27B Stroke 6:
The FBI evaded limits on, and sometimes illegally issued, orders for phone, email and financial information on American citizens and underreported the use of these self-issued orders to Congress, according to an internal audit by the Justice Department released Friday. The DOJ Inspector General reported that the FBI used self-issued subpoenas, known as National Security Letters, to get information on at least 143,074 targets.
The audit found that 60% of a sample of these subpoenas did not conform to the rules, and another 22% contained unreported possible violations of the authorizing statute, including improper requests and unauthorized collections of information..
Additionally, the report faulted the FBI for sloppy record keeping, and found that, in one sample, the number of targets was 22% higher than was reported, meaning that the full extent of the use of the power was unknown.
The Patriot Act loosened the restrictions on the use of National Security Letters. But apparently it still wasn't loose enough for the FBI. Hey terrorists, don't bother to come here to take our freedom -- we're doing a great job of of that all on our own.
The full DOJ report (PDF) is available here.
Tags: news | politics | FBI | surveillance | privacy | Justice Department | wiretaps
