'I Am Responsible,' FBI Director Tells Congress

March 27, 2007— -- Facing sharp questioning over the FBI's misuse of national security letters to obtain phone, computer and financial records of Americans while searching for terrorists, director Robert Mueller took full responsibility for the actions of his agents and employees when he testified before Congress today.

"We in the FBI, myself in particular, fell short in our obligations to report to Congress on the frequency with which we use this tool and in the internal controls we put into place to make sure that it was used only in accordance with the letter of the law, " Mueller said. "I am responsible for those shortcomings."

Mueller made an appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify about a recent Justice Department inspector general audit of the FBI's use of the letters. The bureau used national security letters to obtain information on Americans from phone companies, Internet service providers, credit bureaus and banks. The report found excessive use of these letters to gather such data without approval from a judge.

Some of the Democratic senators questioning Mueller indicated that this national security letters abuse could open the door to a re-examination of the Patriot Act.

"We're going to be re-examining the broad authorities we granted the FBI in the Patriot Act," Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., told Mueller.

But Mueller countered that the Patriot Law is not at fault.

"The statute did not cause the errors," Mueller said. "The FBI's implementation did."

Fired U.S. Attorneys

Mueller, a former U.S. attorney in the Reagan and Clinton administrations, was also asked about another growing controversy surrounding the Justice Department: the growing controversy over eight fired U.S. attorneys and the circumstances that led to their firing.

Mueller was questioned about a January San Diego Union Tribune article and a comment from the special agent in charge of the FBI field office who was reported as saying, "I guarantee politics is involved," in the firing of former U.S. attorney Carol Lam. Mueller responded, saying, "Our chief out there believes he was misquoted." Mueller added that the firing of that U.S. attorney will not slow his department's investigations.

Asked about the charge that former New Mexico U.S. attorney David Iglesias was fired because he did not pursue a politically heated voter fraud case, Mueller said, "I will tell you that I had not heard any concern from that office about prosecutorial decisions that were made one way or the other."

On the firing of John McKay, former U.S. attorney in Washington State, Mueller was asked about a regional database that he had worked on with local law enforcement. "Mr. McKay was innovative in pulling together a number of different departments to work together on a combined database," Mueller said.

E-mails released by the Justice Department show that officials had expressed concern about McKay pushing the use of the database called LINX.

Questioned in detail about the firings, Mueller said he would "have to resist speculating."

Over-Collection of Data

Although the firings came up as a hot topic, the bulk of the hearing did focus on the FBI's oversight. The inspector general's audit found that NSL requests by the FBI totaled a staggering 143,074, from 2003-2005, and that in some instances the over-collection of data by the FBI and the use of emergency or "exigent" letters violated internal FBI policies and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' guidelines.

The report also found that the FBI contacted three telephone companies for records in 700 "exigent letters" without first seeking a national security letter. In many circumstances the letters stated federal grand jury subpoenas had been requested when in fact none had. The letters were also issued in cases where there was no emergency all.

"I have directed that a thorough inspection be done, investigation be done with regard to the issuance of the exigent letters to determine what happened and how that could have happened, and ultimately whether there ought to be actions taken against individuals as a result of what we find." Mueller said.

'We're All Supposed to be Working Together'

Leahy said, "The Department of Justice and DHS, the Department of Homeland Security, can't seem to get together. It's almost like one of you are the Sunnis and the other are the Shiites. And somebody's got to tell the people -- somebody in the administration ought to at least admit some mistakes and tell you guys that we're all supposed to be Americans; we're all supposed to be working together."

In his written testimony Mueller noted, "The number of NSL requests has ranged from approximately 40,000 to 60,000 per year, and we have requested information on less than 20,000 persons per year."

Information provided from the FBI requests is used to open cases, develop leads, craft warrants and can be used in top secret FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] applications and FISA warrants. NSLs do not require a judge's review like ordinary subpoenas. Mueller said that besides the internal inspection the FBI would work with the Justice Department's National Security Division and Privacy and Civil Liberties Office to audit the bureau's use of the letters.