Texas App Now Allows Reporting On Potential 'Hostile Foreign Adversaries'

Texas updated its iWatchTexas Community Reporting System to allow citizens to report on suspicious activities by foreign nationals.

The update was announced by the Texas Department of Public Safety this week, explaining that the change allows individuals to indicate if their concern is related to foreign influence when submitting a report via the app.

"Speak up if you see suspicious behavior or activity— including any signs of intimidation or pressure from a hostile government outside of the United States. This all adds up to addressing security threats both at home and abroad," DPS Col. Freeman Martin said in a statement.

Texas' DPS explained in its feature launch that "foreign influence threats" may include assassination, assault, physical surveillance, harassment, abduction, familial intimidation, digital threats, passport revocation, consular services denial, unlawful detention and deportation and more.

"This new feature helps the department quickly address a wider range of homeland security threats facing our state, making us safer," Martin added.

The app allows photos to be uploaded and users can also leave anonymous tips. It asks whether the activity occurred at a school or workplace, the number of people and vehicles involved and whether law enforcement has been called.

A separate page asks: "Does this potentially involve a foreign government or an entity acting on behalf of a foreign government?" It also asks whether the person was attempting "to conceal their behavior" and to rate how suspicious the activity appears.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott instructed the agency to add the feature to "allow Texans to directly report any harassment or coercion from hostile foreign adversaries such as the Chinese Communist Party."

"Texas' No. 1 priority is to protect the safety and security of Texans," Abbott said in a statement. "This new iWatchTexas feature will allow Texans to report any threats from hostile foreign adversaries who wish to undermine the public safety and national security of Texas... Texas will continue to do everything we can to protect Texans from the unlawful and repressive actions of the Chinese Communist Party and other hostile foreign actors."

The iWatchTexas program has made headlines recently, reportedly preventing a school shooting following online threats. Thanks to the app's services, Stephen Patrick Furr, 29, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Lubbock in early February, according to Texas Border Business.