Amid Concerns, FBI Lapses Went On (WaPo)

[Eugene]

Amid Concerns, FBI Lapses Went On
Records Collection Brought Internal Questions
But Little Scrutiny

By R. Jeffrey Smith and John Solomon
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, March 18, 2007; Page A01

FBI counterterrorism officials continued to use flawed procedures
to obtain thousands of U.S. telephone records during a two-year
period when bureau lawyers and managers were expressing
escalating concerns about the practice, according to senior FBI
and Justice Department officials and documents.

FBI lawyers raised the concerns beginning in late October 2004 but
did not closely scrutinize the practice until last year, FBI officials
acknowledged. They also did not understand the scope of the
problem until the Justice Department launched an investigation, FBI
officials said.

Under pressure to provide a stronger legal footing, counterterrorism
agents last year wrote new letters to phone companies demanding
the information the bureau already possessed. At least one senior FBI
headquarters official -- whom the bureau declined to name -- signed
these "national security letters" without including the required proof
that the letters were linked to FBI counterterrorism or espionage
investigations, an FBI official said.

The flawed procedures involved the use of emergency demands for
records, called "exigent circumstance" letters, which contained false
or undocumented claims. They also included national security letters
that were issued without FBI rules being followed. Both types of request
were served on three phone companies.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/17/AR2007031701451.html

[ixion]

1. so if the letters were not properly documented, why did the phone companies respond?

oh yeah, because they support fascism. I forgot. :eyes: