FrankRep
01-22-2010, 03:41 PM
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been exposed by the Department of Justice and various media outlets for blatantly violating the law in their quest to illegally gather phone records on Americans. by Alex Newman
FBI Caught Breaking Law (http://www.jbs.org/jbs-news-feed/5878-fbi-caught-breaking-law)
Alex Newman | The New American (http://www.jbs.org/)
22 January 2010
The Federal Bureau of Investigation used lies and trickery to illegally obtain thousands of records, then issued after-the-fact approvals in an attempt to cover it up, a Justice Department investigation (http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s1001r.pdf) released on Wednesday revealed.
The official report by the Inspector General confirmed media accounts (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/18/AR2010011803982_4.html?sid=ST2010011804299) published earlier in the week which relied on leaked documents and interviews with government workers. The new inquiry expands on issues originally raised in a 2007 Justice Department report (http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5791797/A-Review-of-the-Federal-Bureau-of-Investigations-Use) which highlighted some of the abuses.
One of the main problems surrounds the FBI’s unlawful misuse of the already-unconstitutional informal requests known as “exigent letters” to demand information. And they knew it was illegal. According to the DOJ report and agency officials and internal documents cited in a Washington Post report entitled ‘FBI broke law for years in phone record searches (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/18/AR2010011803982_4.html?sid=ST2010011804299),’ agents repeatedly and knowingly violated the law by invoking non-existent “terror emergencies” to get access to information they were not authorized to have.
Among the individuals whose records were sought: journalists, including writers for The New York Times and the Washington Post. And often all that was needed to obtain the information was a phone call, an e-mail or even just a post-it note.
“We concluded that the FBI’s acquisition of these records constituted a complete breakdown in the required department procedures for approving the issuance of grand jury subpoenas to obtain reporters' toll billing records,” said the Inspector General’s report. During a four-year period supposedly ending in 2007, “the FBI’s actions were seriously deficient and ill-conceived and the FBI failed to ensure that it complied with the law and FBI policy when obtaining telephone records from the on site communications service providers,” the investigation asserted.
The Department of Justice probe further concluded that “by issuing exigent letters the FBI circumvented the [National Security Letter] statutes and violated the Attorney General’s Guidelines and internal FBI policy." It also noted that it could not even gauge the magnitude of the problem due to inadequate record keeping by the FBI.
Some of the leaked e-mails obtained by the Washington Post also reveal a group of FBI lawyers plotting to open a number of “generic” or “broad” investigations so the illegal “emergency” requests could be charged to those fake inquiries. They later decided on crafting “blanket” national security letters to cover all the requests that could not be pinned to open investigations.
Inspector General Glenn Fine called the investigation results “troubling” and recommended “additional corrective action.”
The FBI acknowledged in a statement released after the Inspector General’s report was made public that “the Bureau did not have in place adequate internal controls to ensure that the appropriate process was used and that appropriate records were kept,” though it insists that it has taken steps to purge illegally obtained records and to prevent similar occurrences in the future.
But despite the countless revelations of abuse of authority on the part of the FBI, it continues to defend its use of Patriot Act powers. “Tools such as the [National Security Letters] remain an indispensable investigative technique and contribute significantly to the FBI’s ability to carry out its national security responsibilities,” the agency’s statement concluded. FBI Director Robert Muller also noted that the bureau would review the findings to decide if disciplinary measures would be appropriate.
But it wasn’t just the FBI colluding to illegally gather information for Big Brother. At least three telecom companies had employees based in FBI offices to quickly respond to the agency’s improper demands for information. And according to the report, some of those liaisons were so anxious to help that they actually prepared the formal requests for the FBI.
Privacy advocates have rightly blasted the police state's unconstitutional snooping tactics. And organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation have drawn attention to other issues raised by these revelations. “Since the FBI has kept secret whose records were subject to these illegal letters, the victims will be unable to seek redress in court,” the group pointed out in a report (http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/01/report-confirms-fbi-misuse-authority) about the newly detailed abuses.
Some members of Congress have already reacted to the report as well. "This was not a matter of technical violations. If one of us did something like this, we'd have to answer for it,” said Senate Judiciary Chairman Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont. “This was authorized at high levels within the FBI and continued for years." But harsh words are not enough.
That the government will not even obey the few restrictions placed on it by Congress in its zeal to gather data on Americans is troubling. Last year another scandal involving illegal data mining by the FBI was also brought to light and reported (http://www.jbs.org/jbs-news-feed/5415-massive-fbi-data-mining-revealed-set-to-expand) by The John Birch Society — but the abuses keep coming.
And despite all the illegal and unconstitutional spying on Americans, the massive, tax-devouring behemoth known as the federal government can not even keep the “underwear bomber” from boarding a plane even after his father warned the government that his son was a threat. So the system doesn’t work. If the terrorists hate us because we’re free, they must be rejoicing at the progress they have made in undermining those freedoms. And adding insult to injury, there has not even been an increase in safety to compensate for the tragic loss of liberty.
The fact that the individuals Americans trust to uphold the law are so eager to break it is extremely disturbing. And the total disregard for Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights is more appalling still. Congress should do its duty to hold accountable any and all government law breakers — especially the ones supposedly in charge of enforcing the law.
