FBI Issues New Rules For Getting Phone Records
By John Solomon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 20, 2007; Page A06
The FBI, which has been criticized for improperly gathering telephone records in terrorism cases, has told its agents they may still ask phone companies to voluntarily hand over toll records in emergencies by using a new set of procedures, officials said yesterday. In the most dire emergencies, requests can be submitted to the companies verbally, officials said.
This month, the bureau sent field agents a new "emergency letter" template for seeking the records, shortly before the public release of a report by the Justice Department's inspector general that documented abuses of emergency phone-records collection by counterterrorism agents, officials said. That report created a furor on Capitol Hill and prompted FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III to take personal responsibility.
The report documented instances in which agents gathered phone records between 2003 and 2005 using emergency powers when no emergencies existed. It also reported that agents did not follow basic legal requirements, such as certifying that requests for phone records were connected to authorized FBI investigations.
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