Feds Stalked Airline Passenger Lists to Catch Manning’s Friend, Documents Show
Federal agents entered the name of a friend of Chelsea Manning into a government watchlist database and waited months for him to leave the country for vacation just so they could nab him when he returned to seize his digital devices, according to documents released this week in a lawsuit.

Even though authorities had already questioned David Maurice House after the arrest of former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning (formerly Bradley Manning) in May 2010, House was placed on the watchlist so that authorities could seize his digital media when he returned to the country, under a law that allows warrantless border searches.

The documents indicate House was wanted for questioning in relation to the leak of classified material, even though he had already been questioned. Border agents were ordered to conduct a full secondary screening of him and his bags (.pdf) and to “secure digital media” and “ID all companions” with him. ...

...Under the “border search exception” of United States criminal law, international travelers can be searched without a warrant as they enter the U.S. Under both the Bush and Obama administrations, law enforcement agents have aggressively used this power to search travelers’ laptops, sometimes copying the hard drive before returning the computer to its owner. Courts have ruled that such laptop searches can take place even in the absence of any reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing....

...House argued in his suit that the seizure of his digital media was politically motivated and stifled his free-speech rights. He had been a founding member of the Bradley Manning Support Network, where he sat on the steering committee and did fundraising. Data from the Support Network, including donor information, was on the laptop that authorities seized, according to House....