US military's use of domestic intelligence

The US Patriot Act 2001 granted the FBI extensive authority to issue national security letters (NSLs). The FBI uses these letters to subpoena banking, credit and other business records about private individuals and institutions with minimal judicial oversight. Privacy advocates have expressed unease about their use for some time, but the issue flared up again when the US media recently revealed that the US Department of Defense and to a much lesser extent the CIA has also been issuing its own form of NSL to obtain the financial records of people it suspected of involvement in terrorism or espionage activities.

Even before the revelations about the military's use of NSLs became public, several factors had made the letters controversial. First, the government does not tell individuals when their financial records are under investigation. Second, civil liberty groups have complained about insufficient judicial or congressional oversight of their use. Finally, some analysts say the NSLs contribute very little to convicting terrorist or espionage suspects.

Those involved with the programme justify the letters as a legitimate counter-intelligence and force protection measure. They argue that NSLs aim to counter penetration by hostile intelligence agencies and terrorist sympathisers, while also preventing military contractors or employees from defrauding the government.

Despite the US administration's insistence that the Department of Defense's NSLs represent an appropriate counter-intelligence and criminal investigatory tool, uncertainty persists regarding the Pentagon's legal authority to issue them. The new Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Silvestre Reyes, has said he will soon hold hearings on this issue.

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© 2006 Jane's Information Group
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