http://www.talkleft.com/story/2007/1/13/17029/1423 The Military Quietly Gathers Domestic Financial Records By TChris, Section War on Terror Posted on Sat Jan 13, 2007 at 04:00:29 PM EST Tags: (all tags) Government agencies use national security letters to snoop through financial records without the bother of a judicially issued warrant. The NY Times reports that the FBI "has issued thousands of national security letters" since 9/11, distressing news that TalkLeft discussed here.
But it was not previously known, even to some senior counterterrorism officials, that the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency have been using their own "noncompulsory" versions of the letters. Congress has rejected several attempts by the two agencies since 2001 for authority to issue mandatory letters, in part because of concerns about the dangers of expanding their role in domestic spying. While assuring us that it only investigates terrorism, the Pentagon won't say why it pokes around in domestic financial records. This statement is nonetheless telling: "We may find out this person has unexplained wealth for reasons that have nothing to do with being a spy, in which case we're out of it," said Thomas A. Gandy, a senior Army counterintelligence official. If you attain sudden wealth for reasons that aren't immediately apparent to the Pentagon, you're a terrorism suspect? If Aunt Mildred gifts you her fortune before she dies, you'd better drop a note to the Pentagon to explain that your newfound funds weren't contributed by al-Qaeda. Gandy's assurance that the military is "out of it" if there's an innocent explanation for wealth would be more reassuring if it were true. The military doesn't regard innocence as a reason to discard the financial information it gathers. But even when the initial suspicions are unproven, the documents have intelligence value, military officials say. In the next year, they plan to incorporate the records into a database at the Counterintelligence Field Activity office at the Pentagon to track possible threats against the military, Pentagon officials said. A database of domestic financial records of innocent citizens gathered at the military's whim without judicial oversight. Another wonderful idea from the Bush administration. Isn't it time for Congress to supply meaningful safeguards for private information?
