Kredit:Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain
Den 11 augusti loggade Adam Bies in på sitt konto på Gab och började skriva:
"Jag tror uppriktigt att om du arbetar för FBI, så förtjänar du att DÖ."
Bies, 46, var en blivande frilansfotograf som hade fyllt sin hemsida med actionbilder av snabba bilar och utomhussporter. Han hade fått sparken från sitt dagliga jobb inom marknadsföring för att ha vägrat covid-19-vaccinet, skrev han på nätet, och hade kämpat i sina ansträngningar att lämna in ett arbetslöshetsanmälan.
Som federala åklagare senare skulle beskriva i domstolshandlingar, fyllde Bies sina dagar med att publicera under en pseudonym på Gab, en social medietjänst populär bland högerextremister.
Hans inlägg innehöll en länk till en Fox News-berättelse om FBI-chefen Christopher Wray som fördömde vågen av våldsamma hot riktade mot byrån under de tre dagarna sedan husrannsakan av tidigare president Donald Trumps hem och klubb Mar-a-Lago. Han jämförde federala agenter med nazistiska styrkor. Han hetade om "polisstatsavskum". Och han komponerade vad som kunde ha setts som en slutgiltig plan.
"Jag vet redan att jag kommer att dö i händerna på dessa ... brottsbekämpande skurkar", skrev han, varvat med svordomar. "Mitt enda mål är att döda fler av dem innan jag tappar."
Fyra dagar senare omringade beväpnade federala agenter och SWAT-team Bies hem, nära ett fallande vattenfall i jaktlandet med djupa skogar i västra Pennsylvania. Inne i huset fanns Bies och hans 12-årige son. Det var mörkt, nära midnatt.
Poliser ringde Bies på hans mobiltelefon, om och om igen, 16 gånger totalt. De gav order genom en högtalare att kapitulera.
Till slut dök Bies upp med ett automatgevär. Officerare beordrade honom att lägga ner vapnet.
Under dessa fyra dagar mellan Bies hotfulla inlägg och det ögonblick han möttes med beväpnade agenter, hade han blivit snärjd av en komplex, föga känd praxis inom FBI som kallas social media exploatering, eller SOMEX – en som i detta ögonblick kanske, övervaka onlineaktiviteter för vem som helst i Amerika.
Top FBI-ledare har försökt tona ned i vilken utsträckning agenter lagligt kan övervaka offentliga onlineaktiviteter för personer som inte är under utredning. Men i verkligheten kan byrån utföra nästan obegränsad övervakning av offentliga sociala medier, så länge den gör det i brottsbekämpande syfte, sa FBI-tjänstemän till U.S. TODAY.
Experter säger att det ger FBI mer makt än det har varit villigt att erkänna offentligt – makt byrån och andra säkerhetsexperter säger att de har ett ansvar att använda för att förhindra terrorism.
Men kritiker säger att utnyttjande av sociala medier också innebär att agenter får granska onlineinlägg efter behag, utan tillsyn, men ändå stora myndigheter.
"FBI-tjänstemän har lagt ut en hel del felaktig information om omfattningen av deras myndigheter", säger Michael German, en före detta specialagent från FBI och en kollega vid New York Universitys Brennan Center for Justice. "FBI har enorma befogenheter att utreda långt innan det finns ett rimligt kriminellt predikat."
SOMEX, involverar agenter som utvecklar sina egna leads och tar emot information från ett nätverk av entreprenörer och samarbetspartners, till exempel en terrorismforskningsgrupp som först flaggade inläggen av Bies.
Men byrån har kritiserats för hur dess utredare har reagerat – som i fallet med onlineinlägg som gjordes av liberala aktivister under Black Lives Matter-protesterna 2020 – och hur de misslyckades med att reagera – som i högerns uppbyggnad till upproret den 6 januari.
FBI har länge varit under granskning för övergrepp när det gäller att skapa filer om offentliga personer och andra, även om de inte var under brottsutredning. Och vissa experter säger att byrån har en historia av att fokusera på vänsterinriktade grupper som miljöaktivister och rasrättsaktivister, samtidigt som de ignorerar hot från vita supremacister och andra till höger. De säger att denna tendens går över till den digitala eran.
Och interna register som erhållits av en förespråkargrupp verkar visa agenter inom cyberforskning som specifikt fokuserar på antipolis- och rasrättsmöten istället för beväpnade motdemonstranter eller vita supremacister.
