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Spencer Reynolds

@sreynolds.bsky.social

5.2K followers 350 following 220 posts

Senior Counsel, Liberty & National Security at the Brennan Center for Justice. Member, United Auto Workers. Former intelligence & counterterrorism lawyer, US Department of Homeland Security. Views my own, rarely the government's. >> Signal: sreynolds.16

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Spencer Reynolds @sreynolds.bsky.social · Aug 8

Amid chaos this summer from the national guard and Marines, Homeland Security used a little-known police agency to lead its protest response in Los Angeles.

TIME has my analysis of images & video—and solutions to prevent future DHS abuse. 🧵

time.com/7307963/trum...

Trump’s Troubling Deployment of DHS Officers

An investigation from the Brennan Center highlights the impact of a little-known federal force which was deployed in LA.

time.com

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Matthew Guariglia @mguariglia.bsky.social · 2h

🚨 We wrote about Flock rolling out "distress detection" that monitored human voices on their gunshot detection devices & asked how it was lawful under eavesdropping laws.

Now, they've changed the ad to replace a "SCREAMING" alert with a "DISTRESS" alert. See below:

www.eff.org/deeplinks/20...

An add for flock raven with the title "safety you can see and now hear" with an alert for someone "screaming"

An add for flock raven with the title "safety you can see and now hear" with an alert that says "distress"

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Spencer Reynolds @sreynolds.bsky.social · 21h

Ah, how we wish for the halcyon days of 2016…

2016: Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach exposes to press photographers his proposed plans for the Department of Homeland Security under the incoming Trump Administration.

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RootsAction @rootsaction.org · 1d

For years, local governments & police departments have cooperated with federal agencies through the Joint Terrorism Task Forces. Now, through Trump's new NPSM-7 directive, these task forces will focus on “leftist” groups.

History shows us what happens when our movements are targeted by the feds.

In NSPM-7, “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,” President Trump directs the Justice Department, the FBI, and other national security agencies and departments to fight his version of political violence in America, retooling a network of Joint Terrorism Task Forces to focus on “leftist” political violence in America. This vast counterterrorism army, made up of federal, state, and local agents would, as Trump aide Stephen Miller said, form “the central hub of that effort.”

NSPM-7 directs a new national strategy to “disrupt” any individual or groups “that foment political violence,” including “before they result in violent political acts.”

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Lawrence Hurley @lawrencehurley.bsky.social · 4d

No.

David S. Bernstein @dbernstein.bsky.social · 4d

Oh he can just unilaterally pass unconstitutional laws now huh ok

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Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 5d

Google has determined that ICE agents are a vulnerable group and has used this designation as pretext to delete an app that helped communities determine where ICE raids were happening

www.404media.co/google-calls...

Google Calls ICE Agents a Vulnerable Group, Removes ICE-Spotting App ‘Red Dot’

The move comes as Apple removed ICEBlock after direct pressure from U.S. Department of Justice officials and signals a broader crackdown on ICE-spotting apps.

www.404media.co

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Spencer Reynolds @sreynolds.bsky.social · 7d

unicornriot.ninja/2024/cobwebs...

Cobwebs Spy Software Locks Onto Protesters: Israeli Social Media Mining Contract with Homeland Security Revealed - UNICORN RIOT

An Israeli spy software tech firm licenses web surveillance tools to law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The software contract shows new details about this sensitive technology DHS has used to ...

unicornriot.ninja

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Spencer Reynolds @sreynolds.bsky.social · 7d

In 2020, to build dossiers on racial justice demonstrators in Portland, Oregon, DHS's intelligence office also used Penlink (then called Cobwebs) to identify connections between people and build out surveillance. Article in the next post.

It's a powerful tool often used for illicit purposes.

404 Media @404media.co · 8d

BREAKING: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has bought access to a surveillance tool that is updated every day with billions of pieces of location data from hundreds of millions of mobile phones, according to ICE documents reviewed by 404 Media.

🔗 www.404media.co/ice-to-buy-t...

ICE to Buy Tool that Tracks Locations of Hundreds of Millions of Phones Every Day

Documents show that ICE has gone back on its decision to not use location data remotely harvested from peoples' phones. The database is updated every day with billions of pieces of location data.

www.404media.co

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UAW Archivist @uawarchivist.bsky.social · 7d

🏈"Quit trying to carry the ball alone."🏈
As we enter the heart of football season, a call to unionize from the newspaper of the @uaw.org, 1937. From the archives at the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social.

Art from UAW newspaper that says, "Quit trying to carry the ball alone. Join The International Union, United Automobile Workers of America." Shows drawing of footballs players carrying the ball or tackling.

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AILA @aila.org · 8d

“The incidents on Thursday and Friday highlight the growing tensions in major U.S. cities over President Donald Trump's aggressive immigration crackdown.”

ICE tactics inflame tensions in New York, Chicago and other cities

Some Hispanic residents said they were stopped solely because of their appearance.

reut.rs

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Spencer Reynolds @sreynolds.bsky.social · 11d

Trump's guidance taps into common beliefs as signs of terrorism.

This isn't new. FBI, DHS, & intel agencies have long used bogus methods reliant on common things like isolation, having debt, paying off debt (!), religion, etc. to identify impending violence.

Unproven yet often harmful to rights.

