doing and planning to do. As CTD Assistant Director Billy stated to us,
“there was never a timeout period to any of this to say, okay, let’s doa
check, a compliance.”

The failure of FBI officials to understand the practices employed
within the CAU to obtain records from the on-site providers extended not
only to exigent letters, but also to other improper methods described in
Chapter Three this report. For example, CTD Assistant Director Billy did
not know as late as April 2007 about the FBI’s improper use of hot number

HR — 2. service provided by Company A’s and Company C’s on-site
providers tiara aii

any legal process. The FBI General Counsel and the Deputy General
Counsel for the NSLB also told us they did not know that the FBI had used
hot number (E Similarly, until this OIG investigation, we found no
evidence that any responsible FBI officials or any FBI attorneys were aware
that FBI agents had used inaccurate language in FISA declarations that
attributed the FBI’s acquisition of telephone records to NSLs when in fact
the records were acquired through other means, such as exigent letters and
other informal requests.

As a result of these actions, the FBI violated the statutory and
Attorney General Guidelines’ requirements for senior-level approval of
requests for telephone subscriber and toll billing records information and
other ECPA-protected information and the 4-step NSL approval process
established by the FBI’s own policy to ensure these requests were based on
appropriate predication. As Diagram 2.2 from Chapter Two illustrates, the
FBI substituted a 1-step process by which the CAU SSAs and Intelligence
Analysts signed requests for telephone records without supervisory review
by those officials authorized to approve and certify the FBI’s basis for
requesting these types of records.

In sum, we believe that FBI senior leadership, senior attorneys, and
CTD supervisors failed to take adequate measures to ensure that the FBI
was obtaining telephone records from the on-site communications service
providers properly, that sufficient training was provided to the FBI
employees who obtained these records, that the new NSL powers granted to
the FBI in the Patriot Act were sufficiently monitored, and that the FBI
provided sufficient oversight on these new and intrusive authorities. The
need for these actions should have been particularly clear when FBI
attorneys learned in late 2004 and early 2005 that the FBI was acquiring
telephone records without legal process. Moreover, no one in the CAU
raised concerns about these exigent letters to higher level CTD officials or
other senior FBI managers, even when Unit Chief Rogers and some of the
agents signing exigent letters should have realized that the letters were
inaccurate on their face.

220


network to check if it was meritorious to draft a subpoena and/or NSL to
officially request the records.” The e-mail stated that if there were no
records, an NSL would not be drafted.

Caproni told us that she did not recall the SSA’s e-mail. When we
asked her if she was aware that the FBI at times received more information
than just whether the provider had records on a particular number, she
said she was not.

As discussed in the analysis section at the end of this chapter, we
concluded that the FBI’s use of these sneak peeks in many cases violated
the ECPA.

Vv. Records Obtained in Response to Exigent Letters and Other
Informal Requests

In this section, we describe the types of records obtained by the FBI
from the on-site communications service providers in response to exigent
letters and other informal requests. We also discuss how these records were
analyzed and uploaded into FBI databases. In addition, we describe
ity of interest” or “calling circle” [EJ (often called a

community of interest”), through which Company A

A. Types of Records Collected by the Providers

Each of the three on-site communications service providers had
different capabilities to respond to the CAU’s requests for telephone
records.

The amount of information available to the FBI under its contract with
Company A was substantial. PowerPoint slides prepared by Company A
explaining its resources, which were incorporated into a CAU presentation

50


they contained inaccurate statements of fact on their face. In clear
derogation of his duties as a supervisor, Rogers also ignored complaints
from at least three SSAs in the unit who complained directly to him about
the inaccurate reference in the letters to grand jury subpoenas and told
them not to change a word. While this does not fully excuse the CAU
personnel who signed the letters, it is an important factor to consider when
assessing their performance.

H. FBI Personnel Involved in Media Leak Investigations

As described in Chapter Three of this report, FBI personnel were
involved with requests to = reporters’ toll billing records in three
different media leak investigations without first obtaining the required
Attorney General approval. We believe that these matters involved some of
the most serious abuses of the FBI’s authority to obtain telephone

records.

First, we believe that the FBI’s overall management failures described
in this chapter contributed to the improper as of reporters’ records.
The FBI’s failure to plan for the co-location of the providers’ employees
resulted in the CAU’s extensive use of exigent letters and after-the-fact legal
process beginning in 2003. The failures in planning were compounded by
the failure to train CAU personnel on the authorized means to obtain
telephone records under the ECPA and on the express limitations on the
FBI’s authority to compel the production of particular subcategories of
telephone records, including subpoenas for reporters’ toll billing records. As
a result, we found that requests for reporters’ toll billing were handled by
the CAU SSAs and Intelligence Analysts as routine records requests. When
the CAU received these requests, no alarm bells went off and no higher-level
supervisors provided any review of these requests. Instead, the CAU SSA
and Intelligence Analyst involved in requesting or analyzing the reporters’
records obtained by the FBI said they were unaware of any special
regulation governing subpoenas for reporters’ records.

As described below, however, in addition to these management
failures we believe several FBI personnel bore some responsibility for these
serious abuses in these media leak investigations.

1. First Matter
In the first media leak investigation described in Chapter Three
(concerning classified information about the | that
appeared in Washington Post and New York Times news articles), an FBI
case agent exchanged e-mails with a CAU Intelligence Analyst about

whether the on-site providers had the capability of retrieving records of J
calling activity. Yet, in the absence of any request from the case

249


potential problem with the subpoenas. We believe that the actions
subsequently taken by the Criminal Division in consulting with the OEO
Director and sequestering the responsive records were reasonable corrective
measures.

However, the Criminal Division did not evaluate what steps should be
taken to address the e-mail sent by the on-site Company A analyst to the
Intelligence Analyst or others, attaching the records. We believe that in
addition to the steps described above, the Criminal Division should have
ensured that all copies of the records were permanently deleted from FBI
e-mails, share drives, servers, or other electronic records.

Our investigation did not find that FBI personnel or Department
attorneys intended to obtain reporters’ records. Nonetheless, had Company A’s
analyst provided all the records requested in the subpoenas, the records would
have included reporters’ toll billing records since there was telephonic contact
between the target telephone numbers and reporters during the period
specified in the subpoenas.

Applying the standard articulated by the OLC for when reporters must be
notified that their records were subpoenaed, we concluded that the Criminal
Division’s decision not to notify the reporters was reasonable. Given the
technical terms used in the subpoenas, we did not find that a reasonable
Department of Justice official would understand the language of the subpoenas
to call for the production of reporters’ toll billing records. We therefore agree,
based on the objective standard articulated by the OLC, that the Department
was not required to notify the reporters pursuant to 28 C.F.R. § 50.10(g)(3) that
they were not afforded advance notice of the subpoenas. We also note that the
Criminal Division informed the Court that had empanelled the grand jury of
the subpoenas and the corrective actions it had taken, which we believe was an
appropriate step to take.

As discussed further in Chapter Six of this report, we recommend that
the FBI provide periodic guidance to FBI personnel on the special regulations
and policies governing subpoenas for reporter’s toll billing records.

D. Third Matter
1. Background

In an investigation of a third media leak matter, a U.S. Attorney’s Office
issued a grand jury subpoena to Company A for telephone records. In addition
to providing records in response to the subpoena, an on-site Company A
analyst, without any request from the FBI (or any legal process), for
records of telephone calls of a cellular phone used by a reporter, and provided
information about his [J of the reporter’s records to the FBI in the absence
of legal authority to do so. Also, at the request of a CAU supervisor but

114


In 2003, the FBI entered into a contract with Company A pursuant to
which a Company A analyst was located in the CAU’s office space. The FBI
also entered into separate contracts in 2003 with Company C and in 2004
with Company B to locate one of their analysts in the CAU’s office space.

We determined that a CAU SSA issued the CAU’s first exigent letter to
the Company A analyst, then still located at the New York Field Division, on
March 14, 2003. When the three communications service providers’
employees were located in the CAU, CAU personnel issued similar exigent
letters to these individuals. These exigent letters issued by CAU personnel
were for the most part identical to the exigent letters issued by the New York
Field Division in its criminal investigations after the September 11 attacks.
As described below, we determined that from March 14, 2003, through
November 13, 2006, CAU personnel issued a total of 722 exigent letters to
the 3 on-site communications service providers.

1. The CAU’s Mission and Organizational Structure

The CAU’s mission is to analyze telephone communications and
provide actionable intelligence to the appropriate operational units in the
FBI.!6 The CAU was established as an “operational support unit” rather
than an operational unit. Under FBI internal policy, as operational support
components, neither the CXS nor CAU personnel could initiate national
security investigations or sign NSLs.

From 2003 through 2006, the CAU was organized into teams, each of
which was led by an SSA and included other SSAs, Supervisory Intelligence
Analysts, Intelligence Analysts, and Technical Information Specialists. Each
team supported specific FBI field and Headquarters operational divisions,
legal attachés, and classified special projects.

Following its establishment in late 2002, the CAU initially was
supervised by Acting Unit Chiefs. Two SSAs served as the Acting Unit
Chiefs from September 2002 to March 2003. In March 2003, Glenn Rogers
was appointed as the first permanent CAU Unit Chief.

16 The CAU’s mission was described in a January 6, 2003, FBI Electronic
Communication (EC). This EC, which was drafted by the CAU’s Acting Unit Chief and sent
to all FBI divisions, described the CAU’s mission:

CAU facilitates the prevention and prosecution of international and domestic
terrorism activities through the relevant collation, incisive analysis, and
timely dissemination of high-quality intelligence identified through telephone
calling activity.

16


records had been provided to the FBI 8 months earlier. Thomas told us that
she did not recall the e-mails or these two NSLs, but she characterized the
investigation to which the NSLs were related as “the greatest of
emergencies.”

In an interview in August 2008, Thomas acknowledged that she
signed these seven after-the-fact NSLs, although she told us that she did
not have a specific recollection of any of the NSLs themselves. Thomas said
she has signed thousands of NSLs and therefore could not recall specific
NSLs. She said that the CAU was one of nearly 100 FBI units that NSLB
supported, and she noted that these NSLs were dated up to 3% years ago.
She also said she relied on the accompanying approval ECs, which are
reviewed by at least one and sometimes two NSLB attorneys, for the facts
relating to the NSLs she signed.

Thomas also said she did not recall being told that the telephone
numbers listed in the NSLs had been previously [J and that records
already had been provided to the CAU. When we showed her the
December 23, 2004, e-mail exchange between her and the Assistant General
Counsel described above, in which the Assistant General Counsel raised her
concern that the NSL should document that the FBI already had the
records, Thomas said she did not recall the exchange and also did not recall
having any discussions about that issue with NSLB supervisors.

In August 2008, Thomas also told the OIG that she did not believe
that follow-up NSLs were required regarding this information because she
believed during the period when these NSLs were signed that the CAU’s
requests to the on-site providers “were likely all emergency circumstances.”
Thomas said she therefore concluded that the requests the CAU made to the
on-site providers fell within the emergency voluntary disclosure statute, 18
U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4), and that “follow-on NSLs would not be required.”
However, when probed on whether she and other FBI OGC attorneys relied
on Section 2702 in 2004 and 2005, Thomas stated that she could not
separate what she knew at the time of her interview from what she knew
then.!77 Thomas said the reason the FBI provided follow-up NSLs in these
cases was because the on-site providers wanted them.

177 As noted, prior to March 2006, 18 U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4) provided that a
communications service provider could voluntarily provide telephone records to the FBI if
the provider “reasonably believes that an emergency involving danger of death or serious
physical injury justifies disclosure of the information.” We discuss in Chapter Six of this
report our conclusion regarding the applicability of the emergency voluntary disclosure
(Cont’d.)

145


(ITOS-I), which was responsible for addressing many of the international
terrorism threats directed at the United States during this period.

ITOS-I managers told us that they did not know about any CAU
backlog in obtaining follow-up legal process in 2004 and 2005. Several
ITOS managers told us that CAU personnel attended the daily ITOS
briefings at which major terrorism investigations were discussed. At the
conclusion of these briefings, the CAU was often directed to analyze
telephone numbers identified in the course of these investigations to
determine whether they had any U.S. connections. ITOS-I managers told us
they did not know the mechanics of how the CAU accomplished its work,
although most of these managers told us they were generally aware that the
CAU used the resources available from the on-site communications service

roviders and various FBI databases
to respond to these
taskings.173

ITOS-I witnesses also told us that while they were unfamiliar with the
procedures used by the CAU to analyze telephone numbers, they assumed
that CAU personnel followed appropriate legal requirements. For example,
Michael Heimbach, who was the CTD Assistant Section Chief over ITOS-I
from February 2003 to March 2004 and the ITOS-I Section Chief from
March 2005 to January 2007, told us:

... it’s their lane. It’s the operational support’s lane, meaning

this is their job. This is their business. How, what

relationships they had with Company A, Company C, and

I have no clue. Imean!... wasn’t in the weeds with them on it
. How they did it, what they were doing, what the process .

. . wasn’t my lane of traffic.

Shortly before Rogers left the CAU in November 2004 to become the
CXS Assistant Section Chief, he instructed a CAU Intelligence Analyst to
implement a tracking system for records requests so that the CAU would
not have to rely on the on-site providers to know whether after-the-fact legal
process had been served. As discussed below, the tracking system was
developed and later abandoned after Rogers left the CAU.

173 As described in Chapter Two of this report, CAU personnel had access to a
oe database that CAU analysts regularly queried for records
and used to perform analytical work. CAU personnel sometimes responded to requests for
assistance through data analysis in this database. At other times, CAU personnel obtained
data from the on-site providers, then analyzed the results once the records were uploaded

into this database.

140


TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS .......c:ccccssccessseesseseeessseeesseeecssnaeeesseessseeeesseeessnenseeeesegs i
LIST OF ACRONYMS...

