USA - Unpaid phone bills ruin FBI wiretap operations

[Euphoric]

Unpaid phone bills ruin FBI wiretap operations

Last Updated: 2:18am GMT 12/01/2008

Eavesdropping operations on criminal and terrorist suspects by the Federal Bureau of Investigation have collapsed because the bureau has failed to pay its telephone bills.

A report by the US Department of Justice revealed that the unpaid costs of wiretaps came to $66,000 (£33,000) in one FBI field office alone.

An audit by Glenn Fine, the inspector general, discovered that a wiretap used in an operation conducted under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act - the government's most sensitive covert investigations - "was halted due to untimely payment" in at least one case.
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The report added: "We also found that late payments have resulted in telecommunications carriers actually disconnecting phone lines established to deliver surveillance results to the FBI, resulting in lost evidence."

Nearly 500 bills for telecommunication surveillance in five field offices were not paid on time, the audit found.

Revealing a picture of financial chaos within the 56 field offices of America's chief law enforcement agency, the audit blamed the lost connections on the FBI's lax oversight of money used in undercover investigations.

The report - of which only an edited version was released publicly - followed a case in 2006 in which an FBI employee admitted stealing more than $25,000 (£12,500) that was intended to be spent on wiretaps.

John Miller, the assistant director of the FBI, said wiretaps were dropped a few times because of unpaid bills but investigations were not set back significantly.

He said that the FBI "will not tolerate financial mismanagement, or worse" and that the problems were being rectified.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which claims that much government wiretapping is unauthorised, accused telecommunication companies of allowing illegal eavesdropping as long as they were getting paid.

Michael German, the ACLU's national security policy expert and a former FBI agent, said: "It seems the tele-coms, who are claiming they were just being 'good patriots' when they allowed the government to spy on us without warrants, are more than willing to pull the plug on national security investigations when the government falls behind on its bills."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...12/wfbi112.xml

[trptamene]

While I'm glad this stopped them from pissing all over the constitution for the mean time, this is particularly alarming. If we can't even expect our government to pay their own phone bills, how can we expect them to do anything else with any sort of competence.

[Lettish]

Lol, way to go FBI!

[Hollow Hippie]

Fucking Blatant Idiots

[enquirewithin]

LOL! I read that elsewhere! What a bunch of idiots!

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said "no investigations were adversely affected."
Much of the report contained sensitive law-enforcement information and many details were not released.
The FISA program, denounced by critics as overly intrusive and unconstitutional, is up for renewal in Congress.
But lawmakers are bogged down over the scope of the program and liability protections for telephone companies that took part in a domestic eavesdropping program launched by President George W. Bush after the September 11 attacks.
Bush wants Congress to shield phone companies from lawsuits for taking part in the program, saying their cooperation in the FISA wiretaps is essential to national security.
The audit followed a 2006 case in which an FBI employee pleaded guilty to stealing more than $25,000 in confidential case funds intended for undercover telecoms services.
The FBI acknowledged "widespread agreement" that its 1980s era accounting system was inadequate and said it was working to improve it.
"The FBI will not tolerate financial mismanagement," it said.