By James Vicini
June 14, 2007
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI possibly violated the law or
its rules more than 1,000 times since 2002 in collecting
data about phone calls, e-mails and financial records while
investigating terrorism or espionage suspects, FBI officials
said on Thursday.
The potential violations found by an FBI audit were far greater
than the approximately two dozen previously documented violations
in a U.S. Justice Department report released in March that
was based on a much smaller sampling, they said.
The vast majority of newly discovered violations were instances
in which companies, such as telephone and Internet providers,
gave more information than the FBI sought, the officials said.
They said the FBI has drafted new guidelines in an effort
to prevent future abuses, but civil liberties groups and Democrats
in Congress expressed doubt that they would be sufficient to
protect the privacy of Americans.
The ongoing audit concerned the use of national security letters,
which allow the FBI to compel the release of private information
such as communications or financial records without getting
court approval.
Their use has grown dramatically, mainly as a result of powers
granted to the FBI under the USA Patriot Act, an anti-terrorism
law Congress approved after the September 11 attacks.
Caroline Fredrickson of the American Civil Liberties Union
said the new guidelines were not enough. "Congress must
go back to the legislative drawing board and rein in the broad
authorities expanded by the Patriot Act," she said.
Rep. Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, urged Congress
to hold oversight hearings to determine whether changes in
the law were required to prevent future violations.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat from New York and chairman
of a House Judiciary subcommittee, said: "The new FBI
guidelines fall far short of protecting the privacy of innocent
Americans."
Justice Department inspector general Glenn Fine in the March
report sharply criticized the FBI for how it demanded and received
records such as customer information from telephone companies,
Internet service providers, banks and credit card firms.
The FBI audit sampled about 10 percent of the FBI's national
security investigations since 2002 and the officials said they
expected the full audit to be completed soon.
FBI officials said the audit found no evidence that any agent
knowingly or willingly violated the laws or that supervisors
encouraged such violations. The report in March also found
no evidence of intentional criminal misconduct.
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