[Infowarrior] - 2,176 Secret FISA Warrants Issued in 2006

[Richard Forno]

2,176 Secret Warrants Issued in 2006

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6601669,00.html

Wednesday May 2, 2007 3:46 AM

By LARA JAKES JORDAN

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - A secret court approved all but one of the government's
requests last year to search or eavesdrop on suspected terrorists and spies,
according to Justice Department data released Tuesday.

In all, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court signed off on 2,176
warrants targeting people in the United States believed to be linked to
international terror organizations or spies. The record number is more than
twice as many as were issued in 2000, the last full year before the
terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

One application was denied in part, and 73 required changes before being
approved.

The disclosure was mandated as part of the renewal of the Patriot Act, the
administration's sweeping anti-terror law. It was released as a Senate
intelligence panel examined changes to the 1978 Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act that could let the government more easily monitor homegrown
terrorists.

But in its three-page public report, sent to Senate and House leaders, the
Justice Department said it could not yet provide data on how many times the
FBI secretly sought telephone, Internet and banking records about U.S.
citizens and residents without court approval.

The department is still compiling those numbers amid an internal
investigation of the FBI's improper - and in some cases illegal - use of
so-called national security letters. The letters are administrative
subpoenas that do not require a judge's approval.

A March audit by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine
concluded that some FBI agents had demanded personal data without official
authorization, and improperly obtained telephone records in non-emergency
circumstances. It also found that the FBI for three years underreported to
Congress how often it used national security letters to ask businesses to
turn over customer data.

Assistant Attorney General Richard Hertling said the FBI would give Congress
updated numbers for 2007, and corrected data for last year, when it finishes
``taking steps to correct the identified deficiencies in its tracking of
NSLs.''

In 2005, the FBI reported issuing national security letters on 3,501
citizens and legal residents.

The FISA court also approved 43 warrants to let investigators examine
business records of suspected terrorists and spies. It changed four of the
applications before approving them, but did not deny any, according to the
Justice report.