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 Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 5:31 am Post subject: FBI Acted Illegally - No Shit |
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FBI Acted Illegally - No Shit
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
AP via MSNBC - Mar 9, 2007
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11100916/
Justice Department: FBI acted illegally on data
Audit finds agency misused Patriot Act to obtain information on citizens
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 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 Fine. At other times, the audit found, the FBI improperly obtained
telephone records in non-emergency circumstances.
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 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.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who oversees the FBI, said the problems
outlined in the report involved no intentional wrongdoing. In remarks
prepared for delivery to privacy officials late Friday, Gonzales said that
"there is no excuse for the mistakes that have been made, and we are going
to make things right as quickly as possible."
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.
Chief acknowledges deficiencies
In an earlier statement, 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.
"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 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.
Unauthorized signatures
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 said in remarks prepared for
delivery to the privacy officials. "Failure to adequately protect
information privacy 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.
"I am very concerned that the FBI has so badly misused national security
letters," said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., top Republican on the Senate
Judiciary Committee, which oversees the FBI.
Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., another member of the judiciary panel, 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.
Justice spokeswoman Tasia Scolinos said Gonzales "commends the work of the
inspector general in uncovering serious problems in the FBI's use of NSLs."
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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