National Security Letters and the Threats They Pose to Our Liberties

Lisa Graves, Deputy Director, Center for National Security Studies

March 29, 2007

Guest Speaker

Lisa Graves is deputy director of the Center for National Security Studies (CNSS). Her experience in national security law began when she worked from 1995 to 2001 in the Department of Justice as an assistant attorney general. Later, she served as national security advisor to Senator Patrick Leahy, and worked from 2005-2006 for the American Civil Liberties Union in its lobbying effort on civil liberties issues.

Download an audio recording of this conference call.

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Notes on Conference Call

If your records are part of a National Security Letter (NSL) search, here's the kind of personal information the FBI receives:

Telephone records - including what numbers you call, and whose phone number is being called,
Emails - including who you email and the subject line,
Web activities - including every website you visit,
Credit reports - including social security number, credit rating and employer,
Credit card records - including every credit card transaction you've ever made,
Bank accounts - including your pin number,
Insurance company information,
Post office box information, and
Other third-party records - including information on every car, boat, and/or home you've ever purchased.

NSLs have tremendously expanded FBI powers. More NSLs are now used to get information about U.S. residents than non-U.S. residents. Spying on the everyday lives of Americans is becoming habitual.

The NSLs allow access to almost every thing in your daily private life in regard to using credit/debit card (from the kind of food you purchase to where you buy your underwear). Here are some key points Lisa made in her presentation.

More than 143,000 records were demanded between 2003 and 2005. We still don't know the numbers of NSLs issued between 2001-2003 or from 2006.
Though the President has claimed there have been hundreds of terrorist convictions, the Inspector General found only 65 convictions resulted from these 143,000 demands!
FBI record-keeping on NSLs was so sloppy that the Inspector General was unable to find records of NSL demands in the FBI database. More than 22% of the NSLs issued were not in the database.
Instead, the database that's crammed full of information is the one containing your personal records, collected from NSLs. This database is shared with more than 10,000 government employees
Last year, this huge database included more than 560 million records. 70 million of those are bank records.
Records obtained by NSLs are kept for 20 years, even if the name of the 'suspect' is cleared. It's something like the infamous No-Fly List that contains thousands of names of innocent people whose name may be vaguely similar to a suspected terrorist.
Information collected from consumer records can be shared, not only with government agencies, but also with private companies.
Because of guidelines issued by Attorney General John Ashcroft that the government should have access to any data that's available publicly, the government now purchases data from companies like Choice Point, exponentially increasing the amount of consumer information it keeps on individuals not involved in crime or terrorism.

The FBI's Suggestion for Reform

Most outrageously of all, the administration has begun demanding more power as a result of the FBI abuse of power. Congress had previously denied the FBI administrative subpoenas power, which is a broader power that can be used to obtain medical records and any other kind of record. The administration suggestion that a solution to abuse is to give the FBI more power is absurd, but it has shown itself to come out fighting, when confronted with its abuses of power.

H.R. 1739 was introduced last week by Representative Jane Harman (D-CA-36), which is similar to H.R. 4570 that she had introduced in 2005. This legislation is a start towards putting curbs and accountability on National Security Letters.

Require the government to show a specific connection to a terrorist or foreign power before an NSL could be issued
Require NSLs to be approved by a FISA court or designated Federal magistrate judge
Require the FISA court to set up an electronic system for filing NSL applications, so that requests are expedited and will not slow down investigations

Click here for more information about this, and other pending legislation to restore the Bill of Rights.

Grassroots Strategies

Update your community resolution to include language challenging National Security Letters, warrantless wiretapping, and upholding the right to habeas corpus. Sample language is available on the BORDC website.
Work with local Chambers of Commerce to raise public awareness about the threat of National Security Letters.
Remind local business owners of the letter written to Congress prior to the PATRIOT Act Reauthorization, which expressed concern about National Security Letters. Read about it in BORDC's booklet, The USA PATRIOT Act and American Business.
Contact friendly businesses like independent booksellers, and ask them to sign on to a letter or opinion editorial about the threat of National Security Letters for the local paper.
Ask friendly businesses to put signs in their windows, "We don't accept NSLs."
Send letters to your local phone company requesting they not share your records.
Organize a local boycott against companies that share your records without informing you.
Organize a Letter to the Editor campaign to highlight the findings of the Inspector General report, and the need for accountability.
Contact your Congressional representatives, asking them to support legislation that curbs FBI excesses with National Security Letters.