AP:

A federal judge struck down parts of the revised USA Patriot Act on Thursday, saying investigators must have a court’s approval before they can order Internet providers to turn over records without telling customers.

Excellent.

U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero said the government orders must be subject to meaningful judicial review and that the recently rewritten Patriot Act “offends the fundamental constitutional principles of checks and balances and separation of powers.”

Excellent.  Read more 

Just asking…

No doubt the story is even worse than WaPo lets on. Nevertheless:

FBI counterterrorism officials continued to use flawed procedures to obtain thousands of U.S. telephone records during a two-year period…

The flawed procedures involved the use of emergency demands for records, called “exigent circumstance” letters, which contained false or undocumented claims. They also included national security letters that were issued without FBI rules being followed. Both types of request were served on three phone companies.

“Exigent circumstances…” I love it. Sounds like some weasel-faced Federalist Society operative scribbling in the dimly lit dankness of Shooters’s bunker thought that one up, eh?

The exigency letters, created by the FBI’s New York office after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, told telephone providers that the FBI needed information immediately and would follow up with subpoenas later. There is no basis in the law to compel phone companies to turn over information using such letters, [Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A.] Fine found, and in many cases, agents never followed up with the promised subpoenas, he said.

Fine’s report said the bureau’s counterterrorism office used the exigency letters at least 739 times between 2003 and 2005 to obtain records related to 3,000 separate phone numbers.

“Related to” is awfully vague. Related through six degrees of separation perhaps?

FBI officials acknowledged that the process was so flawed that they may have to destroy some phone records to keep them from being used in the future, if the bureau does not find proof they were gathered in connection with an authorized investigation.

Actually, they can’t destroy them. Ashcroft’s order setting up the program under the so-called Patriot act mandates that they “shall” keep them, no matter whether they are flawed or not.

But Fine’s report made no mention of the FBI’s subsequent efforts to legitimize those actions with improperly prepared national security letters last year.

That’s bad enough. So much for the rule of law and the right to be secure in our papers and effects.

Now, the money quote:  Read more 

NPR quotes Bush on “solving” the problem of FBI abuse of National Security Letters under the so-called Patriot Act—without mentioning the Bush signing statement that said Bush wouldn’t comply with the Act’s reporting requirements for NSLs.

What’s the matter with these idiots at NPR?  Read more 

But read on. The FBI program that uses the letters is a “Friendster for Fascists,” which is the part of the story that’s getting buried. AP:

The nation’s top two law enforcement officials acknowledged Friday the FBI broke the law to secretly pry out personal information about Americans. They apologized and vowed to prevent further illegal intrusions.

Krugman was right. Two words: subpoena power. Can anyone imagine these guys apologizing for anything—or the illegality even coming to light—if the Congress were still in Republican hands?

Gonzales left open the possibility of pursuing criminal charges against FBI agents or lawyers who improperly used the USA Patriot Act in pursuit of suspected terrorists and spies.

I say, be bold! Prosecute the “bad apples”!

And now an early candidate for Understatement of the Year:  Read more