Operation Eroding Freedom

Who’s Watching the F.B.I.?

“In the latest and most serious post-9/11 civil-liberties abuse to emerge from Washington, the Bush administration’s ‘Trust me anyhow’ defense has finally collapsed,” writes law professor Jeffrey Rosen in today’s edition of The New York Times. According to Rosen, “The scandal involves ‘national-security letters,’ which the F.B.I. has secretly used to scrutinize the financial data, travel records and telephone logs of thousands of U.S. citizens and residents.”

City Police Spied Broadly Before G.O.P. Convention

The New York Times reports, “For at least a year before the 2004 Republican National Convention, teams of undercover New York City police officers traveled to cities across the country, Canada and Europe to conduct covert observations of people who planned to protest at the convention, according to police records and interviews.” “From Albuquerque to Montreal, San Francisco to Miami,” the report explains, “undercover New York police officers attended meetings of political groups, posing as sympathizers or fellow activists, the records show.”

FBI Violations May Number 3,000, Official Says

According to The Washington Post, “The Justice Department's inspector general told a committee of angry House members yesterday that the FBI may have violated the law or government policies as many as 3,000 times since 2003 as agents secretly collected the telephone, bank and credit card records of U.S. citizens and foreign nationals residing here.” The report goes on to state, “Inspector General Glenn A. Fine said that according to the FBI's own estimate, as many as 600 of these violations could be ‘cases of serious misconduct’ involving the improper use of ‘national security letters’ to compel telephone companies, banks and credit institutions to produce records.”

FBI Issues New Rules For Getting Phone Records

The Washington Post reports, “The FBI, which has been criticized for improperly gathering telephone records in terrorism cases, has told its agents they may still ask phone companies to voluntarily hand over toll records in emergencies by using a new set of procedures, officials said yesterday.” According to the article, under the new policy, requests can be submitted to the companies verbally in the most dire emergencies.

Feds, AT&T Urge Against Wiretap Trial

The Associated Press reports, “The federal government is urging an appeals court to dismiss a lawsuit challenging President Bush's domestic eavesdropping program, warning that disclosure of such activities could compromise national security.” "’The suit's very subject matter - including the relationship, if any, between AT&T and the government in connection with the secret intelligence activities alleged by plaintiffs - is a state secret,’ the Justice Department argued in court papers.”

Report Says FBI Violated Patriot Act Guidelines

ABC News reports, “The FBI repeatedly failed to follow the strict guidelines of the Patriot Act when its agents took advantage of a new provision allowing the FBI to obtain phone and financial records without a court order, according to a report to be made public Friday by the Justice Department's Inspector General.” “The report, in classified and unclassified versions, remains closely held, but Washington officials who have seen it tell ABC News it documents ‘numerous lapses’ and describe it as ‘scathing’ and ‘not a pretty picture for the FBI.’”

Key Lawmakers Getting Files About Surveillance Program

“Bowing to bipartisan pressure from lawmakers,” reports The New York Times, “the Justice Department announced Wednesday that it was turning over to selected members of Congress secret documents with details of the National Security Agency’s eavesdropping program.” According to the report, “The decision was made two weeks after Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales faced senators’ withering questions about why the Bush administration had refused to provide details about the legal underpinnings of the program.”