WHAT HEELS!: Phone Companies Cut Off Wiretaps After Late Payments By FBI
An audit by the Justice Department inspector general found that an international wiretap under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) – under which terrorism and intelligence cases are investigated – was cut off by a telephone company when the FBI was late paying its bill:
"Late payments have resulted in telecommunications carriers actually disconnecting phone lines established to deliver surveillance results to the FBI, resulting in lost evidence, including an instance where delivery of intercept information required by a ... FISA order was halted due to untimely payment."
Even American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attorney Michael German is nonplussed, reports Reuters:
"It seems the telecoms, who are claiming they were just being 'good patriots' when they allowed the government to spy on us without warrants, are more than willing to pull the plug on national security investigations when the government falls behind on its bills."
The FBI admits that late phone bills led to brief surveillance disruptions in “a few instances” but contends that no investigations were materially affected as a result.
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