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FBI Partners with the Postal Service to Get Your Fingerprints

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It wasn’t all that long ago that the public was made aware of the huge privacy concerns with sharing your DNA with consumer genetic testing companies to find out your origins. One such concern was the ability of the federal government and law enforcement agencies to gain access to your DNA. As the public has become more aware of such privacy concerns, it seems strange that on Friday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced a new partnership with the United States Postal Service where customers like you can voluntarily provide them with their fingerprints while you’re at the post office.

Isn’t that nice and convenient? The government is making it that much easier for you to give them your fingerprints! Gotta buy some stamps or mail a package, why not help the government build up a national database of fingerprints. That sounds great for your privacy. . .

According to the FBI website, “Only you may request a copy of your own Identity History Summary (or proof that one does not exist). You would typically make this request for personal review, to challenge information on record, to meet a requirement for adopting a child, or to meet a requirement to live, work, or travel in a foreign country.”

Of course, there are plenty of ways to obtain a criminal background check without providing the federal government your fingerprint. Most of the information is a part of the public record. If you’ve forgotten that you’ve been arrested in the past and want to check, you can start with local records before you give Big Brother your fingerprints. There are also some websites that can pull up records for a fee as well, without giving up your fingerprints. (Read more from “FBI Partners with the Postal Service to Get Your Fingerprints” HERE)

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Judge Says the FBI Can’t Keep Refusing to Confirm or Deny the Existence of Social Media Monitoring Documents

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The ACLU is one step closer to obtaining documents detailing the FBI’s use of social media monitoring tools. The FBI replied to the ACLU’s FOIA request with a Glomar and a denial.

First, it neither confirmed nor denied it had responsive records. Then it said even if it did have some, it still wouldn’t release them. According to the FBI, releasing documents about the government’s well-known use of social media monitoring software would somehow allow criminals to take a peek at super-secret law enforcement tools. It made these assertions despite the fact it publicly secured contracts for social media monitoring tools.

The ACLU sued. And now, it’s obtained at least a partial victory. The court says it’s not quite accurate to say the DOJ has already publicly acknowledged use of social media monitoring tools. Citing the ACLU’s victory in an FOIA lawsuit over drone strike documents, the court points out the bar to clear first is whether it can be said the DOJ — not the FBI — has made it clear it’s in the social media monitoring business. . .

But that’s not the end of the discussion. The FBI works with several other federal agencies and the documents requested would cover any secondhand use of monitoring tools. So, is it public knowledge other federal agencies engage in social media monitoring?

Given the wide array of evidence indicating (1) that other agencies engage in social media monitoring in the immigration and transportation contexts, and (2) that those agencies cooperate, coordinate, and share information with the FBI, the Court also considers whether such evidence makes it possible to impute, for purposes of applying Exemption 7(E), social media monitoring in the immigration and transportation contexts to the FBI. The ACLU presents extensive evidence that the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”), U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (“CBP”), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”), and the Department of State (“DOS”) engage in social media monitoring.

(Read more from “Judge Says the FBI Can’t Keep Refusing to Confirm or Deny the Existence of Social Media Monitoring Documents” HERE)

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China-Born U.S. Navy Lieutenant, Wife Arrested Over Attempts to Export Guns to China

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A Navy Lieutenant and his wife were arrested in a joint FBI and NCIS raid Thursday in the San Jose area. The raid occurred at the home of Navy Lt. Fan Yang and his wife, Yang Yang on 6901 Salamanca Ave. Documents obtained by First Coast News say Fan Yang currently holds a top-secret US security clearance and is actively serving in the Navy in a sensitive anti-submarine warfare unit. He was assigned to the Maritime Patrol Reconnaissance Weapons School at Naval Air Station Jacksonville.

Fan Yang was born in China, emigrated to the United States in 1999 as a teenager, and became a US citizen in 2006, according to the documents. The accusations against the Yangs include conspiracy to defraud the United States, importing and manufacturing firearms, transfer of a firearm to a non-resident and conspiracy to violate federal law (specifically knowing submission of false and misleading export information).

Fan Yang is also charged with illegal possession of a firearm by an alien admitted under a non-immigrant visa. His wife is accused of submitting false and misleading export information and fraudulently trying to export illegal merchandise from the US to China.

The court documents say the couple worked together to assist a Chinese national in illegally possessing firearms between March 2017 and Sept. 2019. The documents indicate the couple lied to hide the true nature of that relationship. One account in the documents says Fan Yang requested time off from work to take his family to Disney. But investigators say credit cards linked to him and his wife show flights purchased to Sioux City, Iowa and a meal bought in Sioux City, Nebraska the weekend they were reportedly at the amusement park. That same weekend, documents say a one-way flight to an airport 100 miles away from Sioux City, Nebraska was also purchased by Fan Yang for the Chinese national. (Read more from “China-Born U.S. Navy Lieutenant, Wife Arrested Over Attempts to Export Guns to China” HERE)

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Newly Declassified Court Documents Reveal FBI FISA Violations in Targeting Americans

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Newly declassified court documents indicate that the FBI failed to comply with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in targeting Americans while searching through NSA records during President Trump’s administration and after James Comey’s tenure as FBI director.

