Letters of the law: no warrant? No problem.

• Author: Taylor, Jeff
• Position: Citings

A MARCH REPORT from Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine confirmed what many critics of the PATRIOT Act had long suspected: Under the law, warrantless searches and seizures have skyrocketed, especially via the FBI's national security letters.

A national security letter (NSL) is a unilateral demand for information held by businesses or other third parties, including phone call, email, and credit card records. Before the PATRIOT Act passed in 2001, NSLs could be issued only in cases involving suspected foreign agents. The law allowed NSLs aimed at investigating terrorism, broadly defined, and not just to pursue leads but to develop them. It gave every FBI field office the authority to issue the letters, a power previously reserved for top officials at FBI headquarters.

Not surprisingly, the number of NSLs has increased...