Yes. That's me after a long night of recruiting informants for the FBI. And, no, I'm not done posting stories about the CIA existing outside of the beltway despite what that girl who called me back from their PR department told me after I wrote my second letter asking if a CIA-style person could come to talk at my library. (I'll post those letters, too, because they are great. The first letter was nice and all and then I got kind of bitchy and told them they should send someone to address the whole torture deal. You know.) Anyway! So expect the stories about the CIA in Denver -- Don't forget to wave to the nice people at the CIA when you pass the Federal Center in Golden! -- and then my increasingly bitchy letters to the public affairs office. All sorts of great stuff coming your way! But first an update on that always upright agency, the FBI. Truly I do love the FBI because an FBI-style guy did come to talk at my library. Not about what I wanted him to talk about, which was post-9/11 civil rights issues -- as in the FBI addressing those issues -- but, you know. He came to my library and my friend Jack from library school thought I was all cool for getting the FBI in the building at all. Anyway! I'm also going to talk about this great investigation of nuclear sites on college campuses done by this national news agency that is near and dear to my heart. Biometrics. All sorts of stuff! Look for it all here! You may have not read it here first, you may have even read it last year! But you did see pictures of Beyonce and Jay-Z here intermingled with discussions of whether Will Smith would have had sex after three years without human contact -- and this cute little woman shows up! (Put the kid to bed! Go to bed!) Love and much burning of extra TVs from your fan club prez, JeanieFBI says problems with letters fixed
WASHINGTON — The FBI is resisting legislation that would put more restrictions on domestic surveillance of Americans' private records, saying the agency already has tightened its rules to crack down on wrongful use of national security letters.
FBI general counsel Valerie E. Caproni told a House panel Tuesday that the agency has responded to abuses outlined in internal reports by tightening the requirements for issuing national security letters.
National security letters, or NSLs, are investigative tools used to compel businesses to turn over customer information without a judge's order or grand jury subpoena.
She said the agency has improved training programs on the use of NSLs and limited information that can be gathered from third parties — like phone companies and banks.
"In light of the FBI's tremendous progress in this regard, further legislative changes, including the measures envisioned by (Congress), would be neither necessary nor appropriate," Caproni said in testimony to the House subcommittee on the Constitution.
Majority Democrats and some Republicans in Congress disagree. Lawmakers in the House and Senate are pushing legislation that would limit the FBI's ability to secretly collect reams of information on the bank, telephone, credit card and internet accounts of private Americans involved in terrorism investigations.
One key concern is Caproni's statement that new FBI policies amount to sufficient "checks and balances" against the secret letters violating people's civil liberties.
"Some of us think that 'checks and balances' means that you check with another branch of government," Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., said during the hearing. "All these (Department of Justice) employees are checking and balancing themselves."
Caproni pointed out that Glenn A. Fine, DOJ's inspector general, works for the agency and uncovered significant misuse of NSLs that he documented in two reports beginning last year.
Fine found that the FBI issued improper demands in 2006 for records of 3,860 telephone lines to justify the fact the bureau had obtained the data using an illegal procedure that is now prohibited.
The probe also found that a federal court twice denied the FBI's request for a warrant. The bureau got the same records without a warrant using national security letters.
Fine's first report led to new procedures, according to the FBI and the Justice Department.
For some in Congress, the new rules aren't enough. Subcommittee chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., is sponsoring legislation that would tighten restrictions on how much information should be given to the FBI under an NSL and require that they clearly pertain to a foreign power or a specific agent, rather than the current standard that they be relevant to a terror probe.
The House bill also would create a new rule that FBI agents must destroy information obtained under an NSL for a person who is no longer of interest to the probe.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing on the issue April 23.
Meanwhile Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit in New York Tuesday against the FBI seeking the release of records relating to the agency's use of national security letters on behalf of other government agencies, particularly the Department of Defense.
The suit is the latest move by the ACLU to probe whether the military is using the FBI to skirt legal restrictions on domestic surveillance. The group bases its allegations on a review of more than 1,000 documents turned over by the Defense Department after it sued the Pentagon and the CIA for the information last year.
Air Force Lt. Col. Patrick Ryder said in an e-mail this month that the Pentagon had made "focused, limited and judicious" use of the letters since Congress extended the capability to investigatory entities other than the FBI in 2001.
The Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks gave new urgency to the government's search for terrorists. The Patriot Act expanded the FBI's authority to use the letters as a tool in this search, prompting immediate protests from civil libertarians who said the new law did not include sufficient safeguards against abuse by the government.
The House bill is H.R. 3189.
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