WSJ Reporter: Homeland Security Tried to Take My Phones at the Border

MotherBoard ^ | July 21, 2016 | by JOSEPH COX

[Swordmaker]

On Thursday, a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter claimed that the Department of Homeland Security demanded access to her mobile phones when she was crossing the border at the Los Angeles airport.

The case highlights the powers that border agents purport to have, and how vulnerable sensitive information can be when taken through airports in particular.

“I wanted to share a troubling experience I had with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in the hopes it may help you protect your private information,” Maria Abi-Habib, a WSJ journalist focused on ISIS and Al Qaeda wrote in a post on Facebook. (Abi-Habib confirmed to Motherboard that the Facebook account was hers, but declined to comment further.)

Abi-Habib says she had arrived in town for a wedding, when an immigration officer approached her, and took her aside from the main queue. This by itself was not unusual, Abi-Habib writes: because of her job, she has reportedly been put on a list that allows her to bypass the usual questioning someone with her travel profile may encounter.

But things changed quickly, and Abi-Habib was escorted to another part of the airport.

“Another customs agent joined her at that point and they grilled me for an hour—asking me about the years I lived in the US, when I moved to Beirut and why, who lives at my in-laws' house in LA and numbers for the groom and bride whose wedding I was attending. I answered jovially, because I've had enough high-level security experiences to know that being annoyed or hostile will work against you,” she writes.

"I assume they avoided seizing my phones forcefully because they knew we would make a stink about it and have a big name behind us."

The first DHS agent then asked Abi-Habib for her two cell phones, in order “to collect information,” Abi-Habib reports the officer as saying.

“And that is where I drew the line,” Abi-Habib writes. “I told her I had First Amendment rights as a journalist she couldn't violate and I was protected under. I explained I had to protect my government and military sources—over the last month, I have broken two stories that deeply irked the US government, in addition to other stories before I went on maternity leave, including one in Kabul that sparked a Congressional investigation into US military corruption, all stories leaked by American officials speaking to me in confidence.”

The agent passed over a document, which Abi-Habib later photographed and posted to Facebook, purportedly showing that the agent has the right to seize those devices. Abi-Habib instead said that the border agents would need to contact WSJ's lawyers. After some back and forth, the agent went to see her supervisor, and eventually said Abi-Habib is free to go.

Abi-Habib said she reported the incident to a WSJ lawyer, encryption expert and the outlet’s in-house security. From those conversations, Abi-Habib says, “My rights as a journalist or US citizen do not apply at the border, as explained above, since legislation was quietly passed in 2013 giving DHS very broad powers (I researched this since the incident). This legislation also circumvents the Fourth Amendment that protects Americans' privacy and prevents searches and seizures without a proper warrant.”

Back in 2013, WIRED reported on those changes, writing “The Department of Homeland Security’s civil rights watchdog has concluded that travelers along the nation’s borders may have their electronics seized and the contents of those devices examined for any reason whatsoever—all in the name of national security.”

Abi-Habib continues, “Why I was eventually spared, we do not know and we are writing a letter contesting DHS' treatment of me. I assume they avoided seizing my phones forcefully because they knew we would make a stink about it and have a big name behind us.”

Abi-Habib closes with a series of security tips for those with sensitive information crossing the border, such as encrypting devices, but bearing in mind that information can be demanded from you.

“Travel "naked" as one encryption expert told me. If any government wants your information, they will get it no matter what,” she adds.

The DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Wall Street Journal sent a statement from Editor in Chief Gerard Baker:

"We are disturbed by the serious incident involving WSJ reporter Maria Abi-Habib, a citizen of the United States and Lebanon."

"We have been working to learn more about these events, but the notion that Customs and Border Protection agents would stop and question one of our journalists in connection with her reporting and seek to search her cell phones is unacceptable."

The document scanned by Abi-Habib:

Topics: homeland security, maria abi-habib, DHS, border control, LAX, wall street journal

Contact the author by email or Twitter.

[AppyPappy]

Homeland Security under the Obama Administration.

[forgotten man]

There are signs posted at the entrances to all Federal ports. Upon leaving or entering the United States all persons and conveyances are subject to search. If you don’t want to be searched do not set foot on Federal port property. I am not saying that is good or bad. Plan ahead.

[Swordmaker]

The Department of Homeland Security has the power to seize our electronics without warrant at any time if we are "near the border" or entering or leaving the country, if they feel like doing so, to search them for anything they like. Regardless of the Wall Street Journal's reporter's name, this report is disturbing in its implications for our Constitutional Rights. Again, this is why Apple has made the iOS devices so secure with 256 bit AES encryption as standard and why all of us should be using a complex passcode. This is not just phones or tablets, but also includes laptops and other electronic devices. — PING!

