Big Brother and National Security Letters- Who'd A Thunk It

Another Damning Report on the FBI’s Abuse of Power

The Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released another damning report last week on the FBI’s use of National Security Letters (NSLs).

NSLs allow the FBI to secretly demand sensitive customer information from telephone and internet communications companies, financial institutions and credit agencies—without suspicion or prior judicial approval. The statute was broadly rewritten in the Patriot Act. Anyone who receives an NSL is "gagged," so they can't tell anyone they received one. This violation of the First Amendment enshrined into the Patriot Act has made NSLs the FBI's go-to surveillance tool since 9/11. And they've been abusing this tool repeatedly.

The OIG report released last week is the third report of abuse in the last four years that details the bureau’s flagrant and institutionalized abuse of NSLs. The FBI assures us they have this under control.

For years, Congress has stood by while report after report has been released. The bureau clearly cannot be trusted to police itself, so it’s time to stand up to the FBI's pick-and-choose approach to the rules. Congress must fulfill its oversight role and ensure that this power is reined in.

Congress will soon be voting on reauthorizing three provisions of the Patriot Act, including the NSL provisions. It is time to tell them to rein in the government’s authority to dig through our sensitive information.

>>Take action: Tell your members of Congress to reform the Patriot Act.