WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI secretly sought information last year on 3,501 U.S. citizens and legal residents from their banks and credit card, telephone and Internet companies without a court's approval, the Justice Department said Friday.
It was the first time the Bush administration has publicly disclosed how often it uses the administrative subpoena known as a national security letter, which allows the executive branch of government to obtain records about people in terrorism and espionage investigations without court approval.
Friday's disclosure was mandated as part of the renewal of the Patriot Act, the administration's sweeping anti-terror law.
The FBI delivered a total of 9,254 NSLs relating to 3,501 people in 2005, according to a report submitted late Friday to Democratic and Republican leaders in the House and Senate. In some cases, the bureau demanded information about one person from several companies.
The department also reported it received a secret court's approval for 155 warrants to examine business records last year, under a Patriot Act provision that includes library records. However, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has said the department has never used the provision to ask for library records.
The number was a significant jump over past use of the warrant for business records. A year ago, Gonzales told Congress there had been 35 warrants approved between November 2003 and April 2005.
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You're only one post away from a federal watch list.
I can't honestly say that I'm comfortable with this revelation , but I don't know the circumstances behind the investigations either . On the whole I don't like it .
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Kevin Haendiges
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RE: Big Brother really was watching
3,501 people is not many compaired to our population. I see your message and agree that I dont like the idea of "Big brother" watching, but after the ball was dropped on 9-11, Im not sure if this bothers me. I really dont know how i feel about stuff like this. I can be complacent with the idea that its no big deal, that is until it effects me.This is by far a, dammed if you do and a dammed if you don't, situation. If one of these 3,501 persons were not investigated and another 9-11 occurred by said person, we would call foul. But as it stands, we call foul because these people, thus far, did nothing.
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kaafir mushrik
Unintended consequences and God have one thing in common: Liberals don’t believe in either of them.
The problem with the NSL's is that the agency drafting these letters is given the responsibility of policing themselves (no pun intended). With this system, we simply don't know much of anything about who was investigated, what the results were, if any violations of the law occurred, if justice was being served, etc. Yes, I realize that if the FBI found credible evidence of terrorism, they would eventually bring a case to court for judicial and public scrutiny BUT this type of system just doesn't have enough safeguards.
I am not very comfortable with that process as Kevin previously said and think there should be some kind of fast track court to review the letters before they are served and also to review the results (like a regular subpoena) to monitor the program for compliance, abuse and to protect people's rights. There would be a little more paperwork with such a system but it would better protect people's rights and, in the long run, would better serve the interests of the United States.
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Jesus Christ--The reason for the season!
If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can read this in English, thank a veteran.
If you're certain you know everything, there's little opportunity to learn anything.
The potential for abuse in omnipresent, but this information isn't enough to make a conclusion about it one way or another.We don't know who was investigated, and so far there's no word of any violation of due process for any of these individuals.J. Edgar Hoover would be disappointed.
The potential for abuse in omnipresent, but this information isn't enough to make a conclusion about it one way or another.Â*We don't know who was investigated, and so far there's no word of any violation of due process for any of these individuals.Â*J. Edgar Hoover would be disappointed.
But he would be dressed in a stunning little Vera Wang number to console himself ...
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Kevin Haendiges
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Big Brother really was watching
