Don't forget FBI audit.

[billyboy]

A Register-Guard Editorial
Published: Sunday, March 18, 2007
With all the attention being focused on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' role in the politically motivated firings of federal prosecutors, it's important not to overlook his responsibility for the FBI's use of the USA Patriot Act to improperly and illegally obtain personal information on Americans.
As attorney general and, previously, as White House counsel, Gonzales has exhibited the same thorough disregard for civil liberties that he has for the separation of powers and the rule of law. A recently released report by the Justice Department's inspector general, Glenn Fine, reveals that the FBI has routinely used its post-Sept. 11 surveillance powers to snoop through the private records of Americans without any semblance of judicial oversight.
It has done so by issuing tens of thousands of "national security letters" - warrants issued without a court order to obtain information such as financial or credit data and telephone or e-mail records. The Patriot Act made it easier for the executive branch to use this powerful investigative tool so that it could react nimbly to foil future terrorist plots. When some members of Congress balked at granting such powers after Sept. 11, the Justice Department solemnly promised that it would act responsibly, safeguarding the fundamental rights of Americans at every turn.
<B>
Turns out the lawmakers' trust in the Justice Department was misplaced. The inspector general's audit says the FBI, which is overseen by the Justice Department, "seriously misused" these extraordinary powers. Among other things, the agency failed to establish clear guidelines for using national security letters, to put in place an adequate system for approving requests and to purge collected data after investigations were abandoned.
The scope of the abuses was extraordinary. Of the files reviewed in the audit, 22 percent revealed apparent violations of the law. Although the FBI reported issuing a mind-numbing 47,000 letters in 2005, the audit concluded that agency "significantly understated" the actual numbers.
The FBI's willingness to violate the law with impunity is hardly surprising. Gonzales helped set the tone in the Justice Department with actions such as his ardent defense of Bush's decision to engage in warrantless eavesdropping of Americans' international calls and e-mail. As White House counsel, Gonzales helped create policies that jettisoned the Geneva Conventions in the war against terror - and that led to the abuse and torture of detainees at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, as well as kidnappings and secret detentions.
</B>
FBI Director Robert Mueller has admitted, and taken responsibility for, the Patriot Act violations. Gonzales, meanwhile, seems content to let Mueller take the heat, just as he has attempted to deflect the blame for the prosecutor firings on his subordinates.
In its rush to probe the purge of U.S. attorneys, Congress must not ignore the FBI's trampling of civil liberties. Lawmakers should demand a full accounting from Gonzales, who has treated their efforts to oversee the Justice Department's counter-terrorism efforts with obfuscation and disdain.
It's already clear that Gonzales must go. On Thursday, Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith became the second Republican in the Senate to call for the ouster of Gonzales. With new revelations casting the Justice Department in worse light every day, Smith is unlikely to be the last.
http://www.registerguard.com/news/20...ection=opinion