Congress asked to increase FBI oversight

Request made after agency's files show it violated law and policy in a number of cases

New York Times | October 25 2005By Eric Lichtblau

WASHINGTON -- Civil rights advocates called Monday for Congress to increase its oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's surveillance of suspects in intelligence investigations, in light of newly disclosed records indicating the FBI violated the law.

But the FBI defended its record, saying it had been diligent in policing itself and in correcting lapses it considered to be largely technical and procedural.

The debate was prompted by a set of internal FBI documents made public Monday that disclosed at least a dozen violations of federal law or bureau policy from 2002 to 2004 in the handling of surveillance and investigative matters.
Expanding on that data, the FBI said Monday that internal reviews identified a total of 113 violations since last year that were referred to a federal intelligence board.

In several cases, the documents showed, FBI agents extended investigations and surveillance operations for months without getting proper approval from supervisors or giving notification.

In one case documented in 2002, an unidentified target was watched for nearly two years by agents in Indianapolis without the required oversight of Justice executives, the papers say. In a separate case in 2002, the documents say, agents' 15-month delay in reporting the status of their surveillance of an unidentified person in Detroit kept Justice "from exercising its responsibility for oversight and approval."

In another case, an FBI agent still on probation gained access to banking records without getting needed approval, in violation federal privacy restrictions.
While most of the cases appeared to be related to intelligence and national security investigations in field offices around the country, the FBI blacked out virtually all details about the exact nature of the investigations. The documents were obtained through a public records act request by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a group that lobbies for greater privacy rights and civil liberties, and were first reported on Monday in The Washington Post.

Officials at the privacy center said the documents suggested abuses of authority by the FBI under the expanded powers granted under the USA Patriot Act, the anti-terrorism law that Congress will consider extending in coming weeks. The privacy group said congressional oversight committees had never been properly informed of the possible violations, and it called on Congress to exercise greater oversight.

"These are instances of alleged abuse in domestic intelligence investigations by the FBI, and we consider the failure to report these issues to Congress to be a really serious one," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the privacy center.

Last modified October 25, 2005