Pinging dayglored, ThunderSleeps, and Shadow Ace for your ping lists.

All Electronic Device Security
From Government Over Reach Snooping
Ping!

The latest Apple/Mac/iOS Pings can be found by searching Keyword "ApplePingList" on FreeRepublic's Search.

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me

[donna]

Abi-Habib writes: because of her job, she has reportedly been put on a list that allows her to bypass the usual questioning someone with her travel profile may encounter.

There's the problem. Special treatment.

[JoeProBono]

Maria Abi-HabibVerified account @Abihabib Mideast reporter - Wall Street Journal. Focused on ISIS, al Qaeda

[Paulie]

Since the WSJ has long been open borders and endless wars zealots (which is another way of condoning all the rapes, murders, soldiers that have died and been maimed), I have little sympathy for their complaining.

The WSJ is a RINO news outfit that gives Republicans a pass on their dereliction of duty and all but celebrated and helped enable obama’s fundamental transformation.

They were instrumental in creating this situation they now claim to be horrified of.

[A Navy Vet]

"... crossing the border at the Los Angeles airport."

Are there ANY editors who actually review the reports by their journalists? This reads like LA airport is actually on the border of America and Mexico.

[NRx]

This is absolutely accurate. Border Patrol and Customs can confiscate almost anything and search it, including phones, computers and any other electronic devices without a warrant. The 4th amendment does not apply at the border. If you have anything sensitive on your electronic devices, DON’T travel outside the country with them.

[Neidermeyer]

Cheap headset ,, should be GREEN.

[reed13k]

However, as a US citizen I disagree that Congress has the authority to remove my 4th Amendment rights simply because I’m passing through said port. My rights are inherent in my person and not subject to my geographic location.

[A Navy Vet]

Sorry that some people may get up in the dragnet, but I'm all for profiling. Israel Airlines (El Al) has been doing it for years and it has protected them along with the wall. Some muslim Pali may get lucky once in awhile, but nothing like I used to read about horrific mass murder weekly in their cafes, market-places, weddings, buses, etc. Anyone remember those almost daily murders?

PROFILE PROFILE PROFILE. I don't care if it is politically incorrect and offends someones poor little feelings. I care about American lives.

[blueplum]

LA Airport is a “port of entry” but I guess someone complaining about immigration control would call it ‘crossing a border’.

Sounds to me, that LA was/is on heightened security for a specific profile. And flying into the US as a dual-citizen from Lebanon would probably raise a higher flag than say, coming in from Peru - was she traveling on a US or Lebanese passport? They probably should have held off wanting to confiscate the phones until they’d verified her ID, tho.

[Swordmaker]

This is absolutely accurate. Border Patrol and Customs can confiscate almost anything and search it, including phones, computers and any other electronic devices without a warrant. The 4th amendment does not apply at the border. If you have anything sensitive on your electronic devices, DON’T travel outside the country with them.

For many of us, the cellular phone we have is the ONLY phone we have. For the DHS to seize these devices when we are traveling is to cripple our means of communications completely.

Since when do our RIGHTS end because DHS says they don't exist? Since when does a statute trump a Constitutional RIGHT? What part of the 4th Amendment do you fail to grasp?

Does the power of the DHS extend across the border when I leave?

Obviously, the DHS has no jurisdictional authority on the other side of the border.

How then does their power to exceed the Constitution work on THIS side of the border???? Is there a magical buffer of non-Constitutionality authority near the border? How wide is this buffer zone? Is it one-tenth of an inch wide, one inch, one foot, one mile, what? Apparently it extends all the way to Los Angeles Air Port. Does it extend all the way to, say, Denver? How about Kansas City?

[Yollopoliuhqui]

Yah, well maybe you “moderate” Muslim surnamed people should speak out against radical Islam. Then you might not be subject to profiling. As it stands, ALL Muslims are potential terrorists.

[JimRed]

Her name seems to indicate that she is a muckin’ Fuslim, so they were just doing their job.

[relictele]

Hmmm...these rules sound like IRS rules ie ‘We’re doing it because we can.’

[Buckeye McFrog]

Two tries at the password and then the device self-destructs.

Will become the hottest selling feature in laptops and smart phones, I’m tellin’ ya....

[Buckeye McFrog]

This reads like LA airport is actually on the border of America and Mexico.

So, which side is it on? I can't tell.

[KosmicKitty]

No expectation of privacy at the border. One of the 4th amendment warrant exceptions.