A watchdog report out Thursday found that the FBI took seven years to fulfill a legal obligation to adopt additional privacy protections for searches authorized by the controversial Section 215 of the Patriot Act.
According to the report, Congress demanded that the agency adopt “minimization procedures” to ensure that it didn’t collect information outside the scope of the FISC authorization and implement a plan for handling such material.
According to the Justice Department’s inspector general, it took the agency seven years to create the “minimization procedures” for digital data and five years to implement similar policies designed to protect business records.
“The [Justice] Department and FBI ultimately produced final minimization procedures specifically designed for Section 215 materials in 2013,” the report says.
“Given the significance of minimization procedures in the Reauthorization Act, we do not believe it should have taken 7 years for the Department to develop minimization procedures or 5 years to address the recommendation that the Department comply with the statutory requirement to develop specific minimization procedures designed for business records,” it continues.
According to the IG report, the FBI’s use of Section 215 to justify data collection between 2007 and 2009 did yield “records of U.S. persons who were not the subject of or associated with the subjects of authorized investigations.”
The report also provides insight into the value of information he FBI obtains through the program, noting: “As with our previous reviews, the agents we interviewed did not identify any major case developments that resulted from use of the records obtained in response to Section 215 orders, but told us that the material produced pursuant to Section 215 orders was valuable in that it was used to support other investigative requests, develop investigative leads, and corroborate other information.”
With the bulk collection authorization set to expire at the end of the month, Section 215 has been at the center of a Capitol Hill debate surrounding the future of the Patriot Act in recent weeks.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) took to the Senate floor Wednesday to launch a 10-hour filibuster against renewal of the provision.
“There comes a time in the history of nations when fear and complacency allow power to accumulate and liberty and privacy to suffer,” the Kentucky senator said at the onset of his speech. “That time is now, and I will not let the Patriot Act, the most unpatriotic of acts, go unchallenged.”
The House has passed a bill called the USA Freedom Act to renew the provision with modest privacy reforms. A handful of Senate Republicans, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), meanwhile, want a “clean” extension of the Patriot Act with no limitations. The Senate is expected to vote on the extension Friday.
If Congress fails to come to an agreement about the future of bulk collection under Section 215, the White House has said it could intervene to prevent the indefinite suspension of the spy program.
“We believe [the USA Freedom Act] is the best path forward, both as a practical matter, in terms of getting this done before the deadline, but also in a way that best reflects the need to give our law enforcement authorities and national security authorities the tools that they need to keep us safe while also enhancing the basic privacy and civil liberty protections that the American people deserve,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Thursday.
The post Watchdog: FBI neglected Patriot Act privacy protections for years appeared first on Personal Liberty.
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