Limits urged on terror law use

WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers from both parties called yesterday for limits on antiterrorism laws in response to a Justice Department report that the FBI improperly obtained telephone logs, banking records, and other personal information on thousands of Americans.

The audit by the department's inspector general detailed widespread abuse of the FBI's authority to seize personal details about tens of thousands of people without court oversight through the use of national security letters.

It found, for example, that the FBI hatched an agreement with telephone companies allowing them to issue 739 emergency letters asking for more than 3,000 phone numbers -- often without subpoenas, without an emergency, or even without an actual investigative case.

The FBI then covered its tracks in 2006 by issuing letters authorizing many of the requests retroactively, according FBI officials and congressional aides .

The disclosures prompted a public apology from FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III and promises of reform from Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, who was the focus of a new tide of criticism from Democrats and Republicans already angry about his handling of the controversial firings of eight US attorneys.

"I am the person responsible," Mueller said at a press conference. "I am the person accountable, and I am committed to ensuring that we correct these deficiencies and live up to these responsibilities." Mueller said he had not been asked to resign.

Several lawmakers -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- raised the possibility of scaling back the FBI's authority.

"It's up to Congress to end these abuses as soon as possible," said Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee. "The Patriot Act was never intended to allow the Bush administration to violate fundamental constitutional rights."

Gonzales left open the possibility of pursuing criminal charges against FBI agents or lawyers who improperly used the USA Patriot Act in pursuit of suspected terrorists and spies.

The FBI's transgressions were spelled out in an audit by Glenn A. Fine, the Justice Department inspector general. He found that agents sometimes demanded personal data on people without official authorization, and in other cases improperly obtained telephone records in nonemergency circumstances.

The audit also concluded that the FBI for three years underreported to Congress how often it used national security letters to force businesses to turn over customer data. The letters are administrative subpoenas that do not require a judge's approval.

Under the Patriot Act, the national security letters give the FBI authority to demand that telephone companies, Internet service providers, banks, credit bureaus, and other businesses produce personal records on their customers.

Shoddy record-keeping and human error were to blame for the bulk of the problems, said Justice auditors, who found no indication of criminal misconduct.

Mueller said many of the problems were being fixed, in part by building a better internal data collection system and training employees on the limits of their authority.

He said employees would probably face disciplinary actions, not criminal charges, after an internal investigation.

Material from the Associated Press was included in this report.