"Problemet med övervakning av sociala medier är ofta problemet med polisverksamhet i stort, vilket är att polisen inte kan förutse brott, allt de kan göra är att göra en bedömning av vilken typ av person som är mest benägen att begå brott, och sätta den gruppen under övervakning ", säger Matthew Guariglia, en policyanalytiker på Electronic Frontier Foundation. Den där "knäskjutsreaktionen", sa Guariglia, slutar med att betyda mer övervakning och trakasserier av färgade personer och marginaliserade grupper.
Men när upprördhet över Mar-a-Lago nu sporrar hot från högerorienterade extremister till historiska nivåer, möter långvariga frågor om hur FBI verkligen övervakar amerikaner online en ny vändning:Vad händer när personerna som hotas är FBI-agenterna själva?
FBI har bredare latitud än många inser
I juni förra året, i en utfrågning av parlamentets kommitté för tillsyn och reform, grillade New Yorks kongresskvinna Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Wray om FBI:s misslyckande med att förutse kaoset i upproret den 6 januari.
"Vi vet nu att attackerna planerades i det fria på populära sociala medieplattformar", sa Ocasio-Cortez. "Inkluderar FBI regelbundet övervakning av sociala medier som en del av sina ansträngningar för att bekämpa våldsbejakande extremism?"
Wrays svar var eftertryckligt:
"Vi har mycket specifika policyer som har funnits på avdelningen under en lång tid som styr vår förmåga att använda sociala medier. Och när vi har ett auktoriserat syfte och korrekt förutsägelse finns det många saker vi kan göra på sociala medier," sa Wray . "Men det vi inte kan göra på sociala medier är utan ordentliga förutsägelser och ett auktoriserat syfte, bara övervaka."
Månader tidigare gav FBI:s tidigare verkställande biträdande direktör för nationell säkerhet, Jill Sanborn, en liknande förklaring till senatens kommitté för hemlandsäkerhet och statliga frågor. "Vi kan inte samla in aktiviteter som skyddas av det första tillägget utan något av nästa steg, vilket är avsikten", sa hon.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema följde upp och frågade:"Så FBI övervakar inte offentligt tillgängliga sociala medier?"
"Korrekt, frun. Det är inte inom våra myndigheter", svarade Sanborn.
FBI:s egna regler säger något annat.
FBI-tjänstemän sa till U.S. TODAY att Wrays uttalande var korrekt, samtidigt som de erkände att ett "auktoriserat syfte" helt enkelt betyder att göra vad som helst i linje med en FBI-agents plikter.
Det "auktoriserade syftet" är faktiskt utomordentligt brett. Policyn skulle förbjuda agenter från att titta på sociala medier för att till exempel hålla koll på en romantisk partner eller övervaka någon annan användning som inte är brottsbekämpande. Men det skulle tillåta en agent att titta på i princip vad som helst online, proaktivt, om avsikten var att stoppa ett brott eller att hålla amerikaner säkra. En FBI-tjänsteman kallade att detta faller inom "penumbra av nationell säkerhet, upprätthållande av federal lag eller utländsk underrättelsetjänst."
German, a fellow with the Brennan Center's Liberty and National Security Program, argued in a recent report that individual FBI agents have extraordinary leeway to look through public-facing social media posts without seeking authorization from their superiors in advance or even keeping an official record of their actions.
The FBI rules, laid out in their handbook and periodically updated Attorney General's guidelines, allow agents to conduct "pre-assessments" of possible threats, German said. Those pre-assessments can be conducted "without any factual basis to suspect wrongdoing," German writes in his report.
He and several other experts agree that the FBI certainly can, then, proactively monitor Americans' social media for signs of unrest, dissent or violence that might lead to criminal activity.
FBI officials told U.S. TODAY this is correct. There's no need for "proper predication," or evidence of a crime, when conducting a pre-assessment of a subject.
German's analysis of the rules was echoed by Brian Murphy, a former top FBI official who helped pioneer the FBI's social media exploitation efforts.
He cited Sanborn's statements, telling U.S. TODAY, "I just think that she was wrong." He said the agency has a risk-averse culture that prevents agents and managers from taking the steps necessary to fully protect Americans.
Sanborn, who is no longer at the FBI, did not respond to messages seeking comment. An FBI spokesperson said Sanborn's comments referred specifically to "conversations" on social media and not to public-facing posts by individuals.
While the bureau describes its authorities carefully, its agents—and third party contractors—can track critics of the government like Adam Bies, watching until their online rantings cross a line into outright threats.
Then the FBI can act.
