Published on Monday, January 31, 2011 by Deeplinks Blog / EFF
EFF Uncovers Widespread FBI Intelligence Violations
EFF has uncovered widespread violations stemming from FBI intelligence investigations from 2001 - 2008. In a report released today [1], EFF documents alarming trends in the Bureau's intelligence investigation practices, suggesting that FBI intelligence investigations have compromised the civil liberties of American citizens far more frequently, and to a greater extent, than was previously assumed.
Using documents obtained through EFF's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation [2], the report finds
- Evidence of delays of 2.5 years, on average, between the occurrence of a violation and its eventual reporting to the Intelligence Oversight Board
- Reports of serious misconduct by FBI agents including lying in declarations to courts, using improper evidence to obtain grand jury subpoenas, and accessing password-protected files without a warrant
- Indications that the FBI may have committed upwards of 40,000 possible intelligence violations in the 9 years since 9/11
EFF's report stems from analysis of nearly 2,500 pages of FBI documents, consisting of reports of FBI intelligence violations made to the Intelligence Oversight Board [3] - an independent, civilian intelligence-monitoring board that reports to the President on the legality of foreign and domestic intelligence operations. The documents constitute the most complete picture of post-9/11 FBI intelligence abuses available to the public. Our earlier analysis of the documents showed the FBI's arbitrary disclosure practices [4].
EFF's report underscores the need for greater transparency and oversight in the intelligence community. As part of our ongoing effort [5] to inform the public and elected officials about abusive intelligence investigations, we are distributing copies of the report to members of Congress.
A pdf copy of the report can be downloaded here [6].
Related Issues
Related Cases
URL to article
·
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/26/133226240/in-russia-defendants-find-justice-isnt-blind
In Russia
by David Greene
January 26, 2011
Innocent until proven guilty
Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP
Jailed Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky reacts after being sentenced on Dec. 30, 2010, to six more years in prison. Critics say the judicial system in the Khodorkovsky case worked just the way Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wanted it to.
Jailed Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky reacts after being sentenced on Dec. 30, 2010, to six more years in prison. Critics say the judicial system in the Khodorkovsky case worked just the way Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wanted it to.
That's why few Russians were surprised when Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, was convicted of embezzlement and sentenced last month to prison for a second term.
Once the head of a giant oil company, Khodorkovsky, 47, is now modern
Khodorkovsky's 25-year-old son, Pavel Khodorkovsky, who lives in
"My dad's case is a very good illustration of one simple fact
Judges As An Extension Of Law Enforcement
Critics say the judicial system in the Khodorkovsky case worked just the way Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wanted it to. Days before Khodorkovsky's new conviction, Putin said on television that "a thief belongs in jail." It was almost as if he gave the judge a signal, instructing him on what to do.
Within the judiciary, you've got this sense of dependency that your career as a judge depends on your compliance with the way the system works.
- Alena Ledeneva,
In this case, and thousands of others across
Alena Ledeneva, a professor of Russian society and politics at University College London, said it's not just because of political pressure from above.
"It is pressure from within," she said. "Within the judiciary, you've got this sense of dependency that your career as a judge depends on your compliance with the way the system works."
Many Russians, she says, have no faith in the system. They assume that many judges are corrupt or will just side with the most powerful person in the room.
"People do not even expect otherwise," she said.
Tangled Up In The System
Consider these numbers
One former judge, Alexander Melikov, told NPR that the judges are not bad people. It's just that many have a "mindset that a court is a law enforcement body; it is not an institution there to protect citizens." When he tried to work outside the system around 2003 and '04, his superiors complained that his decisions were too lenient — and he was fired.
Boris Ryzhak/NPR
Andrei Grigoryev, 43, is a federal game warden, or forest ranger. After he chased after a hunting party last winter, he ended up being charged with abuse of power. He now faces four to 10 years in a Russian jail. Grigoryev fears he is falling victim to a Russian federal court system that convicts almost everyone.
Andrei Grigoryev, 43, is a federal game warden, or forest ranger. After he chased after a hunting party last winter, he ended up being charged with abuse of power. He now faces four to 10 years in a Russian jail. Grigoryev fears he is falling victim to a Russian federal court system that convicts almost everyone.
For Andrei Grigoryev, such a change couldn't come too soon.
Grigoryev works as a federal forest ranger near Zaraysk, a town two hours east of
A year ago, Grigoryev got a call that a group of hunters on snowmobiles were breaking the law, going after fox and deer in a wildlife preserve. At first, they fled, but then they turned and came after the officer.
"One of their snowmobiles knocked me down, hitting me in my right leg," he said. "I fell down in the snow. Another snowmobile sped by without stopping, and another rushed at me.
"I had a rifle with me. I shot in the air to stop him before he knocked me down again."
Finally, Grigoryev detained the hunting party, which included a local politician from Putin's United Russia Party. You're messing with the wrong bunch, they told him. Sure enough, by night's end, he was the one being arrested. The charge
"The government investigator told me, my lawyer and the witnesses, 'You guys must not mess around. Very important people are interested in the case. And they want to put Andrei Grigoryev in prison.' "
Conflicting Accounts
The prosecutors, the government investigator and that politician all declined to be interviewed. But one of the hunters, Dmitri Karpeyenkov, did give his version of events.
"We were unarmed, just riding our snowmobiles," Karpeyenkov said. He added that his group didn't do any killing, so the forest ranger must have planted carcasses as evidence.
Karpeyenkov said he and his friends have not interfered with the trial in any way.
There are two sides to this story. Yet wherever the truth lies,
The trial opens Friday, and Grigoryev is facing between four and 10 years in prison. He would be leaving behind his wife, their 11-year-old daughter and his parents, who all live together.
"I think about it every day. I, my family, our daughter live in this shock for almost one year," his wife, Svetlana, said in a written message. "I hope for justice to our family. I am sure that my husband, Andrei, is innocent."
Copyright 2011 NPR
Donations can be sent to the
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
No comments:
Post a Comment