DHS fires senior CBP official for allegedly leaking sensitive information

FIRST ON FOX: The Department of Homeland Security fired a senior Customs and Border Protection official on Thursday after it was revealed that the officer was allegedly leaking sensitive, personal information about CBP personnel, as well as negotiations regarding the border wall to the press, sources within the department told Fox News Digital. 

The official, who was unnamed, was marched out of his CBP office in Washington D.C., after DHS discovered the leak, sources said.

“As DHS law enforcement face an 8000% increase in death threats, leaking law enforcement sensitive information is abhorrently dangerous,” a DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “DHS is agnostic about your standing, tenure, political appointment, or status as a career civil servant — we will track down leakers and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.”

The news comes just days after a Fox News Digital investigation uncovered an underground communications network being used by anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agitators across the country. Tactics include the doxxing of agents, the tracking of license plates and releases of personal information about agents.

NOEM PRAISES DHS OFFICERS ON LAW ENFORCEMENT APPRECIATION DAY AS ATTACKS ON FEDERAL AGENTS SPIKE NATIONWIDE

Fox News Digital also learned that at least 13 database systems are now known to store the data, which includes personal information as well as photographs, uniform details, behavior patterns, phone numbers, and other sensitive items. 

Last week, FBI Director Kash Patel said the agency is investigating the now widely known Signal messaging chats that have allowed agitators to communicate to obstruct and confront federal agents in Minneapolis and in cities across the country. 

It is unclear whether the officer who was fired on Thursday had any involvement in Signal group activities, as sources at DHS could only confirm leaks to the press.

THE FAR-LEFT NETWORK THAT HELPED PUT ALEX PRETTI IN HARM’S WAY, THEN MADE HIM A MARTYR

The same Fox News Digital investigation reveals that sensitive information is at the center of what’s driving vigilante-type agitators to travel to hot spots where demonstrations are taking place. 

A nationwide web of hundreds of anti-ICE groups facilitates a “rapid response” system to train civilians and call them to action. Federal law enforcement officers have clashed with the trained and allegedly well-funded agitators on multiple occasions. These clashes have led to assaults on agents, raising concern over potentially physical and potentially deadly outcomes for both agitators and agents.

One such arrest was that of Kyle Wagner, a self-described Antifa member and Minneapolis resident who was arrested after Wagner allegedly encouraged followers to attack ICE agents. In a video obtained by Fox News Digital, he is heard telling followers they should “get your guns” and identify agents. 

In announcing his arrest, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Wagner “allegedly doxxed and called for the murder of law enforcement officers, encouraged bloodshed in the streets, and proudly claimed affiliation with the terrorist organization Antifa before going on the run.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Wagner’s case and the uncovering of a multichannel communications network allegedly used to push and promote agitators to confront ICE agents are being investigated by a number of federal agencies. 

The senior CBP official’s firing is just the latest development by individuals exposing the identities of federal law enforcement officers that could ultimately put agents or their families in danger.

Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller and Asra Q. Nomani contributed to this report.