Friday, March 09, 2007

FBI abused Patriot Act powers to illegally spy on American citizens

This is off ABC News:

The FBI improperly and, in some cases, illegally used USA Patriot Act powers to obtain information about U.S. citizens and residents, a new Justice Department report concluded.

The report by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine was first reported on the Blotter on ABCNews.com last night.

Fine's office scrutinized the FBI's use of National Security Letters (NSLs) under the Patriot Act, which expanded their powers. Intended for use in secretive terrorism and espionage cases, the letters allow the FBI to obtain information, such as business records and data on telephone subscribers, without a judge's consent.

Moreover, FBI agents at times requested and received information they were not authorized to obtain under the law, Fine's report concluded.

The report released today paints a picture of widespread misuse of NSLs by FBI agents and confusion about how NSLs are to be issued and recorded. Fine's office found chronic underreporting by agents about how many NSLs they issued, leading to its conclusion that the total number of NSLs reported by the FBI between 2003 and 2005 -- over 143,000 -- may be understated by tens of thousands of letters.

As a result, FBI reports to Congress on its use of the secretive powers were inaccurate, the report said.

I'll be honest--I'm not surprised about this. When the Patriot Act gave the FBI these expanded powers, did the anyone really expect that the FBI would only use these expanded powers in cases of terrorism? Of course not--let's use them for regular crimes, and suspected crimes. It is not surprising that these National Security Letters (NSLs) would be quickly abused, or even the extent of the abuse. Just look at how many NSLs were issued by the FBI between 2003 and 2006--143,000 NSL letters! Are you telling me that there are potentially 143,000 suspected terrorists and spies operating in the United States--considering one NSL letter issued for one potential suspect. And these were just the NSL letters that were reported by the FBI, not counting the supposed thousands of un-reported letters. This is mind-boggling.

It is obvious as to what was happening here. The FBI discovered that they could use these NSL letters to circumvent the search warrant procedure for investigating regular crimes. And as such, the FBI relied more heavily on these NSL letters for their day-to-day crime-fighting business, rather than their original intention of terrorism and espionage cases. According to The Washington Post:

The inspector general's audit found 22 possible breaches of internal FBI and Justice Department regulations -- some of which were potential violations of law -- in a sampling of 293 "national security letters." The letters were used by the FBI to obtain the personal records of U.S. residents or visitors between 2003 and 2005. The FBI identified 26 potential violations in other cases.

Officials said they could not be sure of the scope of the violations but suggested they could be more widespread, though not deliberate. In nearly a quarter of the case files Inspector General Glenn A. Fine reviewed, he found previously unreported potential violations.

The use of national security letters has grown exponentially since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In 2005 alone, the audit found, the FBI issued more than 19,000 such letters, amounting to 47,000 separate requests for information.

[....]

According to three officials with access to the report, Fine said the possible violations he discovered did not "manifest deliberate attempts to circumvent statutory limitations or departmental policies."

But Fine found that FBI agents used national security letters without citing an authorized investigation, claimed "exigent" circumstances that did not exist in demanding information and did not have adequate documentation to justify the issuance of letters.

In at least two cases, the officials said, Fine found that the FBI obtained full credit reports using a national security letter that could lawfully be employed to obtain only summary information. In an unknown number of other cases, third parties such as telephone companies, banks and Internet providers responded to national security letters with detailed personal information about customers that the letters do not permit to be released. The FBI "sequestered" that information, a law enforcement official said last night, but did not destroy it.

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. When police agencies, such as the FBI, start abusing these extra-legal powers as the NSL letters for their own day-to-day activities, then it is time to remove those powers from the state--remove the power of the NSL letters from the FBI and the government agencies. Because it is this abuse of our freedoms, our rights to privacy, and our legal rights against unreasonable searches and seizures by the state, that will ultimately destroy what is good about this country.

It is time to repeal the Patriot Act.

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