New Bill in House: Curb the abuse of National Security Letters

The National Security Letters Reform Act (H.R.3189)
[From the article:]
"National Security Letters, a controversial tool that lets investigators obtain records without a court order, has come under fire from civil libertarians, courts, and the government's own watchdogs. Now lawmakers have revived a proposal to rein in NSLs, the use of which has exploded under the PATRIOT Act."

ArsTechnica on The NSL Reform Act

From the article:

"The National Security Letters Reform Act would do that, and a good deal more. While it would still permit high-ranking FBI officials to issue NSLs with temporary gag orders attached, the Bureau would have to petition a judge in order to extend that order beyond an initial 30 days. Instead of requiring NSL recipients to challenge such orders, showing there was "no reason" to think disclosure might harm public safety or the integrity of an investigation, the agency would have the burden of showing a court specific facts justifying each six-month extension of the gag.

Perhaps most significantly, however, the law would radically narrow the scope of National Security Letters, which can currently be used to obtain financial or telecommunications transaction records that an FBI agent asserts are "relevant" to an ongoing investigation. Under the Nadler-Flake bill, NSLs would have to certify that the target to whom the information sought pertained was believed, on the basis of "specific and articulable facts," to be a "foreign power or agent of a foreign power."

The bill also establishes strict "minimization" requirements, mandating the destruction of any wrongly obtained information. While intelligence agencies often rely on "minimization" to protect the privacy of US persons, this often means only that innocent information will be retained without being indexed in a log or database for the relevant case. Anyone whose records are obtained via an NSL without adequate factual basis, or in violation of the statutory restrictions, is entitled to sue the person responsible for issuing the letter, to the tune of $50,000."

From the government:

H.R.3189
Title: To establish reasonable procedural protections for the use of national security letters, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Nadler, Jerrold [NY-8] (introduced 7/26/2007) Cosponsors (30)
Related Bills: S.2088
Latest Major Action: 6/24/2008 House committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Forwarded by Subcommittee to Full Committee by the Yeas and Nays: 7 - 3 .

Government Record