DHS Ousts CBP Privacy Officers Who Questioned ‘Illegal’ Orders

Department of Homeland Security leaders removed top privacy officers who objected to mislabeling government records to block their public release, WIRED has learned.

The US Department of Homeland Security removed multiple career Customs and Border Protection officials from their roles this year after they objected to orders to mislabel records about surveillance technologies and block their release under the Freedom of Information Act, WIRED has learned.

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.

Those removed include CBP’s top privacy officer and one ...