Yeah....why don't we worry about what is going on in our country.....FIX IT FIRST....and prevent things from happening here....?
October 10, 2002
THE NATION
FBI Says Agents Broke Rules in Spy, Terror Cases
By JOSH MEYER, TIMES STAFF WRITER
WASHINGTON -- FBI agents broke the rules in at least a dozen
terrorism and espionage cases before the Sept. 11 attacks, including
illegally videotaping suspects, intercepting e-mails without court permission
and recording the wrong phone conversations, according to an internal
bureau memo disclosed Wednesday.
The two-page memo focused on cases requiring secret warrants under the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, including the most sensitive terrorism
and espionage cases that the FBI investigates.
The top-secret court
that monitors FISA
operations recently
issued an
unprecedented public
admonishment of the
FBI for its handling of
many surveillance
warrants, saying
agents provided
inaccurate information
to justify the warrants
and made other
mistakes.
But the April 2000
memo referred to cases that indicated other problems, according to FBI
officials. Among them: agents conducting unauthorized searches, executing
search warrants with wrong addresses and allowing electronic surveillance
to operate beyond legal deadlines.
Associated Press, which first reported on the memo Wednesday, said it
was given the document by a member of Congress.
In interviews, FBI officials said the mistakes happened in about a dozen
cases in early 2000, out of more than 1,000 FISA warrants issued that
year. Problems in such a small percentage of cases are nearly impossible to
avoid, one FBI official said, adding that although the mistakes were serious
enough for several agents to be disciplined, no one was fired for their
transgressions. "None of the mistakes were intentional. Most problems
were due to overlooking something," said the FBI official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity.
The memo was written by senior FBI lawyers, and it said that although
none of the mistakes was known to the public, they garnered the attention
of the "highest levels of management" within the FBI.
One senior lawmaker in charge of reviewing how the FBI implements
changes to the FISA law in the aftermath of Sept. 11 was critical of the
bureau's missteps.
"Honest mistakes happen in law enforcement, but the extent, variety and
seriousness of the violations recounted in this FBI memo show again that
the secret FISA process breeds sloppiness unless there's adequate
oversight," said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), head of the Judiciary
Committee.
The memo "is not a full picture but a snapshot of how the law is being
implemented," said an aide to Leahy. "These are not minor incidents."
Congress approved changes to FISA last year under the USA Patriot Act,
providing FBI agents with new powers to use the special FISA terrorism
and espionage warrants. But Leahy and some other lawmakers have
complained that they were not adequately informed of problems under the
old rules.
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