FBI apologizes to newspapers for spying on reporters: the bureau does not explain the need to investigate journalists
Organisation:
Reporters Without Borders requests that the FBI releases more information
about the procedures they used in 2004 to obtain reporters' phone records
while they were stationed at the New York Times and the Washington Post's
bureaus in Indonesia.
Reporters Without Borders welcomes the apology the FBI made to the
newspapers' editors for improperly using the so-called 'exigent letters' to
obtain information about reporters' phone conversations, but the bureau
needs to come forward and provide more information as to why and how they
obtained this information.
"We urge them to be transparent about the reasons to obtain the records
with such urgency and secrecy," the press freedom organization said.
"We urged the bureau to refrain from using similar procedures in the future.
Improper monitoring of reporters is harmful to a free press and undermines the free flow of information"
New York Times reporters Ray Bonner and Jane Perlezy, and Washington Post
staff writer Ellen Nakashima and researcher Natasha Tampubolon were working
in South East Asia on a story about Islamic terrorism at the time their
phone records were seized.
The Justice Department's Inspector General Glenn A. Fine, who is reviewing
the FBI's procedures due to allege misuse of records demands, discovered
mistakes the bureau made when phone records were requested. For instance,
the FBI should have seek approval from the deputy attorney general, which
they did not in this case.
The federal shield law passed by the House, the Free Flow of Information Act (FFOIA), states that a member of the media, or
“covered person,” cannot be subpoenaed for a testimony unless dictated by a
court. Section 2.(a)(1) of the FFOIA defines one of the exception to order
a member of the media to testify as “... that the party seeking to compel
production of such testimony or document has exhausted all reasonable
alternative sources (other than a covered person) of the testimony or
document.”
The FBI has not disclosed yet why they went after journalists' phone
records or the nature of the investigation at the time.
On Saturday, The Washington Post stated, “Mueller (Director of the FBI) called the top editors (at each paper) to express regret that agents had not followed proper
procedures when they sought telephone records under a process that allowed
them to bypass grand jury review in emergency cases."
“Exigent letters,” or National Security Letter (NSL), are sent to
individuals or entities ordering to provide data or records to security
government agencies such as the FBI or the CIA. The NSL, a form of
administrative subpoena, does not require a judicial oversight and it also
contains a gag order banning the recipient from ever disclosing that the
NSL was issued.
Senators Arlen Spector (R-Pa.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) also issued a
letter on Monday, August 11th, pressing the FBI to come forward with more
information and an explanation about obtaining reporters' phone records.
“While we commend you for personally apologizing to the newspapers on
behalf of the FBI, and for personally bringing this matter to the
Committee's attention, we expect to receive a more complete accounting of
this violation of the Justice Department's guidelines intended to protect
privacy and journalists' First Amendment rights,” the senators wrote in a
letter addressed to FBI Director Robert Mueller.
Published on
Updated on
20.01.2016