TABLE OF CHARTS, TABLES, AND DIAGRAMG..........cccsccsssseeessseeessseeseeees xi
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION .......c:cccssssseessesesseeeeesseeessecesaseessseeeseee sees xii

I. Findings in the OIG’s Previous Reports

Il. Methodology of the OIG Investigation ..............cccccssssssceeeeesssteeeeeessenes 4
II]. Organization of this Report ...........ccccceecssssesesssseeeceeeeeseeeeesseesseeeseees 6
CHAPTER TWO THE FBI’S USE OF EXIGENT LETTERS AND OTHER
INFORMAL REQUESTS FOR TELEPHONE RECORDS ............:s00eseees 9
I. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA)........::cscsesseeeee 9
Il. Background on the FBI’s Use of Exigent Letters ............:::ccceeesseeeee 11
A. Origins of Exigent Letters in the FBI’s New York Field
Division .......cccccscccccssesesseeecesseeessseecesssccesseesesseeessaseseseeeseneasns 11
1. The FBI’s New York Field Division Contract with
Company A
2. The New York Field Division’s First Use of Exigent
Letters 0... cccccececcceecsessneneeeeeeesssneeeeeeeesenseeeeceesenanetes 12

B. The Work of the Communications Analysis Unit (CAU)
and the FBI’s Contracts with the Three Communications

Service Providers ...........cceecccccceeceeesssscseeecessseseeeseseeeeseeesesesenaas 14
1. The CAU’s Mission and Organizational Structure ......... 16
2. Terminology Used in this Report for Non-Content
Telephone Transactional Records ...........cccccssssseeeeeeeeeeee 19
3. FBI Contracts with the Three Communications
Service Providers.........ccccccssssccesssecsssesesseeessssessesensneess 20
4. Location of the Three Communications Service
PrOVIGETS............ccccccccceeeseesceeeseceeeessseeeeeessseaseeseessaaeeees 24
5. Relationship between CAU Personnel and the
Providers’ EMPployees ...........cccccccessessseeeeessssseeeeeessnneeeees 25
Ill. Exigent Letters Issued by CAU Personnel ..........ceeecseceeessssseeeeeeees 25
A. Text of the CAU Exigent Letters .0....... eee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 27


was incorrect.”!87 The Special Agent also told us that she recalled describing
to Prosecutor 1 at about this same time.138

Prosecutor 1 told us that subsequent to this conversation with the
Special Agent, he met with several DOJ attorneys and supervisors in the
Criminal Division to discuss what steps should be taken to address his concern
that reporters’ records may have been obtained by the subpoenas. Prosecutor
1 said that all participants agreed that any records obtained in response to the
grand jury subpoenas should be sealed and that the Criminal Division’s Office
of Enforcement Operations (OEO) should be consulted on the matter.

Prosecutor 1 and another federal prosecutor spoke to the Criminal
Division’s OEO Director about the circumstances surrounding issuance of the
subpoenas. Prosecutor 1 said that the OEO Director concurred that they
should take certain actions (described below) to address the records obtained
in response to the subpoenas.

Prosecutor 1 told us that he went to the case agent and directed the
agent to copy from his computer the telephone records obtained from the
subpoenas and save them to CDs, then delete from his computer’s in-box the
e-mail from the on-site Company A analyst to which the records were attached.
The case agent and Prosecutor 1 told us that the case agent deleted the records
from his computer in the presence of Prosecutor 1 and also deleted the items
from his “deleted items” folder. Prosecutor 1 placed the CDs in an envelope
and sealed it. Prosecutor 1 and the case agent each signed and dated the
envelope, and Prosecutor 1 then placed the envelope in a safe at the Criminal
Division. The case agent told us that he did not recall reviewing the records
before they were deleted from his computer. Prosecutor 1 said that the case
agent had assured him that no one had looked at the records.

However, the case agent told us that neither he nor anyone else had
asked the Company A analyst who had sent the records to the case agent to
delete his “sent” e-mail (attaching the records), and they did not know what
CAU personnel had done with the records. They also said they did not inquire
whether the responsive records had been uploaded by CAU personnel into any
FBI or other databases to which FBI personnel had access, as typically occurs
when such records are received by the CAU.

137_ After the meeting, the Special Agent sent Prosecutor 1 by facsimile the
| language they had discussed at the meeting.

138 The Special Agent told us that she had learned about Company A’s special
resources from an employee of another member of the |

110


Company A’s ability to [J community of interest J, none told
us that they had ever personally requested community of interest
from the on-site Company A employees.

The CAU Intelligence Analyst responsible for the team that uploaded
toll billing records into the AAT ctabase tod

us that when the responsive data was delivered to his team for uploading,
the team could not distin h
numbers provided by

Company A in response to community of interest requests. He said he
would only be able to identify the records derived from the community of
interest requests by analyzing the information accompanying the original
request and other background information. This CAU Intelligence Analyst
told us that no one in the FBI had ever asked him to segregate records
obtained in response to community of interest [J requests or asked any
questions about the practice.

Based on our review, we believe that in most instances when CAU
personnel asked the on-site Company A analysts to [J community of

interest a, Company A initially provided toll billing records for only
the target numbers a records). We found some e-mails

showing that the CAU or other FBI requesters reviewed these records and
identified telephone numbers for which they requested
records. However, in responding to these requests for

records, the on-site Company A analysts did not request
and the FBI did not provide separate legal process for the P|

records.62 For example, we found e-mails showing that Company A analysts
interpreted community of interest requests as authority to i

ENE telephone numbers without requiring legal
process.®3 Similarly, a CAU Intelligence Analyst told us that community of

interest requests “could be used to obtain the [toll records]
without a new NSL or grand jury subpoena.”

62

63 In a September 2006 e-mail to CAU personnel, an on-site Company A analyst

wrote that “the [community of interest] language in the [attachment] will allow [Company A]
to provide call detail records without authority.”

59


as sneak peeks for requesting records from the on-site communications
service providers. Moreover, as described in Chapter Two, the CAU’s use of
exigent letters was expressly approved by Rogers in an EC to CAU personnel
dated November 18, 2003.255

We also found that when Youssef first came to the CAU in November
2004 and continuing thereafter, Rogers did not adequately brief Youssef
about the CAU practices. Youssef stated that Rogers “bypass[ed]’ him on
e-mails, meetings, and other information relating to the CAU operations.
Youssef also said that Rogers kept him “out of the loop” and that since
Rogers was his immediate supervisor until February 2006, Youssef was not
able to raise concerns he had about how the CAU was being run to Rogers
because Rogers was not willing to listen to his suggestions. Youssef stated
that he had a conversation with Rogers, shortly after learning about the use
of exigent letters, in which Youssef raised concerns about the practice.
Youssef stated that Rogers told him to continue using the letters, and
Youssef said he concluded that he would be insubordinate if he failed to do
so.

Youssef also asserted that he was subjected to an “incredibly hostile
work environment” from his chain of command above Rogers. As noted in
Chapter Four, Youssef asserted that both CXS Section Chief Laurie Bennett
and CTD DAD John Lewis were hostile to him and that he could not raise
any concerns to them about exigent letters.256

285 As also described in Chapter Two, the previous CAU Acting Unit Chief had
approved an EC dated January 6, 2003, distributed to FBI divisions which stated that the
CAU could obtain telephone records in “exigent circumstances” and that legal process must
follow such requests. This EC did not explicitly refer to exigent letters.

286 After reviewing a draft of this report, Youssef’s attorney reiterated that Youssef
felt he was subjected to a hostile working environment. Youssef’s attorney also stated that
because of a Title VII lawsuit Youssef filed against the FBI, he was involuntarily transferred
to the position of CAU Unit Chief and that many of the CAU supervisors and staff shunned
him and preferred to deal directly with Rogers. As noted here and in Chapter Four, the OIG
took into account Youssef’s work environment in assessing his performance.

Youssef’s attorney made many other comments after reviewing a draft of this report.
We do not address all of his comments, but respond to some of the most significant ones in
this report.

225


¢ The CAU often received emergency requests for records from
senior FBI officials and used a “form letter” to obtain these
records that promised after-the-fact legal process.

e The CAU attempted to obtain after-the-fact legal process from
field divisions.

e Field divisions often would not respond to the CAU’s requests
for follow-up legal process.

e The CAU was starting a “tickler system” to track follow-up legal
process requests.

However, at this time the Assistant General Counsel did not ask to
see a copy of the “form letter” promising future legal process that the CAU
SSA told her had been used to obtain records. However, she told us, and
her contemporaneous e-mails confirm, that from the time she was told
about the CAU obtaining records with exigent letters through late 2006 she
consistently told CAU personnel that the exigent letters practice should be
limited to emergency situations and that after-the-fact NSLs must follow
promptly.

The Assistant General Counsel said she believed that in emergency
situations, after-the-fact NSLs were appropriate as long as they were issued
within 24 to 48 hours of the exigent letter request. She told us that she
recognized that there was “no specific provision” in the ECPA authorizing
issuance of after-the-fact NSLs, but she said she believed that the legislative
intent of the statute would permit prompt issuance of after-the-fact NSLs in
“real emergencies . . . where peoples’ lives are at issue.” She said that
during this period, she sought to ensure that the follow-up NSLs were
issued quickly, but assumed that the CAU was issuing exigent letters only
in true emergencies. She also told us that she understood that her
supervisors were in agreement with her analysis that after-the-fact NSLs
were appropriate in emergency situations.

Although the Assistant General Counsel did not object to drafting the
after-the-fact NSL for the previously obtained records, in a follow-up e-mail
dated December 23, 2004, to her supervisor and Thomas, the Assistant
General Counsel stated that because the NSLB knew the records had
already been received she thought they should phrase the NSL to reflect
that fact. She also stated in the e-mail that she was “real uncomfortable
doing it any other way” and that she did not think she could issue the NSL
as if she were unaware the FBI already had the information. She also noted
that the CAU SSA was unhappy with her suggestion that the NSL state that
records had been previously provided and the SSA told her the provider was
expecting “a regular NSL.”

143


In fact, the procedure for preparing and issuing exigent letters was so lax
that employees of the on-site providers told us that they frequently prepared
the exigent letters themselves. Indeed, a Company A analyst told us that to
facilitate his preparation of exigent letters he created an icon on his computer
desktop so he could easily retrieve and generate the form letter. We believe this
is an egregious breakdown in the responsibility assigned to the FBI to obtain
ECPA-protected records, and it further illustrates the lack of appropriate
controls by the FBI on this important and intrusive investigative tool.

Another result of the abbreviated, unsupervised procedures for issuing
exigent letters and other types of informal requests was that FBI requesters did
not document whether there was an open national security investigation to
which the request was relevant — a key certification required to issue an NSL
for toll billing records or subscriber information under Section 2709 of the
ECPA. Indeed, as the FBI’s analysis of whether it will retain records acquired
through exigent letters and other informal requests has shown (which we
describe in Chapter Four of this report), the FBI has concluded that records for
hundreds of telephone numbers must be purged from FBI databases because
there was no open national security investigation at the time of the request and
no open national security investigation to which the request could be tied when
the retention issue was analyzed years later.

Also troubling was that most of the exigent letters and other informal
requests did not include date ranges for the records requested. Of the 722
exigent letters signed by CAU personnel from 2003 through 2006, only 77 (11
percent) specified a date range for the records requested. Similarly, the CAU’s
other informal requests to the on-site communications service providers (such
as those communicated by e-mail, in person, on pieces of paper, or by
telephone) frequently did not have date parameters. As further described in
Chapter Four of this report, the absence of date restrictions in many exigent
letters and other types of informal requests had significant consequences.
First, it meant that the FBI often obtained substantially more telephone
records, covering longer periods of time, than FBI agents typically obtain when
serving NSLs with date restrictions. Second, in cases where the date range
established the relevance of the information sought to the investigation, its
omission violated the ECPA’s relevance requirement.8°

80 The ECPA NSL statute requires a certification that “the information sought is
relevant to an authorized investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine
intelligence activities... .” See 18 U.S.C. § 2709(b)(1). Similarly, the emergency voluntary
disclosure provision requires, since March 2006, that the information disclosed be “relat[ed] to
the emergency.” 18 U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4).

70


In fact, one of the on-site Company A analysts established an icon on his
computer desktop at the CAU so he could quickly generate exigent letters
for CAU personnel to sign.

We also found that FBI personnel routinely uploaded —_— toll

billing records obtained in response to exigent letters into a
perry Ce were available for
review and analysis by employees throughout the
government who were authorized to access the database.

Most of the exigent letters and other informal requests did not include
date ranges for the records requested. Similarly, the CAU’s other informal
requests to the on-site communications service providers (such as those
communicated by e-mail, in person, on pieces of paper, or by telephone)
frequently did not have date parameters. As a result, the FBI often obtained
substantially more telephone records, covering longer periods of time, than
FBI agents typically obtain when serving NSLs with date restrictions. In
addition, in cases where the date range established the relevance of the
information sought to the investigation, its omission meant that records
were received and uploaded into a
database in violation of the ECPA’s requirement that the records sought be
relevant to a national security investigation.

We also found that the FBI did not track its use of exigent letters or
even keep copies of them. When the CAU first began using exigent letters in
March 2003, it failed to establish procedures to track the letters or even
ensure that legal process was promptly obtained and served on the
providers. Instead, the CAU had to rely on the on-site providers to identify
the records for which they were still owed legal process.

In addition to exigent letters, we determined that the FBI used other
informal methods to request and obtain ECPA-protected records and calling
activity information from the on-site providers. These informal methods
included requests made by e-mail, face-to-face requests, requests on pieces
of paper (including post-it notes), and telephonic requests made without
first providing legal process or even exigent letters. As was the case with
exigent letters, these requests were not approved or signed by FBI officials
specially delegated to issue NSLs under the ECPA, were not accompanied by
the certifications required for NSLs issued under the ECPA, and were not
consistently documented or tracked in the CAU.

