Source: Threat Level
An internal audit found the FBI broke the law thousands of times when requesting Americans’ phone records using fake emergency letters that were never followed up on with true subpoenas — even though top officials knew the practice was illegal, according to The Washington Post.
The inspector general’s follow-up report on the so-called “exigent” letters — an investigation that started in 2007 — is due in a few months. E-mails obtained by thePost showed that responsible agency officials informed superiors in 2005, but the practice continued for two more years.
While it looks as if the nation’s top law enforcement agency routinely violated the nation’s wiretapping laws for years, it seems no one will actually be prosecuted since the violations are being judged as merely “technical.”
Agents in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s terrorism investigation unit in New York City began using so-called “exigent letters” shortly after 9/11 as a shortcut around a proper terrorism subpoena, known as a National Security Letter. A proper NSL authorized under the Patriot Act allows agents to secretly get an individuals’ phone and financial records with a self-issued subpoena so long as they are “relevant” to an official, ongoing investigation.
