From: "Rich Gauszka" 

For those who yell that there is no proof that the Patriot Act has been
misused. Those flaming liberals also known as the Justice Department take
issue

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070309/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/national_security_letters
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WASHINGTON - The FBI improperly and, in some cases, illegally used the USA
Patriot Act to secretly obtain personal information about people in the
United States, underreporting for three years how often it forced
businesses to turn over customer data, a Justice Department audit concluded
Friday.

FBI agents sometimes demanded the data without proper authorization,
according to a 126-page audit by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn
A. Fine. At other times, the audit found, the FBI improperly obtained
telephone records in non-emergency circumstances.

The audit blames agent error and shoddy record-keeping for the bulk of the
problems and did not find any indication of criminal misconduct.

..

At issue are the security letters, a power outlined in the Patriot Act that
the Bush administration pushed through Congress after the Sept. 11, 2001,
terror attacks. The letters, or administrative subpoenas, are used in
suspected terrorism and espionage cases. They allow the FBI to require
telephone companies, Internet service providers, banks, credit bureaus and
other businesses to produce highly personal records about their customers
or subscribers - without a judge's approval.

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller called Fine's audit "a fair and
objective review of the FBI's use of a proven and useful investigative
tool."

The finding "of deficiencies in our processes is unacceptable,"
Mueller said in a statement.

..
Over the entire three-year period, the audit found the FBI issued 143,074
national security letters requesting customer data from businesses. The FBI
vastly underreported the numbers. In 2005, the FBI told Congress that its
agents in 2003 and 2004 had delivered only 9,254 national security letters
seeking e-mail, telephone or financial information on 3,501 U.S. citizens
and legal residents over the previous two years.

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