We concluded that the FBI’s use of exigent letters and other informal
requests for telephone toll billing records circumvented, and in many cases
violated, the requirements of the ECPA statute.

259


We also served OIG administrative subpoenas on the three
communications service providers to obtain copies of exigent letters, NSLs,
administrative subpoenas, and other documents relevant to our
investigation.

Ill. Organization of this Report

This report is divided into six chapters. Chapter Two describes in
detail the circumstances in which the FBI used exigent letters and other
informal requests to obtain telephone records from the three on-site
communications service providers. This chapter also contains our analysis
of each of these methods for obtaining telephone records and other calling
activity information.

Chapter Three contains additional findings and analysis concerning
how the use of exigent letters and other informal requests led to additional
improper practices, including the acquisition of calling activity information
regarding “hot numbers’ without legal process; improper = and the
acquisition of reporters’ and news organizations’ telephone toll billing
records and other calling activity information; inaccurate statements to the
FISA Court about the source of subscriber and calling activity information
supporting applications for FISA Court pen register/trap and trace and
electronic surveillance orders; and the improper use of FBI administrative
subpoenas to cover records acquired from exigent letters or other informal
requests.

Chapter Four contains our findings and analysis regarding the
various corrective actions attempted by the FBI to address the use of exigent
letters, including the issuance of 11 improper blanket NSLs. This chapter
also describes steps taken by the FBI after the OIG’s first NSL report was
issued in March 2007 to address the use of exigent letters and other
informal requests for telephone records. This chapter also contains our
findings on the FBI’s analysis of whether it will retain telephone records it
acquired after issuing exigent letters or that were listed in the 11 blanket
NSLs.

Chapter Five examines the FBI’s management failures that led to
these improper practices. It also evaluates the actions of individual FBI
employees, including the CAU personnel who signed exigent letters; the CAU
Unit Chiefs who supervised the unit; the senior CTD officials who signed 11
improper blanket NSLs; and attorneys in the FBI’s Office of the General
Counsel who provided legal advice relating to the exigent letters. In
addition, this chapter examines the conduct of FBI and Department
personnel who sought or acquired reporters’ telephone toll billing records or
other calling activity information without proper authority or approvals.


Il. Individual Performance

While the management failures described above explain in part how
the FBI came to use exigent letters and other informal methods for
requesting records from the on-site providers, these management failures do
not explain all the deficiencies we found in this review.

Rather, in this review we also concluded that FBI supervisors and
attorneys did not take sufficient action to oversee or prevent the use of
exigent letters and other improper requests for telephone records. We also
believe that the performance of some FBI employees who signed the letters
that were inaccurate on their face was not in accord with the high standards
expected of FBI and other law enforcement personnel. We discuss the
actions of these individuals in the sections below.

A. CAU Unit Chief Glenn Rogers

While Rogers served as the CAU’s first Unit Chief and later as CXS
Assistant Section Chief, he made several decisions that resulted in
widespread use of exigent letters without adequate legal review by the NSLB,
and also without an adequate system to track their use or document the
many less formal requests for telephone records from the on-site providers.

First, we found that in November 2003 Rogers approved an EC which
instructed CAU personnel on how to handle responsive toll billing records
obtained “[u]nder the authority of an Exigent Circumstances Letter.” Yet,
Rogers made no effort to confirm, either then or later, whether these
so-called exigent letters were appropriate for use by the CAU in connection
with national security investigations. As the CAU Unit Chief, Rogers was
responsible for ensuring that the processes used by his unit were lawful and
appropriate. Rogers said that a Company A analyst told him in May 2003
that exigent letters had been used by the FBI’s New York Division and that
the “lawyers” had approved the letter. His decision to rely only ona
Company A analyst’s vague representations as to the propriety of using
such letters, and a reference to unnamed “lawyers,” was imprudent and
improper.

Second, we found that Rogers failed to properly discharge his duties
as CAU Unit Chief and CXS Assistant Section Chief when he signed, and
permitted his subordinates to sign, exigent letters that inaccurately stated
that subpoenas requesting the telephone records listed in the letters had
“been submitted to the U.S. Attorney’s Office who will process and serve
them formally . . . as expeditiously as possible.” When we asked Rogers why
he signed his name to exigent letters containing these inaccurate
statements, he said:

221


The FBI did not rely on this section when it requested and obtained
the records discussed in this report. However, after reviewing a draft of the
OIG report the FBI asked the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) for a legal
opinion on this issue.28° When making the request for an OLC opinion, the
FBI stated that

On January 8, 2010, the OLC issued its opinion, concluding that the
ECPA “would not forbid electronic communications service providers

short, the OLC agreed with the FBI that under certain circumstances
allows the FBI to ask for and obtain these records on a

279 The Stored Communications Act, codified in Chapter 121 of Title 18 at 18 U.S.C.
§§ 2701-2712, was enacted in 1986 as part of the ECPA. The Stored Communications Act
contains the relevant NSL and other FBI access to toll billing records provisions at issue in
this report.

280 The FBI presented the issue to the OLC as follows: “Whether Chapter 121 of
Title 18 of the United States Code applies to call detail records associated

264


law enforcement before issuing subpoenas for the production of reporters’
telephone toll billing records.297

The first leak investigation involved the disclosure of classified

information in articles published by the Washington Post and The New York
Times about the
Without a request

from FBI investigators, and without the knowledge of any prosecutor, a CAU
SSA issued an exigent letter to an on-site Company A analyst for the
telephone records of the Post and Times reporters who wrote the articles

and their bureaus in J Company A provided the records to the
FBI, and the FBI uploaded the records into a

TY database.

The records remained in that database for over 3 years, unbeknownst
to the prosecutor, CTD management, and FBI OGC attorneys until 2008
when OIG investigators determined that the records had been improperly
acquired and notified the FBI General Counsel. We concluded that the FBI’s
acquisition of these records constituted a complete breakdown in the
required Department procedures for approving the issuance of grand jury
subpoenas to obtain reporters’ toll billing records.

In the same investigation, we also found that the FBI sent the
counterintelligence squad case agent

This case agent was accompanied

investigation

Pursuant to instructions from his supervisor, the FBI case agent

In August 2008, following the OIG’s notification to the FBI that it had
improperly acquired the reporters’ records, the FBI informed the
newspapers and the reporters that their telephone records had been

obtained, as required by federal regulation. However, the FBI’s notification
did not disclose ta Ili

297 See 28 C.F.R. § 50.10.

277


neither Youssef nor others in the CTD or the CAU had previously disclosed
to the FBI OGC: the Company C July 5 blanket NSL and the Company A
August 25 Operation Y blanket NSL.

The CAU Supervisory Intelligence Analyst who drafted the PIOB
memorandum told us he had never drafted a PIOB memorandum before and
“this was just very confusing for me.” He said that he pulled information for
the draft from a file left behind by the CAU SSA who had drafted some of the
blanket NSLs. He said that he drafted the “bare bones” of what he knew
about the NSLs and sent the draft to Youssef. Youssef told us that he
viewed the PIOB as “a first rough draft” and the CAU’s “best effort,” and that
he believed that the FBI OGC was going to finalize the PIOB memorandum.

After reviewing the first draft, the Assistant General Counsel asked
CAU personnel to explain why the draft referred to NSLs which she had not
been previously told about.?25 In response, the Acting CXS Section Chief,
Youssef, and the CAU’s Primary Relief Supervisor re-drafted the PIOB
memorandum on March 3, 2007. The second draft included the seven NSLs
that the Assistant General Counsel had originally asked to be addressed but
omitted any reference to the two additional NSLs included in the first draft
that she had questioned.226

The Acting CXS Section Chief characterized his role in the second
draft as trying to explain “massive confusion.” He told us that the second
draft was an attempt “to recreate a record that didn’t exist.” He said that he
directed that the two blanket NSLs which the Assistant General Counsel
had questioned be omitted from the second draft because the Supervisory
Intelligence Analyst who had prepared the first draft could not explain them
to him.

225 The Assistant General Counsel referred in her e-mail to:

one [NSL] to [Company C] on 7/5/2006 (WHICH I'VE NEVER HEARD OF),
one [NSL] to [Company A] on 8/25/06 (WHICH I'VE NEVER HEARD OF)...
The 8/25/06 NSL lists 750 numbers, not a paltry sum. The 7/5/06 NSL
lists almost 50.

226 Neither draft of the possible Intelligence Oversight Board violations (PIOB)
memorandum listed the other two blanket NSLs that the CAU had drafted and the CTD had
signed: the Company C August 24 Operation Y blanket NSL, which covered 612 telephone
numbers, and the Company A September 21 blanket NSL, which covered 700 telephone
numbers. Neither of these NSLs had been disclosed to the Assistant General Counsel or
other FBI OGC attorneys at the time. The OIG brought these two blanket NSLs to the FBI
OGC’s attention in July 2007 during this investigation.

188


Supervisor also said he was not sure if a grand jury subpoena could be used
for such records and did not know what the process was to get a grand jury
subpoena for such records in conjunction with the U.S. Attorney’s

Office.

c. Company B and Company C Also (J the
Reporter’s Cellular Phone Calling Activity

We determined that the Company A analyst who had EE for
telephone calls made by a reporter sent an e-mail to the CAU Primary Relief

Supervisor with the subject line, “Requested Information.” The e-mail listed
| the reporter’s cellular phone number, and a 3-day date

range.

Company B records show that 2 minutes after this e-mail was sent, the
on-site Company B employee | Company B’s records for calling activity
by the reporter’s cellular phone number for a date range 1 day before and 1 day
after the 3-day period identified in the Company A analyst’s e-mail. Two
minutes after that J the Company B em loyee — Company B’s
records for calling activity by P| for the same period. Based on
these e-mail records and other documents we reviewed, we believe that the
Primary Relief Supervisor asked Company B to [J its records for this
purpose.

A Company B attorney told us that the Company B MJ of the
reporter’s calling activity found responsive records although the on-site
Company B employee did not recall whether he provided any information about
the records to the FBI. However, in response to our request to determine
whether records from Company B responsive to this were uploaded into
FBI databases, the FBI database administrator told us that he did not find any
evidence of such records.

According to an entry in the Company C employee’s log, 2 days later the
CAU Primary Relief Supervisor asked the on-site Company C employee to
| for records of calls by both the reporter’s cellular phone number
for the same 3-day period previously identified to the on-site
Company A analyst. The Company C employee’s log indicates that the CAU
Primary Relief Supervisor told him the telephone numbers pertained to a leak

case. The Company C employee [EJ Company C’s database for calling
activity i and the reporter’s cellular phone number, but did
not identify any responsive records.

The CAU Primary Relief Supervisor told us he did not recall interacting
with the Company C employee on this investigation, but that it was “possible”

he conveyed a request to the Company C employee to | the records shown
in the log. He added that he could not recall “when or why” he would have

119


11. The FBI, in conjunction with the National Security Division (NSD)

and other relevant Department components, should review current policies
and procedures governing P| reporters by
Department personnel. We recommend that after conducting this review,
the FBI and the NSD consider under what circumstances FBI personnel
may ( ceporters, and specifically whether
approval by senior FBI officials at the level of an Assistant Director or higher
should be required for

12. The FBI, in conjunction with the NSD, should determine whether
any FISA Court orders for electronic surveillance or pen register/trap and
trace devices currently in place relied upon declarations containing FBI
statements as to the source of subscriber information for telephone
numbers listed in exigent letters or the 11 blanket NSLs. If the FBI and the
NSD identify any such pending orders, we recommend that the FBI and the
NSD determine if any of the statements characterizing the source of
subscriber information are inaccurate or incomplete. If any declarations are
identified as containing inaccurate or incomplete statements, we
recommend that the FBI and the NSD determine whether any of these
matters should be referred to the FBI Inspection Division or the
Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility for further review.

13. The FBI and the Department should consider how the FBI may
when seeking telephone billing records,

We also recommend
that the Department notify Congress of this issue and of the OLC opinion
interpreting the scope of the FBI’s authority under it, so that Congress can
consider the a and the implications of its potential

use.

III. OIG Conclusion on Exigent Letters and Other Improper Requests
for Telephone Records

In sum, in this review we found widespread use by the FBI of exigent
letters and other informal requests for telephone records. These other
requests were made by e-mail, face-to-face, on post-it notes, and by
telephone, without first providing legal process or even exigent letters. The
FBI also obtained telephone records through improper “sneak peeks,”
community of interest i, and hot-number Many of these
practices violated FBI guidelines, Department policy, and the ECPA statute.
In addition, we found that the FBI also made inaccurate statements to the
FISA Court related to its use of exigent letters. Some of the most troubling
improper requests for telephone records occurred in media leak cases,
where the FBI sought and acquired reporters’ telephone toll billing records

288


that the only documentation of a request for these records sent to the carrier

rior to the date of the application was an “exigent situation” letter dated
that was signed by a Special Agent assigned to the FBI office
in The letter stated that the request was made

pursuant to an emergency situation and that the FBI would provide “required
legal process by the end of the next business day.” 156 However, the
subsequent NSL was dated EY over 2 months after the FISA
order had been issued.

In August 2008, as a result of this review, the NSD notified the FISA
Court of the inaccurate statement in the declaration, stating that the NSD and
the FBI considered the inaccurate statement to be “non-material” for purposes
of Rule 10(b) of the FISA Court Rules of Procedure.”

Cc. FISA Case No. 3

FISA Court on for electronic surveillance in connection with a
counterterrorism investigation. The supporting declaration by an FBI SSA
stated that the FBI had verified the subscriber information through information
obtained in response to an NSL served on a carrier. The FISA Court’s order
was issued on a

In this = the ae i. filed an emergency application with the

However, working with the NSD and the FBI, we determined that the FBI
had obtained the subscriber information from the carrier, prior to the filing of
the FISA application for electronic surveillance, in response to an FBI field
agent’s oral request for telephone records, not in response to an NSL as was
asserted in the application to the FISA Court. FBI records showed that the
NSL seeking subscriber information for the telephone number was not drafted
until P| and was served on the carrier on -
2 weeks after the inaccurate FISA application was filed. On in
response to this NSL, the carrier gave the FBI the identical information that
had been described in the declaration supporting the application.

