Power Tends to Corrupt
The Justice Department’s inspector general has prepared a scathing report criticizing how the F.B.I. uses a form of administrative subpoena to obtain thousands of telephone, business and financial records without prior judicial approval.
The report, expected to be issued on Friday, says that the bureau lacks sufficient controls to make sure the subpoenas, which do not require a judge’s prior approval, are properly issued and that it does not follow even some of the rules it does have.
See “U.S. Report to Fault F.B.I Over National Security Letters” in the New York Times.
It’s a sad day when even the Justice Department’s own inspector general is a terrorist sympathizer who won’t whitewash the department’s actions. Can’t we replace him with Scooter Libby? He’s loyal. Oh, wait, he’s in jail. Which will soon be said of lots of loyalists.
[Update: more at “Frequent Errors In FBI’s Secret Records Requests” in the Washington Post.]