FBI improperly justified privacy abuses, inspector finds
WASHINGTON - Top FBI counterterrorism officials issued improper blanket demands in 2006 for records of 3,860 telephone lines to justify the fact that agents already had obtained the data using a procedure that is now prohibited, the Justice Department inspector general said yesterday.
Glenn A. Fine also reported that in one case, FBI antiterrorism agents circumvented a federal court that twice had refused a warrant for personal records because the judges believed the agents were investigating conduct protected by the First Amendment. Fine said the agents got the records using national security letters, which do not require a judge's approval, without altering or re-examining the basis of their suspicions - the target's association with others under investigation.
These findings were highlighted in Fine's second report in two years on how the FBI has used broad authority to gather personal information about Americans granted by the USA Patriot Act and other statutes since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Overall, Fine's new report found that FBI privacy abuse during terrorism investigations continued to rise in 2006. He reserved judgment on whether corrective actions underway will work.
"It is too early to tell whether these measures will eliminate fully the problems," Fine said. He added that the FBI and Justice Department had made significant progress in implementing revised procedures but that some measures still are not fully in use or tested.
John Conyers, House Judiciary Committee chairman, acknowledged that "the FBI has taken important steps to repair" the problems, but said, "I remain disappointed."
Conyers, a Democrat from Michigan, said his committee would question FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III about the inspector general's report next month.
"The FBI has flagrantly put aside the rule of law and its internal guidelines time and again," said Michael German, a former FBI agent and a American Civil Liberties Union counsel.
In written statements, both the FBI and the Justice Department noted that the 2006 abuses occurred before Fine's first report exposed problems last year and led to new procedures. Neither of Fine's reports cited any criminal intent; he attributed even illegal procedures to mistakes, poor training, and short resources.
The new procedures govern how FBI agents use national security letters, which allow them to obtain telephone, bank, Internet, and credit records without first getting a warrant from a judge. The new rules also prohibit the use of exigent letters - emergency letters to telecommunication firms to obtain telephone records.
Fine reported last year that from 2003 through 2005, FBI agents sent more than 700 of these exigent letters. Fine said that the letters violated requirements of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and Justice and FBI guidelines by falsely stating they were needed for specific national security investigations under grand jury investigation and that national security letters were being drafted to cover the requests.
Yesterday, Fine reported that in 2006 top FBI counterterrorism officials tried to remedy the problem with these letters but in the process committed "the most serious violations involving the use of national security letters in 2006."
They issued 11 blanket security letters "to 'cover' or 'validate' the information obtained from exigent letters and other improper requests," Fine said.