In August 2008, as a result of this review, the NSD notified the FISA
Court of the inaccurate statement in the declaration, stating that the NSD and
the FBI considered the statement to be “non-material” for purposes of Rule
10(b) of the FISA Court Rules of Procedure.”

186 The letter was a form from the carrier that contained a recital tracking the standard
for emergency voluntary disclosure of non-content telephone records in 18 U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4).
We were unable to determine the identity of the employee who signed the letter.

125


imposing non-disclosure and confidentiality requirements on NSL
recipients. Additionally, this NSL violated FBI policy because it was not
accompanied by an approval EC.

Finally, this NSL was issued after-the-fact, although the ECPA does
not authorize retroactive legal process, and did not disclose that it was
issued for records that the FBI had been previously obtained through
exigent letters and other informal requests.

Love told us that she recognized her signature on the Company A
September 21 NSL, but said she could not recall any details surrounding
this NSL, including who gave it to her. She also told us that she did not
know that NSLs required approval ECs.

We concluded that by signing this NSL Love failed to take appropriate
steps to ensure that she complied with the ECPA, the Attorney General’s
NSI Guidelines, and FBI policy. When she signed this NSL Love had about
20 months experience conducting FBI national security investigations. If
Love did not know FBI policies regarding the issuance of NSLs - including
the requirement that they contain approval ECs — she should not have
signed any NSLs and should instead have sought appropriate legal
guidance.

5. OIG Conclusion on CTD officials who signed improper
blanket NSLs

When Congress amended the Patriot Act in 2001, it significantly
expanded the FBI’s preexisting authority to issue NSLs. Section 505 of the
Patriot Act broadened the FBI’s NSL authority by eliminating the
requirement that the information sought in an NSL must pertain to a foreign
power or an agent of a foreign power. This section of the Patriot Act
substituted the lower threshold that the information sought must be
relevant to an authorized investigation to protect against international
terrorism or espionage, provided that any investigation of a U.S. person is
not conducted “solely on the basis of activities protected by the first
amendment of the Constitution of the United States.” As a consequence of
this lower threshold, the FBI can obtain information about persons who are
not subjects of FBI investigations so long as the requested information is
relevant to an authorized national security investigation.

As we described in this chapter, we believe serious, repeated
management failures by the FBI’s senior leadership, the CTD, and the FBI
OGC caused the breakdown in responsibility and accountability for exigent
letters, other improper requests, and the attempts at corrective action -
such as blanket NSLs. However, we also believe that the CTD senior

243


communicated to the on-site communications service providers by informal
means other than exigent letters, such as by e-mail.

Operation Y was an investigation of a terrorist plot to
detonate explosives
CAU personnel made requests for
telephone records related to this investigation for a 6-week period. The
Company B on-site employee told us that he was informed by CAU
personnel that Operation Y involved “something big going on . . . and it
could be another 9/11.”

One Company A analyst told us that he received no briefing from the
CAU concerning Operation Y, and a second Company A analyst told us he
had i for the FBI for this case for several weeks without
even being aware that the [J he was conducting were associated to
Operation Y.

Arthur A. Cummings III, then a SAC in the FBI’s Washington Field
Office but temporarily assigned as an Acting Deputy Assistant Director
(DAD) in the CTD, signed the following five blanket NSLs relating to
Operation Y, none of which had approval ECs:

e August 24, 2006, NSL to Company B listing 72 telephone
numbers (Company B August 24 NSL);

e August 24, 2006, NSL to Company C listing 610 telephone
numbers (Company C August 24 NSL);

e August 25, 2006, NSL to Company A listing 735 telephone
numbers (Company A August 25 NSL);

e September 19, 2006, NSL to Company A listing 107 telephone
numbers (Company A September 19 NSL); and

e September 19, 2006, NSL to Company C listing 73 telephone
numbers (Company C September 19 NSL).

As a SAC in the Washington Field Office, Cummings was authorized
to sign NSLs.218 Cummings acknowledged that the NSLs contained his
signature and said that he specifically recalled signing the Company C
August 24 and Company A August 25 NSLs because they included many
telephone numbers. He said that he had no specific recollection of signing

218 In November 2006, Cummings became a DAD in the CTD, and in January 2008
became the Executive Assistant Director for the FBI’s National Security Branch.

180


TABLE 4.1
Three Blanket NSLs Issued by the CTD in 2006

Bs 3!
2 | 2558 a8
§ segs 8o|..
g Sees gc\ y
A. 20% & &
oy “eos Q | ofl co
if ws s Q a £ 8&8
eS $228 om se
% Seek | 2 | ss
ha Ces o | oes
oo e8Ee 5 > ga
22 Sst & | eel bs
e's 3 os 3 @ ES] oe
NSL Date | Recipient Signer Ze Sé2 g £|2 & 3 £ |
1 | 05/12/06 | Company B | DAD Billy 192 | 48 v V v
2 | 07/05/06 | Company C | A/DAD Heimbach | 35 | 7 v V v
3 | 09/21/06 | Company A | A/DAD Love 700 | 120 (approx.) | V v Vv

a. Company B May 12 NSL

The first blanket NSL that addressed the backlog of records requests,
dated May 12, 2006, was issued to Company B around May 23, 2006.2 It
was signed by Joseph Billy, Jr., then a CTD Deputy Assistant Director
(DAD).2°6 The blanket NSL contained as an attachment the list supplied by
the on-site Company B employee on May 18, 2006, of 192 telephone
numbers. The on-site Company B employee told us that those were all the
telephone numbers for which Company B needed legal process at that time.
The list included numbers that CAU personnel had asked Company B to
HEME uring the period September 2004 to April 2006 pursuant to exigent
letters (some of which had been provided after the Py

The CAU SSA who drafted the Company B May 12 NSL said that it
was his idea to create the blanket NSL. He said the on-site communications
service providers’ employees were complaining to him and others on his
team that they were owed NSLs for a lot of numbers they had previously

at the FBI’s request. The SSA told us that his idea was to draft

205 We refer to this NSL as the Company B May 12 NSL which was the date on the
NSL, even though it was not signed until after May 23, 2006.

206 Billy became the Assistant Director of the CTD on October 15, 2006, and
remained in that position until his retirement from the FBI in March 2008.

169


knowingly divulge a record or other information pertaining to a subscriber
or customer of such service . . . to any government entity.”7! The ECPA NSL
statute contains an exception to the confidentiality of such records by
requiring communications service providers to provide covered records to
the FBI if the FBI Director or his designee certifies in writing that the
records sought are

relevant to an authorized investigation to protect against
international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities,
provided that such an investigation of a United States person is
not conducted solely upon the basis of activities protected by
the first amendment to the constitution of the United

States.72

During the period covered by our review, the Attorney General’s NSI
Guidelines authorized the use of NSLs only during investigations of
international terrorism or espionage, upon the signature of a Special Agent
in Charge or other designated senior FBI official.7? In order to open such
investigations, the FBI must satisfy certain evidentiary thresholds, which
must be documented in FBI case files and approved by supervisors.”4 If
case agents want to issue NSLs, FBI policies require a 4-step approval
process. Case agents must secure the approval of their supervisors, the
Chief Division Counsel, an Assistant Special Agent in Charge, and the
Special Agent in Charge (or equivalent supervisors and attorneys at FBI
Headquarters), who signs the NSL.

We concluded in our first NSL report that the CAU’s use of exigent
letters was a circumvention of the ECPA NSL statute.75 We found that
neither the ECPA, the Attorney General’s NSI Guidelines, nor FBI policy
authorize the FBI to obtain ECPA-protected records by serving this type of
informal letter prior to obtaining the records, with “legal process to follow.”
In limited circumstances a separate provision of the ECPA authorizes the
FBI to obtain non-content telephone records from communications service

71 18 U.S.C. § 2702(a)(3).
72 18 U.S.C. §§ 2709(a) and 2709(c).

73 The Attorney General’s NSI Guidelines were replaced by a new set of Attorney
General Guidelines, the Attorney General Guidelines for Domestic Operations, which
became effective on December 1, 2008. The new guidelines do not alter the requirement for
NSLs issued in national security investigations.

74 OIG, NSLI, 17-18.
75 OIG, NSLI, 95-98.

65


investigations — learned the procedures for requesting and obtaining records
from the on-site providers’ employees and from other CAU personnel.

Third, by late December 2004 NSLB attorneys, including NSLB
Deputy General Counsel Thomas, knew that the CAU was obtaining records
prior to service of legal process based on a form letter but did not probe the
details or terminate the practice. Rather, in January 2005 NSLB attorneys
met with Rogers and a CAU SSA to discuss how the NSLB could assist in
quickly preparing NSLs after the CAU had obtained records. Thus, CAU
personnel believed that the exigent letters had been approved not only by
the CAU Unit Chiefs but by the NSLB.

Fourth, the use of exigent letters was widespread and the accepted
way of doing business in the CAU. Many CAU SSAs told us that the letters
were part of the standard practice used by the CAU. Some SSAs also
identified a particular Company A employee as having assured them that
the exigent letter practice had been approved by “attorneys,” which the SSAs
said they interpreted to mean attorneys from both the FBI and Company A.

Fifth, because the CAU was an operational support unit, none of its
personnel had authority to sign NSLs. As a result, when CAU personnel
issued exigent letters to obtain records from the on-site providers, the CAU
generally depended upon the original FBI requesters in field or
Headquarters operational units to issue the after-the-fact legal process.
Due to the absence of a tracking system for after-the-fact legal process in
the CAU, the CAU SSA who signed the exigent letters would not necessarily
know what type of legal process was eventually issued or even that the
request was eventually covered by the promised legal process. Additionally,
due to turnover in the CAU, the CAU employee who signed the exigent letter
may have rotated out of the CAU when the after-the-fact legal process was
served on the on-site providers weeks, months, or even years later.

Sixth, grand jury subpoenas in fact were subsequently issued to cover
some of the exigent letter requests.

Finally, employees of the on-site providers accepted exigent letters as
authority for responding to FBI requests and in many instances even
drafted the exigent letters. Indeed, as described in Chapter Two of this
report, CAU SSAs told us that the providers’ employees were sometimes the
first to brief them on the exigent letters practice. The role of the on-site
providers in explaining, drafting, and accepting the exigent letters, together
with the fact that these SSAs saw other personnel in the unit regularly sign
and issue the letters, led these SSAs to conclude that signing exigent letters
to initiate [J for telephone records was an appropriate business
practice within the CAU.

247


and subscriber names and addresses for both listed and non-published
numbers; and (2) calling records for numbers dialed long distance, collect,
or third party and, if available, local calls and calling card information. The
Company B contract provided for making records available —-

As of March 2007, the FBI had paid Company B more than

under this contract.

In most instances, the toll records delivered by the three
communications service providers to the FBI consisted of the originating
and terminating telephone numbers and the date, time, and duration of the
telephone calls. In addition, Company A and Company C could provide the

Company A did not provide subscriber data as part of its services
under its contract with the CAU.28 Companies B and C were able to, and
sometimes did, provide the CAU with subscriber data for their customers.
However, the FBI typically did not obtain subscriber data from Companies B
and C.

Glenn Rogers, the CAU’s Unit Chief from March 2003 to November
2004, told us that a significant reason for the three contracts was the speed
with which the on-site employees of the three communications service
providers could respond to the CAU’s requests.

Documents associated with the Company A and Company C contracts
described additional resources and capabilities of the on-site providers,
some of which were relevant to our review. For example, Company A’s
description of its capabilities in a March 2004 contract proposal stated that
its database could “be customized specifically for the FBI based upon input
data such as hot target list, significant numbers, secure data, etc.” This

contract proposal also referred
BE “Community of Interest.” Company C’s cost assessment proposal,
dated May 23, 2003, stated that Company C

The FBI’s Electronic
Communication (EC) seeking approval to obligate funds for the Company C

28 The on-site Company A employees told us that they referred FBI personnel
seeking subscriber information to a Company A subpoena management centers.

23


When the CAU began operations in 2002, a combination of factors
created clear risks for potential misuse of NSL authorities and other
authorities to obtain records in support of FBI national security
investigations. These factors included the FBI’s expanded NSL authorities
in the USA PATRIOT Act?5°; the CAU’s status as an operational support
unit; the establishment of contracts with the communications service
providers for on-site support at the FBI; the close proximity of the providers’
employees to CAU personnel in a common work area?5!; the assignment of
Supervisory Special Agents (SSA) and Intelligence Analysts to the CAU who
had little or no background in national security investigations or in using
NSLs; and continual and insistent demands for telephone transactional
records from FBI field and Headquarters operating units. However, FBI
managers failed to recognize these risks and take steps to avoid them.

For example, from the inception of the FBI’s contractual relationships
with the three providers in 2003, senior FBI leaders knew that the CAU
would be handling telephone transactional records which the FBI could
lawfully obtain pursuant to the ECPA. However, FBI leaders and managers
failed to ensure that responsible officials in the CTD and the FBI OGC’s
National Security Law Branch (NSLB) reviewed the proposed and final
contracts with the on-site providers to ensure that the agreements
conformed to the requirements of the ECPA, the Attorney General’s
Guidelines for FBI National Security Investigations and Foreign Intelligence
Collection (NSI Guidelines), and other relevant laws and policies governing
the FBI’s authority to obtain telephone transactional records. FBI leaders
and managers also should have recognized early on the need to train CAU
personnel on the authorized methods and procedures for requesting records
from the on-site providers, the need to clearly communicate those
procedures to the on-site providers’ employees and their respective
supervisors, and the necessity of establishing oversight mechanisms to
ensure those procedures were followed.

