The Biden admin is considering using outside firms to track extremist chatter by Americans online, an effort that would expand the govts ability to gather intel but could draw criticism over surveillance of citizens. @ZcohenCNN & @KatieBoWillCNN reportt.co/VI7wbYvLXJ
— CNN NationalSecurity (@NatSecCNN) May 3, 2021
Biden team may partner with private firms to surveil suspected domestic terrorists online:
The plan being discussed inside DHS, according to multiple sources, would, in effect, allow the department to circumvent those limits. A source familiar with the effort said it is not about decrypting data but rather using outside entities who can legally access these private groups to gather large amounts of information that could help DHS identify key narratives as they emerge.
“There’s a tension between wanting to empower [DHS’s intelligence office] to do this kind of work around domestic terrorism on the one hand and then on the other hand the misuse of its capabilities during the summer of 2020, gives a lot of people on the Hill pause {when it comes to} potentially giving them new authorities, capabilities or resources,” a Senate aide told CNN.
“There was only limited awareness before January 6 of what violent extremists were planning through social media,” said Tom Warrick, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who served as DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Counterterrorism Policy from 2008 until 2019.