Surveillance State: Secret Rules Make it Easy for the FBI to Spy on Journalist

by in Communications, Computer Related, Crime Awareness, Current Events, First Amendment Issues, Law Enforcement, Limited Government, Police State, The Surveillance State and tagged , , , , ,

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 03: Jerry Delakas, 63, (R) a longtime newspaper vendor in Manhattan's Cooper Square, stands by his newsstand on April 3, 2012 in New York City. Delakas has been selling papers, magazines, lottery tickets and other items seven days a week for 25 years at the iconic New York location. Despite the license holder for the newsstand leaving it to him in her will, Delakas is being threatened with eviction by the Department of Consumer Affairs. The New york agency claims that he's not the legal license holder. The area around Astor Place at Lafayette Street, once the heart of bohemian New York, has slowly evolved into an area of banks and chain stores like Starbucks and The Gap. Critics of the city's threat to evict Delakas say that he represents some of the last traces of authentic New York. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

SECRET FBI RULES allow agents to obtain journalists’ phone records with approval from two internal officials — far less oversight than under normal judicial procedures.

The classified rules, obtained by The Intercept and dating from 2013, govern the FBI’s use of national security letters, which allow the bureau to obtain information about journalists’ calls without going to a judge or informing the news organization being targeted. They have previously been released only in heavily redacted form.

Media advocates said the documents show that the FBI imposes few constraints on itself when it bypasses the requirement to go to court and obtain subpoenas or search warrants before accessing journalists’ information.

The rules stipulate that obtaining a journalist’s records with a national security letter (or NSL) requires the signoff of the FBI’s general counsel and the executive assistant director of the bureau’s National Security Branch, in addition to the regular chain of approval. Generally speaking, there are a variety of FBI officials, including the agents in charge of field offices, who can sign off that an NSL is “relevant” to a national security investigation.

There is an extra step under the rules if the NSL targets a journalist in order “to identify confidential news media sources.” In that case, the general counsel and the executive assistant director must first consult with the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

But if the NSL is trying to identify a leaker by targeting the records of the potential source, and not the journalist, the Justice Department doesn’t need to be involved.

The guidelines also specify that the extra oversight layers do not apply if the journalist is believed to be a spy or is part of a news organization “associated with a foreign intelligence service” or “otherwise acting on behalf of a foreign power.” Unless, again, the purpose is to identify a leak, in which case, the general counsel and executive assistant director must approve the request.

Read the Remainder at The Intercept

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