DHS Spokesman: Critics of Media Monitoring Plan 'Conspiracy Theorists'

A Homeland Security Department spokesman dismissed a report suggesting the agency had ill intentions in compiling a list of media influencers as part of a "media monitoring" program, The Hill reported Friday.

The agency listed on FedBizOpps.gov a solicitation to contract for "Media Monitoring Services" to "monitor traditional news sources as well as social media, identify any and all media coverage related to the Department of Homeland Security or a particular event."

A report Friday on Forbes.com by Michelle Fabio claimed the effort was "enough to cause nightmares of constitutional proportions, particularly as the freedom of the press is under attack worldwide," stating the "attack" was not "hyperbolic."

"The real question, of course, is what the government plans to do with the information it compiles, and there's been no comment on that beyond what is in the posting, which, by the way, has interest from at least seven companies," Fabio wrote.

However, DHS spokesman Tyler Houlton said the effort was "standard practice" and claimed those who thought of it as some sort of attack were "conspiracy theorists."

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