Watchdog finds new problems with FBI wiretap applications

[alp227]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department inspector general has found additional failures in the FBI’s handling of a secretive surveillance program that came under scrutiny after the Russia investigation, identifying problems with dozens of applications for wiretaps in national security investigations.

The audit results, announced Tuesday by Inspector General Michael Horowitz, suggest that FBI errors while eavesdropping on suspected spies and terrorists extend far beyond those made during the investigation into ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign. They come as the FBI has scrambled to repair public confidence in how it uses its surveillance powers and as lawmakers uneasy about potential abuses have allowed certain of its tools to at least temporarily expire.

The new findings are on top of problems identified last year by the watchdog office, which concluded that the FBI had made significant errors and omissions in applications to eavesdrop on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page during the early months of the Russia investigation. Those mistakes prompted internal changes within the FBI and spurred a congressional debate over whether the bureau’s surveillance tools should be reined in.

After the Russia report was submitted last December, Horowitz announced a broader audit of the FBI’s spy powers and the accuracy of its applications before the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Read more: https://apnews.com/7dad2d06850ce331b8953281371e8b61

[jimfields33]

1. Great. Ugh. Make it stop.

[Sloumeau]

2. Horowitz was hand chosen by Republicans to find problems.

Every agency has problems, so he was bound to find some if he looked hard enough.

[alp227]

5. He was originally nominated by Obama in 2012

https://oig.justice.gov/about/meet-ig.htm

[Sloumeau]

7. Yes, and the Republicans knew that he was good at finding problems.

So, they unleashed him on the place where they wanted to find problems.

[Igel]

10. It's a place where you don't want there to be problems.

When the Patriot Act was passed and the scope/ease of FISA warrants increased, the assurance was that there'd be safeguards in place to prevent abuses.

Instead we hear that of course there are going to be abuses, some absolutely flagrant, how horrible to look for them.

[Sloumeau]

11. I never said "how horrible to look for them".

The problem is that the Trump administration has tried to look for problems, not in an attempt to remedy any problems, but instead in an attempt to try to pretend that an investigation was conducted in an attempt to unjustly convict people.

[rockfordfile]

3. They're really just doing this to help the traitors that were in collusion with Russia

[bluestarone]

4. Bunch of crap!

Will this nightmare ever end?

[iluvtennis]

8. + 1. nt

[DallasNE]

6. This Clarifies Two Things

The FBI applied the rules consistently but cut corners in some ways.

The FISA court has not been much more than a rubber stamp as they don't give enough pushback. And the IG should not wait so long to conduct such an investigation. Perhaps more rotation in who becomes a FISA judge.

The remedy is more oversight, transparency and accountability as there is a need for something like the FISA court. Just don't let them operate in such secrecy.

[kimbutgar]

9. Of course they would find problems

They are doing this to help mf45. This is a bs investigation with a predetermined outcome to justify whatever helps mf45 in the November election.