Posted on 05/28/2002 3:33:33 PM PDT by jpthomas
WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI destroyed evidence gathered in an investigation involving Osama bin Laden's network after its e-mail wiretap system mistakenly captured information to which the agency was not entitled.
The FBI software not only picked up the e-mails of its target "but also picked up e-mails on non-covered targets," said a March 2000 memo to agency headquarters in Washington.
"The FBI technical person was apparently so upset that he destroyed all the e-mail take, including the take on" the suspect, the memo said.
The documents were made public through a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington advocacy group. The material was not included in an original release but became public after a federal judge ordered the bureau to give out more documents.
At issue was an investigation in Denver in which the FBI's bin Laden unit was using the bureau's Carnivore system to conduct electronic surveillance of a suspect under a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant. The suspect's name and other information identifying details of the investigation were marked out of the letter.
The memo surfaced as the FBI was addressing concerns it mishandled aspects of terrorism investigation prior to the Sept. 11 attacks. Those concerns include a warning from its Phoenix office about Arab pilots training in the United States last July.
FBI officials declined Tuesday to discuss the memo or the investigation it referred to. They did, however, say that the bin Laden unit at FBI headquarters handles only investigations involving suspected activity by his terror network.
The memo shows FBI agents were worried about the fallout in the Denver case.
The Justice Department's Office of Intelligence and Policy Review was furious after learning the evidence captured by the e-mail wiretap system was destroyed because of the glitch, the memo states.
"To state that she was unhappy at ITOS (International Terrorism Operations Center) and the UBL (bin Laden) unit is an understatement," the memo stated, quoting a Justice official.
The memo said Justice officials worried the destruction of the evidence would signal an "inability on the part of the FBI to manage" the warrants that are key tools in espionage and antiterrorism cases.
Privacy groups and some members of Congress have complained that Carnivore had the potential to collect more information than allowed by a warrant.
"Here's confirmation of the fact that not only did it do that, but it resulted in a loss of legitimately acquired intelligence," said David Sobel, general counsel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the group that sued to get the documents.
The e-mail from an unnamed author to M.E. "Spike" Bowman, the FBI's associate general counsel for national security, said Denver agents installed the e-mail surveillance system in March 16, 2000, but the device did not work correctly.
The technician who deleted the e-mail evidence had no supervision, the memo added.
Henry H. Perritt, who led a team authorized by the FBI to review the surveillance system, said he was surprised the technician deleted the e-mails.
"The collection is supposed to be retained for judicial review," Perritt said. "If an agent simply deleted a whole bunch of files without the court instructing, that's not the way it's supposed to work."
Another document released through the privacy group's request explains the bureau's policy for overcollection on a surveillance warrant. The memo, dated just a week after the Denver e-mail, says the e-mails should be kept under seal so that senior FBI officials can figure out how the wiretap went wrong.
The unintended targets of the FBI's snooping may have deserved notification that the mistake was made, the FBI memo said.
Authorities have used Carnivore-type tools more than 25 times in all types of criminal cases, to catch fugitives, drug dealers, extortionists and suspected foreign intelligence agents. Carnivore is now called DCS-1000.
Perritt's review panel recommended that the FBI change Carnivore so that it is more difficult to accidentally collect too much information. The FBI has not announced any changes.
---
On the Net:
Electronic Privacy Information Center:
http://www.epic.org
FBI: http://www.fbi.gov
AP-ES-05-28-02 1707EDT
It is unfortunate that terrorist emails were also destroyed, but they are inept, obviously.
Just for the record.
Anybody remember what was going on with the missing White House e-mails at this time, March 2000?
That the first thing I thought, too. Probably no connection -but it's an interesting coincidence, nonetheless.
So why would someone at the FBI panic enough to destroy all info, including legit surveillance on bin Laden associates?
Possibilities: 1) The person(s) whose e-mail was illegally captured was well known and powerful, or 2)the rapidly escalating White House e-mail situation served as a heads-up to create, in advance, reasonable explanation for a trove of missing data;
...or 3)as an extension of possibility #1, e-mails captured by this bin Laden unit may have mirrored one or more of the supposedly irretrievable White House e-mails.
Well it could be very possible
BTW .. weren't those emails suppose to have been recovered?? .. what ever happen with that???
Sounds hauntingly familiar, doesn't it?
And I believe this crap like I believe that space aliens invented sliced bread.
That the FBI itself was implicated by the e-mails that were destroyed by a "glitch" or "snafu."
This was from September 2000, but has some relevance possibly: Secret off-site e-mail tape depot revealed
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