Saturday, April 29, 2006
Were you one of the 3501 lucky ones?
The Friday afternoon news dump dropped this little goody on the unsuspecting public. The FBI on behalf of Our Dear Embattled Leader investigated 3,501 people without court approval.
If you are not familiar with an NSL, here is a good definition.
Feeling safer yet?
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.It is comforting to know that Attorney General Alberto "Our Protector" Gonzales won't have to wspend so much time with pesky warrants.
The numbers from previous years remain classified, officials said.
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.
The spike is expected to be temporary, however, because the Patriot Act renewal that President Bush signed in March made it easier for authorities to obtain subscriber information on telephone numbers captured through certain wiretaps.
If you are not familiar with an NSL, here is a good definition.
National Security Letter, which allows the executive branch of government to obtain records about people in terrorism and espionage investigations without a judge's approval or a grand jury subpoena.The only thing missing is who approves them and how easy they are to get. According to an earlier WaPo article, they are "Issued by FBI field supervisors, national security letters do not need the imprimatur of a prosecutor, grand jury or judge. They receive no review after the fact by the Justice Department or Congress."
Feeling safer yet?
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