Thread: Justice Dept.: FBI misused Patriot Act

Justice Dept.: FBI misused Patriot Act

By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer
6 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - The FBI improperly and, in some cases, illegally used the USA Patriot Act to secretly obtain personal information about people in the United States, a Justice Department audit concluded Friday.

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And for three years the FBI has underreported to Congress how often it forced businesses to turn over the customer data, the audit found.

FBI agents sometimes demanded the data without proper authorization, according to the 126-page audit by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine. At other times, the audit found, the FBI improperly obtained telephone records in non-emergency circumstances.

The audit blames agent error and shoddy record-keeping for the bulk of the problems and did not find any indication of criminal misconduct.

Still, "we believe the improper or illegal uses we found involve serious misuses of national security letter authorities," the audit concludes.

At issue are the security letters, a power outlined in the Patriot Act that the Bush administration pushed through Congress after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. The letters, or administrative subpoenas, are used in suspected terrorism and espionage cases. They allow the FBI to require telephone companies, Internet service providers, banks, credit bureaus and other businesses to produce highly personal records about their customers or subscribers — without a judge's approval.

About three-fourths of the national security letters were issued for counterterror cases, and the other fourth for spy investigations.

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller called Fine's audit "a fair and objective review of the FBI's use of a proven and useful investigative tool."

The finding "of deficiencies in our processes is unacceptable," Mueller said in a statement.

"We strive to exercise our authorities consistent with the privacy protections and civil liberties that we are sworn to uphold," Mueller said. "Anything less will not be tolerated. While we've already taken some steps to address these shortcomings, I am ordering additional corrective measures to be taken immediately."

Fine's annual review is required by Congress, over the objections of the Bush administration.

The audit released Friday found that the number of national security letters issued by the FBI skyrocketed in the years after the Patriot Act became law.

In 2000, for example, the FBI issued an estimated 8,500 letters. By 2003, however, that number jumped to 39,000. It rose again the next year, to about 56,000 letters in 2004, and dropped to approximately 47,000 in 2005.

Over the entire three-year period, the audit found the FBI issued 143,074 national security letters requesting customer data from businesses.

The FBI vastly underreported the numbers. In 2005, the FBI told Congress that its agents in 2003 and 2004 had delivered only 9,254 national security letters seeking e-mail, telephone or financial information on 3,501 U.S. citizens and legal residents over the previous two years.

Additionally, the audit found, the FBI identified 26 possible violations in its use of the national security letters, including failing to get proper authorization, making improper requests under the law and unauthorized collection of telephone or Internet e-mail records.

Of the violations, 22 were caused by FBI errors, while the other four were the result of mistakes made by the firms that received the letters.

The FBI also used so-called "exigent letters," signed by officials at FBI headquarters who were not authorized to sign national security letters, to obtain information. In at least 700 cases, these exigent letters were sent to three telephone companies to get toll billing records and subscriber information.

"In many cases, there was no pending investigation associated with the request at the time the exigent letters were sent," the audit concluded.

The letters inaccurately said the FBI had requested subpoenas for the information requested — "when, in fact, it had not," the audit found.

Senators outraged over the conclusions signaled they would provide tougher oversight of the FBI — and perhaps limit its power.

"The report indicates abuse of the authority" Congress gave the FBI, said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record), D-Vt. "You cannot have people act as free agents on something where they're going to be delving into your privacy."

The committee's top Republican, Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record), said the FBI appears to have "badly misused national security letters." The senator said, "This is, regrettably, part of an ongoing process where the federal authorities are not really sensitive to privacy and go far beyond what we have authorized."

Sen. Russ Feingold (news, bio, voting record), D-Wis., another member on the panel that oversees the FBI, said the report "proves that 'trust us' doesn't cut it."

Justice spokeswoman Tasia Scolinos said Attorney General Alberto Gonzales "commends the work of the inspector general in uncovering serious problems in the FBI's use of NSLs."

The American Civil Liberties Union said the audit proves Congress must amend the Patriot Act to require judicial approval anytime the FBI wants access to sensitive personal information. "The Attorney General and the FBI are part of the problem and they cannot be trusted to be part of the solution," said Anthony D. Romero, the ACLU's executive director.

___

On the Net:

The report is at: http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/reports/FBI/index.htm

Justice Department: http://www.usdoj.gov

FBI: http://www.fbi.gov/

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070309/ap_ ... ty_letters

FBI abused power to get private records: r

eport By James Vicini
36 minutes ago



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI abused its power by illegally or improperly obtaining telephone, financial and other secret records in investigations of terrorism or espionage suspects, the U.S. Justice Department's inspector general said on Friday.

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A report by Inspector General Glenn Fine's office sharply criticized the FBI for how, without a court order, it demanded and received records such as customer information from telephone companies, Internet service providers, financial institutions and consumer credit companies.

"We believe the improper or illegal uses we found involve serious misuses of national security letter authorities," Fine said in releasing the report.

National security letters allow the FBI to compel the release of private information without getting authority from a judge or grand jury.

Vowing to investigate, Democrats in Congress seized on the report, which comes as they step up criticism of President George W. Bush's administration for weakening civil liberties protections in its war on terrorism.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales praised the report for uncovering "serious problems" in the FBI's use of national security letters, his spokeswoman said.

Gonzales told FBI Director Robert Mueller the past mistakes "will not be tolerated" and ordered new safeguards be set up at the FBI, Justice Department spokeswoman Tasia Scolinos said.

Mueller called the finding of deficiencies "unacceptable."

"While we've already taken some steps to address these shortcomings, I am ordering additional corrective measures to be taken immediately," he said.

The use of national security letters has grown dramatically, mainly as a result of powers granted to the FBI under the USA Patriot Act, an anti-terrorism law that Congress approved after the September 11 attacks in 2001.

According to the report, requests by the FBI went from about 39,000 in 2003 to about 56,000 in 2004 and about 47,000 in 2005.

In investigating abuses of authority, the report found 26 possible violations, including requesting information without adequate authorization, improper requests under the law and unauthorized collection of telephone or e-mail records.

Of the 26 cases, 22 were the result of FBI errors and four were caused by mistakes by those who received the request for the information, the report said.

In reviewing 77 investigative files in FBI field offices, the report found that 17 of them, or 22 percent, contained one or more possible violations not identified by the field office or reported to FBI headquarters as required.

TELEPHONE RECORDS

In another finding, the report identified many cases of the FBI improperly obtaining telephone toll billing records and subscriber information from three telephone companies.

Although the report did not find any indication of intentional criminal misconduct, it said there had been serious misuses of the FBI's powers.

Sen. Russ Feingold (news, bio, voting record), a Wisconsin Democrat, said: "This report proves that 'trust us' doesn't cut it when it comes to the government's power to obtain Americans' sensitive business records."

Feingold vowed to work with other senators to make sure the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees investigate promptly.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record), a Vermont Democrat, also vowed oversight hearings.

"The average American can take away the fact that you have FBI officers who felt that they were above the law, and they could just go in and look at anything they wanted on their own (and) would not have to follow the law," he said.

(Additional reporting by Thomas Ferraro)
news.yahoo.com

One more worthless act passed by the BOOSHIE administration which doesn't do anything for Americans and does everything to further extend governmental power.

The FBI improperly and, in some cases, illegally used the USA Patriot Act to secretly obtain personal information about people in the United States, a Justice Department audit concluded Friday.

I am shcoked.