FBI underreported use of USA Patriot Act

By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 11 minutes ago

The FBI underreported its use of the USA Patriot Act to force businesses to turn over customer information in suspected terrorism cases, according to a Justice Department audit.

One government official familiar with the report said shoddy bookkeeping and records management led to the problems. The FBI agents appeared to be overwhelmed by the volume of demands for information over a two-year period, the official said.

"They lost track," said the official who like others interviewed late Thursday spoke on condition of anonymity because the report was not being released until Friday.

The FBI in 2005 reported to Congress that its agents had delivered a total of 9,254 national security letters seeking e-mail, telephone or financial information on 3,501 U.S. citizens and legal residents over the previous two years.

Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine's report says that number was underreported by 20 percent, according to the officials.

Fine conducted the audit as required by Congress and over the objections of the Bush administration.

It was unclear late Thursday whether the omissions could be considered a criminal offense. One government official who read the report said it concluded the problems appeared to be unintentional and that FBI agents would probably face administrative sanctions instead of criminal charges.

The FBI has taken steps to correct some of the problems, the official said.

The Justice Department, already facing congressional criticism over its firing of eight U.S. attorneys, began notifying lawmakers of the audit's damning contents late Thursday. Spokesmen at the Justice Department and FBI declined to comment on the findings.

Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee that oversees the FBI, called the reported findings "a profoundly disturbing breach of public trust."

"Somebody has a lot of explaining to do," said Schumer, D-N.Y.

Fine's audit also says the FBI failed to send follow-up subpoenas to telecommunications companies that were told to expect them, the officials said.

Those cases involved so-called exigent letters to alert the companies that subpoenas would be issued shortly to gather more information, the officials said. But in many examples, the subpoenas were never sent, the officials said.

The FBI has since caught up with those omissions, either with national security letters or subpoenas, one official said.

National security letters have been the subject of legal battles in two federal courts because recipients were barred from telling anyone about them.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Bush administration over what the ACLU described as the security letter's gag on free speech.

A federal appeals judge in New York warned in May that government's ability to force companies to turn over information about its customers and keep quiet about it was probably unconstitutional.

On the Net:

Justice Department: http://www.usdoj.gov

Protesters Found in Pentagon Database

Protesters Found in Database
ACLU Is Questioning Entries in Defense Dept. System

By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 17, 2007; A08

A Defense Department database devoted to gathering information on potential threats to military facilities and personnel, known as Talon, had 13,000 entries as of a year ago -- including 2,821 reports involving American citizens, according to an internal Pentagon memo to be released today by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The Pentagon memo says an examination of the system led to the deletion of 1,131 reports involving Americans, 186 of which dealt with "anti-military protests or demonstrations in the U.S."

Titled "Review of the TALON Reporting System," the four-page memo produced in February 2006 summarizes some interim results from an inquiry ordered by then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld after disclosure in December 2005 that the system had collected and circulated data on anti-military protests and other peaceful demonstrations.

The released memo, one of a series of Talon documents made public over the past year by the ACLU under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, said that the deleted reports did not meet a 2003 Defense Department requirement that they have some foreign terrorist connection or relate to what was believed to be "a force protection threat."

The number of deleted reports far exceeds the estimate provided to The Washington Post just over a year ago by senior officials of Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA), the Defense Department agency that manages the Talon program. At that time, then-CIFA Director David A. Burtt II said the review had disclosed that only 1 percent of the then 12,500 Talon reports appeared to be problematic.

The ACLU said in its own report that past disclosures about Talon "cried out for congressional oversight yet Congress was silent." It said the new memo indicated there "may be even more disturbing" information to discover and declared "it is time for Congress to act."

The ACLU noted the memo showed that Talon reports had a much wider circulation than previously disclosed, with about 28 organizations and 3,589 individuals authorized to submit reports or have access to the database. The organizations with access include various military agencies as well as state, federal and local law enforcement officials.

In early 2006, Burtt also said CIFA had not devised a formal way to notify its users when it decided to delete a Talon report on American citizens. The newly released memo says that a software enhancement was being initiated to permit users to edit and delete entries from the database and that it was scheduled for completion in April 2006.

A Pentagon spokesman said there are 7,700 reports in the Talon database. Some involve U.S. citizens, but the spokesman declined to say how many. Over the past year the program has instituted multiple layers of review for screening which reports should go into the database, the spokesman said.

