Thoughts 15 Jun 2007 12:32 pm
FBI admits spying, well, Duh!
According to an article in the Washington Post:
An internal FBI audit has found that the bureau potentially violated the law or agency rules more than 1,000 times while collecting data about domestic phone calls, e-mails and financial transactions in recent years, far more than was documented in a Justice Department report in March that ignited bipartisan congressional criticism.
Well, how ’bout that, they finally noticed.
The primary point of abuse appears to be the use of NSLs (national Security Letters).
These give agencies like the bureau carte blanc when it comes to our data, down to, and including, what books we check out of the library.
These letters are so secret that nobody can even tell you they received one or that someone is looking at your personal records.
Back in January Old Dude blogged about this problem and cited this quote:
“Senior FBI officials acknowledged in interviews that the proliferation of national security letters results primarily from the bureau’s new authority to collect intimate facts about people who are not suspected of any wrongdoing.”
I believe his source was the NYT
This audit only covered about 10% of their national security investigations since 2002.
The article also went on to mention exigent circumstances letters, which are meant to be used only in dire emergencies, like kidnapping and ticking bomb situations. Apparently the bureau was a might lax there as well.
Of course FBI officials said the audit found no evidence to date that any agent knowingly or willingly violated the laws or that supervisors encouraged such violations.
Yeppers, they’re all saint, each and every one of them.
If you find yourself believing the FBI’s conclusion, ask yourself this question: What group of cops could resist such a powerful weapon?
To quote Old Dude:
J. Edgar Hoover would be so proud.