[Sosfbay-discuss] Impeach whom?

[JamBoi]

I agree with Wes.

Impeach for Peace!

Drew


--- Wes Rolley <wrolley at charter.net> wrote:

> Here is some input to the discussion of impeachment.  Right now, the 
> emotion may focus on Cheney but I believe that the attention should 
> focus on Gonzales for the simple reason that, right now, he is more 
> vulnerable.  Both parties are going after him.  It almost seems that 
> Senators  Leahy and Specter are loading each others guns before
> firing 
> and, if they miss, Rep. Conyers is waiting over the Hill. If I were 
> marching, I would be ready to call attention to all of these
> violations 
> of the right of privacy. Keep up the pressure, take it to the
> newspapers 
> and Gonzales will become an embarrassment and be asked to take one
> for 
> the team... just like they asked Scooter Libby.
> 
>
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070309/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/national_security_letters_25
> 
> 
> 
> *Justice: FBI misused Patriot Act powers
> *By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer 42 minutes ago
> 
> WASHINGTON - The *FBI* improperly and, in some cases, illegally used
> the 
> USA Patriot Act to secretly obtain personal information about people
> in 
> the United States, a Justice Department audit concluded Friday.
> 
> And for three years the FBI underreported to Congress how often it 
> forced businesses to turn over the customer data, the audit found.
> 
> Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who oversees the FBI, described
> the 
> problems cited in the report as unacceptable and left open the 
> possibility of criminal charges. He ordered further investigation.
> 
> "Once we get that information, we'll be in a better position to
> assess 
> what kinds of steps should be taken," Gonzales told reporters
> following 
> a speech to privacy officials.
> 
> "There is no excuse for the mistakes that have been made, and we are 
> going to make things right as quickly as possible," the attorney
> general 
> said.
> 
> FBI Director Robert Mueller said he was to blame for not putting more
> 
> safeguards into place.
> 
> "I am to be held accountable," Mueller said. He told reporters he
> would 
> correct the problems and did not plan to resign.
> 
> "The inspector general went and did the audit that I should have put
> in 
> place many years ago," Mueller said.
> 
> The audit by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine found
> 
> that FBI agents sometimes demanded personal data on individuals
> without 
> proper authorization. The 126-page audit also found the FBI
> improperly 
> obtained telephone records in non-emergency circumstances.
> 
> The audit blames agent error and shoddy record-keeping for the bulk
> of 
> the problems and did not find any indication of criminal misconduct.
> 
> Still, "we believe the improper or illegal uses we found involve
> serious 
> misuses of national security letter authorities," the audit
> concludes.
> 
> At issue are the security letters, a power outlined in the Patriot
> Act 
> that the Bush administration pushed through Congress after the Sept.
> 11, 
> 2001, terror attacks. The letters, or administrative subpoenas, are
> used 
> in suspected terrorism and espionage cases. They allow the FBI to 
> require telephone companies, Internet service providers, banks,
> credit 
> bureaus and other businesses to produce highly personal records about
> 
> their customers or subscribers — without a judge's approval.
> 
> About three-fourths of the national security letters were issued for 
> counterterror cases, and the other fourth for spy investigations.
> 
> Fine's annual review is required by Congress, over the objections of
> the 
> Bush administration.
> 
> The audit released Friday found that the number of national security 
> letters issued by the FBI skyrocketed in the years after the Patriot
> Act 
> became law.
> 
> In 2000, for example, the FBI issued an estimated 8,500 letters. By 
> 2003, however, that number jumped to 39,000. It rose again the next 
> year, to about 56,000 letters in 2004, and dropped to approximately 
> 47,000 in 2005.
> 
> Over the entire three-year period, the FBI reported issuing 143,074 
> national security letters requesting customer data from businesses,
> the 
> audit found. But that did not include an additional 8,850 requests
> that 
> were never recorded in the FBI's database, the audit found.
> 
> Also, Fine's audit noted, a 2006 report to Congress showing that the
> FBI 
> delivered only 9,254 national security letters during the previous
> year 
> — on 3,501 U.S. citizens and legal residents — was only required
> to 
> report certain types of requests for information. That report did not
> 
> outline the full scope of the national security letter requests in
> 2005, 
> nor was it required to, Fine's office said.
> 
> Additionally, the audit found, the FBI identified 26 possible
> violations 
> in its use of the national security letters, including failing to get
> 
> proper authorization, making improper requests under the law and 
> unauthorized collection of telephone or Internet e-mail records.
> 
> Of the violations, 22 were caused by FBI errors, while the other four
> 
> were the result of mistakes made by the firms that received the
> letters.
> 
> The FBI also used so-called "exigent letters," signed by officials at
> 
> FBI headquarters who were not authorized to sign national security 
> letters, to obtain information. In at least 700 cases, these exigent 
> letters were sent to three telephone companies to get toll billing 
> records and subscriber information.
> 
> "In many cases, there was no pending investigation associated with
> the 
> request at the time the exigent letters were sent," the audit
> concluded.
> 
> In a letter to Fine, Gonzales asked the inspector general to issue a 
> follow-up audit in July on whether the FBI had followed
> recommendations 
> to fix the problems.
> 
> "To say that I am concerned about what has been revealed in this
> report 
> would be an enormous understatement," Gonzales told the privacy 
> officials. "Failure to adequately protect information privacy simply
> is 
> a failure to do our jobs."
> 
> Senators outraged over the conclusions signaled they would provide 
> tougher oversight of the FBI — and perhaps limit its power.
> 
> "The report indicates abuse of the authority" Congress gave the FBI, 
> said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (news, bio, 
> voting record), D-Vt. "You cannot have people act as free agents on 
> something where they're going to be delving into your privacy."
> 
> The committee's top Republican, Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter
> (news, 
> bio, voting record), said the FBI appears to have "badly misused 
> national security letters." The senator said, "This is, regrettably, 
> part of an ongoing process where the federal authorities are not
> really 
> sensitive to privacy and go far beyond what we have authorized."
> 
> Sen. Russ Feingold (news, bio, voting record), D-Wis., another member
> on 
> the panel that oversees the FBI, said the report "proves that 'trust
> us' 
> doesn't cut it."
> 
> The *American Civil Liberties Union* said the audit proves Congress
> must 
> amend the Patriot Act to require judicial approval anytime the FBI
> wants 
> access to sensitive personal information. "The Attorney General and
> the 
> FBI are part of the problem and they cannot be trusted to be part of
> the 
> solution," said Anthony D. Romero, the ACLU's executive director.
> ___
> 
> On the Net:
> The report is at: http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/reports/FBI/index.htm
> Justice Department: http://www.usdoj.gov
> 
> -- 
> 
> I have been impressed with the urgency of doing.
> Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
> Being willing is not enough; 
> We must do. –Leonardo DaVinci
> Wesley C. Rolley
> 17211 Quail Court
> Morgan Hill, CA 95037
> (408)778-3024 - http://cagreening.blogspot.com
> 
> 
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> 


___________________

JamBoi
Jammy The Sacred Cow Slayer

"Live humbly, laugh often and love unconditionally" (anon)
http://dailyJam.blogspot.com


 
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