By Kenneth J. Theisen, 3/9/07
Today the U.S. Justice
Department released an audit which claims that the FBI illegally and improperly
secretly obtained information about residents of the U.S. The FBI was also accused of misinforming
Congress on the extent of its operations which forced companies to turn over
customer data to the agency.
Under the PATRIOT Act, the
Bush regime obtained the power to utilize “national security letters” in
suspected terrorism or espionage cases.
These administrative subpoenas allow the FBI to require communication
companies such as your internet or telephone provider to give your personal
records to the FBI. These letters, which
are issued by FBI bureaucrats, not judges, can also be used to obtain records
about you from your bank, credit bureau, or other businesses that have
information about you. This is all done
without any judicial review in violation of the 4th amendment of the
Constitution. According to the audit,
3/4ths of the national security letters were issued for “terrorism” cases, and
the other 1/4th for spy investigations.
The audit found that the FBI
frequently required information from businesses without proper authorization. It further concluded the FBI improperly
obtained telephone records in non-emergency situations. But in an attempt to limit the political
damage and to insulate higher Bush regime officials, the audit blames “agent
error and shoddy record-keeping” for the most of the abuses and it found that
there was “no indication of criminal misconduct.” How unusual to discover that the very Justice
Department in charge of the FBI, in its audit, made such findings. Could
we expect any other conclusion? We
investigated ourselves and found that we were innocent. WOW!
But still the audit reveals
some of the illegalities undertaken in the name of national security. And the audit was not undertaken at the behest
of the Bush regime. It is required by
Congress to be done annually and this requirement was opposed by the Bush
administration.
The audit reveals that the
number of national security letters issued by the FBI rose dramatically in the
years after the passage of the PATRIOT Act.
Prior to its passage in 2000, the FBI issued approximately 8,500
letters. By 2003, 39,000 were issued. In 2004 there were 56,000 such letters and
47,000 in 2005. In the three year period
covered by the audit, 143,074 national security letters were issued to
businesses requiring customer information.
To make matters worse, the
FBI lied to Congress and the public. In its
2005 report to Congress, the FBI reported it only issued 9,254 national
security letters seeking e-mail, telephone or financial information on 3,501 U.S. citizens
and legal residents in 2003 and 2004.
On Capitol Hill the usual
remarks were made by Senators upon hearing of the audit. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick
Leahy stated, “The report indicates abuse of the authority. You cannot have people act as free agents on
something where they’re going to be delving into your privacy.” Senator Arlen Specter stated the FBI appears
to have “badly misused national security letters. This is, regrettably, part of an ongoing
process where the federal authorities are not really sensitive to privacy and
go far beyond what we have authorized.” But do not expect much action, if any, by
Congress to impair the regime’s extensively spying operations. After all, it was Congress that passed the
PATRIOT Act which authorizes these “security letters.”
Abuses of the 4th amendment
have been revealed before and little action has been taken, or at worst
Congress has passed laws to legalize these abuses. When the vast NSA surveillance scandal broke,
Congressmen were “outraged.” But within
a year they had passed a law legalizing that which earlier had outraged them.
As long as the Bush regime
remains in power it will spy on us and break any law or rule that impedes its
agenda. It has shown this again and
again. Only by removing the regime from
power can we stop the regular invasion of our privacy. Do not count on politicians to save us. Only mass concerted action will prevent
further and more outrageous abuses.