Add the Pentagon and CIA to the list of bureaucrats snooping through our bank records!
The Pentagon has been using a little-known power
to obtain banking and credit records of hundreds of Americans, part of an
aggressive expansion by the military into domestic intelligence
gathering.
Dicky Sharpshooter says it’s OK
The Pentagon has been using a little-known power to obtain banking and credit records of hundreds of Americans and others that it suspects of terrorism or espionage inside the United States, part of an aggressive expansion by the military into domestic intelligence gathering.The CIA has also been issuing what are known as national security letters to gain access to financial records from American companies, though it has done so only rarely, intelligence officials say.
Banks, credit card companies and other financial institutions receiving the letters usually have turned over documents voluntarily, allowing investigators to examine the financial assets and transactions of U.S. military personnel and civilians, officials say.
The FBI, the lead agency on domestic counterterrorism and espionage, has issued thousands of national security letters since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, provoking criticism and court challenges from civil liberties advocates who see them as unjustified intrusions into the private lives of Americans.
But it was not previously known, even to some senior counterterrorism officials, that the Pentagon and the CIA had been using their own “noncompulsory” versions of the letters. Congress has rejected several attempts by the two agencies since 2001 to obtain authority to issue mandatory letters, in part because of concerns about the dangers of expanding their role in domestic spying.
A stellar example of how Orwellian our government has become. These bureaucrats use the “Right to Financial Privacy Act” as part of their justification for their search and seizure of individual financial records.
Their interpretation? We have no privacy and no rights! Your bank would be violating the law if they told you your records were being searched.
Posted: Sun - January 14, 2007 at 10:27 AM