National Security Letters Need More Oversight
By Joan Oleck -- School Library Journal, 5/6/2008
If the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) has its way, the FBI may no longer be in charge of national security letters—the federal subpoenas provided under the 2001 Patriot Act.
"In an era of cell phones, BlackBerries, and ubiquitous Internet access, there is no reason why a system of judicial review and consistent, searching Congressional oversight cannot be designed to serve the government's legitimate needs," CDT's Greg Nojeim told a Senate Judiciary Committee on April 23.
CDT is a nonprofit, public-interest organization that promotes civil liberties for the new digital communications media. One of its priorities is to make sure there’s a balance between national security and individual freedoms in the wake of 9/11.
Librarians, of course, are no strangers to national security letters. Shortly after September 11, 2001 the federal subpoenas were sent to librarians, seeking information about patrons’ electronic transactions.
Although national security letters are now subject to a judge's review, such reviews often do not occur, Nojeim testified. That’s one of the reasons CDT has recommended passage of Senate bill 2088, which would reform national security letters. In March, the American Library Association and five other organizations concerned with free speech filed an appeal arguing that the information required by the national secuity letters is normally unnecessary to fight terrorism. The groups also objected to the fact that recipents of the letters risked imprisonment if they publicily revealed they had received the federal subpoenas.
