[News] F.B.I., Using Patriot Act, Demands Library's Records

[Anti-Imperialist News]

F.B.I., Using Patriot Act, Demands Library's Records

By ERIC LICHTBLAU
Published: August 26, 2005
WASHINGTON, Aug. 25 - Using its expanded power under the antiterrorism law 
known as the USA Patriot Act, the F.B.I. is demanding library records from 
a Connecticut institution as part of an intelligence investigation, the 
American Civil Liberties Union said Thursday.

The demand is the first confirmed instance in which the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation has used the law in this way, federal officials and the 
A.C.L.U. said. The government's power to demand access to library borrowing 
records and other material showing reading habits has been the single most 
divisive issue in the debate over whether Congress should extend key 
elements of the act after this year.

Because of federal secrecy requirements, the A.C.L.U. said it was barred 
from disclosing the identity of the institution or other main details of 
the bureau's demand, but court papers indicate that the target is a library 
in the Bridgeport area.

The A.C.L.U., a leading critic of the Bush administration over the Patriot 
Act and its antiterrorism policies, brought a lawsuit on Aug. 9 in Federal 
District Court in Bridgeport on behalf of the Connecticut institution. The 
suit was filed under seal, and names and other information were redacted in 
a public version it released Thursday.

The A.C.L.U. said it would seek an emergency order allowing it to discuss 
details of the case publicly. A hearing has been set for Wednesday in 
federal court in Bridgeport.

In the debate over the future of the antiterrorism law, the administration 
has said that it has never used the so-called library provision in the law, 
which falls under Section 215, to demand records from libraries or booksellers.

The A.C.L.U. said that in the Connecticut case, the bureau was using a 
separate investigative tool, a type of administrative subpoena known as a 
national security letter, to get records related to library patrons, 
reading materials and patrons' use of the Internet.

The bureau's power to use national security letters to demand records 
without a judge's approval was expanded under the antiterrorism law. Last 
year, a federal judge in Manhattan struck down part of the subpoena 
provision as unconstitutional, in part because it allowed for no judicial 
oversight, but the Justice Department is appealing the ruling.

Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the A.C.L.U., said the demand for 
the Connecticut library records "shows that our supposed hysteria over the 
Patriot Act wasn't so hysterical after all."

"This is a prime example of the government using its Patriot Act powers 
without any judicial oversight to get sensitive information on law-abiding 
Americans," Mr. Romero said.

Officials at the Justice Department and the F.B.I. refused comment on the 
issue because it involves pending litigation. But one government official, 
speaking on condition of anonymity because of the litigation, cautioned 
against reading too much into the bureau's demand for the records in 
Connecticut.

Because the law prevents public disclosure concerning such demands for 
records, the official said: "Not all the facts have come out here. But 
national security letters are a legitimate investigative tool, and to draw 
conclusions without knowing what the underlying facts are, people have to 
be careful about that."

The letter from the F.B.I., which was included in the lawsuit, said the 
material being sought was needed as part of an investigation "to protect 
against internal terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities." The 
letter warned that the recipient was prohibited "from disclosing to any 
person that the F.B.I. has sought or obtained access to information or 
records under these provisions."

The lawsuit said the Connecticut organization, which is a member of the 
American Library Association, "strictly guards the confidentiality and 
privacy of its library and Internet records, and believes it should not be 
forced to disclose such records without a showing of compelling need and 
approval by a judge."

While the antiterrorism law is still awaiting final reauthorization by 
Congress, both the Senate and the House moved last month to extend at least 
temporarily the government's power to demand library records in terrorism 
investigations.

Administration officials have repeatedly emphasized that they have no 
interest in investigating the reading habits of law-abiding Americans.

But the administration has faced strong criticism from groups like the 
American Library Association, which released a survey of its members in 
June showing that law enforcement officials had contacted libraries at 
least 200 times since 2001 with formal and informal inquiries about their 
internal records.

The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
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