Good for Republican and Democratic lawmakers for rebuking the FBI this week for its abuse of power. Their outrage is warranted.
A Justice Department inspector general revealed in a report earlier this month that the FBI had been illegally and improperly gathering thousands of telephone, e-mail and financial records of Americans and foreigners. Then the Washington Post reported last weekend that these improper practices occurred despite concerns raised by bureau lawyers and managers.
As Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., asked during a House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday: “If what was done was done by a private-sector individual, wouldn’t the FBI be arresting them? Wouldn’t the U.S. attorneys be prosecuting people who played fast and loose with these rules?”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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14 Comments
Every time these issues come up all I can think of is those words of B. Franklin.I will not insult your intelligence by repeating them now, but they are relevant.I care nothing for Bin Laden, Al-Qaeda and the rest of the terrorists. I would wager their souls already have a spot in Hell! But it is the soul of this country that is my concern.
Abuse of power? In this administration? No way!I seem to recall that a number of posters who are no longer with us saying this would happen.
I remember reading about this and it sounded like an internal policy or training problem in the FBI. They got a new toy and failed to provide the proper paperwork, the paperwork wasn’t filled out properly or the employee filled out the paperwork but didn’t submit it to his supervisor.
It’s probably all harmless, but I have to agree with Congressman’s Issa’s assessment that you just don’t screw up on this type of paperwork because it does involve Constitutional questions of privacy.
I distinctly recall bringing this subject up a couple of days ago. When I said that this “Regime” walks on the Constitution I thought this was an interesting reply…..
Tap our phones?? Hogwash.Kill our best?? Anti-war tripe.Walk on the Constitution?? Where?
If what you say is true, impeach.
Posted by: fleettwood | March 20, 2007 at 04:42 PM
Well Fleetwood, the next move is yours my friend.
The whole shoddy affair needs to be thoroughly investigated just like a lot of other things that have been quietly swept under the rug in the past few years. Hopefully the days of Bush’s rubber stamp Congress are over. No branch of government should be immune to checks and balances (or investigation).
I say we fire them all..
they failed on 9/11 and all the inteligence on the war.. let’s fire all them and start over..
Mike,Under no circumstances should the Democratic congress impeach Bush; they need his overt imcompetence in order to win in ‘08. Then the next administration should turn him over to the World Court so we can begin to regain our international credibility.
“I remember reading about this and it sounded like an internal policy or training problem in the FBI. They got a new toy and failed to provide the proper paperwork, the paperwork wasn’t filled out properly or the employee filled out the paperwork but didn’t submit it to his supervisor.
It’s probably all harmless, but I have to agree with Congressman’s Issa’s assessment that you just don’t screw up on this type of paperwork because it does involve Constitutional questions of privacy.”
Posted by Republican
I work in a field where HIPPA violations can lead to not only the loss of your job, but major fines. It just DOESN’T MATTER if it was a mistake or not, there should still be MAJOR repercussions. And I’m sure it is not “harmless” to the people whose rights were violated.
“Well Fleetwood, the next move is yours my friend.”
Everything will be fine.
You don’t seem so flippant today Fleetwood. I guess the U.S. Regime is just as inept and corrupt as we all thought. I am sure they said “everything will be fine” when they invaded Iraq. Matter of fact, they came out and tried to pawn this on the American public. The blank check, no oversight, running up daddy’s credit card days are over! Time for some accountablity. Too bad Cheney did not turn the gun on himself after he shot his friend in the face.
Corrupt? That’s a pretty serious charge.
Rebuke, sorta has a begign ring to it.
a species that hires bodyguards to protect it looses the ability to protect itself and is doomed to extinction
CRIMES COMMITTED BY THE F.B.I.
