Read a Pacific Northwest, liberal perspective on world, national, and local politics. From majestic Redmond, Washington - the Northwest Progressive Institute Official Blog.

Friday, March 09, 2007

Justice audit: FBI abused Patriot Act

A review from the Department of Justice itself says the FBI overstepped its bounds:
The FBI improperly and, in some cases, illegally used the USA Patriot Act to secretly obtain personal information about people in the United States, a Justice Department audit concluded today.

And for three years the FBI has underreported to Congress how often it forced businesses to turn over the customer data, the audit found.

FBI agents sometimes demanded the data without proper authorization, according to the 126-page audit by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine. At other times, the audit found, the FBI improperly obtained telephone records in non-emergency circumstances.

The audit blames agent error and shoddy record-keeping for the bulk of the problems and did not find any indication of criminal misconduct.

Still, "we believe the improper or illegal uses we found involve serious misuses of national security letter authorities," the audit concludes.
Serious misuses? No, really?

The Patriot Act was a terrible idea in the first place and has not made America safer - but it has infringed on our civil liberties and given the Bush administration too much power. It's time for the law to be repealed. Needlessly sacrificing democracy in the name of security doesn't make sense.

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