Not only is the FBI abusing its ability to obtain communications and financial records without a court order, the bureau is also expanding its abilities to enter a home or office without letting its occupant know. TPMmuckraker alumnus Justin Rood at ABC has obtained FBI records documenting the rise of so-called “surreptitious entry” operations:
“The refocusing of FBI operational priorities and the new emphasis placed on intelligence-based activities. . . has resulted in a dramatic increase” in the demand for so-called ‘black bag” jobs, in which teams of highly-trained specialists covertly enter a home or office, search its contents and leave without indicating they had been there, states the budget document. It does not detail how many of the secret searches it carries out, and the FBI did not respond to comment.
The bureau is asking Congress for an additional $5 million to pay for the operations, and over a dozen new specialized personnel.
Unlike the bureau’s use of “National Security Letters” to compel a bank or internet service provider to turn over information on a client, surreptitious entry operations in national-security cases require the approval of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. But not everyone thinks that’s a sufficient check on abuse:
“It’s obviously troubling that people’s homes are being searched and they may never learn of it â if they’re never charged with a crime,” said Lisa Graves of the Center for National Security Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank which studies intelligence policy and constitutional issues. Graves told the Blotter on ABCNews.com she does not believe the searches receive sufficient judicial oversight.
Sounds like something the congressional judiciary committees may be interested in when they’re next briefed on the FBI’s new plans to prevent abuse in data collection.
