Operation Whistle Pig

It Sounds Ridiculous, But it's Real

The original reporting is by Yahoo news. But it’s pretty groundbreaking stuff— the sizzle line goes like this: “Inside the secret CBP Unit with no rules that investigates Americans.”

Part of what’s driving the outrage in most media circles is that everyday working journalists were being targeted by Customs and Border Protection, and having their lives turned inside out via certain comprehensive U.S. Government databases.

An initially shadowy agent, named Jeffrey Rambo, yes— just like the Sylvester Stallone movie, was deeply involved— by his own admission, prying into the life of a journalist named Ali Watkins, among others. Rambo discovered her sexual relationship with a senior Congressional staffer— a relationship that was later used against her, and would eventually lead to the staffer going to prison, for lying to the FBI about their relationship.

It’s a heck of a story, and you should read the whole thing.

The coverage is focused on the Operation’s existence and doings during the Trump years. It might be tempting for Trump voters to wave the criticism away, or chalk it up to national news media bias, but as history shows us— that is a very dangerous attitude to take.

Tools used and abused in one administration will inevitably be taken up by others and used in similar, or worse fashion. Indeed, one suspects that the reason Biden Administration officials have not acted more strongly in this case, is because they feel a need to have Operation Whistle Pig’s tools working on their behalf too.

“We are pushing the limits and so there is no norm, there is no guidelines, we are the ones making the guidelines.”

That’s a quote from Dan White, the CBP supervisor in charge of what’s called the “Counter Network Division,” which was behind Operation Whistle Pig. White acted as Rambo’s direct supervisor. A confidential source within Customs and Border protection describes White as an apolitical sort of figure. And, uses words like “genius” and “bored savant” to describe him.

The division actually started during the Bush era, but we are told that it wasn’t until later that the division began “going gangbusters.”

This is not unusual. Folks consuming the Netflix show “Narcos” are unknowingly exposed to a phenomenon that was displayed almost openly in the hunt for Pablo Escobar. Each time there was a change in leadership in Washington, agents found a “golden moment,” a period between administrations, where they could expand their efforts into all kinds of areas that had been previously barred. A case of being prepared to ask for forgiveness later, instead of asking for permission. When new oversight came online, sometimes the agents were reeled in and sometimes they weren’t, and operations continued at their new, expanded levels.

It’s not hard to imagine savvy and committed agents in the Counter Network Division likewise pushing boundaries in similar fashion, so that by the time 2017 rolled around, Operation Whistle Pig was squealing its heart out and getting results.

In this case, observers say the Counter Network Division was tasked with finding an out-of-the-box way for the Trump White House to mess with China. To find avenues to apply tariffs and other punishments related to forced labor. Along the way, they clearly were directed into some very gray and troubling areas.

Where does this leave the average citizen? Potentially cast as Ned Beatty, in the film “Deliverance.”

Practice your squealing, friends, if future Administrations decide to go higher and further with these invasive investigative tools, they will say they are for our own safety and good, but history teaches us how that can change.

As for Jeffrey Rambo, Yahoo news reports he’s now a Border Patrol agent, assigned to the San Diego sector. He operates a coffee shop in a rough neighborhood in his off time, and routinely has to tear down posters someone is putting up, identifying him and his coffee shop, calling him a fed and a rat. It is interesting to note, speaking on the record to Yahoo may cost him his job— only sector chiefs, other similarly high level agents, and Border Patrol Union leaders are allowed to speak to the press.

In other, local news you might have missed, Lisa Conoly and her son Stanford were interviewed by independent journalist Ali Bradley. You may recall Bradley as one of several higher profile independent journalists that have been on top of the border crisis these last several months. She was last in the area covering the Haitian humanitarian crisis at the Port of Entry in Del Rio.

One hesitates to name specific ranches that are being crushed by smugglers and illegal alien traffic, but it’s no exaggeration to say the Conoly property may be one of the most hammered in Kinney County.

The interview is almost an hour long, very uncut, a long-form conversation. It’s worth a watch for anyone that wants to get some perspective on what’s happening in Kinney County, and how things used to be, before the border crisis.

Also— don’t miss this article by the Texas Tribune. Many in Kinney County feel The Tribune comes with an unabashed leftward slant, but their reporting tends to be thorough, detailed, and factually accurate. Jolie McCullough highlights the removal of 3 specially appointed retired judges and their replacement with a selection of neighboring County Judges, who will take over hearing the trespassing cases presently waiting for adjudication. As the Tribune points out, many of the suspects in these cases have been waiting for months to have a hearing. Defense attorneys associated with the cases are calling the action retaliatory.

One thing we’ve been reporting for some time, is how seemingly impossible it will be for local courts to get ahead of the arrest flow in Kinney County. Any given day usually sees about 20-to-30 illegal aliens scooped up by DPS or the Sheriff’s Office. The local courts might move that many in a week.

The only solution short of ceasing all enforcement activity until the courts catch up, would seem to be a massive expansion of the judicial infrastructure in Kinney County. It would require an expansion of not just judges and lawyers, but also clerks, secretaries, and real estate— the creation of some kind of “Kinney County Justice Center.”

And finally this morning, The New York Times is weighing in on Operation Lone Star and Kinney County. It’s a pretty comprehensive article, with a lot of great photographs, making it plain that the Times had close access to DPS Troopers and spent at least a couple days in the community, maybe even a full week.

The article is also fairly even-handed, politically speaking, though it fails to dive into the rule changes at the U.S. Border Patrol by the Biden Administration that many feel has directly contributed to the Border Crisis, if not outright caused it.

We are assuming that most readers here are already aware of these rule changes— if not, leave a comment below, and we’ll revisit them in a future dispatch.

That should do it for now. We have been falling well short of our original goal of publishing nightly in recent weeks. Chalk it up to our ongoing employment with the County Sheriff’s Office, which we mention yet again in the spirit of full-disclosure. As always the opinions expressed in this newsletter are ours alone, and so too are any errors and mistakes. As Christmas approaches, and 2021 stumbles to its end— we hope the season finds you healthy, and happy. 2022 will bring its own challenges of course— let us all try and meet them with a happy smile of relief, as all things must pass.