From: Gary Britt 

This quote below says a few agents were a bit slip shod in their work. 
That it isn't something ordered by Karl Rove, and its the Bush whitehouse's
justice department that is finding, correcting, and reporting these slip
shod couple of events.

Sounds like not misuse, but a well functioning government function.  If
only the rest of the government worked as well and was as effectively and
timely self-correcting.

Hardly a slam at anything.  Yawn.  Move along, there's nothing to see here.

Gary

Rich Gauszka wrote:
> 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_lette
rs_18
>
> 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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