Tierney critical of FBI anti-terror procedures

PEABODY-An audit of FBI anti-terrorism procedures related to requests for confidential information from businesses suggests that agents often overstep their authority, perhaps inadvertently, while companies occasionally provide more data than necessary.”This was the second audit and they have made some progress, but they are still making mistakes,” said U.S. Rep. John F. Tierney, a Salem Democrat and chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.”After the first audit, the oversight committee instructed the FBI to take certain steps when filing these applications for information. They were overreaching in some instances and not correcting those mistakes before the letter got to the company.”In an interview Friday, the congressman explained that the FBI is not always to blame. “Companies in some cases misinterpret what the FBI is asking for, so there is a lack of clarity as well. The FBI agents need more training in how to fill out these applications. That’s certainly one of the things that came out of the audit,” he said. “The FBI should have a lawyer review the applications before they go out.”According to Tierney, Assistant FBI Director John Miller has implemented an automated system that trains agents in how to draft national security letters.”Specifically, it shows what should or shouldn’t be included in the document, which is then reviewed by a lawyer,” Tierney said. “These are mostly letters seeking company records or phone records, and the number of applications issued has gone up significantly, by the thousands.”The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reported that the FBI sent out 8,500 such letters in 2000. Following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on America, the number of information requests jumped sharply. In 2005, the FBI sent more than 47,000 such letters, according to the DOJ.Most letters from the FBI, which because of the Patriot Act no longer can be sanctioned by a court, are sent to banks, credit card companies, Internet service providers and telephone carriers in an effort to obtain information about the activities of certain individuals.When companies receive a national security letter from the FBI that requests certain information, some business owners or executives provide far more information than requested in an effort to comply or appease the agency.”Maybe that comes from the lack of clarity in the document,” said Tierney. “We will ask for another audit down the road, but first we’ll see if they correct the remaining problems. The idea being, you don’t want these applications abused. They have a purpose and should be used appropriately. We want to be clear on how the FBI destroys any additional information that may come in that was not specifically requested, to make sure it doesn’t get passed on to other agencies that should not have it.”