FBI Says It Obtained Reporters' Phone Records

[babsbunny]

http://www.truthout.org/article/fbi-says-it-obtained-reporters-phone-records

Saturday 09 August 2008

»

by: The New York Times


Washington - The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Friday that it had improperly obtained the phone records of reporters for The New York Times and The Washington Post in the newspapers' Indonesia bureaus in 2004.

Robert S. Mueller III, director of the F.B.I., disclosed the episode in a phone call to Bill Keller, the executive editor of The Times, and apologized for it. He also spoke with Leonard Downie Jr., the executive editor of The Washington Post, to apologize.

F.B.I. officials said the incident came to light as part of the continuing review by the Justice Department inspector general's office into the bureau's improper collection of telephone records through "emergency" records demands issued to phone providers.

[malaise]

1. That what the NYT got for covering up lies for the

Bush regime. Wait until it all comes out. Bet they have every Democratic Senator and Congressperson's phone records as well.

First they came for...

[Frustratedlady]

4. Absolutely! You can take that to the bank.

That's what happened to Kerry, I'll bet a dime to a donut. That is why they didn't want any investigations. It wasn't terrorists they were interested in, it was the enemy...Democrats.

They have never had an interest in the well-being of this country...only their agenda. Mission Accomplished.

[lonestarnot]

2. Bastards! And we sit like deers in headlights.

[seafan]

3. FBI admits it has improperly obtained NYT/WP reporters' phone records

There won't be enough prosecutors for the criminality foisted on us over the last 7.5 years under the guise of George W. Bush's fabricated **War on Terror**.



FBI Says It Improperly Obtained Reporters' Phone Records

From the NYT via Truthout:


August 9, 2008



FBI director Robert Mueller. The inspector general of the Justice Department has revealed that the FBI improperly obtained phone records from journalists. (Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP)

.....

The records were apparently sought as part of a terrorism investigation, but the F.B.I. did not explain what was being investigated or why the reporters' phone records were considered relevant.
The Justice Department places a high bar on the collection of reporters' records in investigations because of First Amendment concerns, and obtaining such records requires the approval of the deputy attorney general. That requirement was not followed when the F.B.I. obtained the records of two reporters for The Times in Indonesia, Raymond Bonner and Jane Perlez, as well as two reporters there for The Post, Ellen Nakashima and Natasha Tampubolon, officials said.

.....

"The F.B.I. is committed to protecting the news media consistent with the First Amendment and Department of Justice policies, and we very much regret that this situation occurred," Valerie Caproni, general counsel for the bureau, wrote in a letter to Mr. Keller faxed Friday.
Ms. Caproni said the telephone records, which list the numbers that were called but do not show the calls' content, had been purged from the F.B.I.'s databases. She also said the records were not used as part of any investigation.

Well, which is it??? These records either WERE or WERE NOT used as part of an investigation. We The People know the answer.

Damn all of these lying sycophants.

But Mr. Downie said it was not clear to him why the F.B.I. was interested in his reporters' records in the first place.
"I want to find more about what this is about," he said. "We will be asking our general counsel to advise us on what more we should be doing about this."

.....

An initial report by the inspector general last year found that the F.B.I. had violated its own policies in tens of thousands of cases by obtaining phone records in terrorism investigations through what are known as national security letters, without first getting needed approval or meeting other standards. In some cases, the F.B.I. used a whole new class of demands - emergency or "exigent" letters - that are not authorized by law. The emergency records were used in the Indonesian episode.

The inspector general's findings have prompted outrage in Congress, with leading lawmakers calling for greater checks on the F.B.I.'s ability to gather private information in terrorism investigations. But bureau officials say they have instituted internal reforms to solve the problem.

[elehhhhna]

5. Amanpour knew they had hers, too. It was freely mentioned at the time.

[Th1onein]

6. This is coming out now because the Repugs know they're gonna lose.

Yeah, I really trust the FBI to take care of this "internally" now that I know that they created an entire new class of letters and even gave them a name. KNOWING that they were not compliant with the law. Yeah, right. I trust them completely to clean up their act, INTERNALLY, with no oversight from the American people.

It's OKAY for THEM to put their nasty noses into OUR business, but it's not okay for US to meddle in THEIR business, right?

Uh huh.