[Infowarrior] - Pentagon Viewing Americans' Bank Records

[Richard Forno]

Pentagon Viewing Americans' Bank Records
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Jan 14, 7:19 AM (ET)

By LOLITA BALDOR
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070114/D8ML1VU01.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon and to a lesser extent the CIA have been
using a little-known power to look at the banking and credit records of
hundreds of Americans and others suspected of terrorism or espionage within
the United States, officials said Saturday.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Saturday the Defense Department "makes
requests for information under authorities of the National Security Letter
statutes ... but does not use the specific term National Security Letter in
its investigatory practice."

Whitman did not indicate the number of requests that have been made in
recent years, but said authorities operate under the Right to Financial
Privacy Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the National Security Act.

"These statutory tools may provide key leads for counterintelligence and
counterterrorism investigations," Whitman said. "Because these are requests
for information rather than court orders, a DOD request under the NSL
statutes cannot be compelled absent court involvement."

"It is our understanding that the intelligence community agencies make such
requests on a limited basis," said Carl Kropf, a spokesman for the Office of
the National Intelligence Director, which oversees all 16 spy agencies in
the government.

The national security letters permit the executive branch to seek records
about people in terror and spy investigations without a judge's approval or
grand jury subpoena.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the lead agency on domestic
counterterrorism and espionage, has issued thousands of national security
letters since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Whitman said Defense Department "counterintelligence investigators routinely
coordinate ... with the FBI."

The national security letters have prompted criticism and court challenges
from civil liberties advocates who claim they invade the privacy of
Americans' lives, even though banks and other financial institutions
typically turn over the financial records voluntarily.

The New York Times reported on expanded use of the technique by the Pentagon
and CIA in an article posted Saturday on the Internet.

The vast majority of national security letters are issued by the FBI, but in
very rare circumstances they have been used by the CIA before and after
9/11, said a U.S. intelligence official who spoke to The Associated Press on
condition of anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity.

The CIA has used these non-compulsory letters in espionage investigations
and other circumstances, the official said.

"It is very uncommon for the agency to be issuing these letters," the
official said. "The agency has the authority to do so, and it is absolutely
lawful."

Another government official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said
one example of a case in which the letters were used was the 1994 case of
CIA officer Aldrich Ames, who eventually was found to have been selling
secrets to the Soviet Union.

None of the officials reached by the AP commented about the extent of use by
the Defense Department agencies, but the Times said military intelligence
officers have sent the letters in up to 500 investigations.

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Associated Press Writer Katherine Shrader contributed to this report.