FBI Illegally Used Patriot Act, Audit Says

Justice Department Report Claims Bureau Improperly Used Terror Bill To Obtain Private Information

(CBS/AP) 
About three-quarters of the national security letters were issued for counterterror cases, and the others for spy investigations.

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, that number jumped to 39,000. It rose again the next year, to about 56,000 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. 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.

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.

"The report indicates abuse of the authority" Congress gave the FBI, said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. "You cannot have people act as free agents on something where they're going to be delving into your privacy."

The committee's top Republican, Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, said the FBI appears to have "badly misused national security letters."

"This is, regrettably, part of an ongoing process where the federal authorities are not really sensitive to privacy and go far beyond what we have authorized," he added.

Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., another member on the panel that oversees the FBI, 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.

[stick130]

I guess we know now what happens when ya give unlimited powers to an Idiot. He attacks the wrong country and thousands of innocent people die. Hopefully our children will be much smarter than we were.

[freespeech3]

Lars008 do you actually have any thoughts of your own or do tou just do savant copying? Personally I am not willing to give up a single one of my freedoms - not one - not ever!

[lars008-2009]

Patrick Henry
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace--but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! March 23, 1775

The following text is a fatwa, or declaration of war, by Osama bin Laden first published in Al Quds Al Arabi, a London-based newspaper, in August, 1996. The fatwa is entitled "Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places."
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/international/fatwa_1996.html

Text of Fatwah Urging Jihad Against Americans
http://www.ict.org.il/articles/fatwah.htm
http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm

Osama bin Laden's Declaration of War
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Osama_bin_Laden%27s_Declaration_of_War

[firststate]

Dickey C and rummy learned through their time with the previous would-be ruler-President, the 1st Trickey Dickey. The Patriot Act is their brainchild along with other traitors. A plan so comprehensive and intrusive was prepared and they were waiting for an excuse for it when 9/11 happened. The Nixonian acolytes were probably writing it during their previous days of shame in the white house. It was their work during the day and nightly wet dream material. It's not a unified executive, it's a dictatorship.

As Anti-American as the Patriot Act was, it wasn't enough to get them off any more. The lust for power by these NeoConSpirators required ever-larger doses to satisfy their need for a power fix. Criminal policies and unconstitutional programs grew from their attempts to slake their hunger for power & control. Information and data became their new weapons to further their treachery. The "Real ID" is to become the infamous papers political police would demand of citizens. They secretly ignored the law and skipped even the cursory rubber stamp review by FIS Courts because instantly was too slow. They decided that "data-mining" was necessary and would provide information about contacts of political "enemies" and might point out terrorists. The illegal & unconstitutional programs and policies revealed by patriots may have slowed their rush to rule.

Trust Us is neo-con for screw you. They want to turn our rights into rewards for fealty. They should be: 1.ashamed, 2.prosecuted.

[starleo146]

Maybe The 6 U.S. Attorneys they fired will give us some dirt and we will have a list if they don't hurt them first.

[hungry1968]

Innocent errors such as these, are a, infringement on my rights as a free American nonetheless. And habitual innocent errors will easily turn into a force of evil-habit for any human being who has the ability to rationalize his or her own less-virtous behavior.
Posted by emtak1 at 11:18 AM : Mar 10, 2007

Innocent Errors?!?! Are you kidding? The Patriot Act was designed to give this administration the power to abuse.
Do you believe that they pulled Valerie Plame's name out of a hat? No - they used, read abused, their powers to read into Joe Wilson's personnel file, to dig up something on him since he wasn't playing along with the team. (Regarding Iraq and WMD's.) The only thing they had was exposing his wife to danger as an undercover agent, so they used that. His personnel records shouldn't be readily available to look at, even for the President or Vice President. They should only look into this PRIVATE information when necessary, such as disipline, etc. - not for ammunition.

[emtak1]

Mueller should be fired, just as the Secretary of the Army and head of Walter Reed Hosiptal was.

Innocent errors such as these, are a, infringement on my rights as a free American nonetheless. And habitual innocent errors will easily turn into a force of evil-habit for any human being who has the ability to rationalize his or her own less-virtous behavior.

