House Democrats on Tuesday rejected a Republican request for information about the U.S. Postal Service’s surveillance program that the GOP says has reportedly been used to spy on conservatives.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service operates the Internet Covert Operations Program, or iCOP. The Postal Inspection Service is the security arm of the postal service, and iCOP works to assess threats to its infrastructure, employees and customers by monitoring open source information.
“In order to preserve operational effectiveness, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service does not discuss its protocols, investigative methods or tools,” the Postal Inspection Service told Fox News Digital.
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Chairwoman Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., on Tuesday rejected a GOP request for more information on a U.S. Postal Service surveillance program.
(AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
In 2021, however, reports surfaced that iCOP was sending out bulletins to law enforcement officials on the movement of protesters, including one that claimed to have information on militia groups that might be threatening House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
That prompted an inspector general report, released last March, that found iCOP’s actions “exceeded the Postal Inspection Service’s law enforcement authority.”
Then, in September, the Cato Institute obtained records indicating iCOP had been used to track gun rights activists and conservative groups opposed to President Biden. That drove Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., to propose a resolution demanding all documents and information about iCOP’s alleged activities against conservatives.
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Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., speaks during a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on gun violence on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., June 8, 2022.
(Jason Andrew/Pool/AFP via Getty…
