WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- An advocacy group says documents it has obtained allegedly show the Justice Department violated its own guidelines on surveillance.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center used the Freedom of Information Act to get the documents. In a letter Monday to Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chair of the Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., EPIC said the documents show at least 13 instances of alleged FBI misconduct investigated by the Office of General Counsel that were not reported to Congress.
Alleged instances of improper surveillance include violations of bank privacy, obtaining e-mails after the warrant allowing it had expired and keeping a target under surveillance for more than five years, while failing to notify the Justice Department for 15 months that the target had moved from New York to Detroit.
"We're seeing what might be the tip of the iceberg at the FBI and across the intelligence community," David Sobel, EPIC's general counsel, said. "It indicates that the existing mechanisms do not appear adequate to prevent abuses or to ensure the public that abuses that are identified are treated seriously and remedied."
