The Wall Street Journal-20080111-FBI Wiretaps Cut Due to Unpaid Phone Bills
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FBI Wiretaps Cut Due to Unpaid Phone Bills
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Telephone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals because of the bureau's repeated failures to pay phone bills on time.
A Justice Department audit released yesterday blamed the lost connections on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's lax oversight of money used in undercover investigations. In one office alone, unpaid costs for wiretaps from one phone company totaled $66,000.
In at least one case, a wiretap used in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act investigation "was halted due to untimely payment," the audit found. FISA wiretaps are used in the government's most sensitive and secretive criminal and intelligence investigations, and allow eavesdropping on suspected terrorists or spies.
"We also found that late payments have resulted in telecommunications carriers actually disconnecting phone lines established to deliver surveillance results to the FBI, resulting in lost evidence," according to the audit by Inspector General Glenn A. Fine.
More than half of 990 bills to pay for telecommunication surveillance in five unidentified FBI field offices weren't paid on time, the report shows.
Assistant FBI Director John Miller said wiretaps were dropped only a few times because of the backed-up billing, which he said didn't significantly set back the investigations. He said the FBI "will not tolerate financial mismanagement, or worse," and is working to fix the problems.
The report was a highly edited version of Mr. Fine's 87-page audit that the FBI deemed too sensitive to be viewed publicly. The American Civil Liberties Union called on the FBI to release the entire, unedited audit. The group also took a swipe at telecommunication companies that allowed the eavesdropping.
The audit also found that some field offices paid for expenses on undercover cases that should have been financed by FBI headquarters.