Case inpoint: Mueller is not willing to resign, even though he himself admits that he handled a national matter of such grave concern to every American with stellar incompetence.

That is not reasonable, but Mueller has rationalized to himself that it is the right course of action.

[formrusmcsgt]

Surprise!!! Surprise!!!! That someone abused the phony Patriot Act! Anyone with a brain in their head knew it would only take a couple of seconds for someone to start abusing it.
Posted by grumpas at 09:26 AM : Mar 10, 2007

Yeah...go figure, eh? You give the government police state powers and they start acting like a police state. Who could have guessed?

[grumpas]

Surprise!!! Surprise!!!! That someone abused the phony Patriot Act! Anyone with a brain in their head knew it would only take a couple of seconds for someone to start abusing it.

[starleo146]

The day I believe that the F.B.I. did not know they made a mistake is when the world will be at total peace. Alberto Gonzales Knew and at the hearings the questions were getting close to congress finding out I think, and this is to cover the justice systems behind. another fall guy to protect guess who. I am probably all wrong but this adm. has my mind going in a very untrustworthy way i'm sorry to say after this adm. will I ever trust the office of the Pres. again? I pray our country will become America once again we have a lot of surgery to perform though.

[scottyusa]

I cannot wait to see the list of FBI agents arrested for breaking the law

[skyk-2009]

Our last 6 yrs show 1 party control of both houses of congress and the oval office at its worst. Senate rules (cloture) should be codified, to remove the nuclear option & guarantee a degree of bipartisanship that would have shed some light in the dark corners where our liberties were looted.
Posted by firststate at 01:11 AM : Mar 10, 2007

I don't think that's completely accurate. You MUST have a FASCIST executive branch and a Do Nothing Congress that's more interested in promoting the Religious Reich than they are with oversight. That by the way is THEIR job as defined by the Constitution.

[l8c6]

Are we experiencing a hostile takeover?

[johnshaft4]

They should be called KGB instead of FBI.

[firststate]

Conservatives need to take the long view in the '08 elections. Another Republican administration won't get rid of all the domestic snooping. Too many bottom level appointees would remain and they'd tend to want to maintain the mechanisms for use later. We'll need an entire new group of appointees working with career people to even find all the pieces. Some Rep. appointees (soc. & neo cons) have agendas different from the party and value individual liberties less than acceptable behavior. If the lowest level appointees aren't changed some will stop using without dismantling some of the snooping tendrils. The domestic snooping programs will tend to evolve into a bureaucracy within the bureaucracy, to watch people for "anti-gov. speech or acts", along the lines of a political police. A Dem. admin. at its tax & spend worst, would be better than another borrow and spend Rep. admin. Some of their programs serve interests of social cons. and Nixonian dirty tricks more that threat monitoring. Bush-Cheney limited gov. in boardrooms and put it in rooms in people's homes. Even if an admin. can resist the temptation the snooping offers, it's dangerous to set this kind of precedent.

Our last 6 yrs show 1 party control of both houses of congress and the oval office at its worst. Senate rules (cloture) should be codified, to remove the nuclear option & guarantee a degree of bipartisanship that would have shed some light in the dark corners where our liberties were looted.

[j-whitman]

So, just another itty bitty mistake.. What's the fuss ?? You'd think this job was as important as working at Dairy Queen or something.

[macusweil]

If ya want an omelet ya gotta break a few eggs. If you want a fascist / autocratic state you got to break a few laws, take away freedoms, suspend habeas corpus and authorize the use of torture. Thanks George!!

At first it looked like the cold war was one on the side of democracy and freedom, but now we see in both Russia and the US a stark decline in the basic human liberties.

[stevex47]

Isn't it wierd to think how close we are to a dictatorship? I guess it show's how a country's politics can swing wildly in different directions.

Has there ever been a "good" dictator? Really,

[l8c6]

the whole flip flob thing at the RNC was rather moronic indeed.

[stevex47]

If illegal wiretaps and other crimes happened during the Clinton administration, do you think conservatives would have had a problem with them then?

Flip-flop, ha.