CIFA has begun a process for analysts to review materials to make sure they fit the program's criteria before being uploaded and made available to Talon users. CIFA was established in 2002 in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, originally to coordinate the counterterrorism and counterintelligence operations of the various branches and agencies of the Defense Department. It has grown rapidly over the past four years, but not without problems. Along with discovery of the Talon data collection, CIFA was linked to the lobbying and earmarking activities that led to the conviction of former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.). Burtt and his top deputy retired in August 2006, and federal investigators are still looking at CIFA contracting activities.

Last week, the New York Times disclosed that CIFA had been using national security letters to gather financial data on U.S. citizens, but a Pentagon spokesman said yesterday that such information was for particular investigations and not made part of the Talon database.

Talon was started in May 2003 to capture raw, non-validated information about suspicious activity or potential terrorist threats to military personnel or facilities at home and abroad.

Prosecutors Drop A.C.L.U. Subpoena in Document Fight

December 19, 2006

By ADAM LIPTAK

Federal prosecutors in New York yesterday withdrew a subpoena to the American Civil Liberties Union that had sought to retrieve all copies of a classified document.

In an opaque and defensive four-page letter to the judge in the case, the prosecutors said they were acting “in light of changed circumstances” and their determination that “the grand jury can obtain the evidence necessary to its investigation from other sources.”

Another factor may have played a role. A transcript of a closed hearing in the case that was unsealed yesterday suggested the government was going to lose.

Anthony D. Romero, the A.C.L.U.’s executive director, sounded jubilant in describing the development. “The government blinked in this standoff,” Mr. Romero said. The subpoena was unusual in that it sought not only to gather evidence but also to confiscate all tangible traces of the information in the document, apparently with the goal of preventing its distribution.

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U.S. Subpoena Is Seen as Bid to Stop Leaks

December 14, 2006

By ADAM LIPTAK

Federal prosecutors are trying to force the American Civil Liberties Union to turn over copies of a classified document it received from a source, using what legal experts called a new extension of the Bush administration’s efforts to protect national-security secrets.

The novelty in the government’s approach is in its broad use of a grand jury subpoena, which is typically a way to gather evidence, rather than to confiscate all traces of it. But the subpoena issued to the A.C.L.U. seeks “any and all copies” of a document e-mailed to it unsolicited in October, indicating that the government also wants to prevent further dissemination of the information in the document.

The subpoena was revealed in court papers unsealed in federal court in Manhattan yesterday. The subject of the grand jury’s investigation is not known, but the A.C.L.U. said that it had been told it was not a target of the investigation.

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Fed court to hear 'landmark torture case' vs. Rumsfeld

12/04/2006 @ 11:09 pm
Filed by RAW STORY

In a press release issued today, the American Civil Liberties Union announces that a "landmark" case against Donald Rumsfeld will be heard in federal court this week.
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The ACLU and another legal rights organization, Human Rights First, are to appear in court here on Friday "to argue that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is directly responsible for the torture and abuse of detainees in U.S. military custody," said the release.

"The hearing will be the first time a federal court will consider whether top U.S. officials can be held legally accountable for the torture scandal in Iraq and Afghanistan," the release continues, adding that the lawsuit was first filed in 2005 "on behalf of nine Iraqi and Afghan former detainees."

The men were reportedly held in U.S. detention where the ACLU asserts that "they were subjected to abuse, torture ... cruel and degrading treatment, including severe and repeated beatings, cutting with knives, sexual humiliation and assault, mock executions," and threats of death, among other things. "None of the men was ever charged with a crime," the release says, and "all have been released."

The ACLU adds that it also brought related suits against military officers tied to the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

More information on the ACLU's case is available here.

White House Fears ACLU Campaign

SPIEGEL ONLINE - November 30, 2006, 06:21 PM

THE MASRI CASE

By Georg Mascolo in Washington

Khaled El-Masri was innoncently detained in a secret CIA prison. Now US civil liberties advocates are helping him take the intelligence service to court. His chances of winning the trial are slim -- but his case is stirring up negative publicity for the Bush administration.

German national Khaled el-Masri claims he was tortured in Afghanistan after being kidnapped by the CIA as a suspected terrorist. He's an innocent man and now he wants justice and an apology.

The lawyers of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) were nervous until the very last moment. Director Anthony Romero was visibly relieved when he was finally able to present his star guest to the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Khaled el-Masri, formerly the victim of a CIA kidnapping operation in Macedonia and now the claimant in an international trial against US President George W. Bush's anti-terrorism policies, has finally made it to the USA. He was supposed to visit the country last year, but US authorities turned him back at the airport without further explanation. This time the ACLU took the precaution of applying for Masri's visa.

