FBI director acknowledges more surveillance abuses

FBI DIRECTOR ACKNOWLEDGES MORE SURVEILLANCE ABUSES
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Anne Broache]
The FBI's abuse of secret requests for telephone and e-mail logs was not limited to a three-year period described in an earlier report, the bureau's director acknowledged to a Senate committee on Wednesday. Last spring, the U.S. Department of Justice's inspector general released a report that the FBI overstepped its authority and may have broken the law from 2003 to 2005 in its use of that covert investigative tool known as a national security letter--an admission that drew rebuke from congressional Democrats and Republicans alike. The Patriot Act dramatically expanded the FBI's authority to issue national security letters. Now the inspector general has identified "similar" problems that also persisted in 2006, with details to be disclosed in a forthcoming report, FBI Director Robert Mueller told a U.S. Senate committee on Wednesday. He attempted to downplay those findings by assuring the Senate Judiciary Committee that the activity predates "reforms" the agency has since put into place.
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