http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/08/AR2006030802132.html
FBI Cites More Than 100 Possible Eavesdropping Violations
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 9, 2006; A09
The FBI reported more than 100 possible violations to an intelligence
oversight board over the past two years, including cases in which
agents tapped the wrong telephone, intercepted the wrong e-mails or
continued to listen to conversations after a warrant had expired,
according to a report issued yesterday.
In one case, the FBI obtained the contents of 181 telephone calls
rather than just the billing records to which it was entitled. In
another, a communication was monitored for more than a year after
eavesdropping should have ended -- although investigators blamed a
third-party provider for the mix-up.
The findings were part of a semiannual report by Justice Department
Inspector General Glenn A. Fine on problems related to the USA
Patriot Act, the broad anti-terrorism law that is scheduled to be
renewed today with President Bush's signature.
The report confirmed that Fine's office is investigating a broad
range of issues related to the government's anti-terrorism efforts.
They include investigations of the FBI's role at military detention
facilities in Iraq, in Cuba and elsewhere; the bureau's use of
National Security Letters; and the FBI's treatment of antiwar protesters.
Fine also reported that the Office of Professional Responsibility is
investigating the Justice Department's use of material-witness
warrants to detain suspects after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The
same office is examining the role of Justice lawyers in reviewing the
National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program.
Rep. John Conyers Jr. (Mich.), ranking Democrat on the House
Judiciary Committee, said Fine's report "is yet another vindication
for those of us who have raised concerns about the administration's
policies in the war on terror."
"Despite the Bush administration's attempt to demonize critics of its
anti-terrorism policies as advancing phantom or trivial concerns, the
report demonstrates that the independent Office of Inspector General
has found that many of these policies indeed warrant full
investigations," Conyers said.
But Justice spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said the department is
"pleased that the inspector general once again confirmed that there
have been no substantiated civil liberties violations from the Patriot Act."
Echoing previous reviews, Fine said that most of the hundreds of
Patriot Act-related complaints received in the last six months of
2005 did not warrant further investigation and that only four full
investigations were opened during that time. Two of the probes were
pending and two others were referred to the Bureau of Prisons for
further investigation, the report said.
In the cases of intelligence violations at the FBI, the report said
the bureau had forwarded 108 possible errors in 2004-2005 to the
Intelligence Oversight Board, a secret panel at the White House that
reviews such reports.
The FBI said in a statement that no willful misconduct was found and
that "when possible violations are discovered, the FBI acts quickly
to correct the error."
Yesterday's report also provided new details about disciplinary
action taken against corrections officers accused of mistreating
post-Sept. 11 detainees at a federal prison in Brooklyn, N.Y. The
U.S. Bureau of Prisons has fired two officers, suspended six and
demoted three, the report said.
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