A longtime DHS official has been placed on leave, pending an investigation, for adding a journalist to an email chain about sensitive ICE operations in Denver. Her security clearance may be revoked as well.
In this case the journalist is said to be from a conservative media outlet and the addition of this journalist was a mistake. Once the DHS official realized her error, she called the journalist who agreed not to disclose the operation and it went off without a hitch.
Here’s more from Yahoo News:
A longtime Department of Homeland Security employee was placed on administrative leave after accidentally sending unclassified details of an immigration operation to a journalist in late January, according to current and former DHS officials who spoke to NBC News. The staffer was also reportedly told last week that the agency plans to revoke her security clearance.The DHS employee, who declined to speak to NBC, told colleagues that she mistakenly added a reporter from a conservative media outlet to an email thread detailing information about a forthcoming Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Denver.
DHS officials said the information in the email was not classified but considered law enforcement sensitive because it included details about when the operation was going to take place and possible locations of targets.
When the employee realized her mistake, she called the reporter, who agreed not to disclose the information, officials said. The ICE operation was carried out without a hitch.
But it was too late. Another person on the email thread flagged the error to DHS leadership just as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was making employees take lie detector tests to weed out leakers. Border czar Tom Homan earlier blamed media leaks for fewer-than-expected arrests in an operation targeting the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
The DHS employee was placed on leave pending an investigation and asked to take a polygraph test, officials said. She was reportedly notified that the agency intended to revoke her security clearance, which could lock her out of future homeland security jobs. She has 30 days to appeal.
On one hand, if this was truly a mistake, I hope the official doesn’t lose her job. But on the other hand, these kind of mistakes can’t be allowed to happen, which could put the lives of our law enforcement officers in jeopardy. So I get why DHS put the official on leave.
https://therightscoop.com/dhs-official-place-on-leave-for-adding-journalist-to-email-chain/
