CBP Employees Allegedly Misused Gov Databases to Spy on Personal Targets
Original: CBP Workers Allegedly Used Government Databases to Spy on Exes, Crushes, and Colleagues
Why This Matters
The findings highlight systemic insider-threat risks as federal agencies expand surveillance capabilities with limited accountability.
WIRED obtained records via FOIA showing hundreds of allegations against U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees who allegedly abused law enforcement databases from 2009–2022 to surveil romantic interests, family members, colleagues, and in some cases, assist criminal organizations.
Internal records obtained by WIRED through Freedom of Information Act requests to CBP's Office of Professional Responsibility and DHS's Office of Inspector General detail hundreds of allegations of government database misuse by CBP employees and contractors spanning 2009 to 2022. Alleged abuses include officers querying databases to contact a flight attendant, pulling data from trusted-traveler applications to ask individuals out, sharing border-crossing data with a party in a 'heated divorce,' and one DHS employee reportedly using ad-tech-derived mobile location data to track coworkers' cell phones — described as the first known internal abuse case involving such data at DHS. The records also include allegations of officers providing intelligence to suspected smugglers or drug-trafficking organizations. Laura Rivera, an attorney with Just Futures Law, stated: 'Customs and Border Protection has a long history of impunity and abuse of people's civil and human rights. Accountability for their wrongdoing has been elusive.' The dataset predates CBP's expansion of surveillance tools including facial recognition, license plate readers, and mobile-device searches, raising concerns about potential misuse of even broader data access going forward.