[Infowarrior] - Report: FBI Misused Information-Gathering Powers

[Richard Forno]

Report: FBI Misused Information-Gathering Powers

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 13, 2008; 2:10 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/13/AR2008031302
277_pf.html

The FBI continued to improperly obtain private telephone, e-mail and
financial records five years after it was granted expanded powers under the
USA Patriot Act, according to a report issued today.

In a review focusing on FBI investigations in 2006, Justice Department
Inspector General Glenn A. Fine found numerous privacy breaches by the
bureau in its use of national security letters, or NSLs, which allowed the
FBI to obtain personal information on tens of thousands of Americans and
foreigners without approval from a judge.

The findings mirror a report issued by Fine's office last year, which
concluded that the FBI had improperly used the letters to obtain telephone
logs, banking records and other personal data for three previous years, from
2003 to 2005.

The pattern persisted in 2006, Fine concluded in the report issued today, in
part because the FBI had not yet halted the shoddy recordkeeping, poor
oversight and other practices that contributed to the problems. He also said
it was unclear whether reforms enacted by the Justice Department and FBI
last year will address all the issues identified by his investigators.

"The FBI and Department of Justice have shown a commitment to addressing
these problems," Fine said in a statement. "However, several of the FBI's
and the Department's corrective measures are not yet fully implemented, and
it is too early to determine whether these measures will eliminate the
problems with the use of these authorities."

The findings reignited criticism today from Democrats and civil liberties
groups, who said the FBI's repeated misuse of its information-gathering
powers underscores the need for greater oversight by Congress and the courts
to protect the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens and legal residents.

Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee,
drew a comparison between the FBI's NSL abuses and the Bush administration's
push to enact a new surveillance law that would expand the government's
ability to spy on Americans without warrants. President Bush has threatened
to veto a bill introduced this week by House Democrats that would place more
limits on surveillance capabilities than the administration favors and would
not give telecommunication companies immunity from lawsuits for past aid
they provided the government.

"At the same time the administration is trying to intimidate the Congress
into giving it additional spying power, we find out yet again that it has
abused its authority to pry into the lives of law abiding Americans,"
Conyers said in a statement.

Justice spokesman Dean Boyd said in a statement that Fine's report "should
come as no surprise" because it focused on a period prior to the time a host
of procedural changes were introduced at the FBI, including creation of the
Office of Integrity and Compliance to oversee the use of security letters
and other special powers.

"The Inspector General correctly emphasizes the need for sustained oversight
of the FBI's use of NSLs and concludes that the senior leadership of the
Justice Department and the FBI are committed to addressing these issues and
continue to devote significant energy, time, and resources to this effort,"
Boyd said.

According to Fine's report, the FBI continued to rely heavily on national
security letters in counterterrorism, counterintelligence and cybercrime
investigations, issuing nearly 50,000 of the documents in 2006 alone. Nearly
200,000 were issued from 2003 through 2006, the report said, and were used
in a third of all FBI national security probes during that time.

Fine said that FBI employees "self-reported" 84 possible violations of laws
or guidelines for the use of NSLs in 2006, which "was significantly higher
than the number of reported violations in prior years." But Fine noted that
his office already had begun its initial probe into NSLs by that time, which
might have contributed to the increase.

The violations that were reported by the FBI included issuing NSLs without
correct authorizations, the "over-collection" of telephone or Internet
records and making improper requests in the letters. About a quarter of the
incidents were due to mistakes by telephone or Internet providers, but many
of those cases should have been caught by the FBI earlier, Fine said.

Today's report did not address allegations related to other documents,
including "blanket NSLs" and exigency letters, that have been used by the
FBI to gather vast amounts of data without court oversight. Fine said he
will issue a separate report on those issues in coming weeks.