Taking Liberties: The War on Terror and the Erosion of American Democracy (48 page)

36
.  Scarry,
supra
note 1.

Chapter 9

1
.  Anonymous,
My National Security Letter Gag Order,
WASH. POST,
Mar. 23, 2007,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032201882.html
.

2
.  
AMY GOODMAN
&
DAVID GOODMAN, STANDING UP TO THE MADNESS
70–71 (New York: Hyperion 2008).

3
.  
Gagged for Six Years, Nick Merrill Speaks Out on Landmark Court Struggle over FBI’s National Security Letters,
DEMOCRACY NOW
(Aug. 11, 2010),
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/11/gagged_for_6_years_nick_merrill
.

4
.  ACLU v. Dep’t of Justice, 321 F. Supp. 2d 24 (D.D.C. 2004); ACLU v. Dep’t of Justice, 265 F. Supp. 2d 20 (D.D.C. 2003).

5
.  
U.S. DEP’T OF JUSTICE, OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GEN.,
A Review of the FBI’s Use of National Security Letters
17 (2007) [hereinafter
Inspector Gen. Report on NSLs],
http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/s0703b/final.pdf
.

6
.  
See
Charlie Savage,
White House Seeks to Clarify F.B.I. Powers
VIS-À-VIS
Email,
N.Y. TIMES,
July 29, 2010,
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/30/us/30fbi.html
; Pete Yost,
FBI Access to E-mail, Web Data Raises Privacy Fear,
GUARDIAN,
July 29, 2010,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9201265
.

7
.  
See
12 U.S.C. § 3414(a).

8
.  
See
Andrew E. Nieland, Note,
National Security Letters and the Amended Patriot Act,
92
CORNELL L. REV.
1201, 1207–11 (2007); Doe v. Ashcroft, 334 F. Supp. 2d 480, 480–83 (S.D.N.Y. 2004).

9
.  Congress changed this provision in 1986 to compel financial institutions to comply.
See
Nieland,
supra
note 8, at 1208 n. 45.

10
.  18 U.S.C. §§ 2709(a) & (b)(1).

11
.  Other statutes allow the FBI to use NSLs to collect information from “financial institutions,”
see
12 U.S.C. §§ 3414(a)(5)(A) & (d), to force consumer reporting agencies to turn over all of the information in a consumer’s file,
see
15 U.S.C. §§ 1681(u) & (v), or to compel financial institutions and consumer reporting agencies to disclose records concerning agency employees, 50 U.S.C. § 436.

12
.  
See
Julian Sanchez,
Obama’s Surveillance Power Grab,
AM. PROSPECT
(July 29, 2010),
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=obamas_surveillance_power_grab
.

13
.  Pub. L. No. 99–508 § 201, 100 Stat 1848 (1986) (codified as amended in 1993, 1996, 2001, 2006, and 2009 at 18 U.S.C. § 2709).
See
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, 50 U.S.C. § 1801 for definitions.
See
Nieland,
supra
note 8, at 1208 n. 43 & 1209 n. 65.

14
.  Pub. L. 103–142 § 1, 107 Stat. 1491, 1491 (1993).

15
.  Like Section 215, this section also provides that investigations of United States persons could not be conducted “solely on the basis of activities protected by the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States.”
See
Pub. L. No. 107–156 § 505, 115 Stat 252, 365 (2001).

16
.  Barton Gellman,
The FBI’s Secret Scrutiny: In Hunt for Terrorists Bureau Examines Records of Ordinary Americans,
WASH. POST,
Nov. 6, 2005,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/05/AR2005110501366.html
.

17
.  
See
chapter 8
, note 21 and accompanying text.

18
.  
Inspector Gen. Report on NSLs, supra
note 5, at 17.

19
.  
See
Memorandum from John A. Ashcroft, Att’y Gen. of the United States, to Robert S. Mueller et al.,
Intelligence Sharing Procedures for Foreign Intelligence and Foreign Counterintelligence Investigations Conducted by the FBI
(May 6, 2002),
http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fisa/ag030602.html
;
see also
Dep’t of Justice,
The Attorney General’s Guidelines for FBI National Security Investigations and Foreign Intelligence Collection
(Oct. 31, 2003),
http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fbi/nsiguidelines.pdf
. In 18 U.S.C. § 2709(d) Congress delegated this job to the Attorney General.

