https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2019/05/28/the-secret-research-project-an-irs-list-an-nsa-database-and-resulting-files-on-americans/

In March 2012 the Obama administration through Attorney General Eric Holder made changes to the exploitation of intelligence databases as noted in this Wall Street Journal article later in the year:

(December 2012 – WSJ) Top U.S. intelligence officials gathered in the White House Situation Room in March to debate a controversial proposal. Counterterrorism officials wanted to create a government dragnet, sweeping up millions of records about U.S. citizens—even people suspected of no crime

A week later, the attorney general signed the changes into effect.

The 2012 changes, instituted by Eric Holder, permitted files of specific Americans to be generated under the auspices of potential terror threats. The NSA databases could be exploited by the National Counterterrorism Center to extract content that would be contained within these files on targeted Americans.

Keep in mind this is early 2012, John Brennan is Deputy National Security Advisor and Asst. to President Obama for Homeland Security.

When Attorney General Eric Holder empowered the National Counterterrorism Center with this new authority, the office assigned to the data-collection was the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC). The founder of the TTIC was John Brennan:

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/05/why-eric-holders-excuse-for-spying-on-reporters-isnt-enough/275866/

Eric Holder's tenure as Attorney General is beset with failures, even if you judge him by his own goals. The fact that his Justice Department spied on AP reporters, snooping into their telephone calls, appears to be the latest betrayal of the ethos he championed prior to his time in government

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/cortneyobrien/2019/01/10/sharyl-atkisson-previews-her-case-against-eric-holders-doj-n2538618

Former CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson is preparing for her oral arguments in her case against the Department of Justice and the FBI. Attkisson claims her computer was compromised by DOJ agents in late 2012 while she was reporting on the Benghazi attacks, Fast and Furious and Obamacare. She first sued the Obama administration over the unwanted surveillance in January 2015.

https://www.businessinsider.com/eric-holder-germany-nsa-scandal-2014-5

US Attorney General Eric Holder will travel to Germany to discuss privacy concerns after the NSA spying scandal damaged relations between the two allies, Germany said Wednesday.

German interior minister Thomas de Maiziere told journalists in Washington that Holder has accepted an invitation from Berlin to explain how the US would curb spying on foreign nationals overseas.

Obama, Holder and Brennan have been spying for a long time. Did this abuse set Snowden off ? Most spying was done on Americans

https://www.newsweek.com/new-mexico-mayor-orders-group-building-border-wall-private-land-stop-1437760?piano_t=1

he mayor of Sunland Park, New Mexico, has issued a cease-and-desist order to a private group that raised millions to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The wall is being constructed by We Build The Wall, a private organization which began a GoFundMe fundraiser in December 2018 when President Donald Trump faced opposition from Congress in receiving a proposed $5 billion to construct the barrier.

To date, the group has raised over $22 million of a $1 billion goal, of which the group's leader, Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage, said has been established only because that is the highest monetary allotment that GoFundMe allows for a fundraiser.

The cease-and-desist order was issued on Tuesday after it was determined that the group did not have the proper permits for construction, city spokesperson Peter Ibardo told The Texas Tribune.

“The city has not provided any permits, it has not approved of the construction that has gone up already. They built the structure without authority or any building permits from the city," Ibardo said.

Speaking to KTMS, Sunland Park Mayor Javier Perea added that the wall is also in violation of city ordinances that regulate how tall a structure can be. Perea said that the application for construction were never returned to the city by American Eagle Brick.

The company owns the land where the wall was partially constructed over the Memorial Day weekend, the Tribune said.

Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who sits on the advisory board for We Build The Wall, told the Tribune that the land owner obtained the proper permits needed for construction and that inspectors were present at the build site prior to the start of the build.

However, Ibardo disputed the statement, telling the newspaper that while an application form was filed, it was incomplete and no permit was issued for construction. Inspectors who attempted to visit the site last week were not allowed to do so, he added.