Editorial: Reject FBI’s request

Saturday, July 28, 2007 | 7:18 a.m.

T he FBI is asking Congress for $5 million a year to pay telecommunications companies to store information about customers' Internet use and cell phone calls for at least two years, in case the FBI needs the data for counterterrorism investigations.

FBI officials would have to obtain a subpoena or present a demand called a national security letter to gain access to the information. The agency says it would not be allowed to "mine" the data or otherwise have direct access to the information.

A lawyer representing Internet service providers told The Washington Post this week that such companies have no "business reason" to collect and store such information and that telecommunications companies ought not be "keeping data just so the government can get access to it."

Private companies should not be collecting and storing data for federal investigations - especially because the FBI has a long record of misusing and abusing its subpoena process and national security letters to retrieve the information.

A Justice Department inspector general's report released in March says the FBI improperly used the USA Patriot Act in obtaining thousands of business and personal financial and telephone records since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The agency has issued more than 20,000 national security letters demanding information, but has lacked adequate procedures for managing, monitoring and recording those requests.

In addition, the inspector general's report says, FBI officials previously requested customer data from telephone companies, saying that the matter was urgent and that they would send subpoenas later. The subpoenas, of course, never were sent.

Congress must reject this ridiculous request from the FBI, which has demonstrated that it cannot - or will not - abide by the laws that govern when and how its agents may obtain personal and business communications information for investigative purposes. The FBI has not proven that it needs ready access to this information, nor has it shown that it can be trusted to obtain it properly.