House Democrats on Tuesday rejected the information request made by the Republicans regarding the U.S. Postal Service’s surveillance program that the GOP alleges is being used to spy on conservatives.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service operates the Internet Covert Operations Program or iCOP. The Postal Inspection Service offers security within the postal service while iCop is focused on threats posed to the postal services infrastructure, employees, and customers through the monitoring of open-source information.
For operational effectiveness to be preserved the U.S. Postal Inspection Service has noted that they are not in a position to discuss the protocols, tools and methods that they employ.
However, according to a 2021 report, iCOP had been sending bulletins to law enforcement officials providing them with information regarding protests. This included the movement of a militia group that at the time may have allegedly been threatening House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Following the release of this information an inspector general report, which was released last March noted that iCOP’s actions “exceeded the Postal Inspection Service’s law enforcement authority.”
In September, the Cato Institute also released records that showed that iCOP had been tracking gun rights activists and other conservative groups that had expressed opposition to President Biden. This led to Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., proposing a resolution for all information and documents regarding iCOP’s work against conservatives to be released.
However, in a meeting Tuesday of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Democrats voted against Clyde’s resolution to the floor, putting an effective stop to the request for further information.
