Democrats Reject GOP Request for More Information on US Postal Service Surveillance of Conservatives, Gun Rights Advocates

A United States Postal Service (USPS) worker unloads packages from his truck in Manhattan, New York on April 13, 2020. (Mike Segar/Reuters)

House Democrats on Tuesday rejected a request from Republican lawmakers to gather more information about the alleged surveillance of conservatives and gun rights advocates by the U.S. Postal Service.

The resolution failed along party lines by a vote of 23–18 during a House Oversight and Reform Committee meeting,

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, (D-N.Y.) the Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, said the proposal would “do nothing to protect the First Amendment.”

The proposal was introduced by Rep. Andrew Clyde, (R-Ga.) after reports emerged back in April 2021 that the law enforcement arm of the U.S. Postal Service, known as the Internet Covert Operations Program, or iCOP, had been quietly monitoring Americans’ social media posts, including those regarding planned protests both domestically and abroad.

According to the report, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service law enforcement arm was trawling through social media sites to find posts that were “inflammatory” and then passing that information on to government agencies via bulletins.

The proposal was introduced by Rep. Andrew Clyde, (R-Ga.) after reports emerged back in April 2021 that a function within the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, known as the Internet Covert Operations Program, or iCOP, had been quietly monitoring Americans’ social media posts, including those regarding planned protests both domestically and abroad.

It added that the iCOP is a “function within the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which assesses threats to Postal Service employees and its infrastructure by monitoring publicly available open source information.”

However, a further report by Politico later found that iCOP was sending out bulletins to law enforcement officials regarding social media posts pertaining to the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol, including those that had been deleted.

United States Postal Service (USPS) workers load mail into delivery trucks outside a post office in Royal Oak, Mich., on Aug. 22, 2020. (Rebecca Cook/Reuters)

USPS Hacks Phones

A separate report earlier this year found that USPIS had been using sophisticated tools to hack into seized iPhones.

The existence of iCOP has raised concerns among privacy advocates and USPS was swiftly inundated with lawsuits from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Judicial Watch, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), and the James Madison Project over the program.

An inspector general report was subsequently conducted and released in March which found that iCOP did not have the legal authority to conduct mass surveillance of American protestors and others and that it had “exceeded the Postal Inspection Service’s law enforcement authority.”

Months later in September, the Cato Institute, a Washington, D.C.-headquartered libertarian think tank obtained reports detailing iCOP’s tracking and surveillance of gun rights activists and conservative groups opposed to President Joe Biden.

On Tuesday, GOP lawmakers raised concerns over the actions of USPS while calling on Democrats to request more information regarding the postal service’s surveillance program, particularly of conservative Americans.

“I’m incredibly concerned … at the actions taken by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for potentially, allegedly targeting conservative-leaning individuals in the pro-life group, various pro-life groups or Second Amendment groups,” said Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.). “The Postal Inspection Service has a mission, and quite frankly, they are far outside of their mission if these accusations are in fact true.”

Ultimately though, Democrats rejected the move, with Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) noting that while she believes “strongly in protecting Americans’ First Amendment rights,” and is against “inappropriate surveillance of peaceful protests and other First Amendment activity,” the highly partisan resolution is “unnecessary and misdirected,” and it would do nothing to protect American’s freedom of speech.

A spokesperson for the U. S. Postal Inspection Service told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement: “The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is the primary law enforcement, crime prevention, and security arm of the U.S. Postal Service.

“As such, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service has federal law enforcement officers, Postal Inspectors, who enforce approximately 200 federal laws to achieve the agency’s mission: protect the U.S. Postal Service and its employees, infrastructure, and customers; enforce the laws that defend the nation’s mail system from illegal or dangerous use; and ensure public trust in the mail.”

The spokesperson added that the Internet Covert Operations Program was a function within the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which “assessed threats to Postal Service employees and its infrastructure by monitoring publicly available open source information.”

Additionally, the Inspection Service collaborates with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to proactively identify and assess potential threats to the Postal Service, its employees and customers, and its overall mail processing and transportation network, according to the spokesperson.

“In order to preserve operational effectiveness, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service does not discuss its protocols, investigative methods, or tools.”

In a statement to Fox News, the Postal Inspection Service said: “In order to preserve operational effectiveness, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service does not discuss its protocols, investigative methods or tools.”