SOURCE:
http://www.jbs.org/jbs-news-feed/5878-fbi-caught-breaking-law
FBI Caught Breaking Law (http://www.jbs.org/jbs-news-feed/5878-fbi-caught-breaking-law)
Alex Newman | The New American (http://www.jbs.org/)
22 January 2010
The Federal Bureau of Investigation used lies and trickery to illegally obtain thousands of records, then issued after-the-fact approvals in an attempt to cover it up, a Justice Department investigation (http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s1001r.pdf) released on Wednesday revealed.
The official report by the Inspector General confirmed media accounts (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/18/AR2010011803982_4.html?sid=ST2010011804299) published earlier in the week which relied on leaked documents and interviews with government workers. The new inquiry expands on issues originally raised in a 2007 Justice Department report (http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5791797/A-Review-of-the-Federal-Bureau-of-Investigations-Use) which highlighted some of the abuses.
One of the main problems surrounds the FBI’s unlawful misuse of the already-unconstitutional informal requests known as “exigent letters” to demand information. And they knew it was illegal. According to the DOJ report and agency officials and internal documents cited in a Washington Post report entitled ‘FBI broke law for years in phone record searches (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/18/AR2010011803982_4.html?sid=ST2010011804299),’ agents repeatedly and knowingly violated the law by invoking non-existent “terror emergencies” to get access to information they were not authorized to have.
Among the individuals whose records were sought: journalists, including writers for The New York Times and the Washington Post. And often all that was needed to obtain the information was a phone call, an e-mail or even just a post-it note.
“We concluded that the FBI’s acquisition of these records constituted a complete breakdown in the required department procedures for approving the issuance of grand jury subpoenas to obtain reporters' toll billing records,” said the Inspector General’s report. During a four-year period supposedly ending in 2007, “the FBI’s actions were seriously deficient and ill-conceived and the FBI failed to ensure that it complied with the law and FBI policy when obtaining telephone records from the on site communications service providers,” the investigation asserted.
The Department of Justice probe further concluded that “by issuing exigent letters the FBI circumvented the [National Security Letter] statutes and violated the Attorney General’s Guidelines and internal FBI policy." It also noted that it could not even gauge the magnitude of the problem due to inadequate record keeping by the FBI.
Some of the leaked e-mails obtained by the Washington Post also reveal a group of FBI lawyers plotting to open a number of “generic” or “broad” investigations so the illegal “emergency” requests could be charged to those fake inquiries. They later decided on crafting “blanket” national security letters to cover all the requests that could not be pinned to open investigations.
Inspector General Glenn Fine called the investigation results “troubling” and recommended “additional corrective action.”
The FBI acknowledged in a statement released after the Inspector General’s report was made public that “the Bureau did not have in place adequate internal controls to ensure that the appropriate process was used and that appropriate records were kept,” though it insists that it has taken steps to purge illegally obtained records and to prevent similar occurrences in the future.
But despite the countless revelations of abuse of authority on the part of the FBI, it continues to defend its use of Patriot Act powers. “Tools such as the [National Security Letters] remain an indispensable investigative technique and contribute significantly to the FBI’s ability to carry out its national security responsibilities,” the agency’s statement concluded. FBI Director Robert Muller also noted that the bureau would review the findings to decide if disciplinary measures would be appropriate.
But it wasn’t just the FBI colluding to illegally gather information for Big Brother. At least three telecom companies had employees based in FBI offices to quickly respond to the agency’s improper demands for information. And according to the report, some of those liaisons were so anxious to help that they actually prepared the formal requests for the FBI.
Privacy advocates have rightly blasted the police state's unconstitutional snooping tactics. And organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation have drawn attention to other issues raised by these revelations. “Since the FBI has kept secret whose records were subject to these illegal letters, the victims will be unable to seek redress in court,” the group pointed out in a report (http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/01/report-confirms-fbi-misuse-authority) about the newly detailed abuses.
Some members of Congress have already reacted to the report as well. "This was not a matter of technical violations. If one of us did something like this, we'd have to answer for it,” said Senate Judiciary Chairman Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont. “This was authorized at high levels within the FBI and continued for years." But harsh words are not enough.
That the government will not even obey the few restrictions placed on it by Congress in its zeal to gather data on Americans is troubling. Last year another scandal involving illegal data mining by the FBI was also brought to light and reported (http://www.jbs.org/jbs-news-feed/5415-massive-fbi-data-mining-revealed-set-to-expand) by The John Birch Society — but the abuses keep coming.
And despite all the illegal and unconstitutional spying on Americans, the massive, tax-devouring behemoth known as the federal government can not even keep the “underwear bomber” from boarding a plane even after his father warned the government that his son was a threat. So the system doesn’t work. If the terrorists hate us because we’re free, they must be rejoicing at the progress they have made in undermining those freedoms. And adding insult to injury, there has not even been an increase in safety to compensate for the tragic loss of liberty.
The fact that the individuals Americans trust to uphold the law are so eager to break it is extremely disturbing. And the total disregard for Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights is more appalling still. Congress should do its duty to hold accountable any and all government law breakers — especially the ones supposedly in charge of enforcing the law.
SOURCE:
http://www.jbs.org/jbs-news-feed/5878-fbi-caught-breaking-law