Postal inspectors insist their snooping on Americans’ online activity didn’t break the law

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service said its covert internet snooping program did not break the law, challenging an inspector general report that accused the agency of conducting unauthorized searches and exceeding its law enforcement authority.

The postal inspectors told The Washington Times that the inspector general’s audit missed the mark. 

“The activities conducted by the Postal Inspection Service were within its legal authority as set forth by federal statutes and case law,” the postal inspectors said in a statement Monday to The Times. “However, the Postal Inspection Service has agreed to conduct a full program review of its Analytics Team’s responsibilities, activities, procedures, and guidance.”

The Analytics Team refers to the work formerly called the postal inspectors’ Internet Covert Operations Program (iCOP). The name change occurred last April after increased scrutiny of the postal inspectors following news reports that revealed that the agency was surveilling Americans’ social media accounts through iCOP. 

An ensuing inspector general’s audit found that more than a quarter of analysts’ work in the covert internet program over two-plus years may have not had legal authorization.

The postal service’s watchdog said in the audit that analysts need a postal nexus to get authorization for searches but the audit discovered searches using keywords such as “protest,” “attack,” and “destroy” and that did not mention the mail, postal crimes, or postal facilities and personnel. 

“We determined that certain proactive searches iCOP conducted using an open-source intelligence tool from February to April 2021 exceeded the Postal Inspection Service’s law enforcement authority,” said the audit dated March 25. “Furthermore, we could not corroborate whether other work analysts completed from October 2018 through June 2021 was legally authorized.”

The USPS Inspector General’s Office conducted the audit in response to a request from the House Oversight and Reform Committee. Inspector General Tammy Whitcomb appeared at a House Oversight hearing on Tuesday to discuss other matters at the postal service, particularly involving the agency’s adoption of electric vehicles.

While the postal inspectors’ work has drawn loads of scrutiny, it does not appear to have scaled back its ambitions.  

Last month, the Justice Department charged two men with conspiracy to commit fraud in their alleged efforts to scam purchasers of nonfungible tokens or NFTs, which are artificially scarce digital objects.

In announcing the charges out of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the prosecutors credited the work of the postal inspectors. 

“Postal Inspectors will pursue fraudsters with our law enforcement partners in any consumer market and advise consumers to pursue emerging investment trends with diligence and skepticism,” Daniel B. Brubaker, inspector-in-charge in New York, said in a statement at the time. 

The inspector general audit said Sept. 30, 2022, is the target date for implementing changes recommended from a forthcoming management review. The audit also said management agreed to update its procedures regarding keywords for searches by April 29.