Dear Friend of Press Freedom,

I’m Lauren Harper, the first Daniel Ellsberg chair on government secrecy at Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), and welcome to The Classifieds. Read on to learn about the week’s top secrecy news.

FPF seeks ICE surveillance records

A bombshell investigation by Wired journalist Ali Winston argues that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is running one of the “largest anti-left surveillance operations in U.S. history.” The program, Operation Keyhole, allegedly exceeds even the scope of the FBI’s infamous COINTELPRO, which unlawfully spied on civil rights leaders, anti-war organizers, and feminist groups for nearly two decades.

The revelations about the program came to light during discovery in the criminal case of the Minnesota 15, a group of community organizers in the Twin Cities area who were federally indicted this summer for working to disrupt ICE activities. While Keyhole dates back to 2008, it appears to have drastically expanded after the issuance of National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, a directive that instructs law enforcement agencies to suppress domestic criticism of the administration’s policies under the guise of countering anti-government extremism.

According to court filings, the nationwide program targeted the Minnesota 15 with military-grade surveillance that included the use of MQ-9 Reaper drones, monitoring of financial wire transfers, administrative summons for journalists’ phone records, intercepting terabytes of Signal chats, and running at least 11 undercover agents — all deployed to infiltrate grassroots protest networks.

FPF has filed a series of targeted Freedom of Information Act requests with the departments of Homeland Security and Justice demanding information about the program. Specifically, we’re seeking the mandatory biannual oversight reviews conducted by the joint DHS-DOJ committee tasked with authorizing the undercover operation, as well as budget expenditures, renewal proposals, and more.

We’ll keep you posted on what we learn. If you’re interested in helping FPF fight in court for these records, email me at [email protected].

PACER is getting more expensive, but should be free

The federally managed Public Access to Court Electronic Records database, more commonly known as PACER, has been paywalled since its launch in 1988. And even though the public should have unfettered access to records that can literally shape our legal system, it’s about to get 20% more expensive.

PACER’s clunky interface charges per search rather than per download, making it far too easy for journalists and researchers to rack up steep bills. As a result, the judiciary makes an astronomical amount of money on the searches for these ostensibly public documents — to the tune of $154 million in 2025 and an expected $142 million in 2026. PACER’s operating costs are a small fraction of that revenue.

Congress has never funded PACER, which helps explain its outdated fee structure. Luckily, earlier this year, Sens. Ron Wyden and John Kennedy reintroduced the Open Courts Act. The bill would, among other things, make federal court records free. It would also require the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the federal agency that manages the judicial branch, to develop a replacement for PACER and improve cybersecurity for court records.

Luckily, you don’t need to wait for Congress to act to help free access to court documents. Check out the Free Law Project for more information on how to liberate PACER records by using their RECAP browser extension.

What I’m reading

The US government is hiding a secret court ruling about how it spies on Americans

Wired

The government has ignored its September statutory deadline to declassify a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court ruling that condemned the searches intelligence agencies were conducting of Americans’ data under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — a ruling that somehow still recertified the program for another year despite those violations. FPF recently joined a coalition letter led by Demand Progress urging lawmakers not to reauthorize the program unless the government complies with basic transparency requirements and Congress requires a warrant to search or access Americans’ communications.

Transparently yours,
Lauren Harper
Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy
Freedom of the Press Foundation