An October 2018 ruling from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) found that the FBI violated Section 702 by not keeping track of searches that pertained to “United States persons,” and that proposed changes were still not enough to comply with the law. That ruling was later affirmed on appeal in July 2019. The documents were declassified and released Tuesday.

FISA Section 702, which deals with targeting people outside the U.S. for gathering foreign intelligence information, places restrictions on gathering information when it comes to Americans or people located in the U.S.

“Because the FBI’s proposed procedures do not require it to keep records that ‘indicate whether terms are United States person query terms,’ the FISC held that these procedures do not comply with Section 702(f)(l)(B),” said the decision from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review (FISC-R), which heard the appeal.

The queries examined took place between 2017 and 2018, which would largely be during FBI director Chris Wray’s tenure and during the Trump presidency. The FBI did not immediately return a request for comment. (Read more from “Newly Declassified Court Documents Reveal FBI FISA Violations in Targeting Americans” HERE)

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WATCH: FBI Raids Offices of Dem Senator as Part of ‘Ongoing Criminal Investigation’

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The offices of Illinois state Sen. Mark Sandoval (D) were raided by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents on Tuesday, as part of an “ongoing criminal investigation.” . . .

The FBI did not disclose any details of the investigation, but told the Chicago Tribune that the raids on Sandoval’s district office and at the Illinois State Capital Building involved agents conducting “authorized law enforcement activity.”

According to the Associated Press, “Several men in dark suits and ties could be seen walking from the Senate Democrats’ side of the Capitol, carrying the bags and boxes of materials. The word ‘evidence’ could be see written across at least one of the bags.” The Tribune reported that one agent appeared to be carrying a desktop computer wrapped in plastic.

The Daily Mail reported that the “new investigation comes off the heels of a string of alleged corruption at Chicago’s City Hall,” citing a number of ongoing federal probes launched against Illinois officials.

Sandoval has served in the Illinois Senate since 2003, and currently serves as chairman of the Transportation Committee. The senator was also behind pushing through an initiative that doubled the state’s gas tax to 38-cents a gallon this year. The new tax went into effect in July as part of an effort to raise $45 billion for an infrastructure plan. (Read more from “WATCH: FBI Raids Offices of Dem Senator as Part of ‘Ongoing Criminal Investigation'” HERE)

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Records Raise New Questions About FBI’s Michael Flynn Investigation

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By Fox News. Then-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe told the White House in early February 2017 that the bureau was not considering the national security adviser at the time, Michael Flynn, for a potential Logan Act prosecution over conversations with the Russian ambassador before Donald Trump was sworn in as president, government records reviewed by Fox News indicate.

McCabe was referring to the rarely prosecuted 200-year-old statute that bars American citizens from engaging with a foreign government without authorization from the current U.S. government.

The records also indicate that Flynn reported, on two separate occasions, in the days leading up to his White House firing that FBI agents told him the bureau investigation was over or being closed out.

Both incidents raise questions over the underlying offense that formed the basis for the initial FBI and DOJ investigation into Flynn.

The retired general was later fired by the White House for misleading the vice president about communications with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador, during the transition before Trump was sworn in. (Read more from “Records Raise New Questions About FBI’s Michael Flynn Investigation” HERE)

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Adam Schiff Lashes Michael Flynn for Refusing to Cooperate

By Politico. Former national security adviser Michael Flynn has refused to cooperate with the House Intelligence Committee’s demand for testimony and documents, Chairman Adam Schiff wrote in a letter released Monday.

“Notwithstanding repeated efforts by committee staff to engage with your counsel and accommodate your adjournment requests, you have, to date, failed to comply with the committee’s subpoena or cooperate with the committee’s efforts to secure your compliance,” Schiff wrote in the letter to Flynn, which demands that the retired Army lieutenant general appear for testimony on Sept. 25.

Schiff said Flynn’s new counsel, Sidney Powell, “exhibit[ed] a troubling degree of unprofessionalism” in conversations with committee staffers, outlining a series of interactions between Powell and Schiff’s aides.

According to Schiff, Powell “refused to accept service” of the subpoena issued by the panel in June. Schiff indicated that Powell repeatedly sought deadline extensions for Flynn’s cooperation before ultimately ignoring phone calls attempting to arrange Flynn’s testimony for late July, just ahead of Congress’ six-week summer recess. (Read more from “Adam Schiff Lashes Michael Flynn for Refusing to Cooperate” HERE)

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The FBI Is Probing the Pot Industry, but Not for the Reason You Might Expect

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FBI officials said in a recent podcast that state licenses required to grow and sell marijuana open the possibility of public officials becoming susceptible to bribes in exchange for those licenses.

“We’ve seen in some states the price go as high as $500,000 for a license to sell marijuana,” Supervisory Special Agent Regino Chavez said. “So, we see people willing to pay large amounts of money to get into the industry.” . . .

The legal status of cannabis remains iffy, even in states that have passed laws legalizing medical and recreational pot. The federal government still considers marijuana illegal, with the DEA listing it as a Schedule I drug — meaning officials believe it has a high potential for abuse.

The feds aren’t the only ones looking at illegal activity in the legal pot business. California has tripled the number of raids on unlicensed marijuana shops this year, the Los Angeles Times reported earlier this summer. Unlicensed growers in the state face fines of up to $30,000 per day.

David Kirschner, an intelligence analyst with the FBI, said states should expect marijuana-related corruption to increase as recreational pot becomes more widespread. (Read more from “The FBI Is Probing the Pot Industry, but Not for the Reason You Might Expect” HERE)

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Federal Judge Orders FBI to Search for More Christopher Steele Docs

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After years of legal wrangling, a federal judge has given the FBI 60 days to cough up records of their communications with former British spy Christopher Steele after he was terminated as a confidential human source.

The conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch first sought FBI documents on Steele in May of 2017 through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The court initially sided with the FBI but reopened the case in 2018 when evidence emerged that Steele was an FBI informant. Judicial Watch again asked the FBI to search for their Steele records, but the FBI continued to stonewall, declining to confirm or deny that they even existed.

Now, U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper has put an end to the cat-and-mouse game.

“Those records might either bolster or weaken Steele’s credibility as a source,” Judge Cooper said in his ruling. “That information, in turn, could provide a basis on which to evaluate the FBI’s performance of its law-enforcement duties, including its judgment in selecting and relying on confidential sources, especially in connection with such a politically sensitive subject.” . . .

According to documents released in August of 2018, the Bureau in 2016 made eleven payments to Steele, who was at the time working for the Democratic opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which was hired by the Perkins Coie law firm on behalf of the DNC and Clinton campaign. Incredibly, Steele’s Democratic funding was never disclosed to the FISA court. (Read more from “Federal Judge Orders FBI to Search for More Christopher Steele Docs” HERE)

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FBI Warns of a New Type of Domestic Terrorist Threat

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A newly discovered FBI document shows that the Bureau has, for the first time, started to identify fringe conspiracy theories as a new type of domestic terrorist threat.

The document, obtained exclusively by Yahoo! News, came out of the Bureau’s Phoenix field office a little over two months ago.

The FBI decribed “‘conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists’ as a growing threat, and notes that it is the first such report to do so,” Yahoo! News reported. “It lists a number of arrests, including some that haven’t been publicized, related to violent incidents motivated by fringe beliefs.” . . .

President Donald Trump and Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) have all pushed, in recent weeks, to designate the far-left group Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization.

For example, Trump recently tweeted: “Consideration is being given to declaring ANTIFA, the gutless Radical Left Wack Jobs who go around hitting (only non-fighters) people over the heads with baseball bats, a major Organization of Terror (along with MS-13 & others). Would make it easier for police to do their job!”

(Read more from “FBI Warns of a New Type of Domestic Terrorist Threat” please click HERE)

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This Republican Has an Idea About the Identity of the Senior FBI Official Who Was Leaking Confidential Material

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By Townhall. Republican Congressman Doug Collins (R-GA), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, wants to know whom the identity of the senior FBI official who was leaking confidential information to the media. . .

Fired FBI Peter Strzok, who reportedly was a key player in the Hillary Clinton email probe and signed off on the FBI’s counterintelligence probe that eventually became the probe helmed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, is listed as being the Deputy Assistant Director of the Espionage Section in September of 2016. In fact, he’s the only name that appears next to that title in the report. . .

Strzok and his mistress, former bureau lawyer Lisa Page, are at the epicenter of the allegations of bias and misconduct at the FBI over the 2016 election. The two shared tens of thousands of texts that exhibited the worst professional form from the FBI. They were anti-Trump and meant exactly what they said; Strzok tried to pass on that there was no bias in these communications and that they showed his patriotism. They discussed an “insurance policy” with disgraced ex-Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who Katie also noted leaked to the press and lied under oath about it. His conduct has been referred to for criminal prosecution. That “insurance policy” is reportedly the Trump dossier, an unverified piece of political opposition research that was funded by the Democrats, which was used to secure a FISA spy warrant against Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page. Alas, the FISA abuse allegations stemming from Spygate. (Read more from “This Republican Has an Idea About the Identity of the Senior FBI Official Who Was Leaking Confidential Material” HERE)

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Doug Collins Suspects Ex-FBI Leaker Is Peter Strzok

By Washington Examiner. A top Republican wants to know if a high-ranking FBI official who leaked “sensitive” information and improperly accepted a gift from the media was Peter Strzok, the former FBI agent who is well known for his text messages displaying a negative opinion of President Trump.

Rep. Doug Collins, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, wrote letters to Attorney General William Barr and Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz on Thursday with questions about the DOJ watchdog’s investigation into FBI misconduct.

In his letter to Horowitz, Collins asked about a one-page report released on Wednesday that found a now-former FBI deputy assistant director “engaged in misconduct” by disclosing information to the media that had been filed under seal in federal court, maintaining dozens of unauthorized contacts with reporters, and accepting a $225 ticket from a member of the media to attend a dinner sponsored by the media. (Read more from “Doug Collins Suspects Ex-FBI Leaker Is Peter Strzok” HERE)

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