Bills Would Restrict National Security Letters
Legislators are considering bills that would restrict the FBI’s use of national security letters to collect telephone, e-mail and financial records without a warrant.
A House bill would require the FBI to destroy evidence that was obtained illegally and would allow lawsuits if the letter did not have sufficient legal or factual justification, the Washington Post reports. A Senate bill would require better tracking of the letters and would narrow the kinds of information that can be sought.
Current law allows the FBI to use the letters to gather customer information from telecommunications companies without a judge’s approval if it is relevant to terrorism investigations of overseas agents. The House bill would go further and require that the letters clearly pertain to such an investigation.
Reports last year by the Justice Department’s inspector general found the FBI failed to follow proper procedures in repeated cases involving the letters. The problems included poor FBI paperwork, claims about nonexistent emergencies, and data requests made without a sufficient link to national security probes, the story says.
