WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- The FBI cited non-existent terror emergencies to gather telephone records between 2002 and 2006, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
Citing internal FBI memos and interviews, the newspaper said the bureau also acquired phone records -- about 2,000 in all -- by persuading telecom companies to turn them over in some cases. The Post said FBI officials authorized some operations after they'd already been carried out.
Citing e-mails it had acquired, the newspaper said counterterrorism specialists within the bureau failed to follow procedures that had been implemented to guard civil liberties -- and the number of urgent phone record requests swamped communications analysts with work that turned out to be irrelevant.
FBI officials told the newspaper a Justice Department inspector general's report this month is likely to find the emergency requests violated U.S. law.
FBI General Counsel Valerie Caproni told the Post the FBI violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act by citing fabricating emergencies in records collection requests.
"We should have stopped those requests from being made that way," Caproni said.
