FOIA Litigation: Abuse of National Security Letters (NSLs)
EFF v. Department of Justice, 07-656-JDB D.D.C. filed April 10, 2007
Before the USA PATRIOT Act, the FBI could only use so-called National Security Letters for securing the records of suspected terrorists or spies. But under PATRIOT the FBI can use them to get telephone, Internet, financial, credit, and other personal records about anybody without any court approval as long as it believes the information could be relevant to an authorized terrorism or espionage investigation.
From the moment PATRIOT was passed, we said the NSL power was ripe for abuse and unconstitutional, and, in March 2007, the Department of Justice's inspector general released a report confirming extensive misuse of NSLs in a sample of four FBI field offices. An internal audit by the FBI confirmed that the problem was far more extensive than first thought.
In the wake of the inspector general's report, EFF filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking fundamental information about the FBI's abuse of power. On June 16, 2007, a federal judge ordered the FBI to process 2,500 pages a month responsive to EFF's request. We'll be highlighting key excerpts of the materials here as well as posting the entire documents.
Documents
Litigation Documents
Significant Documents Released Under FOIA
- August 6, 2007 Exigent Letters Requesting 'Communities of Interest'[PDF, 540.82 KB]
- February 21, 2007 Documents About Improper NSL Served on University in North Carolina[PDF, 1.16 MB]
- April 21, 2005 Report of Intelligence Violation Days Before Alberto Gonzales Told Congress There Had Been No Patriot Act Abuses[PDF, 244.04 KB]
All Documents Released Under FOIA
Press Releases
- April 15, 2008 EFF Report: FBI Slowed Terror Investigation with Improper NSL Request
- April 11, 2007 EFF Sues Justice Department for Immediate Release of NSL Abuse Records
Deeplinks Posts
- April 15, 2008 FBI General Counsel Questioned on EFF NSL Report
- April 14, 2008 EFF Issues Report on Abuse of National Security Letter
- February 16, 2008 FOIA Document Shows Improper FBI Access to Entire Domain's Email
In The News
- NEW YORK TIMES | February 17, 2008 FBI Gained Unauthorized Access to E-Mail
- NEW YORK TIMES | September 08, 2007 FBI Data Mining Reached Beyond Initial Targets
- WASHINGTON POST | July 10, 2007 Gonzales Was Told of FBI Violations