SUGGESTED READING LIST
Bari, Judi. TIMBER WARS. Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1994.The F.B.I. attempted to stop the political activity of Judi Bari and Daryl Cherney by exploding abomb under their car. Daryl Cherney and Judi Bari filed a Civil lawsuit against the FBI and Oakland police. A jury awarded them $4.4 million dollars in 2003. see http://www.judibari.org
Bowen Roger. INNOCENCE IS NOT ENOUGH: The Life and Death of Herbert NormanNew York USA M.E. Sharpe Inc 1988Looks at FBI murder of Herbert Norman, Canadian Ambassador to Egypt.
Buitrago, Ann Mari. F.B.I. FILES. Grove Press, 1981.Covers the procedures for obtaining and interpreting your F.B.I. file.
Burnham, David. ABOVE THE LAW. Scribner, 1996.Looks at secret deals and fixing of cases by the Justice Department.
Buttino, Frank. A SPECIAL AGENT. William Morrow, 1993.Investigates F.B.I. attacks on gay agents during the 1980’s.
Carson, Clayborne. MALCOLM X: THE F.B.I. FILE. Carroll & Graf, 1991.Looks at the role of the F.B.I. in the assassination of Malcolm X.
Cashill,Jack, Sanders,James. FIRST STRIKE Thomas Nelson Press, 2003Overwhelming evidence presented by Dr. Cashill on the downing of TWA Flight 800by a missle over Long Island and the ensuing cover-up by FBI agents.
Charns, Alexander. CLOAK AND GAVEL. University of Illinois Press. 1992.After reviewing thousands of pages of FBI documents the attorney authorexposes the FBI illegal phone tapping of the Supreme Court and how the FBI fix courtcases and manipulate Congress and State legislatures.
Churchill, Ward. AGENTS OF REPRESSION. South End Press, 1988.Professor Churchill gives first hand accounts of F.B.I. death squad activities.
Churchill, Ward. THE COINTELPRO PAPERS. South End Press, 1990.Explores how the F.B.I. disrupts legitimate political activities and engage in Death Squad activities.
Criley, Richard. THE F.B.I. VS. THE FIRST AMENDMENT. First Amendment Foundation, 1990.Looks at the destruction of the First Amendment by the F.B.I.
Davis, John. MAFIA KINGFISH: CARLOS MARCELLO AND THE ASSASSINATION OF JOHN F.KENNEDY. McGraw-Hill, 1989.Pivotal book in understanding how the FBI has uses the Mafia to carry out political and other murders of our political and civil rights leaders.
De Camp, John. THE FRANKLIN COVERUP. AWT Publishers, 1992.A former Republican state senator from Nebraska writes about a pedophile ring involved in thekidnaping, sexual torture and murder of children that went all the way to the Bush White House.Attorney DeCamp discusses the FBI role in the coverup of this case and the murder of a specialprosecutor appointed to investigate the pedophile ring.
Dempsey, James X. and David Cole. TERRORISM AND THE CONSTITUTION: SACRIFICING CIVILLIBERTIES IN THE NAME OF NATIONAL SECURITY. Los Angeles, CA: First AmendmentFoundation, 1999. Examines FBI campaign of terror to undermine civil liberties.
Diamond, Sigmund. COMPROMISED CAMPUS. Oxford University Press, 1992.Professor Diamond attempts to get F.B.I. files showing collaboration between the F.B.I. and collegesand universities from 1945-1955.
Donner, Frank. PROTECTORS OF PRIVILEGE. University of California Press, 1990.Looks at collaboration between local police and the F.B.I. to stifle first amendment rights.
Dwyer, James. TWO SECONDS UNDER THE WORLD. Diane publishers 1997.The most important book you will read on understanding FBI involvement in 9-11terrorist act at the World Trade Center. This book lays out in detail how the FBI engineeredthe first World Trade Center explosion.