20
.  Eric Lichtblau,
FBI Data Mining Reached Beyond Initial Targets,
N.Y. TIMES,
Sept. 9, 2007,
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/washington/09fbi.html
.

21
.  
See, e.g.,
18 U.S.C. § 2709.

22
.  Decision and Order, Doe v. Ashcroft, No. 04 Civ. 2614 (VM) (S.D.N.Y. May 12, 2004),
http://www.aclu.org/files/FilesPDFs/decision.pdf
;
see also
Dan Eggen,
ACLU Was Forced to Revise Release on PATRIOT ACT Suit: Justice Dept. Cited Secrecy Rules,
WASH. POST,
May 13, 2004,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22404-2004May12.html
.

23
.  
See Government Gag Exposed,
ACLU (Aug. 19, 2004),
http://www.aclu.org/national-security/government-gag-exposed
(providing a list of documents that were subjects of redaction battles).

24
.  Doe v. Ashcroft, 334 F. Supp. 2d 471, 524 (S.D.N.Y. 2004).

25
.  
Id.
at 519.

26
.  
Id.
at 520.

27
.  
Id.
at 515.

28
.  
Material Witness Provisions of the Criminal Code, and the Implementation of the USA Patriot Act: Section 505 That Addresses National Security Letters, and Section 804 That Addresses Jurisdiction over Crimes Committed at U.S. Facilities Abroad: Hearing Before the Subcomm. on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security of the H. Comm. on the Judiciary,
109th Cong. 1, 23, 64–66, 72 (2005).

29
.  18 U.S.C. §§ 3511(b)(2) & (3).

30
.  USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005, Pub. L. No. 109–177 § 117, 120 Stat. 192, 217 (2006) (codified at 18 U.S.C. § 1510(e) (2006)). It is remarkable that the question of what would happen if someone violated a gag order—even by talking to a lawyer—had never come up. The Department of Justice had never prosecuted anyone for noncompliance with an NSL or with the gag order and had never brought an action to compel compliance, so far as we know, because they evidently never had occasion to do so.
See
Letter from William Moschella, Assistant Att’y Gen. of the United States, to Arlen Specter, Chair, S. Judiciary Comm. (Nov. 23, 2005),
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/documents/dojletter112305.pdf
.

31
.  Doe v. Gonzales, 500 F. Supp. 2d 379 (S.D.N.Y. 2007),
aff’d
by Doe v. Mukasey, 549 F.3d 861 (2d Cir. 2008).

32
.  Doe v. Gonzales, 500 F. Supp. 2d. at 396–97.

33
.  
Id.
at 413.

34
.  
U.S. DEP’T OF JUSTICE, OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GEN., A REVIEW OF THE FBI’S USE OF NATIONAL SECURITY LETTERS: ASSESSMENT OF CORRECTIVE ACTIONS AND EXAMINATION OF NSL USAGE IN
2006 12 (2008).

35
.  Press Release,
National Security Letters: Frequently Asked Questions, FBI
(2007),
http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel07/nsl_faqs030907.htm
;
The Use and
Purpose of National Security Letters,
Headline Archive, FBI,
http://www.fbi.gov/page2/natsecurityletters.htm
; Statement of Valerie E. Caproni, Gen. Counsel, FBI, Before the H. Comm. on the Judiciary, Subcomm. on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (Apr. 15, 2008),
http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress08/caproni041508.htm;
Ellen Nakashima,
Plaintiff Who Challenged FBI’s National Security Letters Reveals Concerns,
WASH. POST,
Aug. 10, 2010,
http://www.washingtonpost. com/wpdyn/content/article/2010/08/09/AR2010080906252.html
.

36
.  Doe v. Ashcroft, 334 F. Supp. 2d 471, 494 n.118, 508 n.171.

37
.  
Id
. at 494–506.

38
.  USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005, S. 1389, 109th Cong. § 8 (2005) (codified at 18 U.S.C. § 3511(a)).

39
.  Doe v. Gonzales, 449 F. 3d 415 (2d Cir. 2006).

40
.  Doe v. Gonzales, 500 F. Supp. 2d at 386 n.3.

41
.  Doe v. Gonzales, 449 F. 3d at 507.

42
.  Requests for Information Under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act: Memorandum Opinion from the White House Office of Legal Counsel to the General Counsel for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (Nov. 5, 2008),
http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/olc/ecpa.pdf
.

