The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) illegally gathered information of phone calls between 2002 and 2006, according to a Washington Post report on Tuesday. The report says that the FBI used generic or nonexistent terrorism threats and also violated their own internal procedures meant to protect civil liberties to obtain the details of the calls.
The Post got the information about the case based on talks with FBI employees and by obtaining an internal e-mail communication.
The inside investigation revealed that about 2,000 phone records, including those of American journalists, were obtained by violating the law, either by invoking a fabricated terrorism emergency or by convincing phone carriers to provide the listings.
Illegal gathering of phone calls began after the 9/11 attacks when the agency was under pressure to gather counterterrorism intelligence as quickly as possible. Before, the FBI needed the grand jury subpoenas or a special “national security letter,” which carried the weight of subpoenas to request for phone call information, and only high-level FBI officials could sign those.
After the attack, the new anti-terrorism laws broaden the possible usage of those letters. Later, the FBI devised a new system allowing an official to request from phone carriers the records in “exigent circumstances” and issue a national security letter afterward, sometimes just as a response to the phone companies official complaint.
The gathered information contained only the listing of the phone calls.
“This practice ceased in 2006 and never involved obtaining the content of telephone conversations,” FBI spokesman Michael Kortan said to Reuters.
After two employees had raised concerns and insisted that a legal solution will be implemented, the FBI pondered the idea of opening a few generic investigative cases like “Threats Against Transportation Facilities” or “Threats Against Infrastructure” to which the request for toll records could be charged.
Later, the FBI used the approach to use “blanket” national security letters to obtain the phone call records.
The U.S. Justice Department will publish a report later this month, which is expected to confirm that the FBI had been breaking the law with their phone call requests.
The Post got the information about the case based on talks with FBI employees and by obtaining an internal e-mail communication.
The inside investigation revealed that about 2,000 phone records, including those of American journalists, were obtained by violating the law, either by invoking a fabricated terrorism emergency or by convincing phone carriers to provide the listings.
Illegal gathering of phone calls began after the 9/11 attacks when the agency was under pressure to gather counterterrorism intelligence as quickly as possible. Before, the FBI needed the grand jury subpoenas or a special “national security letter,” which carried the weight of subpoenas to request for phone call information, and only high-level FBI officials could sign those.
After the attack, the new anti-terrorism laws broaden the possible usage of those letters. Later, the FBI devised a new system allowing an official to request from phone carriers the records in “exigent circumstances” and issue a national security letter afterward, sometimes just as a response to the phone companies official complaint.
The gathered information contained only the listing of the phone calls.
“This practice ceased in 2006 and never involved obtaining the content of telephone conversations,” FBI spokesman Michael Kortan said to Reuters.
After two employees had raised concerns and insisted that a legal solution will be implemented, the FBI pondered the idea of opening a few generic investigative cases like “Threats Against Transportation Facilities” or “Threats Against Infrastructure” to which the request for toll records could be charged.
Later, the FBI used the approach to use “blanket” national security letters to obtain the phone call records.
The U.S. Justice Department will publish a report later this month, which is expected to confirm that the FBI had been breaking the law with their phone call requests.
