Lawmakers Still Seeking Details On FBI's Illegal Records Demands

[L. Coyote]

Lawmakers Still Seeking Details On FBI's Illegal Records Demands
By Andrew Tilghman - August 11, 2008 - http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/08/lawmakers_still_seeking_detail.php


It's been more than a year since we learned that the FBI was abusing its authority granted under the Patriot Act to issue so-called national security letters.

The FBI sent thousands of those letters -- in some cases illegally -- to telephone companies, Internet service providers, banks and other businesses seeking detailed records and personal information without a judge's approval.

We know that some FBI officials are under criminal investigation (http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2007/07/exigentinvestigation) for the way those letters were used. And the Department of Justice Inspector General's office is also conducting a further investigation. But the details of the program, halted just last year, are still hazy.

Today the Senate Judiciary Committee is still trying to figure out precisely how the FBI was using those letters. .............