The Inspector General S Independent Report On The Fbi S Use Of National Security Letters

The Inspector General's independent report on the FBI's use of national security letters : hearing before the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundred Tenth Congress, first session, March 20, 2007.

Describes the social and human cost of the security measures taken by the United States during the past decade.

In the Patriot Reauthorization Act, enacted in 2006, Congress directed the Department of Justice (Department) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to review "the effectiveness and use, including any improper or illegal use, of national security letters issued by the Department of Justice." The Act required the OIG to conduct reviews of the use of national security letters for two separate time periods. This report describes the results of the first OIG review of the FBI's use of national security letters (NSLs), covering calendar years (CY) 2003 through 2005.

In 2007, the Dept. of Justice (DoJ) issued its first report on the FBI¿s use of national security letters (NSL). It described the use and effectiveness of NSLs, incl. ¿any illegal and improper use,¿ in calendar years 2003-05. In 2008, the second report assessed the corrective actions the FBI had taken in response to the 1st report. This 3rd report describes the results of the DoJ invest. of the FBI¿s use of exigent letters and other informal requests (ELR), instead of NSLs or other legal process, to obtain telephone records from employees of 3 commun. service providers. This invest. examines the extent of the FBI¿s use of ELR for such info., as well as to assess the accountability of FBI employees and supervisors who were responsible for these practices. Illus.