FBI illegally obtains US telephone call records

By Michael Fraase

Wednesday, 20 January 2010 12:34AM CST

Section: Privacy

Agent SmithThe FBI illegally obtained US telephone call records—including those of Washington Post and New York Times journalists—between 2002-06 by falsely claiming a terrorism emergency and later issuing national security letters to make the seizures appear legitimate. That’s what John Solomon and Carrie Johnson, writing for the Washington Post, have uncovered. “A Justice Department inspector general’s report due out this month is expected to conclude that the FBI frequently violated the law with its emergency requests, bureau officials confirmed,” write Solomon and Johnson.

The Post writers report that FBI Director Robert Mueller knew about the problems in “late 2006 or early 2007.” Concerns about the bureau’s illegal actions first arose in late 2004 but the illegal activities continued until 2006, when the Justice Department inspector general’s investigation began.

The illegal requests were clear violations of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and involved records of calls, not the content of the calls. Prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks, the FBI was required to obtain subpoenas or national security letters to gain access to telephone records. The USA Patriot Act broadened the use of national security letters by allowing lower-level officials approve them in more cases but still required a verified link to an active terrorism case.

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