FBI broke law for years in phone record searches

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

The FBI illegally collected more than 2,000 U.S. telephone call records between 2002 and 2006 by invoking terrorism emergencies that did not exist or simply persuading phone companies to provide records, according to internal bureau memos and interviews. FBI officials issued approvals after the fact to justify their actions.

E-mails obtained by The Washington Post detail how counterterrorism officials inside FBI headquarters did not follow their own procedures that were put in place to protect civil liberties. The stream of urgent requests for phone records also overwhelmed the FBI communications analysis unit with work that ultimately was not connected to imminent threats.

A Justice Department inspector general's report due out this month is expected to conclude that the FBI frequently violated the law with its emergency requests, bureau officials confirmed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1803982_pf.html

[The_Dude 1,142]

It is irritating that people did this, but by no means shocking. With my job, I deal with confidential records, and every year, we have to take an ethics course to remind us. But each and every year, I hear about someone getting fired because they decided to look up some celebrity information. But with the FBI access, they take obsessed cyber stalking ex-boyfriend to a whole new level.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

It is irritating that people did this, but by no means shocking. With my job, I deal with confidential records, and every year, we have to take an ethics course to remind us. But each and every year, I hear about someone getting fired because they decided to look up some celebrity information. But with the FBI access, they take obsessed cyber stalking ex-boyfriend to a whole new level.

I was acquainted with the people that reviewed my secret clearance and forwarded the material to whoever does the National Agency Checks. My biography, while not disqualifying, did contain some "colorful" items that broke the monotony of the job, with a few chuckles, as it was read aloud, or so I was told. I can see where a little innocent "mischief" might get some folks in trouble.