DHS Ousts CBP Privacy Officers Who Questioned 'Illegal' Orders

"Since January, DHS leaders have reassigned two of the top officials responsible for ensuring that CBP technologies comply with federal privacy law, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation. These sources were granted anonymity because they fear government retribution. The reassignments followed December orders from the DHS Privacy Office to treat routine compliance forms as legally privileged, and to label signed privacy assessments as "drafts" exempt from disclosure under federal records law."

"DHS ordered the new secrecy rules, sources say, after a CBP FOIA officer lawfully released a redacted privacy assessment, triggering backlash from DHS political leadership. The document-known as a Privacy Threshold Analysis, or PTA-was obtained by 404 Media last fall, providing the only formal government record of Mobile Fortify, a previously hidden face recognition app."

"PTAs are a required compliance form, a questionnaire that describes the basic mechanics of new government systems that use or harvest personal data. It also records whether privacy officers approved the system or ruled the government was legally required to look closer at how it impacts people's privacy. In the case of Mobile Fortify, the public learned from the released PTA that DHS had acknowledged the app would capture people's faces and fingerprints without their consent."

The US Department of Homeland Security reassigned multiple Customs and Border Protection officials in 2024 after they objected to orders to mislabel compliance records and prevent their release under the Freedom of Information Act. The removals included CBP's top privacy officer, a privacy branch chief, and the FOIA office director. These actions followed December orders from the DHS Privacy Office to classify routine compliance forms as legally privileged and label privacy assessments as exempt drafts. The reassignments occurred after a CBP FOIA officer lawfully released a redacted Privacy Threshold Analysis revealing Mobile Fortify, a hidden face recognition application that captures faces and fingerprints without consent from US citizens and permanent residents.

Read at WIRED