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FBI director grilled by senators

FBI Director Robert Mueller struggled to convince skeptical senators that despite recently revealed abuses, the FBI should retain Patriot Act authority to gather telephone, e-mail and financial records without a judge's approval.

"The statute did not cause the errors. The FBI's implementation did," the FBI chief told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

But the committee's Democratic chairman, Senator Patrick Leahy, served notice: "We're going to be re-examining the broad authorities we granted the FBI in the Patriot Act."

House Judiciary committee members delivered a similar message last week.

The Senate panel's ranking Republican, Senator Arlen Specter, went further: "The question arises as to whether any director can handle this job and whether the bureau itself can handle the job."

Grim-faced and sometimes even looking pained, Mueller testified at the panel's second hearing into a Justice Department inspector general's report this month that revealed abuses in the FBI's use of documents called national security letters to gather data.

The Patriot Act, passed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, extended the use of security letters and created other expanded investigative tools for the federal enforcement agency.

Reviewing headquarters files and four of 56 FBI field offices, Inspector General Glenn Fine found 48 violations of law or presidential directives during 2003 to 2005. He estimates there may be up to 3,000 unidentified or unreported violations throughout the FBI.

Mueller said he had instituted procedures for issuing the letters.

"What I did not do and should have done is put in a compliance program to be sure those procedures were followed," he said.

He is now devising a compliance program and has ordered an audit to determine the extent of the problem and to see if any agents should be disciplined.

"We are committed to demonstrating to the committee, the Congress and the American people that we will correct the deficiencies," Mueller said.

"I still have very serious qualms," Leahy replied.

Mueller called the letters "an indispensable tool for our conduct of terrorism investigations" and began listing cases in which the letters were useful, including a plot against the Brooklyn Bridge.

Interrupting, Leahy said the panel could discuss individual plots later, including "how serious a plot it was to take down the Brooklyn Bridge."

Government court documents acknowledged that defendant Iyman Faris, now serving 20 years in the case, advised al-Qaeda the plot would be futile.

Citing the national security letters and recent inspector general criticism of FBI reporting of terrorist cases and of weapons and laptops lost, Specter said, "Every time we turn around there is another enormous failure by the bureau."

Specter said the committee should consider establishing a separate domestic intelligence agency like Britain's MI-5.

Mueller argued against some committee Democrats' suggestions to inject judicial approval into the national security letter process or to limit how far agents can roam beyond actual suspects in seeking records.

But under questioning by Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Mueller indicated he might trade the letters for administrative subpoenas, like those used in some drug and tax cases without prior approval of a judge.

National security letters, first authorized in 1986, can be used to acquire e-mail, telephone and travel records and financial information. In 2001, the Patriot Act eliminated any requirement that the records belong to someone under suspicion. Now an innocent person's records can be obtained if FBI field agents consider the person relevant to a terrorism or spying investigation.
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