FBI abused power to get private records: report

[Osborn F Enready]

FBI abused power to get private records: report - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI abused its power by illegally or improperly obtaining telephone, financial and other secret records in investigations of terrorism or espionage suspects, the U.S. Justice Department's inspector general said on Friday. A report by Inspector General Glenn Fine's office sharply criticized the FBI for how, without a court order, it demanded and received records such as customer information from telephone companies, Internet service providers, banks and credit card firms. "We believe the improper or illegal uses we found involve serious misuses of national security letter authorities," Fine said in releasing the report. National security letters allow the FBI to compel the release of private information without getting authority from a judge or grand jury. The FBI can get the records but not the content of communications, Justice Department officials said. Democrats in Congress vowed to investigate the findings in the report, which came as they stepped up criticism of President George W. Bush's administration for weakening protections on civil liberties as part of its war on terrorism. FBI Director Robert Mueller acknowledged at a news conference that the report found serious deficiencies. "I am the person responsible, I am the person accountable and I am committed to ensuring that we correct these deficiencies and live up to these responsibilities," he said, noting the FBI is sworn to uphold privacy protections and civil liberties. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told a privacy rights group that he was upset when learned the FBI did not have sufficient controls, did not provide adequate training and failed to follow its own policies. The use of national security letters has grown dramatically, mainly as a result of powers granted to the FBI under the USA Patriot Act, an anti-terrorism law that Congress approved after the September 11 attacks. In investigating abuses of authority, the report found 26 possible violations, including requesting information without adequate authorization, improper requests under the law and unauthorized collection of telephone or e-mail records. Of the 26 cases, 22 were the result of FBI errors and four were caused by mistakes by those who received the request for the information, the report said. In reviewing 77 investigative files in FBI field offices, the report found that 17 of them, or 22 percent, contained one or more possible violations not identified by the field office or reported to FBI headquarters as required.

Well, this comes as no surprise to some of us, though to some ( :eek: ) I am sure it will come as shocking news.

What is to blame?


Allow me to highlight.....

The use of national security letters has grown dramatically, mainly as a result of powers granted to the FBI under the USA Patriot Act, an anti-terrorism law that Congress approved after the September 11 attacks.

......that's right, the Patriot Act..... the thing that all claimed was constitutional, legal and "in our best intrests".

It was so "in our best intrests", the people we CHARGED by election and OATH AND AFFIRMATION signed it in to law, without even reading it.....










Its time to impeach them all folks......

both parties have completely, and utterly failed us in protection of our rights, our laws and their adherance to our Constitutional standards, and we as decent, honest citizens, must hold all guilty accountable.

DO YOUR DUTY, vote to impeach them all!

[Osborn F Enready]

Who on Volconvo will be suprised?

http://www.volconvo.com/forums/searc...searchid=62240

[RickSp]

I am surprised that the the report came out in the first place and that both Gonzales and Mueller admitted that the FBI broke the law. That a was real shocker. Imagine what they are not admitting.

[Gods_Mercenary]

I think that the FBI guys don't have much of a problem admitting they overstepped their bounds, it's the politicians who want to keep it from coming to light. The FBI guys take their orders from politicians, ultimately after all. a disheartening thought, isn't it, that basically a glorified police chief can realize and admit that what he did was wrong when the politicians we elect can't.

[The Decider]

Quote by: Gods_Mercenary I think that the FBI guys don't have much of a problem admitting they overstepped their bounds, it's the politicians who want to keep it from coming to light. The FBI guys take their orders from politicians, ultimately after all. a disheartening thought, isn't it, that basically a glorified police chief can realize and admit that what he did was wrong when the politicians we elect can't.

Did FBI Chief Mueller have any other choice but to admit responsibility? They have the congressional audit report, complete with emails and interviews and the whole shebang. Mueller has a date before a congressional committee too. The man's agency's been punked. And his boss, GWB, doesn't have the political capital to run interference for him, like he did for Brownie and so many incompetents in this administration.

Perhaps Mueller is a stand up guy, but his admission of responsibility in the face of hard evidence is no reason to give him the Profile in Courage award.

