One of the primary authors of Patriot Act doesn't like it so much any more

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http://www.mainjustice.com/2010/04/14/sensenbrenner-feels-betrayed-by-fbis-violations/

Sensenbrenner Feels ‘Betrayed’ by FBI’s Patriot Act Violations

By Ryan J. Reilly | April 14, 2010 2:22 pm

Republicans and Democrats who sit on the House Judiciary Committee reached a rare moment of agreement on Wednesday — members of both parties expressed outrage about violations of the law by the FBI described in a Justice Department report earlier this year.

A Justice Department Inspector General report first released in January concluded that the FBI went around the requirements of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and internal guidelines to obtain phone records for several years under the guise of emergencies, via the use of so-called “exigent letters.”

The FBI obtained so-called “toll-booth” phone records through requests by e-mail, post-it notes, by telephone and by what the FBI referred to as “sneak peeks” — all informal approaches that the inspector general found were improper. snip

Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) said he was frustrated by the FBI’s actions, which he said showed the agency wanted to get around the restrictions that Congress put in place under the Patriot Act. Sensenbrenner said it was especially frustrating because as the author of the Patriot Act, he worked closely with the FBI to ensure the agency had all the tools it needed and has taken a lot of criticism from Democrats over the law.

“I came to this whole issue as your friends and I feel betrayed,” said Sensenbrenner. ”I don’t think you’re getting the message.”

Exigent letters were never approved by Congress, said both Republicans and Democrats, calling “exigent letters” a term that the FBI invented.

Sensenbrenner said he was concerned about this type of evasion and insisted on requiring, by law, annual Inspector General reports because he ”was afraid of having the fox guard the chicken coop down the street was going to end up with activities that were going to end up embarrassing the government.”