WASHINGTON, Jan. 20: In a startling revelation, The Washington Post has reported that the FBI has collected over 2,000 records on the US telephone calls by bringing into play terrorism emergencies that actually did not exist or by influencing phone companies to provide them. The newspaper reported that later, the FBI officials issued approvals to rationalize their actions in collecting the phone records between 2002 and 2006.
A FBI spokesperson Michael Kortan told a news agency that this practice ended in 2006 and henceforth they were never involved acquiring the content of telephone conversations. In addition, measures were initiated to make certain that similar situations do not take place in the future. The Washington Post reported that the FBI officials issued approvals subsequently to substantiate their actions in collecting the phone records between 2002 and 2006.
The newspaper has claimed that it had obtained emails that demonstrated the manner in which counter-terrorism officials did not follow procedures intended to protect civil liberties.
Meanwhile, the FBI officials corroborated a Justice Department inspector general’s report due this month and are expected to conclude that the FBI regularly violated the law with its emergency requests. The newspaper further said that in an interview with The Washington Post, the FBI general counsel Valerie Caproni said the FBI technically infringed the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. She is reported to have said, "We should have stopped those requests from being made that way."
Caproni said FBI Director Robert Mueller did not know about the problems until the inspector general's investigation that commenced in mid-2006. In fact, she confessed in the interview that none of the FBI employee used informal methods to acquire telephone records for reasons other than a legitimate investigative interest.
A FBI spokesperson Michael Kortan told a news agency that this practice ended in 2006 and henceforth they were never involved acquiring the content of telephone conversations. In addition, measures were initiated to make certain that similar situations do not take place in the future. The Washington Post reported that the FBI officials issued approvals subsequently to substantiate their actions in collecting the phone records between 2002 and 2006.
The newspaper has claimed that it had obtained emails that demonstrated the manner in which counter-terrorism officials did not follow procedures intended to protect civil liberties.
Meanwhile, the FBI officials corroborated a Justice Department inspector general’s report due this month and are expected to conclude that the FBI regularly violated the law with its emergency requests. The newspaper further said that in an interview with The Washington Post, the FBI general counsel Valerie Caproni said the FBI technically infringed the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. She is reported to have said, "We should have stopped those requests from being made that way."
Caproni said FBI Director Robert Mueller did not know about the problems until the inspector general's investigation that commenced in mid-2006. In fact, she confessed in the interview that none of the FBI employee used informal methods to acquire telephone records for reasons other than a legitimate investigative interest.
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