43
.  Doe v. Gonzales, 449 F.3d at 510 n.175, quoting Daniel J. Solove,
Digital Dossiers and the Dissipation of Fourth Amendment Privacy,
75
S. CAL. L. REV.
1083, 1084 (2002).

44
.  
See
Sanchez,
supra
note 12.

45
.  
See Oversight of the USA Patriot Act, Hearings Before S. Comm. on the Judiciary,
109th Cong. 17 (2005),
http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate/senate14ch109.html
.

46
.  
See
28 USC § 2709(e).

47
.  
Inspector Gen. Report on NSLs, supra
note 5, at xvi.

48
.  
Id.

49
.  
Id.
at 118.

50
.  
See
Michael German,
ACLU Roadmap of Justice Department Inspector General’s Review of the FBI’s Use of National Security Letters
(Mar. 19, 2007),
http://www.aclu.org/national-security/aclu-roadmap-justice-department-inspector-general-s-review-fbi-s-use-national-secu
.

51
.  
Inspector Gen. Report on NSLs, supra
note 5, at 60–64.

52
.  R. Jeffrey Smith,
FBI Violations May Number 3,000, Official Says,
WASH. POST,
Mar. 21, 2007,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR2007032000921.html
.

53
.  
Hearing Before the H. Comm. on the Judiciary, The Inspector General’s Independent Report on the FBI’s Use of National Security Letters,
110th Cong. (2007) (testimony of Valerie Caproni, Gen. Counsel, FBI),
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_house_hearings&docid=f:34175.wais
.

54
.  
Inspector Gen. Report on NSLs, supra
note 5, at xxxv–xxxviii.

55
.  
U.S. DEP’T OF JUSTICE, OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GEN., A REVIEW OF THE FBI’S USE OF EXIGENT LETTERS AND OTHER INFORMATIONAL REQUESTS FOR TELEPHONE RECORDS
251 (2010),
http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s1001r.pdf
.

56
.  
See
Doe v. Gonzales, 500 F. Supp. 2d at 420 (S.D.N.Y. 2007) (expressing concern about the FBI’s assertions of secrecy chilling free expression and association, especially statements critical of the way the government uses NSLs).

57
.  
Inspector Gen. Report on NSLs, supra
note 5, at 264. The opinion itself is classified and most of the discussion about it in the IG Report is redacted.

58
.  
See Hundreds of New Documents Reveal Expanded Military Role in Domestic Surveillance,
ACLU (Oct. 14, 2007),
http://www.aclu.org/national-security/hundreds-new-documents-reveal-expanded-military-role-domestic-surveillance
.

59
.  
See, e.g.
, National Security Letter Reform Act of 2009, H.R. 1800, 111st Cong. (2009) (bill proposed by Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, “[t]o establish reasonable procedural protections [including judicial review] for the use of national security letters, and for other purposes” with twenty-seven co-sponsors including Jeff Flake, R-AZ, and Jane Harman, D-CA).

60
.  Nakashima,
supra
note 35;
see also Gagged for Six Years, supra,
note 3.

Chapter 10

1
.   Leslie Cauley,
NSA Has Massive Database of Americans’ Phone Calls,
USA TODAY,
May 11, 2006,
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa_x.htm
.

2
.   Many commentators reached this conclusion, including the Congressional Research Service,
see
Memorandum from Elizabeth B. Bazan & Jennifer K. Elsea, Legislative Attorneys, CRS,
Presidential Authority to Conduct Warrantless Electronic Surveillance to Gather Foreign Intelligence Information
(Jan. 5, 2006),
http://fas.org/sgp/crs/intel/m010506.pdf
.

3
.   James Risen & Eric Lichtblau,
Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts,
N.Y. TIMES,
Dec. 16, 2005,
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/politics/16program.html
.

4
.  
U.S. DEP’T OF JUSTICE, OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GEN., UNCLASSIFIED REPORT ON THE PRESIDENT’S SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM
31 (2009) [hereinafter
Inspector Gen. Report, NSA]; see also
Protect America Act of 2007, Pub. L. No. 110–155, 121 Stat. 552 (2007) (codified at 50 U.S.C. §§ 1801, 1803, & 1805).

5
.   Cauley,
supra
note 1.

6
.   Declaration of Mark Klein in Support of Plaintiff’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction, Hepting v. AT&T Corp., No. C-06-0672-VRW (N.D. Cal. June 8, 2006),
http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/att/Mark%20Klein%20Unredacted%20Decl-Including%20Exhibits.PDF
.