FBI Investigated 3,501 People Without Warrants
From the AP via Common Dreams NewsCenter:
The FBI secretly sought information last year on 3,501 U.S. citizens and legal residents from their banks and credit card, telephone and Internet companies without a court's approval, the Justice Department said Friday. It was the first time the Bush administration has publicly disclosed how often it uses the administrative subpoena known as a National Security Letter, which allows the executive branch of government to obtain records about people in terrorism and espionage investigations without a judge's approval or a grand jury subpoena. Friday's disclosure was mandated as part of the renewal of the Patriot Act, the administration's sweeping anti-terror law.
Click here to read the article.
--Tom Hayes
posted by Colorado Coalition for Human Rights at 10:45 AM
2 Comments:
Ok and .... Whats the problem? It was conducted legally and within the scope of the Adminstrations power. I think all of you liberals need to get over the fact that the government has to have the power to do these things to keep us safe from those bad people trying to harm us. So many people screamed that the government wasn't doing enough to keep us asfe after 9/11 and now we read about how the government is doing a better job at it and these same people are now criticizing the government for taking extra steps to keep us safe from those people out to harm us. You'll can't have it both ways and still seem credible.
Thanks for the comment Jon. I simply posted part of an article to provide information to readers of this blog. I didn't make the argument that it was an illegal use of power, I actually didn't make an argument at all. I do believe, however that we should be concerned about our civil liberties after 9/11. The government should definitely work to protect its citizens, but this shouldn't come at the price of sacrificing our rights. While it is understandable to want to get the "bad people trying to harm us" it is not credible to have no concern for how that is done. It is often the case that after a horrible event like 9/11 it is easy to only focus on who we are fighting, rather than what we are fighting for. One of the greatest aspects of our system of government is the system of checks and balances that prevents one branch from gaining too much power. This administration has made the argument that it has almost unlimited authority in pursuing terrorists, something that I find worrisome. Maybe you aren't worried because you are more trusting of authority than I am, however I believe that power needs to be checked or it will become tyrannical. Maybe that is where we ultimately disagree.
--Tom Hayes
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