LAWMAKERS GOING POSTAL

The bipartisan leaders of the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Tuesday requested an investigation into a branch of the U.S. Postal Service in the wake of reports that it carried out online surveillance of Americans’ social media posts.

Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and ranking member James Comer (R-Ky.) sent a letter to Postal Service Inspector General Tammy Whitcomb urging her to open an investigation in the Postal Services’ Internet Covert Operations Program (iCOP).

The request comes a month after Yahoo News reported on a March bulletin sent out by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS). The bulletin cited iCOP concerns about potential protests planned for March 20 based on “online inflammatory material” and posts on social media platforms Parler and Telegram, and noted that iCOP was “currently monitoring these social media channels for any potential threats.”

Maloney and Comer on Tuesday expressed “concern” that iCOP was being used to “perform intelligence operations on First Amendment activity.”

“These activities raise serious questions about the scope of the program, the extent of sharing of information among law enforcement agencies, and whether USPIS has the authority to conduct such an operation,” the committee leaders wrote.