Emerson, Steven and Brian Duffy. THE FALL OF PAN AM 103. G.B. Putnam’s Sons, 1990.Oliver Revell was the number 2 man at the F.B.I. until he was demoted by F.B.I. DirectorWilliam Sessions to the Dallas Field Office. His son Chris Revell had tickets forPan Am 103, but he changed his flight two days before the plane exploded over Lockerbie,Scotland. See Ross Gelbspan’s book, BREAK-INS, DEATH THREATS AND THE FBI to get afuller picture of Oliver Revell.
Foerstel, Herbert. SURVEILLANCE IN THE STACKS. Greenwood Press, 1991.Looks at attempts by the F.B.I. to get librarians to spy on the American public.
Gallagher, Dorothy. ALL THE RIGHT ENEMIES. Penguin Books, 1988.The F.B.I. utilized the Mafia to carry out its executions against political activists from 1930 through1970. Carlos Tresca was one of their victims.
Gelbspan, Ross. BREAK- INS, DEATH THREATS, AND THE F.B.I. South End Press, 1991.This Pulitzer Prize winning reporter formerly with the Boston Globe, details F.B.I. collaborationwith the death squads in El Salvador and their attacks upon American groups opposed to those deathsquads.
Glick, Brian. WAR AT HOME. South End Press, 1989.Attorney Glick details the F.B.I.’s covert war against political activists.
Hoffman, David. THE OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING AND THE POLITICS OF TERROR. FeralHouse, 1998.Contains detailed evidence about the FBI alliance with the terrorist underworld,and how FBI agent provocateurs are behind many of the current bombings that have plagued the United States since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Some current thinking has FBI agents creating these acts to fill the void caused by the downfall of communism.
Hougan, Jim. SPOOKS. William Morrow, 1978.Important book detailing the life of former F.B.I. agent Robert Maheux and his relationship with the Mafia. Groundbreaking book in understanding FBI collaboration with the Mafia, using it to carry out assassinations on President Kennedy, Martin Luther King and others. See author Bud Schultz
Kaiser, Marty . Odyssey of an Eavesdropper( My Life in electronic countermeasures and my battle against the FBI) W Carroll & Graf 2005Author exposes wiretapping crimes committed by FBI agents as well as Business Fraud. He built the wiretapping devices for FBI agents that were later used in crimes committed against people like Martin Luther King and public officials.After exposing FBI agents kickback schemes to Congress the author became a target of retaliation by tax payer funded FBI agents.
Keith, Jim. OK BOMB. Illuminate, 1996.Explores FBI coverup in the Oklahoma City bombing investigation.
Kelly, John F. TAINTING EVIDENCE. The Free Press 1998. The book is based on testimony of FBI lab Whistleblower Dr. Frederick Whitehurst , an employee of the FBI for 17 years. Shows how bad the FBI Lab is run. Dr. Whitehurst was the chemist who analyzed Timothy McVeigh’s clothes for traces of ammonium nitrate and was removed from the case when he did not find any bomb residue.
Lehr, Dick & O’Neill, Gerard. BLACK MASS. Public Affairs, 2000.Looks at the FBI’s collaboration in Boston with the Mafia and Irish Mob between 1960 and 2001 in which they collaborated in the murder of 21 women,children and men. Important book showing how the FBI uses the Mafia to commit political and other assassinations .
Melanson, Phillip. THE MURKIN CONSPIRACY. Praeger, 1989.Professor Melanson looks at the F.B.I.’s role in the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Melanson, Phillip. THE ROBERT KENNEDY ASSASSINATION. Shapolsky, 1991.Professor Melanson is in charge of the Robert Kennedy archives at the University of Massachusetts.He details the F.B.I.’s role as one of the principal architects of the assassination of Robert Kennedy.
Messerschmidt, Jim. THE TRIAL OF LEONARD PELTIER. South End Press, 1983.Looks at the miscarriage of justice in the F.B.I.’s handling of the Leonard Peltier case.
Oklahoma City Bombing Investigative Committee. THE FINAL REPORT.2001. The best book by farproviding overwhelming evidence of FBI involvement in the Oklahoma City Bombing .