The first CAU Unit Chief, Glenn Rogers, and most SSAs initially
assigned to the CAU had no prior experience in national security

250 As described in our first NSL report, the Patriot Act significantly broadened the
FBI’s authority to obtain information through NSLs by lowering the evidentiary threshold
for seeking NSLs and by extending the authority to sign NSLs to Special Agents in Charge
of the FBI’s 56 field offices.

251 We found that the close proximity of the providers’ employees and CAU
personnel led to a casual, informal atmosphere in the CAU, as well as friendships and
social contacts outside the office that blurred the lines between the responsibilities of FBI
personnel and the providers. We believe that atmosphere contributed to the informal and
improper use of exigent letters and other requests for telephone records.

215


with persons suspected of leaking classified information to the
reporters. :

The exigent letter did not specify the 7-month interval noted in the case
agent’s November 5 e-mail, or contain any date restrictions. The exigent letter
also stated that the request was made “due to exigent circumstances” and that
“subpoenas requesting this information have been submitted to the U.S.
Attorney’s office who will process and serve them formally on [Company A] as
expeditiously as possible.” However, this statement was not accurate. A
subpoena request had not been sent to the U.S. Attorney’s Office at the time
the exigent letter was served, or at any time thereafter.

The CAU SSA told us he could not recall why he sent this exigent letter
and acknowledged that the case agent had not asked him to do so. He also
acknowledged that he knew at the time he signed the letter, based on
information previously given to him, that the request included reporters’
numbers. He stated that he “had never even read the content of these [exigent]
letters,” but was “just using the standard forms... .” The CAU SSA told us
that he used exigent letters based on the guidance he had received from a
Company A analyst who told him “explicitly that this was the approved process
between the attorneys for [Company A], as well as, you know, . . . the attorneys
for the Bureau.” He said that when he was assigned to the CAU, his prior
experience had been working on Columbian drug trafficking and money
laundering and Asian organized crime under the FBI’s criminal programs, and
he was not aware of any special policies or approval levels needed to obtain
reporters’ toll billing records.

The CAU SSA also said he did not recall the case agent making any
representations about exigent circumstances underlying his inquiry about the
availability of the toll billing records. The CAU SSA told us that he could
imagine circumstances in which the leak of classified information could
present exigent circumstances.!!6 He also told us that the case agent’s squad
supervisor, who was on the initiating e-mail to the CAU for this request, would
have known from CAU briefings she attended at the NN Field Office
that the CAU would be obtaining telephone records before legal process in a
request of this type. However, the case agent told us that he did not tell the
CAU SSA who signed the exigent letter that there were any exigent
circumstances associated with his inquiry. Similarly, the squad supervisor
told us that no one had told her of any exigent circumstances being presented
to the CAU SSA in connection with this request.

116 The SSA stated that he considered the leak of “national defense information” to be
the type of circumstance for which an exigent letter would be appropriate.

94


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Cummings said that prior to signing any of the NSLs, he had spoken
with an NSLB attorney to determine if he was authorized to sign NSLs while
serving as an Acting DAD in the CTD on temporary assignment. An NSLB
attorney confirmed to us that she advised Cummings that he could sign
NSLs in his position as a SAC.

Cummings also told us that he recalled signing the Company C
August 24 and Company A August 25 Operation Y blanket NSLs, which
included many telephone numbers, but he did not recall signing the other
three Operation Y blanket NSLs. Cummings said he believed that each of
the NSLs he signed had approval ECs because it was his practice to ensure
that NSLs always had approval ECs. However, we confirmed with the CAU
SSA who drafted the NSLs that approval ECs were not prepared for any of
the five Operation Y blanket NSLs. Accordingly, we determined that
Cummings was mistaken in his belief that all the NSLs he signed were
accompanied by approval ECs.

We concluded that by signing these NSLs Cummings failed to take
appropriate steps to ensure that the NSLs complied with the ECPA, the
Attorney General’s NSI Guidelines, and FBI policy. When Cummings signed
these NSLs, he had about 14 years experience in conducting FBI national
security investigations, yet he failed to ensure that the requests were
adequately predicated under the ECPA by examining the approval ECs.

3. Michael Heimbach

Michael Heimbach joined the FBI in 1988. By mid-2006, Heimbach
had been assigned to FBI national security investigations for more than 3
years.

Heimbach signed the Company C July 5 blanket NSL. Heimbach
signed this NSL when he was a Section Chief of the International Terrorism
Operations Section 1 of the CTD, but while temporarily assigned as an
Acting DAD for the CTD. Similar to the Company B May 12 NSL signed by
Billy, this NSL violated the ECPA because it (1) included telephone numbers
relevant to closed investigations and records that were relevant to domestic
terrorism and criminal investigations for which NSLs are not an authorized
technique under the Attorney General’s NSI Guidelines; and (2) did not
contain the certifications required for NSLs imposing non-disclosure and
confidentiality requirements on NSL recipients. Additionally, this NSL
violated FBI policy because it was not accompanied by an approval EC. As
mentioned previously, approval ECs are required in order to document that
the records sought are relevant to an authorized national security
investigation.

241


E. General Counsel Valerie Caproni

We examined the involvement of FBI General Counsel Valerie Caproni
in the handling of exigent letters and determined that she first learned
about the CAU’s use of exigent letters or other improper requests for
telephone records in late 2006, during the OIG’s first NSL investigation.

The only evidence that Caproni was told anything prior to this time
that related to the CAU obtaining records before service of legal process was
a conversation that Thomas said she had with Caproni in April 2005 when
Thomas was preparing for the FBI Inspection Division’s triennial inspection
of the FBI OGC. Thomas said she discussed with Caproni at the time that
the NSLB “had a problem delivering legal services” and that “[CAU
personnel] were requesting NSLs for records they had already received.”
Thomas said she raised the question to Caproni whether these after-the-fact
NSLs should be reported as possible intelligence violations to the President’s
Intelligence Oversight Board. Thomas said that Caproni agreed with
Thomas’s assessment that “these were likely all emergency circumstances
anyway and a follow-on NSL would not be required.”262

We concluded that the information Thomas recalled sharing with
Caproni was not of sufficient detail to put Caproni on notice that the CAU
was obtaining records from the on-site providers with a promise of future
legal process. We found no evidence that Thomas informed Caproni that
the CAU was obtaining records using a letter that promised future service of
legal process.

Rather, Caproni first learned about the use of exigent letters in 2006
in response to the FBI Director’s request that she assess whether the FBI
anticipated any problems with the OIG’s first NSL investigation that was
ongoing at the time. Caproni asked the Assistant General Counsel in an
e-mail whether, in light of the Assistant General Counsel’s recent OIG
interview, she anticipated “any problems/issues/concerns.” In a reply on
June 1, 2006, the Assistant General Counsel wrote:

in emergency situations . . . we have allowed CAU to get NSL
information from the [e]mbedded telephone companies based
upon a letter promising a legally compelling process to be

forthcoming, and then the NSL is supposed to be issued... .

262 However, as we discuss in Chapter Four of this report, Caproni told us in earlier
interviews when we asked her if the FBI had been relying on the emergency voluntary
disclosure statute in approving the use of exigent letters, “no, we had no discussions that
these [exigent letter requests] — would qualify under that provision of the ECPA.”

237


initially uncertain about why the exigent letter process was used in this
matter, and the Headquarters operational unit subsequently explained to
her the exigent circumstances that led to the request.

Youssef responded by e-mail on April 27, 2005, that the Assistant
General Counsel was “absolutely right” and that he would instruct the CAU
staff as she had requested.192 On April 27, Youssef also forwarded the
Assistant General Counsel’s e-mail to all CAU personnel and the on-site
communications service providers’ employees, directing them to review the
e-mail. Youssef added in his forwarding e-mail, “We all need to differentiate
between what is an exigent request and what is not.”

We determined that after Youssef forwarded the Assistant General
Counsel’s e-mail to CAU personnel there was a decrease in the number of
exigent letters issued by the CAU, as reflected in Chart 2.3 in Chapter Two
of this report. However, as described in this chapter and in Chapter Two,
field and Headquarters requests to the CAU for records or calling activity
information continued, many of which were communicated to the on-site
providers by informal means other than exigent letters, such as by sneak
peek requests and requests communicated by telephone, e-mail, in-person,
and on post-it notes.

As also discussed below and in Chapter Six, we concluded that the
Assistant General Counsel’s statement that an exigent letter was
appropriate when “the requester cannot await an NSL” is inconsistent with
both the ECPA NSL statute and the ECPA emergency voluntary disclosure
statute.

G. NSLB Fails to Recognize Applicability of the ECPA’s
Authority for Emergency Voluntary Disclosures to Requests
Sent to the CAU

On August 25, 2005, the FBI OGC issued a guidance memorandum to
all FBI personnel, which described the circumstances in which the ECPA
authorized the disclosure of the content and records of communications
under 18 U.S.C. § 2702(b)(8) and 2702 (c)(4) in emergency circumstances.
The guidance recognized that emergency voluntary disclosures were
“outside of the compulsory process” and stated that such disclosures

contemporaneous e-mails that the Assistant General Counsel’s guidance was prompted by
a request from another Headquarters unit, not from Youssef.

192 On April 27, 2005, the Assistant General Counsel forwarded her advice and
Youssef’s response to her immediate supervisor and Thomas.

155


APPENDIX


DIAGRAM 2.1
Calling Circle or “Community of Interest” JE



CHAPTER SIX
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

I Conclusions

The OIG conducted this review of the FBI’s use of exigent letters and
other informal requests for telephone records to examine the circumstances
under which they were used and to assess the accountability of FBI senior
officials, supervisors, and employees who were responsible for these
practices. This report supplements our findings on exigent letters that were
described in our first NSL report issued in March 2007, and our second NSL
report issued in March 2008.

A. Exigent Letters and Other Informal Requests

In this report, we found widespread use of exigent letters and other
informal requests for telephone records that did not comply with legal
requirements or FBI policies governing acquisition of these records. We
determined that this practice began in 2003, when the FBI
Counterterrorism Division’s (CTD) new Communications Analysis Unit
(CAU) started using exigent letters to acquire subscriber and telephone toll
billing records information from three on-site communications service
providers. Glenn Rogers, the CAU Unit Chief at the time, said he approved
the use of exigent letters in the CAU because the letters had previously been
accepted by Company A during the FBI’s New York Field Division’s criminal
investigations of the September 11 hijackers and because a Company A
analyst had assured him they were “approved by the lawyers.” However,
Rogers did not consult with any attorneys in the FBI Office of the General
Counsel’s (FBI OGC) National Security Law Branch (NSLB) or other FBI
Headquarters’ attorneys about whether the letters could be used in national
security investigations or other FBI investigations.

In 2003 and 2004, the FBI entered into contracts with Company A,
Company B, and Company C that established arrangements whereby these
companies placed their employees in the CAU’s office space so they could
expeditiously respond to FBI requests for telephone records. For example,
pursuant to its contract with the FBI, Company A made available to the
CAU, in a readily retrievable format, toll billing records

Company A Prior to this

c pany A could easily retrieve telephone records
"Durin the period of our review, the FBI paid the 3
providers a total of under these contracts.

257


DIAGRAM 4.2
FBI Summary Chart of Plan to Rectify the Exigent Letter Situation

Exigent Letter

Was legal process issued
subsequent to the
date of the letter?

: : ve Records retained

Relevant investigation
open at issuance
and currently open?

ap Wes NSL will issue to carrier

Was there an emergency i =
situation? Records retained

} }
tp Yes——| Is there a relevant

open investigation?
Records removed i

from FBI files ah

Records retained

First, the FBI determined whether legal process — an NSL or grand
jury subpoena - was issued to the on-site communications provider before
or after the records listed in exigent letters and the blanket NSLs had been
requested.232 In instances in which a valid NSL or subpoena was issued,
the FBI concluded that it will retain the records. As described below, the
FBI further reviewed the records for which legal process was located to

232 Although the FBI’s decision tree states that the FBI would determine if “legal
process [was] issued subsequent to the date of the letter,” in practice, the review team
relied upon any valid legal process in determining whether to retain records, including legal
process dated before the date of the exigent letter.

194




implemented. While NSLB attorneys focused during this period on the
issuance of NSLs for ongoing CAU exigent letter requests, they did not
recognize and address in a timely manner the legal flaw with issuing
after-the-fact NSLs.

We also describe the actions of the CAU Unit Chiefs and the NSLB
attorneys regarding the CAU’s use of exigent letters, the backlog of promised
legal process, and the actions taken to address the backlog.

A. A Backlog First Develops During Rogers’s Tenure as CAU
Unit Chief

Rogers told us that during his tenure as CAU Unit Chief from March
2003 to November 2004, he regularly reminded CAU personnel to stay
current on NSLs that were owed to the providers. He also said he
sometimes spoke with personnel assigned to CTD operational units about
the importance of issuing after-the-fact legal process for telephone records,
and on one occasion spoke with a field division about providing an
after-the-fact NSL to the CAU. However, Rogers did not require CAU
personnel to maintain lists of telephone numbers for which the CAU had
requested information from the on-site providers, or otherwise to keep track
of exigent letters to ensure that legal process followed the exigent letters.
Instead, CAU personnel relied on the three on-site communications service
providers to tell them whether legal process had been provided to cover the
records acquired in response to exigent letters.

We determined that by November 2004, the CAU had made requests
for records to the on-site providers for hundreds of telephone numbers for
which legal process had not been provided. The on-site Company B
employee, who first came to the CAU in September 2004, told us that by
November 2004 he was concerned that Company B was not receiving
after-the-fact legal process for records he had provided to CAU personnel in
response to exigent letters. He said he spoke to Rogers about the backlog of
records requiring legal process before Rogers left the CAU in November 2004
to become the Assistant Section Chief for the CTD’s Communications
Exploitation Section (CXS) (the CTD Section that oversaw the CAU).
According to the Company B employee, Rogers told him “these take a little
time” and “you need to stay after the guys.” The Company B employee said
that he was surprised by Rogers’s response because he did not think he
should be responsible for following up with CAU personnel.

