requests moving forward, just as it does for other law enforcement agencies and federal prosecutors.
According to Klippenstein, the memo written by Albence refers to this distancing of ICE from the public it serves as a "tremendous achievement." But it's not really clear what's been achieved here, other than making ICE as insulated from accountability as other "security" agencies like the FBI and Secret Service. Whatever the internal rationalizations behind the decision, the implications for the public are clear: ICE can now withhold all information about its employees under FOIA Exemption 6.
The memo justifies ICE's upgrade to "security agency" by citing nothing at all.
The memo claims the classification is necessary to protect its staff from increased threats in recent years, saying:
The increase in threats, intimidation, and doxing directed at ICE personnel in recent years underscored the need for this designation. Numerous examples of the harassment and threats you have had to endure were used to impress upon OPM that the ongoing disclosure of our employees’ identifying information under FOIA was simply unacceptable.
The memo provides no examples.
We, on the other hand, can provide plenty of examples of abuses committed by ICE employees, none of whom should be given an OPM-ordained accountability vacuum in which to operate. This ranges from deporting journalists for reporting on misconduct by ICE agents to engaging in abusive actions on almost a daily basis by ignoring the "worst of worst" directive in favor of cramming as many immigrants as possible into detention centers. Now, officers and agents participating in day-to-day misconduct have been given official assurance their misdeeds won't be linked to their names.
Filed Under: cbp, foia, ice, law enforcement, national security, security agency, transparency
