BUTLER COUNTY, IOWA – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is grilling the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the FBI about each agency’s work with the Commerce Department’s Investigations and Threat Management Service (ITMS)—which has operated as a federal law enforcement and intelligence unit without legal authority.
 
Grassley is asking each agency to explain their collaborative or advisory relationship with ITMS in light of its “brazen use of false authority to conduct law enforcement and intelligence activity.” He is specifically seeking answers from the FBI about its “investigative and analytical” assistance to ITMS as well as its receipt of criminal referrals from the rogue entity. The senator is also asking why ITMS personnel were permitted by TSA to fly armed without a “flying-armed policy” and in violation of TSA regulations.
 
Grassley began looking into ITMS’ activities earlier this year following news reports, the release of information by the Senate Commerce Committee and concerns raised by whistleblowers. He sought information from the U.S. Marshals Service, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG), the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. The ICIG quickly responded. The senator this month received cursory or insufficient responses from FBI and ODNI.
 
Full text of Grassley’s letter to the FBI can be found HERE.
Full text of Grassley’s letter to the TSA can be found HERE.
 

 

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