Although a backlog of record requests requiring legal process
developed in the CAU, CAU personnel continued to sign and issue exigent
letters to satisfy the operational support requests from FBI headquarters,
the CTD’s operational units, and field divisions. A significant number of
these requests came from the International Terrorism Operations Section 1

139


through November 13, 2006, the date of the last exigent letter that we
found.32

Table 2.1 shows the number of exigent letters we identified as issued
by the CAU from 2003 through 2006.

TABLE 2.1
Exigent Letters Issued by CAU Personnel by Calendar Year
(2003 through 2006)
CALENDAR NUMBER OF

YEAR EXIGENT LETTERS

2003 70

2004 323

2005 294

2006 35

TOTAL 722

Source: Company A, Company B, and Company C

Most of these letters were identical to the exigent letters that were first
issued by the New York Field Division beginning in November 2002,
discussed above.

Table 2.2 shows the number of exigent letters CAU personnel issued
to each of the three communications service providers during the 4-year
period.

TABLE 2.2

Exigent Letters Issued by CAU Personnel to the
Three On-Site Communications Service Providers
(2003 through 2006)

COMMUNICATIONS NUMBER OF
PROVIDER EXIGENT LETTERS
Company A 514
Company B 146
Company C 62

TOTAL 722

Source: Company A, Company B, and Company C

52 As described below, the use of exigent letters that promised future legal process
was formally barred (in a directive issued by the FBI’s Deputy Director) in March 2007,
when the OIG issued our first NSL report.

26


because she had not yet had the briefing from Company A.©° The approval
ECs we obtained that accompanied these NSLs did not mention community
of interest [J or | records.

Similarly, two NSLs signed by then Acting CTD Deputy Assistant
Director Arthur Cummings III in October 2006 and an NSL signed by then
CTD Assistant Director Joseph Billy, Jr., in January 2006 contained
community of interest requests, although the corresponding approval
ECs did not address that community of interest were to be

or the predication for these [MJ requests under the ECPA.®1
Thomas told us that there “appears to be the strong potential” that other
FBI personnel made community of interest [J requests without
“anderstanding what it means” and that “the appropriate relevance inquiry
is not being done.”

We requested the approval ECs for 28 NSLs issued between July 28,
2004, and May 2, 2006, to the 3 on-site providers that included requests for
community of interest records in the body of the NSLs. The FBI located
approval ECs for only 21 of these NSLs. Of these 21 approval ECs, only 4
stated that community of interest records were being requested and only 2
described the relevance of records to the
investigation.

We also requested the approval ECs for 25 NSLs issued between
May 22, 2006, and December 21, 2006, to the 3 on-site providers that
included standard attachments requesting community of interest records.
The FBI located approval ECs for only 17 of these NSLs. Of these 17
approval ECs, none stated that community of interest records were being
requested or described the relevance of ——— records to the
investigation. This indicates that officials who signed NSLs containing

community of interest requests in the letters or attachments often were
unaware that they were making such requests.

Senior CTD officials we interviewed said they did not know how often
community of interest [J had been | by Company A.
Although most CAU SSAs and Intelligence Analysts said they knew about

60 In contrast, Thomas said she performed a relevancy analysis when she signed
NSLs that included community of interest [J requests in late 2006 in connection with a
major FBI counterterrorism operation.

61 Cummings told us that he did not understand the concept of Company A’s
community of interest NEM) until after release of the OIG’s first NSL report in March
2007. Billy said that he knew about Company A’s community of interest a]
by 2004 or 2005.

58


any of the other three blanket NSLs. Cummings said that he believed that
each of the NSLs had approval ECs because it was his practice to ensure
that NSLs always had approval ECs.

Cummings told us that prior to signing any NSLs while assigned as an
Acting DAD he asked an NSLB attorney whether he was authorized to sign
NSLs in that capacity. He stated that the NSLB attorney told him that
although he was not authorized to sign NSLs as an Acting DAD, since he
was “formally” a SAC at the time he was authorized to sign NSLs in his
capacity as a SAC.219 Cummings stated that other than signing NSLs, he
performed no other duties as a SAC while temporarily assigned as an Acting
DAD for the CTD.

The NSLB attorney with whom Cummings consulted confirmed that
based on direction from her NSLB Unit Chief, she had advised Cummings
that he was authorized to sign NSLs as a SAC.220

We determined that all five Operation Y NSLs were defective. First,
the NSLs were served after-the-fact. Second, although the NSLs imposed.
non-disclosure and confidentiality obligations on Company A, the NSLs did
not contain the certifications required by the Patriot Reauthorization Act
and the ECPA for such NSLs. Third, the NSLs were not accompanied by
approval ECs establishing the predication for the requests and the relevance
of the records sought to authorized national security investigations.

Finally, the NSLs also did not disclose that the FBI had previously
asked the providers to [IMJ these records or that the providers had
already done so and in many instances had provided responsive records.

219 As noted above, at the time the FBI had no written guidance on the authority of
acting FBI officials to sign NSLs.

220 NSLB Deputy General Counsel Thomas told us she was not sure whether this
advice was correct. She stated, “the issue would be if you are an Acting DAD, then you
have left the current [SAC] position.” She added that her advice would have been to have
the NSLs sent to her instead of having Cummings sign them because, “we do not need to go
down that legal road.” As noted previously, the FBI OGC issued guidance on June 1, 2007,
stating that Acting Deputy Assistant Directors are not authorized to sign NSLs. However,
on January 16, 2009, the Department’s Office of Legal Counsel opined that Acting DADs
are authorized to sign NSLs under three of the NSL statutes, including the ECPA NSL
statute.

181


and calling activity information without following federal regulation or
obtaining the required Attorney General approval.

Our review also found that the FBI’s initial attempts at corrective
action were seriously deficient, ili-conceived, and poorly executed. However,
after our first NSL report was issued in March 2007, the FBI took
appropriate action to stop the use of exigent letters and to address the
problems created by their use. Yet, we believe the FBI should take
additional action regarding the use of other improper requests for telephone
records. We therefore believe the FBI should implement the
recommendations in this report and ensure that similar abuses of exigent
letters or other improper requests for telephone records do not occur in the
future.

289


Counsel forwarded Caproni’s e-mail to Youssef and asked again for a copy of
the NSL.

On November 14, 2006, in response to the Assistant General
Counsel’s inquiries about the blanket NSL that Billy had signed, a CAU SSA
informed the Assistant General Counsel in an e-mail that Cummings had
signed similar NSLs. The SSA then gave the Assistant General Counsel
copies of the Company B May 12 NSL and three of the five Operation Y
blanket NSLs that Cummings had signed.

After reviewing these four blanket NSLs, the Assistant General
Counsel expressed concern to Youssef and the CAU SSA that these NSLs
lacked required approval ECs, which were needed to document the
predication for the NSLs and the investigations to which they related. The
Assistant General Counsel also reported her concerns to her
supervisors.

B. The CAU’s Draft Memorandum to the FBI OGC Reporting
Possible Intelligence Oversight Board Violation

On February 22, 2007, the Assistant General Counsel learned from
an NSLB colleague (not from CAU personnel) about the three blanket
Operation Z NSLs, which also lacked approval ECs. She then directed
Youssef to draft a memorandum to the FBI OGC reporting the seven
after-the-fact blanket NSLs she knew about at that time as possible
Intelligence Oversight Board violations (PIOB): the Company B May 12 NSL,
three of the five Operation Y NSLs, and the three Operation Z NSLs.

FBI personnel are required by internal FBI policy to report PIOBs to
the FBI OGC within 14 days of discovery in an Electronic Communication
(EC). Executive Order 12863, which has since been modified, required the
Department to report intelligence violations to the IOB. According to
Executive Order 12863, possible intelligence violations include any activities
that “may be unlawful or contrary to Executive Order or Presidential
Directive.”

The Assistant General Counsel informed Youssef that the PIOB
memorandum should address that the NSLs were issued without approval
ECs and that the NSLs did not include the appropriate non-disclosure
certification, but should not address “the exigent letter situation itself since
we approved that as a legal principle.”

The efforts to draft the PIOB memorandum resulted in new
disclosures to the FBI OGC, as well as significant confusion and errors. For
example, the first draft contained a description of the seven blanket NSLs
that the Assistant General Counsel knew about and had asked to be
included in the draft. In addition, it described two blanket NSLs that

187


The CAU Intelligence Analyst who had sent the case agent a sample NSL
for toll billing records said he did not recall any conversations with the CAU
SSA about the exigent letter, but he speculated that he probably discussed it
with the CAU SSA. The Intelligence Analyst also told us that he was not aware
in December [Ml about any special approval requirements for obtaining
reporters’ toll billing records and that the case agent’s e-mail reference to
obtaining DOJ approval “went over my head.” The Intelligence Analyst said
that, in hindsight, he thought he and others in the CAU would have proceeded
differently had they noticed the case agent’s reference to getting DOJ approval.
He said he did not recall any discussions at the time about special
requirements for obtaining DOJ approval, although he said that he understood
that the case agent was working with the AUSA and a subpoena was “in the
works.”

On December 20, [IE the case agent, not aware that an exigent letter
had been issued by the CAU SSA and following up on his earlier question
whether Company A had the capacity to retrieve the records, sent an e-mail to
the CAU Intelligence Analyst asking if there was “any word on whether calling
activity for the below listed numbers is retrievable? I will advise you as soon as
I get the GJ subpoena from the AUSA on the case.” The “below-listed
numbers” was a reference to the 12 numbers contained in the agent’s
November 5, I, e-mail request to the analyst, which was included in the
December 20 e-mail chain.

b. FBI Obtains Reporters’ Toll Billing Records

On approximately December 22, [I the on-site Company A analyst
provided to the CAU the toll billing records requested in the December 17
exigent letter. The analyst provided records for seven of the eight telephone

numbers associated with reporters or their news organizations’ bureaus in
117

We determined that the Company A analyst gave the FBI 22 months of
records for Washington Post reporter en telephone number, of which
only 38 days fell within the 7-month period of interest initially identified by the
case agent as relevant to the leak investigation. In addition, 22 months of
records were provided to the FBI for the telephone number assigned to the
Washington Post’s J bureau, of which only 20 days fell within the

117 The Company A analyst advised the CAU that Company A had no toll billing records

for the eighth of the reporters’ telephone numbers identified in the e-mail, which the FBI
believed to be sed -y
iz

Company A also produced records for two other telephone numbers specified in the
e-mail that were not associated with reporters.

95


her view could serve as the open national security investigations for
emergency requests from which after-the-fact NSLs could be issued.196

The meeting took place on September 26, 2005. The Assistant
General Counsel, her immediate supervisor, Youssef, and personnel from
CTD operational units attended. The Assistant General Counsel told us,
and her contemporaneous e-mails reflect, that although the purpose of the
meeting was to discuss the umbrella file proposal, Youssef told her at the
meeting that umbrella files were not needed because the CAU did not have
many emergency situations in which requests were made without open
national security investigations.!97 The Assistant General Counsel told us
that Youssef came to the meeting with a “different agenda,” which was to
discuss that the CAU needed the operational units to respond to the CAU’s
requests for NSLs. She said that Youssef stated at the meeting that the
CAU needed the CTD operational units “to understand that they need to
issue these NSLs promptly when they are asked.”

Youssef acknowledged to us that he had told the Assistant General
Counsel at the meeting that emergencies were “few and far between” and
that umbrella files were not needed. Youssef told us, however, that in this
comment to the Assistant General Counsel he was addressing only
instances in which there was “absolutely no predication, no case open,
nothing.” He estimated that CAU personnel requested records for such
emergencies only 10 or 12 times over a period of “several months,” but said
he could not tell us for sure how often such emergencies occurred.

Youssef told us that at the meeting he emphasized that the CAU was
attempting to address the “significant backlog” of legal process owed to the
on-site providers. He said he explained that the CAU was not obtaining the
legal process from the operational units and that “this is going to kill us.”
Youssef told us that he did not mention at the meeting how many requests
for legal process were outstanding.!98 He also said that at the time of the

196 Youssef told us that several months earlier he had discussed with the Assistant
General Counsel that he would like to have NSLB attend a meeting with him and the CTD
operational units’ leadership.

197 In an e-mail to Youssef dated October 21, 2005, the Assistant General Counsel
wrote that Youssef had stated at the meeting that emergency requests were “few and far
between” and that umbrella files were no longer needed.

198 None of the other attendees from Headquarters’ operational units recalled that
backlogs were discussed at the meeting. Additionally, the Assistant General Counsel’s
contemporaneous e-mail summarizing the meeting made no reference to any discussion of
the backlog problem.

158


“just to make the [IIE casicr <5 The Special

Agent also told us that he believed that because he was “only looking for the
[oo DOJ approval was not

required. 146

The Company A analyst reviewed the records
and concluded that they did not include calling activity between the
and the reporter’s cellular phone number. Before informing
the Special Agent of that conclusion, the Company A analyst asked the Special
Agent to provide the specific date that the Special Agent believed the reporter
had called a The Special Agent responded with a date
range.

Then, without any request from the FBI (or any legal process), the
Company A analyst P| Company A’s database and downloaded records
for the reporter’s cellular phone number and informed the Special Agent by
e-mail that there was no calling activity between the [J telephone numbers
during the specified date range. The Company A analyst told us that he did
not print out the downloaded records since he did not find the suspected
calling activity between the reporter We
found no evidence that the analyst informed the Special Agent or others in the
FBI that he had (J the Company A database for calling activity of the
reporter.

