“Our saga should raise a big, patriotic American flag of caution about how our civil liberties are being sorely tested by law enforcement abuses of National Security Letters,” Christian said in his statement. “The questions raised vindicate the concerns that the library community and others have had for over five years about the broad powers expanded under the USA Patriot Act.”
The hearing follows a March 9 audit by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine that concluded the FBI habitually neglected to follow NSL regulations from 2002 to 2005, during which time 143,074 letters were delivered and another 8,850 letters went unrecorded in the official NSL tracking database maintained by the FBI’s Office of the General Counsel, the Associated Press reported March 9.
Subcommittee Chair Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) remarked at the hearing, “‘Trust us’ doesn’t cut it when it comes to the government’s power to obtain Americans’ sensitive business records without a court order and without any suspicion that they are tied to terrorism or espionage,” the Associated Press reported April 12.
“It is widely believed that some civil liberties were restored in [the March 2 revision of] the Patriot Act, but they were not,” said Christian, describing a loophole that allows the FBI to issue an NSL if “electronic communication services” are offered by the library in question. “Thus, any library providing internet service can still be served with an NSL—that is essentially every library in the United States today.”
Christian detailed the harmful effects of being served with an NSL, and how the accompanying gag order created difficulties for the plaintiffs when dealing with coworkers, patrons, the media, and even their families. “I pride myself on my integrity and openness,” said Christian. “I worried if, knowing I was participating in this court case behind their backs, the members of the [Library Connection] board and other library directors were starting to wonder what else I might be concealing.”
The lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union against the U.S. attorney general, was eventually abandoned by the FBI. “In doing so, they removed the Patriot Act from the danger of court review,” said Christian. He asked that Congress reconsider parts of the Patriot Act, in particular the gag order that prevents elected officials and the public from knowing anything about potential abuses.
Posted April 13, 2007.