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BC-FBI Oversight,390 Audit: More privacy violations uncovered in FBI national security investigations By LARA JAKES JORDAN Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- Government attorneys are scrutinizing the FBI's terror investigations and national security cases more closely because continuing violations and sloppy mistakes are jeopardizing people's privacy rights. In the past four months, the Justice Department has focused on new problems at FBI offices in Little Rock, Ark.; Charlotte, N.C.; Milwaukee; New Orleans and New Haven, Conn., Deputy Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen said Friday. Olsen said the problems were likely to be referred to the President's Intelligence Oversight Board for investigation. A new Justice Department oversight office, which still must be approved by Congress, will "give a lawyer's scrub" to the cases, Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein told reporters. FBI general counsel Valerie Caproni said the tougher review should help restore public trust in the FBI. The new office will review the operations of 15 FBI field offices a year. "Our employees know that we have failed as an institution if we sacrifice the liberties that make this country great in an effort to keep the country safe," Caproni said. Recent audits found errors and potential abuses in an estimated 5 percent of thousands of FBI cases a year that involve national security letters -- administrative subpoenas that let agents look at consumers' phone and Internet records without court approval.
it's on the wires, but no link yet, so this doesn't even count. And wasn't Gonzo supposed to be testifying somewhere today? nothing on that.
Slow Friday.
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