FBI Director: US Spied on Americans in 2006, Violating Privacy
National security letters were improperly used in 2006 to spy on Americans and obtain private financial and communications data, Federal FBI Director William Mueller testified today before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
He said the privacy abuses, by FBI agents and lawyers, have since been corrected by unspecified new reforms, reports the Associated Press. An upcoming report from the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Justice is expected to provide additional details.
In contrast to the outraged response that greeted news of similar privacy breaches between 2003 and 2005, when they were disclosed after an audit by the inspector general a year ago, news of the latest violations was met with simply a request for greater vigilance in overseeing the FBI’s use of national security letters, the AP says.
It appears that the 2006 privacy violations may have occurred before reform measures prompted by the disclosure of earlier abuses were instituted.
