As I understand it (I'm am NOT an expert), a NSL is given to a company (phone, ISP, financial institution, etc) in order to further an open investigation. The intent of the "gag order" appears to be a "civilian-ized" version of a Non-Disclosure Agreement. The House has issues with this:
H.R. 1800: National Security Letters Reform Act of 2009
3/30/2009--Introduced.
National Security Letters Reform Act of 2009 - Prohibits a national security letter (letter) (a request for information sought by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in connection with a criminal investigation) from being issued unless the issuing official certifies specific facts providing reason to believe that the information or records sought pertain to a foreign power or agent thereof. Prohibits a letter from being issued in connection with an investigation of a U.S.
Again, IMO, the intent of the NSL is to EXPEDITE a CT investigation: as we know in CT, time is not on our side.
Some
quick history on NSLs:
National Security Letters: Five statutory provisions vest government officials responsible or certain foreign intelligence investigations with authority comparable to administrative subpoena powers. With the post-9/11 lifting of the veil of separation that once divided criminal and foreign intelligence investigations when foreign terrorists may be involved, it is reasonable to expect that information gleaned from the use of this national security
letter authority may be shared with criminal investigators — subject to statutory restrictions.
The oldest of the national security letter provisions began as an exception to privacy protections afforded by the Right to Financial Privacy Act, and remains in force in its original form.
In the mid-90’s, Congress passed a pair of intelligence authorization acts adding two more national security letter provisions — one permits their use in connection with the investigation of government employment leaks of classified information under the National Security Act, 50 U.S.C. 436; and the other grants the FBI access to credit agency records pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, under much the same conditions as apply to the records of financial institutions, 15 U.S.C. 1681u. The FBI asked for the Fair Credit Reporting Act amendment as a threshold mechanism to enable them to make more effective use of its bank record access authority.
Section 505 of the USA PATRIOT Act amended the FBI’s national security letter
authority over communications records, and the records of financial institutions and credit agencies. In each instance, the amendment (1) makes it clear that demands can be issued by the agents in charge of the various FBI field offices, (2) substitutes a relevancy standard for the earlier “reason to believe” standard, (3) drops the requirement that the records are those of a foreign power or its agent, and (4) asserts that access may not be sought in connection with an investigation based solely on an American’s exercise of his
First Amendment rights. Subsection 358(g) of the USA PATRIOT Act added a new national security letter section within the Fair Credit Reporting Act available to any government agency investigating international terrorism, 15 U.S.C. 1681v.
Proposals for Change — Reinforcing National Security Letters: A federal district court in New York recently held that the exercise of national security letter authority under 18 U.S.C. 2709 (communications service provider information) unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment (unreasonable searches and seizures) and that the section’s nondisclosure provisions rendered the section constitutionally invalid under the First Amendment (free speech and association),
Doe v. Ashcroft, 334 F.Supp.2d 471 (S.D.N.Y. 2004).
The Patriot Act, while not perfect,
is on OUR SIDE. It's an effective tool in the Long War. I don't know but I assume it worked in:
Najibullah Zazi
8 Somalis in Minnesota
Jordanian in Dallas
Write your Congressmen and ask them to support HR 1800.
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