What SOMEX really looks for
The FBI's SOMEX team, which sits within the agency's National Threat Operations Center in Clarksburg, West Virginia, receives and investigates tips on imminent social media threats from concerned citizens, other law enforcement agencies, independent monitoring organizations and others.
But the effort involves more than just acting as a catcher's mitt for incoming tips. It also develops its own social media intelligence.
Documents obtained by the open-government group Property of the People (and first reported by Rolling Stone) give insight into the broader social media monitoring role SOMEX plays inside the FBI. The documents detail reports from the team to federal and local law enforcement in the Seattle area during the civil unrest that unfolded in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.
"While overnight social media activity was very light, the SOMEX team did find some tweeting by individuals stating they would monitor police radio activity," reads a typical extract from the documents, taken from a June 2, 2020 situation report emailed to dozens of FBI agents.
"The FBI aggressively scours social media for information related to topics of Bureau interest," said Ryan Shapiro, executive director and co-founder of the nonprofit group, which provided U.S. TODAY with hundreds of pages of documents about the FBI's social media monitoring that it acquired through open records requests. "This routinely includes surveillance of Americans who are not the subject of an investigation or even suspected of committing a crime."
In a statement, the FBI said that SOMEX was created to assist in identifying "unknown subject, victim, or location information" when there's a threat to life by using publicly available information. The team then forwards information to the appropriate agency for further investigation and appropriate action.
FBI officials told U.S. TODAY that agents are not allowed to use specific SOMEX tools without additional training in privacy and civil liberties protections. Those tools include commercial software the FBI purchases to use in-house. The FBI also works with third-party contractors for social media analysis, the officials said.
One contractor is the private intelligence firm the Hetherington Group, which has trained law enforcement and the military on conducting online investigations.
Cynthia Hetherington, the firm's founder and president, said the company identifies "actionable intelligence" that can be used to protect life or someone's reputation by helping those it trains learn how to hyperfocus and efficiently identify a key collection of terms that demonstrate legitimate threats, such as "kill," "die," "shoot," "fire," "bomb," "rob."
"Individuals should be allowed to say what they want to say on the internet, but should also understand that it's open source and the parties concerned will trace it back" to them, Hetherington said.
Another way of saying that, said Shapiro, who holds a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology focusing on government surveillance, is that the FBI can, and is, monitoring practically whoever it wants, whenever it wants.
"The FBI is almost entirely unhindered in its ability to monitor American social media postings," Shapiro said, "So when the FBI reported to Congress that it was unable to do so—I mean, that is a bald-faced lie. That's what the bureau does. They lie."
As the FBI becomes more interested in specific posts, the bureau can also ramp up its monitoring in more "intrusive" ways, FBI officials said. With additional internal approvals, FBI agents can access not just public-facing social media, but also private groups and chat rooms.
Even when accessing this more private information, the FBI's internal checks don't protect Americans' civil liberties, several experts told U.S. TODAY.
The FBI has a long and troubled history of focusing on groups on the left of the political spectrum while largely turning a blind eye to domestic extremists on the far-right, said Guariglia, who holds a doctorate in the history of police surveillance.
"Both historically speaking, and in current events, we've seen the amount of surveillance that has been marshaled specifically against groups fighting for racial justice increased exponentially than from what we've seen being monitored on the right," Guariglia said.
The FBI pushed back on this assessment. "The FBI aggressively investigates threats posed by domestic violent extremists," a bureau spokesperson wrote in a statement. "We do not investigate ideology and we do not investigate particular cases based on the political views of the individuals involved."
Are there enough resources to do the work?
The FBI isn't the only law enforcement agency doing social media exploitation.
The bureau's SOMEX team is part of a constellation of social media analysis that has occurred across the national security apparatus over the few years. The Department of Homeland Security has its own SOMEX team plus social media analysts at dozens of "fusion centers" across the U.S. sharing intelligence with local, state and federal law enforcement, said Mike Sena, executive director of one of those fusion centers, the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center.
The FBI also works to train and assist local police departments in their social media exploitation efforts, a tactic that came to light earlier this year in a report by the Intercept, which detailed how the bureau provided the Chicago Police Department with fake social media accounts to investigate demonstrators outraged at the Floyd murder by police officers in 2020.
The San Bernardino terrorist attack in 2015 turned out to be a "proof of concept" on the efficacy of social media analysis, Hetherington said, when reporting from Facebook to a fusion center social media analyst helped the FBI quickly identify the people involved.
But using social media analysis to identify future crimes, rather than research past ones, is a broader net. That federal effort to prevent crimes is still small given the scale of the internet, Sena said.