Ken Klippenstein @kenklippenstein.bsky.social · 11d

🚨 New directive NSPM-7 targets "anti-capitalism," “anti-Christian,” and “anti-American" opinions as indicators of extremist violence, authorizing an army of 4,000 counter-terrorism officers to prevent crimes that haven't happened:
www.kenklippenstein.com/p/trumps-nsp...

Trump’s NSPM-7 Labels Common Beliefs As Terrorism “Indicators”

New order targets “anti-Christian,” “anti-American,” and “anti-capitalism” opinions

www.kenklippenstein.com

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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 15d

NEW: Newly released data shows CBP has funneled the DNA data of some 2,000 US citizens, including that of children, into the FBI's CODIS database, which is intended for criminal investigations. @dell.bsky.social reports: www.wired.com/story/dhs-ha...

DHS Has Been Collecting US Citizens’ DNA for Years

Newly released data shows Customs and Border Protection funneled the DNA of nearly 2,000 US citizens—some as young as 14—into an FBI crime database, raising alarms about oversight and legality.

www.wired.com

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Spencer Reynolds @sreynolds.bsky.social · 20d

And to be clear, this “zip tying” is serious restraint with cuffs. These are peaceful public officials and citizens being detained.

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Spencer Reynolds @sreynolds.bsky.social · 20d

The agents doing the zip tying appear to be from the DHS Federal Protective Service.

I wrote this summer in TIME how the agency is integral to DHS’s efforts to crackdown on dissent:

time.com/7307963/trum...

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Spencer Reynolds @sreynolds.bsky.social · 22d

NEW: Internal report reveals DHS intelligence portal was accidentally opened to tens of thousands of users for months, exposing sensitive intel about Americans. @brennancenter.org obtained the docs. @wired.com has the story. 🧵

www.wired.com/story/a-dhs-...

www.wired.com

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Madison Swart @madisonswart.bsky.social · 21d

At 26 Federal Plaza today, ICE agents detained a man after his immigration hearing, leaving behind his wife and children. His wife broke down outside the courthouse with her young child. Their 7-year-old will return from school to find her father gone.

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WIRED @wired.com · 22d

A misconfigured platform used by the Department of Homeland Security left national security information—including some related to the surveillance of Americans—accessible to thousands of people. www.wired.com/story/a-dhs-...

A DHS Data Hub Exposed Sensitive Intel to Thousands of Unauthorized Users

A misconfigured platform used by the Department of Homeland Security left national security information—including some related to the surveillance of Americans—accessible to thousands of people.

www.wired.com

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Center for Media and Democracy @exposedbycmd.bsky.social · 22d

If DHS can violently attack journalists and citizen observers without any consequences, none of us are safe anywhere in the country.
#protest #LAProtests #PressFreedom #ProtectJournalists

Freedoms Under Attack: DHS Violence Against Journalists, Observers, and Protesters

YouTube video by The Center for Media and Democracy

youtu.be

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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 22d

NEW: A FOIA doc obtained by the @brennancenter.org shows a misconfigured DHS platform left sensitive natsec intel—including info about surveillance of Americans—accessible to thousands of unauthorized users. @agreenberg.bsky.social has the scoop. (No paywall bc FOIA) www.wired.com/story/a-dhs-...

A DHS Data Hub Exposed Sensitive Intel to Thousands of Unauthorized Users

A misconfigured platform used by the Department of Homeland Security left national security information—including some related to the surveillance of Americans—accessible to thousands of people.

www.wired.com

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Spencer Reynolds @sreynolds.bsky.social · 22d

All this follows a long history of the intel office’s abusive targeting, poor oversight, and at times incompetence. The government collects and shares massive amounts of data about us. It should at a minimum be able to safeguard it.

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Spencer Reynolds @sreynolds.bsky.social · 22d

This incident raises questions about how seriously DHS’s intel shop takes information security. Thousands and thousands of users gained access to information they were never supposed to have. This should raise alarm bells for agencies that trust the platform with their info.

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Spencer Reynolds @sreynolds.bsky.social · 22d

DHS uses this portal to inject questionable intelligence about protestors into national police circles. Some of that was accessed here, likely including documents I’ve written about that illustrate abuses. This breach exposed them even further.

www.justsecurity.org/86876/dhss-n...

DHS’s Newest Target: Atlanta “Cop City” Activists

Homeland security organizations are injecting federal spy agencies into local political matters, often without meaningful restrictions.

www.justsecurity.org

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Spencer Reynolds @sreynolds.bsky.social · 22d

But an access control error opened it up to everyone in the network for two months. Hundreds of documents were improperly accessed, likely thousands more exposed. They include sensitive intelligence and law enforcement info.

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Spencer Reynolds @sreynolds.bsky.social · 22d

DHS runs a “homeland security information network,” allowing federal, state, local, private, and foreign entities to share information with tens of thousands of users. There the Office of Intelligence & Analysis maintains an intel sharing portal. It’s supposed to be locked down…

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Spencer Reynolds @sreynolds.bsky.social · 22d

www.wired.com

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Andy Greenberg @agreenberg.bsky.social · 22d

A DHS data-sharing platform used for sharing restricted intel among government agencies, law enforcement and fusion centers was misconfigured to allow access to "everyone" including tens of thousands of unauthorized government staff, contractors and foreign nationals. www.wired.com/story/a-dhs-...

A DHS Data Hub Exposed Sensitive Intel to Thousands of Unauthorized Users

A misconfigured platform used by the Department of Homeland Security left national security information—including some related to the surveillance of Americans—accessible to thousands of people.

www.wired.com

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