Thread by @JewhadiTM

Acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan under federal investigation for alleged leaks washex.am/2Sd3XSy

Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan is at the center of a federal investigation into the leak of confidential government information in late June that forced ICE to call off a nationwide operation, 3 senior administration officials told the Washington Examiner.

Following the publishing of sensitive leaked law enforcement information on June 21, then-acting ICE Director Mark Morgan’s team followed department protocol and reported the incident to the ICE Joint Intake Center so they could investigate.

JIC is an agency office that handles internal investigations of personnel misconduct, sexual abuse, staff neglect, or violations of responsibilities that may have contributed to such incidents.

“Any investigation into the malicious, unauthorized disclosure of the operations is completely justified. Any causal observer would logically deduce that McAleenan’s dodgy response and coy behavior warrant additional scrutiny,” a second senior official said late Thursday.

“It’s worrisome that it took days for the acting secretary to acknowledge and then deny the allegations, and it’s telling that he didn’t call for the investigation in the first place.”

“More than anything, it’s unfortunate that people are even having this discussion at all,” the official wrote in a text.

McAleenan was named by 3 senior admin officials and 2 former officials as the orchestrator of the leak.

They allege he wanted to sabotage ICE’s monthslong plan to find and arrest around 2,000 people who had been denied asylum and not left the country.