The Special Agent told us that he had not asked the Company A analyst
to records of the reporter’s calling activity and was not told of the
He also said he understood that absent a grand jury subpoena,
reporter’s telephone records could not be EJ and that “we were not
asking for [a reporter’s] records here.” The Special Agent said that if the

Company A analyst had found records of calls between the reporter
r he would have told the se “Iwje have in to ee at that.

oS
Pg

117



Finally, this NSL was issued after-the-fact, although the ECPA does
not authorize retroactive legal process, and did not disclose that it was
issued for records that the FBI had been previously obtained through
exigent letters.

Heimbach told us that prior to signing the NSL, an NSLB attorney told
him that he was authorized to sign the NSL as an Acting DAD. Heimbach
also told us that his practice was to require approval ECs to establish and
document the predication for the NSL and the relevance of the telephone
numbers to an open national security investigation. He stated that he
assumed he was told when he signed the Company C July 5 NSL that the
approval EC was being prepared or had already been prepared. However,
we confirmed with the CAU SSA who prepared the NSL and brought it to
Heimbach for signature that an approval EC was never drafted. We
therefore concluded that Heimbach was mistaken in his belief that an
approval EC was being prepared or had already been prepared.

We concluded that by signing this NSL Heimbach failed to take
appropriate steps to ensure that he complied with the ECPA, the Attorney
General’s NSI Guidelines, and FBI policy. When Heimbach signed this NSL,
he had over 3 years experience in conducting FBI national security
investigations, yet he failed to ensure that the requests were adequately
predicated under the ECPA by examining the approval EC.265

4. Jennifer Smith Love

Jennifer Smith Love joined the FBI in 1987. By mid-2006, Love had
been assigned to FBI national security investigations for about 20
months.

Love signed the Company A September 21 blanket NSL when she was
a Section Chief of the Communications Exploitation Section of the CTD but
temporarily assigned as an Acting DAD for the CTD. Similar to the
Company B May 12 NSL signed by Billy and the Company C July 5 NSL
signed by Heimbach, this NSL violated the ECPA because it (1) included
telephone numbers relevant to closed investigations and records that were
relevant to domestic terrorism and criminal investigations for which NSLs
are not an authorized technique under the Attorney General’s NSI
Guidelines; and (2) did not contain the certifications required for NSLs

265 As noted above in connection with the NSL signed by Heimbach, the FBI did not
issue guidance stating that Acting DADs are not authorized to sign NSLs until June 1,
2007. We agree that in the absence of clear written policy on signature authority,
Heimbach should not be faulted for signing the NSL while serving as an Acting DAD.

242


just hand me the letter, and . . . I'll sign it.” We also identified an e-mail
dated April 26, 2005, in which an FBI OGC National Security Law Branch
(NSLB) Assistant General Counsel (the Assistant General Counsel) who was
the NSLB point of contact for NSL-related policies and issues, expressed to
Youssef that “on occasion, CAU is presuming that someone who comes to
them [seeking records from the on-site providers] has an emergency.”

The CAU SSAs who signed exigent letters gave us various descriptions
about the matters for which exigent letters were used. Some said an exigent
circumstance involved a life-threatening matter. Others described it as an
important, pressing, or high-priority matter. Others said it was a matter
related to an important case or one in which a high-level FBI official
demanded the information.

Most of the CAU SSAs and Intelligence Analysts who signed exigent
letters also said they were unconcerned about the letters’ reference to
subpoenas. Some SSAs asserted that they broadly read the reference of
subpoenas in the exigent letters to include grand jury subpoenas,
administrative subpoenas, or NSLs. One SSA stated that “for me everything
was a subpoena.” Other SSAs stated that they were unaware of the type of
legal process that would follow because it was the responsibility of the FBI
requester, not CAU personnel, to follow up with appropriate process. A few
signers, including Youssef, told us that they did not closely read the exigent
letters when they signed them.

Almost all of the SSAs who signed exigent letters told us that they did
not give much thought to the underlying legal authority for the exigent
letters. Rather, they said that they assumed the exigent letter was a legal
instrument that had been reviewed by the appropriate authorities, including
CTD management and attorneys from both the FBI and from the
communications service providers. They stated that they used the exigent
letters because they assumed that the letter was an authorized tool for
requesting records from the on-site communications service providers. For
example, one SSA stated that exigent letters were the “business process” in
place when he came to the CAU.

CAU Unit Chief Glenn Rogers (who later served as Assistant Section
Chief of the Communications Exploitation Section (CXS), which supervised
the CAU) told us that he signed exigent letters even though he recognized at
the time that subpoenas requesting the records had not been submitted to
the U.S. Attorney’s Office, as the letters stated. When we asked Rogers to
explain this statement in the exigent letters, Rogers said that the exigent
letter was “poorly worded” and should have been revised earlier to state that
NSLs would be the after-the-fact legal process to be served on the providers.
Rogers also stated that nothing was done “to hide the fact that we were

36


We agree with the principles articulated in the November 2007 draft
idance and the DIOG,
We concluded that in

order to satisfy the requirements of the ECPA, relevance must be determined
before the request is made.89 We also agree that senior FBI officials and a
Department attorney should approve such requests and that the record of
telephone numbers | pursuant to these requests should be created for
purposes of congressional reporting on NSL usage by the Department.
However, CTD’s guidance still has not been issued.

In sum, we concluded that the FBI’s community of interest J

practices were inappropriate and likely resulted in the FBI obtaining and
uploading into a database thousands of
telephone records for telephone numbers without the

required certifications of relevance to an authorized international terrorism
investigation by an authorized FBI official. In addition, we found that the FBI
is unable to identify with certainty today which records in the database are
associated with ae numbers and whether those numbers were
relevant to the underlying investigations for which they were requested. We
also concluded that the FBI failed to review the implications of Company A’s
community of interest J capability when Company A first posted its
analysts on-site at the CAU; failed to issue written guidance in coordination
with the FBI OGC about the circumstances in which such requests were
appropriate under the ECPA; failed to establish an approval process for such
requests or ensure that the predication for these requests was properly
documented in approval ECs; and failed to ensure that records sought in
community of interest [J requests were included in required reports to
Congress on NSL usage.

89 After reviewing a draft of this report, the FBI identified for us another draft policy,
dated February 2008, that did not require approval by a Department attorney. We believe that
the approach in the November 2007 draft guidance is superior. No final guidance has yet been
issued by the FBI.

78


TABLE OF CHARTS, TABLES, AND DIAGRAMS

CHART 2.1 Organizational Chart of Communications Exploitation Section 15

CHART 2.2 FBI OGC, Senior Leadership, and Counterterrorism Division Officials 18
Management (2003 through 2007)

CHART 2.3 Exigent Letters Issued by CAU Personnel to the Three On-Site 30
Communications Service Providers (2003 through 2006)

CHART 4.1 Analysis of FBI’s Basis for Retaining Records from Exigent Letters 200
and 11 Blanket NSLs

CHART 4.2 Analysis of FBI’s Basis for Retaining Records from Exigent Letters 201
and 11 Blanket NSLs

CHART 4.3 Records for 10 Telephone Numbers Uploaded into FBI Databases 207
with the Longest Periods of Overcollections

TABLE 2.1 Exigent Letters Issued by CAU Personnel by Calendar Year 26
(2003 through 2006)

TABLE 2.2 Exigent Letters Issued by CAU Personnel to the Three On-Site 26
Communications Service Providers (2003 through 2006)

TABLE 4.1 Three Blanket NSLs Issued by the CTD in 2006 169

TABLE 4.2 Eight Blanket NSLs Issued by the CTD in Connection with FBI 178
Operations Y and Z

TABLE 4.3 FBI’s Analysis of Basis for Retaining Records Listed in Exigent Letters 198
and 11 Blanket NSLs

DIAGRAM 2.1 Calling Circle or “Community of Interest” EE 55

DIAGRAM 2.2 Comparison of NSL Approval Process with Exigent Letters 69

DIAGRAM 4.1 Timeline of Requests Made |i a) by the Three 177
On-Site Communications Service Providers Addressed by Three
Blanket NSLs, and Subsequent Corrective Actions

DIAGRAM 4.2. FBI Summary Chart of Plan to Rectify the Exigent Letters Situation 194

xi


A. The FBI’s Administrative Subpoena Authority... 130
B. Administrative Subpoenas Served on the On-Site
PLOVIGETS ..........cccceesceesseceeseseeesrseecesseeensaseceseesenseeseesueseesaeerens 131
Cc. Improper Administrative Subpoenas Issued in Two FBI
Investigations .........c::cccescccesssecsssesenseeceseeeenseeeesseesessecesenaeaes 131

1. Issuing FBI Administrative Subpoenas in the

Absence of an Active Narcotics Investigation............... 131
2. Administrative Subpoenas were Signed by

Unauthorized Personnel
3. Two Additional After-the-Fact Administrative

SUDPOENAS...... ec eeeecesesseeeseeeenseeesnesenseesesnesereneeesenesee 133

4. Knowledge of the Use of The Title 21 Administrative
SUBPOENAS... ceeeeceeeeeeessesesseeenssesensseeesesersneeeesseee® 134
D. OIG AnalySis ..........:cccccceeeeeseecceecsssseeeseessaeeeesessssaaeeeereeenggs 134

CHAPTER FOUR: THE FBI’S ATTEMPTS AT CORRECTIVE ACTIONS
REGARDING EXIGENT LETTERS

Il. The FBI’s Attempts at Corrective Actions From 2003 through

October 2006.......:sccccecsseeeesseeessseeessneesesseecesseeeeseeeesseeeeseseeeseeeeegs 137
A. A Backlog First Develops During Rogers’s Tenure as

CAU Unit Chief... ccceccececseesessserenesesseeesrasesesseesenseeenenaes 139
B. NSLB Knowledge of Exigent Letters and Involvement in

Issuing After-the-Fact NSLS ..........cccccceceeseesseeeeereeessseeeeeeeeens 142
c. NSLB Attorney Meets with CAU Personnel Regarding

Exigent Letters ...........:cccccsccessssessseseseseeesseeessssesessseseseeeoneaees 146
D. CAU Begins Implementing then Abandons a Tracking

System for Legal Process ..........ccesssccceeesesseeeeeseesseeeeeeeeees 150

E. CAU Unit Chief Youssef Learns that the CAU has Obtained
Records in Advance of Legal Process..

F. NSLB Attorney Provides Incorrect Advice to the CAU About
the Use of Exigent Letters ...........cccccsessecesseeesssereneeeseseeeenges 154

G. _NSLB Fails to Recognize Applicability of the ECPA’s
Authority for Emergency Voluntary Disclosures to Requests

Sent to the CAV... ccscsesseseesenerseneetenseserenesseneseeerseneneenenes 155
H. The September 26, 2005, Meeting............ccccccssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeees 157
I. The CAU Efforts to Reduce the Backlog ..............eeeeeseeeeeeees 159
J. OIG Analysis of FBI Attempts at Corrective Actions From

2003 through October 2006 ............csecccccceesssseeeeeeesssseeeeeeens 162

iv


phone number and I during the specified period.

The Company A analyst reported to the Special Agent that there were no
records of calling activity between a and the reporter’s

cellular phone number, but did not advise the Special Agent that he had
a: reporter’s cellular phone number as well as Ji

Thereafter, the Company A analyst provided the CAU Pri Relief
Supervisor with the reporter’s telephone number,

, and a 3-day date range. Without receipt of any legal process, and

in the absence of Attorney General approval, the Company B and Company
C on-site employees their respective databases for both the
reporter’s and the calling activity during the 3-day time period
identified by the Special Agent to the Company A analyst.269 a
of the calling activity by the [J specified telephone numbers appear to have
been sneak peeks, a practice we describe in Chapter Two of this report. As
with the CAU’s use of sneak peeks generally, —,'d were conducted
without any legal process. While its database for calling activity
by the reporter, Company B identified responsive records, although we
found no evidence that these records were uploaded into FBI databases.

Thus, the Company A analyst [J Company 4’s records for the
reporter’s calling activity without any legal process and absent a specific
request from the Special Agent or anyone in the FBI or DOJ. In our view,
this case again illustrates one of the hazards of having the providers’
employees on-site and the total absence of supervision and oversight of the
communications service providers’ employees by CTD managers and FBI
attorneys. Moreover, even if the Special Agent did not specifically ask the
providers’ employees to [J the reporter’s calling activity, by providing
the reporter’s cellular phone number and details about the calling activity of
interest to the Company A analyst, the Special Agent set in motion events
that led to unaired for the reporter’s calling activity by all
three providers and to of the reporter’s toll billing records by
Company A and Company B.

We are also troubled by the fact that the on-site employees of
Company C and in all likelihood Company B were asked by the CAU
Primary Relief Supervisor without legal process to [J calling activity by
the reporter’s telephone number to determine whether the reporter had been

269 The Company B [MM included 1 day before and 1 day after the 3-day period
provided by the Special Agent to the Company A analyst.

255


Rogers told us that when he left the CAU he was not aware that there
were any record requests that still required legal process. By contrast, as
described above, the Company B employee told us that he discussed the
backlog with Rogers before Rogers’s departure from the CAU. In addition,
the Assistant General Counsel who was the NSLB point of contact for
NSL-related policies and issues told us that in late 2004 or early 2005,
Rogers told her that there were about 80 NSLs or telephone numbers for
which after-the-fact NSLs had not been served. The Assistant General
Counsel said that she was also informed at that time that the CAU was
implementing a new tracking system for exigent letters and she believed
that when the system was implemented the CAU would be better able to
track telephone numbers requiring NSLs.

We also determined that the CAU Intelligence Analyst who was
responsible for implementing the tracking system requested and received
lists from Company B and Company C in January 2005 identifying a total of
188 telephone numbers requiring legal process that the providers had
previously EM in response to the CAU requests. These 188 telephone
numbers represented approximately two-thirds of the total number of
telephone numbers that CAU personnel had included in exigent letters or
other informal requests to Company B and Company C in 2004.174

Thus, when Youssef succeeded Rogers as the CAU Unit Chief in
November 2004, there was a significant backlog of telephone records
requests for which legal process had been promised but not delivered.