Now he's sitting there, just one block away from the White House, dressed in a single-breasted, gray three-piece suit and a tie, his long and impressively voluminous hair tied straight back. The sign in front of Masri reads "Rendition Victim." A translator whispers into his ear. "We're proud to represent this man," says Romero.

A dozen camera teams have arrived, sent by the major TV channels and the most important US daily papers. The Washington Post has just devoted another full page to his case. The story of the family man who landed in one of the CIA's notorious secret prisons for terror suspects -- has been a public relations debacle for the Bush administration.

The ACLU has succeeded in legally representing two victims from the CIA's shadow realm until now: Masri and Canadian citizen Maher Arar. Arar was deported to Syria in September of 2002 and tortured there. His innoncence has since been established, just like Masri's. That's just what makes the two cases so valuable for the ACLU -- and so dangerous for the White House.

For months now, a legal skirmish has been going on in the federal courts. Backed by the ACLU, Arar and Masri are suing top CIA officials. Citing national security concerns, the Bush administration has so far been successful in stalling any trial. On Monday, Masri and his lawyers traveled to Richmond, Virginia, where the ACLU experts appeared before the federal appeals court in order to press once more for the continuation of the trial.

George W. Bush confirmed the existence of secret CIA prisons in September, out of tactical considerations in the run-up to the Congressional midterm elections. His admission has become the strongest argument wielded by the ACLU: Something the president has openly admitted can't just be reclassified the next day, Romero argues, adding that the whole world knows what happened to Masri. The ACLU lawyers are using this argument to try to lure Washington into admitting Masri was detained and possibly tortured.

Fear of a legal watershed

And while that may sound harmless, it isn't. The White House fears it could prove to be a legal watershed, and the US Department of Justice is watching the attack mounted by the civil rights activists with growing concern. Charges have been brought against Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defense Secretary who recently resigned but remains in office, before a German federal court. Italy has initiated police investigations into a number of CIA agents following a kidnapping in Milan. The Munich court that is investigating Masri's case could possibly make the same decision. US President Bush and the members of his administration fear they may all find themselves in court one day.

When Masri's innocence was conclusively established, his release was ordered by then National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice. Were the decisions as to who should be detained made in her office as well? Washington's policy is to confirm or concede nothing. Masri is demanding clarification "and an apology." He doesn't want money, only justice.

His chances aren't very good. In a Kafkaesque move, the Justice Department is now trying to muzzle even those former detainees at the so-called "black sites" who have since been moved to Guantanamo and keep them from speaking openly about their experiences. The Justice Department is going so far as to try to prevent them from discussing the top-secret interrogation techniques even with their lawyers, claiming that the interrogation techniques are classified infromation. Thus, torture victims have become carriers of state secrets.

And therein lies the problem: What contributes to national security and what doesn't is not a matter the courts can decide. Even the ACLU seems to have its doubts as to whether it can successfully release the legal emergency brake the US administration has applied. Nevetheless, the balance of power in the USA has shifted following the recent midterm elections. The Democratic victory will bring ACLU supporters back into power in January and Congressional hearings on errors made by the Bush administration are in the planning stages. One of them will be concerned with what Senator Carl Levin calls the " rendition program" -- the system of detention that Masri fell victim to. Masri has to go: Levin's aides are waiting in Congress. They want the CIA victim to tell them his story.

The ACLU has just sent a film called "Outlawed" to all members of Congress. It's a 27-minute indictment of the Bush administration's anti-terrorism policies. Masri is the film's main star.

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© SPIEGEL ONLINE 2006
All Rights Reserved
Reproduction only allowed with the permission of SPIEGELnet GmbH

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Related SPIEGEL ONLINE links:

Extraordinary Renditions Report: Europe Knew about Secret CIA Flights (11/29/2006)
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,451349,00.html

CIA Operations in Germany: Cooperation and Concern from Berlin (12/12/2005)
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,390084,00.html

Extraordinary Renditions: El- Masri Testifies Before German Parliament (06/23/2006)
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,423199,00.html

Terror and Diplomacy: The US Stands Accused of Kidnapping (02/14/2005)
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,341636,00.html

CIA Flights in Europe: The Hunt for Hercules N8183J (11/28/2005)
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,387185,00.html

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