Navasky, Victor. INVESTIGATING THE F.B.I. Doubleday, 1973.Contains material presented at a major conference at Princeton University in 1971 investigatingcrimes committed by the FBI.
Neff, James. MOBBED UP. Dell Publishers 1988.Important book in understanding FBI collaboration with the Mafia especially how the Bureauuses the Mafia to carry out its political assassinations.
Nelson, Jack. THE F.B.I. AND THE BERRIGANS. Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1972.Looks at F.B.I. death squad directed against Nobel Peace Prize nominee Phil Berrigan and hisbrother, Jesuit priest Daniel Berrigan.
Olsen, Jack. LAST MAN STANDING: THE TRAGEDY AND TRIUMPH OF GERONIMO PRATT.Doubleday, 2000.Provides supporting evidence for the idea of the F.B.I. as a death squad. Examines the F.B.I. acts of genocide against Afro-Americans . Looks at how FBI agents framed Geronimo Pratt, a Afro American Viet-nam vet who spent over 25 years in prison before a judge released him saying he was innocent and framed by FBI agents.
O’Reilly, Kenneth. RACIAL MATTERS. Free Press, 1989.Professor O’Reilly looks at a file called Racial Matters that the F.B.I. is keeping on Black America.
Parenti, Michael. DIRTY TRUTHS. City Lights Books, 1996.Dr. Parenti looks at F.B.I. involvement in the assassination of labor leader Walter Reuther while he was organizing protests against the Vietnam War. It includes the essay “Why the Left is Afraid to look at the Assassination of JFK”.
Pepper, William. ORDERS TO KILL. Carroll and Graf, 1995.Attorney Pepper represented James Earl Ray in his bid for a new trial and won a landmark case in civil court in December 1999 for the Martin Luther King Jr. family. The jury in the case concluded hat the F.B.I. was involved in the assassination of King. His book details our government’s involvement and provides photographic evidence of the F.B.I.’s role in this assassination.
Pepper,William. ACT OF STATE: THE EXECUTION OF MARTIN LUTHER KING Verso Press, 2003The evidence from the 1999 Civil Trial in Memphis brought by the King family in which the jury concluded FBI agents were principal architects in the assassination of Martin Luther King.
Powers, Richard Gid. SECRECY AND POWER. Free Press, 1987.A biography of J. Edgar Hoover and his quest for power.
Powers, Tyrone. EYES TO MY SOUL. Majority Press, 1996.Professor Powers an afro-american, talks about his 9 years working as an F.B.I. agent, and theFBI FRUHMENSCHEN program. White agents tried to kill him when he was writing this book.
Ranalli, Ralph. DEADLY ALLIANCE. Harper Torch, 2001Boston Globe reporter Ralph Rannali exposes FBI collaboration with the Boston Mafia from 1960-2001 where they ran a Murder Inc. President Bush asserted Executive Privilege in 2002 preventingCongress from seeing the Federal Prosecutor’s Investigative files on this case.
Robbins, Natalie. ALIEN INK. William Morrow, 1992.Ms. Robbins acquired the F.B.I. files on the major writers and artists of the 20th century, andexamines F.B.I. attacks upon them and their freedom of expression.
Schultz, Bud and Ruth. IT DID HAPPEN HERE. University of California Press, 1989.Contains interviews with human rights activists who survived F.B.I. assassination attempts.
Schultz, Bud and Ruth. THE PRICE OF DISSENT. University of California Press , 2001The sequel to IT DID HAPPEN HERE with more interviews with civil rights activists and unionorganizers and anti-war protestors who survived FBI assassination attempts and with family members of people who were murdered.
Seymour, Sheri. COMMITTEE OF THE STATES. Self-published, 1989.The F.B.I. infiltrated the California Militia 10 years before the Oklahoma City bombing. Thebook illustrates how easy it was for the F.B.I. to infiltrate the group and get it to make bombs.Shows with child-like simplicity how easy it was for FBI agent provocteur to get Timothy McVeighto make bomb and drive the truck.
