Federal Intel officials reveal misuse of secret spying program - USA Today

[Bill USA]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/09/10/nsa-classified-documents-released-domestic-spying/2795115/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+usatoday-NewsTopStories+(USATODAY+-+News+Top+Stories)

Federal intelligence officials Tuesday released a trove of previously classified documents which reveal that the government misused and lacked proper controls for a secret surveillance program that tracks the telephone records of millions of Americans.

At one point in 2009, officials had improperly identified more than 15,000 telephone records for further scrutiny even though the records did not meet the proper standard for their suspect links to terrorism.

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In one FISC order, dated Jan. 28, 2009, Judge Reggie Walton noted that the Justice Department had alerted the court that the government had been querying the telephone records "in a manner that appears to the court to be directly contrary'' to a previous court order authorizing the record collection and "contrary to the sworn attestations of several executive branch officials.''

In a stinging rebuke, Walton ordered the government to provide an explanation so that he could determine whether the collection authorization should be rescinded and whether those found to be in violation should be held in "contempt'' or referred to "appropriate investigative offices.''

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Of the more than 17,000 numbers included on the list in 2009, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, about 1,800 met the "reasonable articulable suspicion'' standard of having links to terrorism.
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