[Gods_Mercenary]

Obviously no, but he certainly seems better than the political dirtbags, and unlike them, he has higher ups to answer to, so we can appreciate his position. Bush is really gonna be in as tight a spot as him soon, the dem congress loks like it'ss demand the troops in Iraq home soon. pleas ohh please.

[Milton Bradley]

Quote by: Osborn F Enready Who on Volconvo will be suprised? http://www.volconvo.com/forums/searc...searchid=62240

Your link is not workin pardner.

[Osborn F Enready]

Hmm, I don't know why the link isn't working.

I don't know if I can link that search result any other way.

[Zeebadee]

So where's the input now from the Patriot Act supporters that assured us that this kind of thing would never happen? How about something from the clueless morons that claimed that no rights were going to be violated by the PA?? I see Shumer has called for gonzales to resign, undoubtedly this won't happen, but it's a start. Mueller at the very least should resign, after all, accepting responsibility should carry some meaning when one does it. Typical American tradition, though. Go public and accept full responsibility, then carry on as though nothing has happened.

[Technosoul]

Don't worry, the A.R.A will protect us from the FBI with all their guns.

[Autolykos]

"A.R.A"? Just what would that be?

- Rob

[Chaossaber314]

So where's the input now from the Patriot Act supporters that assured us that this kind of thing would never happen? How about something from the clueless morons that claimed that no rights were going to be violated by the PA?? I see Shumer has called for gonzales to resign, undoubtedly this won't happen, but it's a start. Mueller at the very least should resign, after all, accepting responsibility should carry some meaning when one does it. Typical American tradition, though. Go public and accept full responsibility, then carry on as though nothing has happened.

Gonzales has enough reasons already to resign. He's slime as far as I'm concerned.

Mueller on the other hand is an interesting person. With what we know now I don't think we need to change the Director of the FBI and essentially have someone start from scratch. He knows the problems, and the people associated with them now.

[RickSp]

The FBI knowingly broke their own rules and the law. An update:

Amid Concerns, FBI Lapses Went On
Records Collection Brought Internal Questions But Little Scrutiny

FBI counterterrorism officials continued to use flawed procedures to obtain thousands of U.S. telephone records during a two-year period when bureau lawyers and managers were expressing escalating concerns about the practice, according to senior FBI and Justice Department officials and documents. FBI lawyers raised the concerns beginning in late October 2004 but did not closely scrutinize the practice until last year, FBI officials acknowledged. They also did not understand the scope of the problem until the Justice Department launched an investigation, FBI officials said. Under pressure to provide a stronger legal footing, counterterrorism agents last year wrote new letters to phone companies demanding the information the bureau already possessed. At least one senior FBI headquarters official -- whom the bureau declined to name -- signed these "national security letters" without including the required proof that the letters were linked to FBI counterterrorism or espionage investigations, an FBI official said. The flawed procedures involved the use of emergency demands for records, called "exigent circumstance" letters, which contained false or undocumented claims. They also included national security letters that were issued without FBI rules being followed. Both types of request were served on three phone companies.

[Autolykos]

Do they know who all were responsible for this abuse, and why they did it?

- Rob

[RickSp]

Official Alerted F.B.I. to Rules Abuse 2 Years Ago, Lawyer Says

Almost two years before the Federal Bureau of Investigation publicly admitted this month that it had ignored its own rules when demanding telephone and financial records about private citizens, a top official in that program warned the bureau about widespread lapses, his lawyer said on Sunday. The official, Bassem Youssef, who is in charge of the bureau’s Communications Analysis Unit, said he discovered frequent legal lapses and raised concerns with superiors soon after he was assigned to the unit in early 2005. Stephen M. Kohn, the lawyer for Mr. Youssef, said his client told his superiors that the bureau had frequently failed to document an urgent national security need — proving “exigent circumstances,” in the bureau’s language — when obtaining personal information without a court order through the use of “national security letters.” Mr. Youssef said his superiors had initially minimized the scope of the problem and the likely violation of laws intended to protect privacy, Mr. Kohn said. “He identified the problems in 2005, shortly after he became unit chief,” Mr. Kohn said. “As in other matters, he was met with apathy and resistance.”