"Most people would be shocked in America," Sena said. "There's a small number of folks trying to deal with these threats that are huge."
Sena and Hetherington told U.S. TODAY that after the ACLU of California publicized law enforcement's use of commercial software to "monitor activists and protesters" in 2016, many companies stopped selling their software to law enforcement or minimized their capacity to use it to track online activity.
As a result, Sena said, "our people are manually doing things, they're doing the work, but they're having to work 10 times as hard as they used to."
That's why agencies plan to bring their teams together, at least virtually, to break up siloes and avoid duplication, Sena said. One byproduct of this effort, he said, will be fewer blindspots or gaps that can be used to accuse law enforcement of bias.
"Even if you're being proactive, it's basically walking with a teaspoon at a river and trying to put that in a bucket," Sena said. "We're not getting everything, but it's better than nothing."
But German argues in his report that the majority of social media exploitation work is actually counterproductive. The sheer volume of tips generated by contractors and the FBI's own analysts results in an "information overload," German writes.
"Obviously, the multiple forms of social media monitoring that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies conducted prior to January 6 was not helpful in preparing for the attack," the report states. "Yet after the Capitol insurrection, the FBI invested an additional $27 million into social media monitoring software, effectively doubling down on a failed methodology."
Ongoing investment in social media exploitation
Those efforts continue even in the weeks since the Mar-a-Lago search and backlash.
Three days after the FBI executed its Aug. 8 search warrant on Mar-a-Lago and was inundated by right-wing threats, Ricky Shiffer, a 42-year-old Navy veteran, walked into the FBI office in Cincinnati armed with a nail gun and an AR-15 rifle.
As U.S. TODAY reported, Shiffer had spent the last nine days of his life ranting on Truth Social, the social media company founded by Trump. His hundreds of posts included explicit threats against the federal government including "Kill F.B.I. on sight."
When his attack failed, Shiffer fled north along rural highways and into a standoff where was ultimately shot and killed.
The FBI said in a statement that it had been informed of Shiffer but that "the information did not contain a specific and credible threat."
Wray told the agency in a message the day after that attack that the FBI's security division would be adjusting its "security posture accordingly."
A $32,400 contract approved Monday—after discussion that started weeks before the search of Mar-a-Lago, Hetherington said—notes that the agency will hire the Hetherington Group to train its agents on SOMEX later this month.
According to a document the bureau filed to justify making the purchase without opening it up to bidding, "it is an immediate need to expand and broaden the social media knowledge for the NTOS SOMEX team." The FBI wrote that the training can provide it with expertise in the "forces and factors that lead to the radicalization of terrorism specifically white supremacy extremism."
That document was filed Aug. 11, the same day Shiffer carried a nail gun into an FBI office, then fled into the Ohio cornfields.
It was also the same day Adam Bies was logging post after post on Gab.
'Why don't you send them my threats'
As Bies tapped out his messages, he wasn't just speaking to his 1,600 followers. According to court documents, he also deliberately tagged Gab founder Andrew Torba in his posts, goading him to report Bies to the federal government.
"Why don't you send them my threats so that they'd at least have something credible to show on Fox News," Bies wrote in the post. "Just scrub my timeline for the posts you didn't delete after you threatened to ban me."
Also watching Bies' posts was a third-party media monitoring and analysis firm, the Middle East Media Research Institute. MEMRI cut its teeth monitoring Middle Eastern media for English-speaking audiences, but over the last three years has expanded to real-time social media monitoring, specifically for threats from white supremacists and other homegrown extremists.
"We're consistently in communication with (law enforcement and government) agencies at the local, state and national level, and providing" them with actionable intelligence, said Simon Purdue, director of MEMRI's Domestic Terror Threat Monitor team. "Having people like us helps speed things along."
MEMRI alerted the FBI, according to a later criminal complaint. The FBI contacted Gab, who handed over Bies' subscriber information and Internet Protocol logs for his computer connection. Soon, agents were outside his Mercer County home.
After a 30 or 40 minute stand-off at his home, Bies eventually emerged carrying an assault rifle, an FBI agent testified in court. Agents told him several times to drop the weapon, which he eventually did.
Had he not done so, the agent testified, according to local media reports, "It would have ended differently."
Bies' son left the house safely. Inside the home, agents found 12 other guns and a compound bow. Bies was taken into custody and charged under a law that covers making threats against a federal law enforcement officer.
He has pleaded not guilty and is being held awaiting trial. + Utforska vidare
(c)2022 USA Today
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC
