According to a federal watchdog, a special Customs and Border Protection unit used government databases to locate terrorists in order to probe as many as twenty U.S-based journalists.

Yahoo News also published an in-depth report detailing the investigation.

Federal investigators were told by Jeffrey Rambo that he was an agent who admitted to running checks on journalists. Yahoo News quoted Rambo as saying, “When someone names you, you go through all the systems you can, that’s status quo. That’s what everybody does.”

The AP was able to obtain a redacted version of a report that spanned more than 500 pages by the inspector general for the Homeland Security Department. This included the same statement with the speaker’s identity blacked-out. DHS is home to the border protection agency.

These revelations triggered alarm among news agencies and led to a request for an explanation.

This apparent abuse of power is deeply concerning. Lauren Easton from AP, the director of media relations said that this was an example of journalist being attacked for just doing their jobs. This is a violation to the First Amendment.

These revelations triggered alarm among news agencies and led to a request for an explanation.

This apparent abuse of power is deeply concerning. Lauren Easton from AP, the director of media relations said that this was an example of journalist being attacked for just doing their jobs. This is a violation to the First Amendment.

Rambo’s, and that of CBP unit, was more widespread than anyone thought. Rambo, along with two DHS employees were referred by the inspector general to criminal prosecutions for misusing government database and lying. However, Justice Department decided not to pursue these charges.

Yahoo News complained to Rambo that CBP had not stood behind him and that he’s been unfairly represented in media reports.

He said that he was not a member of the law enforcement officers identified in these articles. “CBP does not acknowledge this, refuses that to admit it, and refuses that to correct that.”

Rambo was previously identified as Rambo’s agent, who had previously accessed Ali Watkins’ travel records and interrogated her about secret sources. Watkins is now a writer for The New York Times.

Rambo was assigned in 2017 to the CBP Unit, which is part of the National Targeting Center, Sterling, Virginia. Rambo told investigators that he originally approached Watkins to find reporters who would write about forced labour around the globe as a national security matter.

Yahoo News obtained an unredacted summary that he described the same efforts with Martha Mendoza, AP reporter. Rambo’s unit was able to verify MENDOZA, according to the Yahoo News summary. Then they tried to build a relationship because she is an expert in forced labor writing. Mendoza, who was part of the team that reported on slavery in Southeast Asia’s fishery industry, won her the second Pulitzer Prize.

Rambo’s Washington supervisor Dan White told investigators his unit ran Mendoza though multiple databases. Yahoo News reports that CBP “discovered that Mendoza had a telephone number connected with terrorists.” White was also referred to prosecution, but he declined.

Easton from AP stated that the Associated Press demanded an immediate explanation of U.S. Customs and Border Protection regarding why Martha Mendoza (AP Investigative Reporter) was run through terrorist databases and identified as possible confidential informant recruits.

Rambo reached out and contacted Watkins, which led to an inspector general’s inquiry. Rambo initially approached Watkins in an effort to find her to aid his efforts on forced labor. However, he quickly turned the spotlight to leak investigations. Rambo gave the operation a name, Operation Whistle Pig, in honor of Watkins’ whiskey brand he had drank at a Washington, D.C. bar in June 2017.

James Wolfe (a former security chief for the Senate Intelligence Committee and had a close relationship with Watkins) is the only one to be charged. Wolfe pleaded guilty for lying to FBI concerning his contact with reporters.

Rambo was extensively questioned about Watkins’ interest during conversations with FBI agents. Rambo used his travel records to question her about Wolfe’s relationship and claimed that Wolfe was the source of her stories. Watkins admitted to the relationship but said Wolfe didn’t provide any information that would help her tell stories.

Rambo stated that Watkins wasn’t the only reporter who he had searched through records from government databases. However, he claimed in interviews with FBI that he only looked at Wolfe providing classified information. Rambo claimed that he did “conducted CBP records checks” on “15-20 national-security reporters,” according the FBI summary.

Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokeswoman for the New York Times, stated that Watkins’ investigation has revealed new concerns.

We are shocked to find out how U.S. Customs and Border Protection conducted this investigation into the sources of a journalist. The attorney general stated clearly that the government must stop using leak investigation as an excuse for interfering with journalism. Customs and Border Protection needs to publish a complete record of the investigation, so that this kind of inappropriate conduct does not happen again.

Watkins stated that she was also deeply troubled by the “lengths CBP/DHS personnel went to identify journalistic sources, and probe into my private life.” It was chilling back then and still is.