The obscure Investigations and Threat Management Service (ITMS) used tactics, including broad keyword searches on employee emails and scouring Americans’ social media for criticism of the census, to gather information on hundreds of people inside and outside the department, documents and interviews show.
Commerce Department security unit evolved into counterintelligence-like operation, Washington Post examination found Shawn Boburg An American flag flies outside the Commerce Department headquarters in Washington. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg News) An obscure security unit tasked with protecting the Commerce Department’s officials and facilities has evolved into something more akin to a counterintelligence operation that collected information on hundreds of people inside and outside the department, a Washington Post examination found. The Investigations and Threat Management Service (ITMS) covertly searched employees’ offices at night, ran broad keyword searches of their emails trying to surface signs of foreign influence and scoured Americans’ social media for critical comments about the census, according to documents and interviews with five former investigators.
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Commerce Department security unit evolved into counter-intelligence-like operation
An obscure security unit tasked with protecting the Commerce Department s officials and facilities has evolved into something more akin to a counterintelligence operation.
By Shawn BoburgThe Washington Post
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An obscure security unit tasked with protecting the Commerce Department’s officials and facilities has evolved into something more akin to a counterintelligence operation that collected information on hundreds of people inside and outside the department, a Washington Post examination found.
The Investigations and Threat Management Service (ITMS) covertly searched employees’ offices at night, ran broad keyword searches of their emails trying to surface signs of foreign influence and scoured Americans’ social media for critical comments about the census, according to documents and interviews with five former investigators.
New Bedford Port Authority Probed by Feds Over Grant Application
A federal grant application submitted by the New Bedford Port Authority is the subject of an investigation by the U.S. Commerce Department s Office of the Inspector General, WBSM has learned.
The probe was initiated in October of 2020, according to Port Authority General Counsel Blair S. Bailey in correspondence with WBSM.
Bailey did not say if the investigation is continuing, or what findings, if any were rendered by the OIG. Another source confirmed that the probe is ongoing.
In responding to an inquiry by WBSM, Attorney Bailey issued the following statement: