Legal Commentary

Inspector General Report Released on National Security Letter Use and Abuse

By Jeralyn

The Inspector General's report on the FBI's use and abuse of National Security Letters has been released. It's called "A Review of the FBI’s Use of National Security Letters: Assessment of Corrective Actions and Examination of NSL Usage in 2006, March 2008" and is available here (pdf).

Also out today, "A Review of the FBI’s Use of Section 215 Orders for Business Records in 2006, March 2008" available here (pdf.)

The ACLU's reaction to the report is here. [More...] bq. "The FBI has flagrantly put aside the rule of law and its internal guidelines time and again," said Michael German, ACLU National Security Policy Counsel and former FBI Agent. "Without an outside check, agents are able to demand at will and ask questions later. This is the kind of abuse that is inevitable when we broaden the government’s surveillance power and do not attempt to modernize privacy standards. Both the House and Senate have bills waiting to be marked up that will greatly limit this authority. Congress needs to act on this now."

Full post as published by TalkLeft on March 13, 2008 (boomark / email).