Military, CIA prying into Americans’ financial records

The New York Times revealed Sunday that the Department of Defense had issued more than 500 National Security Letters (NSLs) requesting information on financial transactions to banks, credit card companies and other institutions since September 11, 2001. In fact, because each investigation often results in multiple requests, the number of letters probably runs into the thousands.

The CIA also has issued NSLs to obtain personal financial records and other types of information, although agency officials claim to have issued fewer than the military.

That the US military and the CIA are now conducting domestic surveillance, building up their own independent intelligence records on US citizens without any judicial oversight whatsoever, is a significant step in the direction of a police state.

National Security Letters are administrative subpoenas that have been used primarily by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The use of such subpoenas, first authorized in the 1970s, was greatly expanded by the passage of the Patriot Act in 2001. That law allowed the letters to be issued in connection with the surveillance of US residents or visitors who were not the immediate targets of an investigation, and it allowed other federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, to use NSLs. The act did not mention the CIA or the military.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2007/jan2007/nsl-j16.shtml