Justice: FBI Misused Patriot Act Powers

[Dedman]

How many here predicted this would happen and how many said it wouldn't? I for one am not at all surprised by this. It was bound to happen.


By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer


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.
And for three years the FBI underreported to Congress how often it forced businesses to turn over the customer data, the audit found.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who oversees the FBI, described the problems cited in the report as unacceptable and left open the possibility of criminal charges. He ordered further investigation.
\"Once we get that information, we'll be in a better position to assess what kinds of steps should be taken,\" Gonzales told reporters following a speech to privacy officials.
\"There is no excuse for the mistakes that have been made, and we are going to make things right as quickly as possible,\" the attorney general said.
FBI Director Robert Mueller said he was to blame for not putting more safeguards into place.
\"I am to be held accountable,\" Mueller said. He told reporters he would correct the problems and did not plan to resign.
\"The inspector general went and did the audit that I should have put in place many years ago,\" Mueller said.
The audit by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine found that FBI agents sometimes demanded personal data on individuals without proper authorization. The 126-page audit also 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.
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 FBI reported issuing 143,074 national security letters requesting customer data from businesses, the audit found. But that did not include an additional 8,850 requests that were never recorded in the FBI's database, the audit found.
Also, Fine's audit noted, a 2006 report to Congress showing that the FBI delivered only 9,254 national security letters during the previous year _ on 3,501 U.S. citizens and legal residents _ was only required to report certain types of requests for information. That report did not outline the full scope of the national security letter requests in 2005, nor was it required to, Fine's office said.
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.
In a letter to Fine, Gonzales asked the inspector general to issue a follow-up audit in July on whether the FBI had followed recommendations to fix the problems.
\"To say that I am concerned about what has been revealed in this report would be an enormous understatement,\" Gonzales told the privacy officials. \"Failure to adequately protect information privacy simply is a failure to do our jobs.\"
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, 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, 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, D-Wis., another member on the panel that oversees the FBI, said the report \"proves that 'trust us' doesn't cut it.\"
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.

[Bold Deceiver]

The horror.

[Birdseye]

Yep, as predicted. I'm sure you approve of the violations, BD. For the good of the nation, right?

Here's a quote I'm sure you hate and makes you think I'm even dumber!

\"# Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.\"

- Franklin

I'm sure you think it's invalid, but I'd love to hear why. I think it's applicable, but I'm sure you want to puke when hearing it as a 'liberal talking point', although I take it from a Libertarian point of view.

[Foil]

(Sigh) Knew it would happen. Hoped it wouldn't have happened so quickly.

[Behemoth]

(Sigh) Knew it would happen. Hoped it wouldn't have happened so quickly.

But you still knew, that's the sad part

[Will Robinson]

I don't necessarily like the part where they requested data even though there was no investigation in place. Who's data did they select? Was it fishing through the records of a certain profile of person? If so I may have no problem with it depending on how effective I think they are at forming the profile....

I'd love to hear some details because right now it sounds like they are saying \"We definitely looked at stuff we shouldn't have....and we have no explanation at as to why.\" It's illogical that there was no reason for requesting something and without giving a reason they leave the imaginations of everyone to run off to the place that supports their own bias...

random fishing...
domestic political spying...
listening in on known bookies to get an edge on this weekends parlay card....
over zealous investigators trying to make a big al Queda bust...
bigots looking to harm a particular race....
agents looking for prostitutes to hook up with...
lazy agents racking up easy work days surfing porn while their computers compile the useless data they requested...

Without the meat to the story only a senator or congressman can make something worthwhile of this story.

[woodchip]

Whats to worry? House leader Pelosi want William \"Cold Cash\" Jefferson to be on the Homeland Security Commission. I'm sure Mr Jefferson will know how to deal with these FBI thugs. Our country is being well tended by our public officials so, \"Move along, nothing to see here\".

[TechPro]

I, for one, am pleased to see that the \"checks and balances\" designed into our form of Government is alive and working, albeit a bit slow sometimes, and a bit too much \"after the fact\" ... but it's working.

I hope for better in the future, especially since this nation has a tendancy to learn from it's mistakes... even though we often forget.

[Foil]

x2
Well said, TechPro.

[Mobius]

These are just the laws they have been CAUGHT breaking.

Might it not behoove the populace to discover all the others as well?

Then, it'd be a good idea to jail the gang-leader too.

Mind you, that'd leave ChenEy in charge - AND YOU MOST DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT THAT COCKSLURPER ANYWHERE EXCEPT THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN, WITH CONCRETE SHOES.

[Samuel Dravis]

You sound feisty today, Mobius.

Anyway, this was easily predictable. I just wish they would take preventative measures instead of punitive.

[Palzon]

Without the meat to the story only a senator or congressman can make something worthwhile of this story.

Justice Department doesn't count?

[Will Robinson]

Without the meat to the story only a senator or congressman can make something worthwhile of this story.

Justice Department doesn't count?

I was implying the only people who can talk about what was written in the article and make something constructive out of it would be politicians since they don't need facts to support their claims. They can stir up their constituency with the mere mention of wrongdoing.
The Justice Dept. will no doubt have more of the missing details, whether or not they will actually do anything with it depends on what those details are.

[Birdseye]

Did anyone think the Patriot Act was not going to be severely abused in this manner?

[Will Robinson]

Did anyone think the Patriot Act was not going to be severely abused in this manner?

I was going to reply 'I didn't.'... when I remembered that we don't know in what "manner" the alleged abuse was committed.
I remember when similar reports were blazing across the media claiming Carl Rove was going to be frog marched out of the White House to prison for treason... and Dick Cheney and President Bush were going to be impeached....
That story turned out to be a big exaggeration of the reality. As it turns out no one broke the law when they spoke the name of Valerie Plame!

So I'll wait and see how this one turns out.