According to Reuters, Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-PA) and Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) wrote a letter to DHS Intelligence Chief Caryn Wagner pressing her to more carefully monitor users' posts on sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Meehan is the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee's subcommittee for intelligence and counter-terrorism, while Speier is the subcommittee's highest ranking Democrat.
A Homeland Security spokesman told Reuters that the DHS currently monitors social media only "within the clearly defined parameters articulated" in published department privacy guidelines. That suggests the DHS already monitors social media to some extent. According to Reuters, the DHS' current list of watched websites include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others.
However, none of the publicly accessible DHS privacy guidelines, save a white paper on the EINSTEIN hacking detection system, mention the words "social," "Facebook," "Twitter" or "Internet." The DHS may be currently applying privacy guidelines not specific to Internet users to their online monitoring approach.
In the letter, the two representatives said they "believe it would be advantageous for DHS and the broader Intelligence Community to carefully parse the massive streams of data from various social media outlets to identify current or emerging threats to our homeland security."
The fear of the DHS becoming too invasive isn't lost on the pair. The letter confirmed that monitoring social media networks would raise "privacy and civil liberties concerns," and the representatives considered the idea of establishing guidelines which balance privacy issues with DHS' mission of sniffing out threats to national security.
Meehan told Retuers in an e-mail that a December congressional hearing "examined the evolving terrorist use of social media and effective intelligence and law enforcement responses." He also said that "if terrorists are operating in Pakistan or communicating through social media sites like Facebook, we need to remain vigilant.
"Yet there are important civil liberties questions involving U.S. government monitoring of social media and Americans' Internet traffic. We are seeking answers on the Department's guidelines and procedures to ensure Americans' civil liberties are safeguarded."
The Department of Homeland Security was not available for comment.