Sharyl Attkisson, the former CBS investigative reporter who published her claims of government intimidation, electronic surveillance, and cyber-attacks in a book last fall, has begun the process of taking the government to court over the hacking of her personal and work computers, as well as her home network.

In the process, Attkisson’s attorneys have begun to reveal the details of forensic investigations by computer security experts. In legal filings against the government, the attorneys disclosed which government agency’s network was the source of at least some of the hacks: the US Postal Service.

In an administrative claim filed on January 5­ under the provisions of the Federal Tort Claims Act and a complaint filed with the District of Columbia Superior Court, Attkisson’s attorneys gave an initial summary of their accusations against the US Justice Department, which they claim directed the surveillance of Attkisson as part of an ongoing Obama administration campaign against journalists and government employees acting as their confidential sources. Attkisson and her family have named outgoing US Attorney General Eric Holder, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe, and “unknown named agents” of the Department of Justice and US Postal Service as defendants in the suit, seeking damages that could total approximately $35 million.

“Employees or agents of the Department of Justice conducted unauthorized and illegal surveillance of Ms. Attkisson’s laptop computers and telephones from 2011–2013,” the complaint asserts. “By conducting said surveillance, the employees or agents of the Department of Justice violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act… and the Stored Communications Act, and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Foreign Intelligence Act, and the Virginia Computer Crimes Act.”

In the claim and the civil complaint, Attkisson’s attorneys asserted that they have obtained forensic evidence of the government’s involvement in the insertion of surveillance malware onto Attkisson’s computers. “Among other findings,” the attorneys wrote in the claim, “Ms. Attkisson's computer forensics expert has identified an unauthorized communications channel opened into her Toshiba laptop directly connected to an Internet Provider (IP) address belonging to a federal government agency, specifically the United States Postal Service, indicative of unauthorized surveillance.”

Analysis of the forensic data, Attkisson’s attorneys stated, “shows the connection to a federal government agency was in use prior to January 8, 2013.” The attorneys assert that the Postal Service is “known to have a strong relationship with the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and DOJ when conducting computer forensic actions.”

Attkisson, along with the conservative activist group Judicial Watch, sued the Department of Justice in November of 2014 to obtain the findings of a DOJ inspector general’s investigation into the hacking and surveillance of Attkisson’s computers—during which investigators examined Attkisson’s laptop. The FBI had failed to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request from Attkisson for the data. In December, the DOJ’s attorneys filed for an extension of time for their response to the case, pushing the deadline back to January 16.