FBI Privacy Abuses

Audit to cite FBI privacy abuses

Justice Department Audit to Outline Privacy Abuses, Cite Steps to Prevent Them
The FBI improperly obtained personal information about Americans as part of terrorism investigations in 2006, but steps were taken by the agency to prevent future privacy abuses, an upcoming Justice Department report says.

The long-anticipated audit, to be released Thursday, is expected to show a fourth consecutive year of privacy breaches by FBI agents using so-called national security letters to gain access to telephone, e-mail, and financial records of Americans and foreigners without a judge's approval.

Officials familiar with the report say it will note that the lapses all took place before the FBI and Justice Department enacted broad new reforms in March 2007 aimed at protecting individual privacy rights.

The report by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine follows a similar audit he released last year. That report found 48 violations of law or rules during 2003-2005 in the bureau's use of national security letters.

Fine estimated that there could be 3,000 more such violations among the more than 143,000 FBI requests for information during that period.

Additionally, last year's audit found that the FBI had underreported to Congress how many national security letters were requested by more than 4,600. Fine blamed agent error and shoddy record-keeping for the bulk of the problems and did not find any indication of criminal misconduct.

Thursday's audit largely is expected to mirror last year's findings, FBI Director Robert Mueller said in Senate testimony last week.

National security letters, as outlined in the USA Patriot Act, are administrative subpoenas used in suspected terrorism and espionage cases.

Following last year's audit, the Justice Department enacted guidelines that sternly reminded FBI agents to carefully follow the rules governing national security letters. The new rules caution agents to review all data before it is transferred into FBI databases to make sure that only the information specifically requested is used.

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