Sharkey, Joe. ABOVE SUSPICION. Simon & Schuster, 1993.Looks at the F.B.I. coverup involving one of its own agents who murdered an informant after he got her pregnant.
Suarez, Manuel. REQUIEM ON CERRO MARAVILLA. Waterfront Press, 1987.Looks at F.B.I. collaboration with local police in the arrest, handcuffing, and death squad execution of two teenagers in Puerto Rico.
Summers, Anthony. OFFICIAL AND CONFIDENTIAL. G.B. Putnam and Sons, 1993.This is the book on which the PBS Frontline documentary on J. Edgar Hoover and his friendshipwith the Mafia is based.
Theoharis, Athan. THE F.B.I. Garland Publishers, 1994.Professor Theoharis has compiled a comprehensive listing of books and articles about the F.B.I. up to 1994.
Thomas, Kenn. THE OCTOPUS. Feral House, 1996.Investigates the F.B.I.’s role in the killing of investigative reporter Danny Casolero while he wasinvestigating the October Surprise.
Turner, William. THE ASSASSINATION OF ROBERT KENNEDY. Thunder Mouth Press, 1993.Written by a former F.B.I. agent, it looks at the F.B.I.’s involvement in the assassination of RobertKennedy.
Turner, William. REARVIEW MIRROR foreword by Oliver Stone. Penmarin Books CA 2001.More updated information on FBI involvement in President Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and MartinLuther King Assassination written by a former FBI agent.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. WHO IS GUARDING THE GUARDIANS? A Report on PoliceDeath Squad activities. 1981.
Wiener, Jon. GIMME SOME TRUTH. University of California Press, 1999.Professor Wiener looks at the 14 year battle with the F.B.I. to get them to release their files onJohn Lennon.
SUGGESTED WEB SITES AND VIDEOSwww.911pressfortruth.comwww.copvcia.comwww.narconews.comwww.okcbombing.orgwww.unansweredquestions.orgwww.911inquiry.orgwww.heatisonline.orgwww.whistleblowers.orgwww.zpub.com/notes/fbi-shame.htmlVIDEOS:WACO:RULES OF ENGAGEMENTSILENCED Jack CashillTHE GREAT DECEPTION Barry ZwickerTRUTH&LIES 911 Mike RuppertAFTERMATH:UNANSWEREDQUESTIONS
FBI agents arrested or sued in civil court for Pedophilia:Edward Rodgers former head of FBI Child Abuse Programhttp://www.headwatersproductions.co…s/article4.htmlJohn Conditt former head of FBI internal affairs investigations.http://www.freespeech.com/archives/002000.html
Flat,”Corrupt? That’s a pretty serious charge.”Yes, and if there’s an honest and intense investigation, I’m sure the charge will stick. Too many of Bushllit’s buddies have come away with huge profits for defective or non-existent work at taxpayer expense for it to be anything else but an administration raid on the treasury.
go to link if you cannot open pdf file
http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2007/03/past_as_prologu.html
« POGO “Strykes” Back | MainPast as Prologue: GAO Access and the FBI
Michael Ravnitzky has provided POGO with some Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) documents from 1993 and 1994 (pdf) he received through the Freedom of Information Act. In August 2004, FBI Director Louis Freeh, reiterating directions sent out during his predecessor Acting Director Floyd Clarke’s tenure the year before, tells his field office Special-Agents-in-Charge and Legal Attachés to control and reduce GAO access to FBI documents (pdf):
In the past, GAO [Government Accountability Office] has attempted to make direct contact with various Field Office, Legat [Legal Attachés], and FBIHQ [FBI Headquarter] personnel without coordination or approval of FBIHQ. Interviews of personnel, disclosure of information, or dissemination of documentation should not take place until the proper notification from GAO has been submitted to and coordinated by OPCA [Office of Public and Congressional Affairs] at FBIHQ.
GAO is presently conducting several different audits that directly or indirectly involve the FBI. While each of these audits has been approved and coordinated by FBIHQ, each subsequent audit must also be approved and coordinated by OPCA, even if the same GAO staff and FBI personnel are involved in the new audit. No documentation or additional interviews are to be given to GAO without coordination and authorization by FBIHQ.
Despite instructions from FBIHQ, GAO often will ask for documentation and more information than they are authorized to receive. For example, there have been a number of requests from GAO for information relating to pending investigations. As a matter of longstanding policy, FBIHQ will continue to deny GAO access to any information that will identify pending cases. GAO is not to be given direct and unlimited access to our files…
This might as well have been written yesterday.
Ironically, in 1997, it was Freeh who called the FBI “potentially the most dangerous agency in the country” if it is “not scrutinized carefully.” Freeh also called for more congressional oversight.
Months before the attacks on September 11, 2001, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the FBI entitled “Oversight of the FBI” (pdf). One of the witnesses, Norman Rabkin of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress’ investigative arm, testified that:
While things go smoothly on occasion, on many other occasions our access at the FBI has been difficult, resulting in us having to follow cumbersome procedures to meet with Bureau officials and get basic information about their programs and activities. We have had access issues in a number of agencies over the years. However, across law enforcement-related agencies, FBI access issues have been the most sustained and intractable.
Rabkin also remarked that the last time the GAO testified on access problems at the FBI and Justice Department was in 1991 (pdf).
A month later in July 2001, two House Government Reform subcommittees held a joint hearing entitled, “Is the CIA’s Refusal to Cooperate with Congressional Inquiries a Threat to Effective Oversight of the Operations of the Federal Government?”
There the GAO’s Henry L. Hinton, Jr. stated:
We have broad authority to evaluate CIA programs. In reality, however, we face both legal and practical limitations on our ability to review these programs. For example, we have no access to certain CIA “unvouchered” accounts and cannot compel our access to foreign intelligence and counterintelligence information. In addition, as a practical matter, we are limited by the CIA’s level of cooperation, which has varied through the years. We have not actively audited the CIA since the early 1960s. (emphasis POGO’s)
Then 9/11 occurred and though there were important exceptions, Congress as an institution did not express much interest in the decades-long issue. In fact, GAO access took some big hits over the course of 2001 and into 2002, especially in regards to the battle it lost over access to Vice President Dick Cheney’s Energy Task Force records, partly because its main Congressional support was in the minority at the time.
Whistleblowers and the families of 9/11 victims need to be given particular credit for what was done in those years. But finally, as can be seen in the muscle flexing of House Government Reform Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) (pdf) in the U.S. Attorney firing investigation, though this battle is about Congressional access more generally, Congress is coming back.
GAO access at the FBI and CIA are still problems however. Though Congressional committee staff can provide a great deal of oversight firepower, Congress’ large and professional investigative arm, the GAO, needs access to information. As Hinton stated, the GAO has not “actively audited the CIA since the early 1960s.” And the problem with the FBI goes back to at least 1941, when then-Attorney General Robert H. Jackson, representing J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI, wrote in an opinion that:
It is the position of the Department of Justice, restated now with the approval and at the direction of the President, that all investigative reports are confidential documents of the executive department and that congressional or public access thereto would not be in the public interest.
Though it still had not been named as “Executive Privilege,” Jackson was relying on the same concept, which would not become a mature concept until the Cold War:
This accords with the conclusions reached by a long line of predecessors in the office of Attorney General and with the position taken by the President from time to time since Washington’s administration; and this discretion in the executive branch has been upheld and respected by the judiciary.
As recent developments have made clear, we need more oversight of the FBI and other national security agencies. The GAO serves the Congress, but it needs Congress’ support too.
– Nick Schwellenbach