As we describe below, shortly after Rogers was promoted and Youssef
became CAU Unit Chief, the Assistant General Counsel alerted her
supervisors in the NSLB about the CAU’s practice of using exigent letters.
We determined that NSLB attempted to institute a process for issuing NSLs
quickly — albeit still after-the-fact — to cover future CAU requests for records
from the on-site providers in exigent circumstances. However, months
passed before Youssef and the NSLB attorneys recognized and addressed
the issue of the large backlog of requests for which the providers had
| or provided the FBI records but were still awaiting legal

process.

174 The Company C employee first arrived at the CAU in April 2004, and the
Company B employee arrived in September 2004. Company A did not give CAU personnel
a list of telephone numbers requiring legal process in January 2005; however, we have no
reason to believe that the CAU was any more successful in obtaining after-the-fact legal
process for Company A than for the other providers.

141


In a complex and time-consuming review, the FBI determined that it
would retain most of the records but purge others. In essence, the process
attempted to determine if the FBI could find legal process issued in
connection with the [J request, if the FBI would issue new legal process
modeled on the ECPA standard for issuing legal process, or if neither of
those options was available, if the FBI could justify retention under an
after-the-fact application of the ECPA emergency voluntary disclosure
statute.

Under the FBI’s analysis, the FBI will retain records for 3,352
telephone numbers because it found either that (1) appropriate legal process
associated with the request was previously issued or could be issued for
these records; or (2) because the circumstances at the time of the requests
satisfied the statutory standard for emergency voluntary disclosures.

The FBI also concluded that it would purge records for 739 telephone
numbers because the circumstances under which the records were
requested did not meet any of the criteria for retention available in the FBI’s
decision tree. In addition, the FBI concluded that it must purge a portion of
the records for 302 of these telephone numbers because the records
obtained were outside the time period specified in the legal process
identified by the FBI.

The FBI faced a difficult challenge in reviewing the records improperly
acquired from exigent letters or listed in the 11 blanket NSLs. However,
under the circumstances it created, we believe the FBI’s approach to
determine which records to retain and which to purge was reasonable.

In sum, we concluded that the FBI initial attempts to cover the
improperly obtained records were deficient, ill-conceived, and poorly
executed. However, we believe its review process and other corrective
measures since issuance of our first NSL report in March 2007 have been
reasonable, given the difficult and inexcusable circumstances that its
deficient exigent letter practices created.

D. Improper Requests for Reporters’ Telephone Records or
Other Calling Activity in Three Media Leak Investigations

We also found that in three media leak investigations the FBI
requested, and in two of these instances obtained from on-site
communications service providers, telephone records or other calling
activity information for telephone numbers assigned to reporters. However,
the FBI did not comply with federal regulation and Department policy that
requires Attorney General approval before requesting such records and that
also requires a balancing of First Amendment interests and the interests of

276


Youssef told us that when he became the CAU Unit Chief he inherited
the exigent letter practice from Rogers and that since Rogers was still his
immediate supervisor as the Assistant Section Chief of CXS, Youssef felt he
was not in a position to change the exigent letters practices then in
place.

We asked Youssef about the one exigent letter he personally signed in
November 2005. He stated that when he signed the letter he was unaware
that the exigent letter he signed referred to an after-the-fact grand jury
subpoena instead of an NSL, and he told us that it was not until April 2006
that he closely reviewed any exigent letter and learned of the reference to
subpoenas.

CAU SSAs told us that most of the exigent letters signed by CAU
personnel related to international terrorism investigations.39 As discussed
in Chapter Four of this report, the FBI has determined that a majority of
these record requests were covered by NSLs, not by grand jury
subpoenas.

The on-site providers’ employees told us they were concerned only
that the requests were followed up by some legal process — subpoenas or
NSLs - and did not care about what type of process the letter promised.

The on-site providers’ employees also told us that they sometimes
generated the exigent letters themselves and gave them to CAU personnel to
sign and provide back to them. One of the Company A on-site analysts told
us that to facilitate his preparation of exigent letters for the FBI to use, he
established a short-cut in the form of an icon on his FBI-issued computer
desktop that enabled him to quickly generate exigent letters, which he gave
to the CAU employees to sign.*°

additional telephone numbers that were submitted to the same provider on multiple exigent
letters.

39 These statements by CAU SSAs were confirmed by the FBI’s review team that
researched, under the direction of the FBI OGC, all of the telephone numbers in exigent
letters and 11 blanket NSLs in order to determine whether the FBI will retain records. As
described in detail in Chapter Four of this report, the review team determined that nearly
all of the 4,379 telephone numbers were relevant to national security investigations, while
266 were relevant to criminal or domestic terrorism investigations.

40 None of the employees of the three on-site communications service providers or
any FBI employees we interviewed said they could estimate the total number of exigent
letters prepared by the three providers.

33


Youssef said that some time before that meeting, a Company A
analyst told him “in passing” of an instance in which Rogers had requested
records from the analyst prior to service of legal process. The analyst
informed Youssef that Rogers had told the analyst it was an emergency and
that Executive Assistant Director Bald wanted the records. Youssef told us
that based on this information, he informed the Assistant General Counsel
at the March 11 meeting that the CAU “may be in the practice” of obtaining
records without legal process and that he thought it was wrong. Youssef
said that the Assistant General Counsel told him she understood that the
CAU sometimes received emergency requests and obtained information
before serving a legal instrument. Youssef stated that based on the
Assistant General Counsel’s comments at the meeting, it was clear to him
that she was already aware that the CAU was obtaining records prior to the
issuance of legal process.

Youssef told us that he did not discuss with the Assistant General
Counsel at the March 11 meeting the CAU’s use of exigent letters or the
backlog of records for which legal process had not been issued because he
said that at the time he was unaware of these issues. He told us that he
also was unaware at the time of the frequency of requests to the CAU from
FBI upper management related to telephone records.

Youssef said that sometime after meeting with the Assistant General
Counsel, the on-site Company B employee told Youssef that he had not
received NSLs that were “owed” to him. Youssef told us that he believed this
conversation “probably” occurred right after his meeting with the Assistant
General Counsel, in late March or early April 2005, but that it could have
happened in May 2005. Youssef said that the Company B employee told
him that he was owed over 100 NSLs and that the conversation alarmed
him.

The Company B employee confirmed that he discussed with Youssef
Company B’s backlog of records requiring legal process. The Company B
employee said he believed that they had discussed the backlog in early
2005, shortly after Youssef arrived at the CAU. The Company B employee
said that soon after speaking with Youssef about the backlog, at Youssef’s
request he began to send e-mails directly to CAU personnel asking for NSLs
to cover the backlog. The Company B employee also said that he went back
to Youssef approximately a month later because he still was not receiving
legal process. He said that in response, Youssef held a unit meeting and
told CAU personnel to get the proper documentation to the on-site
providers.

Youssef told us that after speaking with the Company B employee he
asked CAU personnel about the issue and several of them said they used
exigent letters to obtain records in advance of legal process. Youssef told us

152


Beginning in May 2007, several draft policies on community of
interest requests were circulated between the CTD and the FBI OGC.
The latest draft dated November 23, 2007, addressed circumstances in
which community of interest J would be authorized using NSLs or
subpoenas. The draft policy stated that

On December 16, 2008, the FBI issued the FBI’s Domestic
Investigations and Operations Guide (DIOG), which provides specific
guidance for requesting community of interest records. The DIOG requires
that NSLs requesting community of interest records must be approved b
the NSLB Deputy General Counsel and served on the CAU, and that —

telephone numbers for which information is obtained must be
reported to the NSLB for congressional reporting purposes.®

information is being sought and must demonstrate the relevance
information to the national security
investigation.”7° We agree with this requirement and concluded that in
order to satisfy the ECPA this relevance assessment must be made before
issuance of NSLs seeking MY records.

The DIOG further provides that “if an NSL is seeking
records, the NSL [approval] EC must clearly state that
of the

VI. OIG Analysis

A. Requests for Telephone Records through Exigent Letters
and Other Informal Requests

To protect the confidentiality of telephone and e-mail subscriber
information and telephone toll billing records information, the ECPA states
that wire or electronic communications service providers “shall not

of the NSL, and that the attachment required legal sign-off on the relevancy of the
information sought to the investigation.

69 Federal Bureau of Investigation, Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide
(FBI DIOG), §§ 11.9.3(E) & (E)(3).

7 FBI DIOG, § 11.9.3(E)(3).

64


data at all’ and whether it was worthwhile pursuing an NSL. Youssef said he
had no “first-hand knowledge” that CAU personnel requested sneak peeks from
the on-site providers and did “not know for a specific fact... that it actually
happened.” However, Youssef added that “maybe someone [in the CAU] has
used it.”

We found that FBI supervisors in the CTD’s chain of command, above
the CAU Unit Chief, either did not know about the practice, did not have an
accurate understanding of the practice, or did not understand the legal
implications of providing responsive information without legal process. For
example, former CXS Assistant Section Chief John Chaddic believed,
incorrectly, that in response to sneak peek requests, the providers only
informed the FBI whether the number was or was not a valid telephone
number, but no further details. Former CTD Deputy Assistant Director John
Lewis said it was his understanding that the FBI could use sneak peeks to “get
records that would be of interest to us” without legal process, stating, “it’s also
why I think the phone company was there.”

On August 28, 2007, the FBI OGC requested a legal opinion from the
Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) regarding three questions relating
to the FBI’s authority under the ECPA, including sneak peeks. One question
stated that, “on occasion, FBI employees may orally ask an electronic
communications provider if it has records regarding a particular facility (e.g., a
telephone number) or person.” The request asked whether under the ECPA the
FBI can lawfully “obtain information regarding the existence of an account in
connection with a given phone number or person,” by asking a
communications service provider, “Do you provide service to 555-555-5555?”
or Is John Doe your subscriber?”

However, based on information we developed in our investigation, we
determined that the hypothetical example used by the FBI OGC in the question
it posed to the OLC did not accurately describe the type of information the FBI
often obtained in response to sneak peek requests. As described above the FBI
sometimes obtained more detailed information about calling activity by target
numbers, such as whether the telephone number belonged to a particular
subscriber, the number of calls to and from the telephone number within
certain date parameters, the area codes rs called, and call
duration.

On November 5, 2008, the OLC issued its legal opinion on the three
questions posed by the FBI. In evaluating if a provider could tell the FBI
consistent with the ECPA “whether a provider serves a particular subscriber or

73


U.S. Department of Justice
Office of the Inspector General

A Review of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation’s Use of Exigent Letters
and Other Informal Requests for
Telephone Records

Oversight and Review Division
Office of the Inspector General
January 2010

a
UNCLASSIFIED



several of the [J numbers you had targeted, so we can get the data if
the calls were carried on [Company A] lines.” The e-mail also stated that one of
the two reports “was only the [Company A] tolls.”!22 The Intelligence Analyst
added, “So, basically, you already have the records that we

have.”

When we asked the case agent about this e-mail, he told us he did not
recall what his reaction to the e-mail was at the time. When we asked him at
the time of his OIG interview whether, looking at the e-mail, he understood
that the e-mail stated that the analyst had previously sent the agent two
products that reflected Company A toll records, as distinguished from
value-added analysis of existing databases, the agent acknowledged, “that is
what this e-mail says, yeah.”

4. FBI Conducts [a
| |

In SR after the CAU Intelligence Analyst had provided
the reporters’ telephone records and accompanying trace reports to the case

agent — the FBI sent the case agent

The FBI
supervisor who supervised the leak investigation told us that the agents
— the leak investigation

tuad supervisor told us that she instructed the case

information that would assist

122 The e-mail stated that “one of the reports was only [Company A] tolls, which you
could use in court, and the other one was an intelligence product with [sic] encompassed

everything in [2 TT database).

99


(and certain other acting officials) are authorized to sign NSLs under three
of the NSL statutes, including the ECPA NSL statute, 18 U.S.C. § 2709.
Caproni notified the OIG in March 2009 that the FBI is revising its June 1,
2007, guidance in light of the OLC opinion.

On July 5, 2006, the SSA who prepared the NSL sent an e-mail to the
Company C employee stating, “I have the signed NSL cleaning up all the
past #’s requested for Company C.” Youssef, who was copied on the e-mail,
responded to the SSA, “this is good.” On July 7, 2006, the Company C
employee acknowledged receiving the NSL in an e-mail that he sent to the
SSA and Youssef.

Youssef told us that he did not recall knowing at the time that the
SSA drafted the July 5S Company C NSL, but that it did not surprise him.
Youssef said he had discussed other blanket NSLs with the SSA for two
major operations. He also stated that he could not recall what was in his
mind when he wrote in his July 5, 2006, e-mail to the SSA, “[t]his is good,”
in response to being informed that the Company C July 5 NSL had been
signed.

Heimbach told us that he signed the NSL but could not recall how the
NSL came to him, who brought it to him, and to whom he returned it.
Heimbach said that an NSLB attorney, whose name he could not recall, had
assured him that he was authorized to sign the NSL as an Acting DAD.
However, he stated that he did recall contacting any NSLB attorney prior to
signing the NSL to ensure that he was authorized to sign as an Acting CTD
DAD.?11 Heimbach told us that he learned sometime after he signed the
Company C July 5 NSL that he was not authorized to sign NSLs as an
Acting DAD.?!2 The SSA also told us that sometime after Heimbach signed
the NSL, Heimbach mentioned at a section meeting that he had learned that
he was not authorized to sign NSLs and advised CXS personnel that NSLs
should not be brought to him for signature.

The Company C July 5 NSL was not accompanied by an approval EC.
Heimbach told us his practice was that he would not sign an NSL without
an accompanying EC establishing and documenting the predication for the

211 The SSA who prepared the NSL told us that he asked Heimbach to sign the NSL
and that Heimbach immediately signed it with no discussion.

212 An NSLB attorney told us that she believes that in early August 2006 Heimbach
asked her whether another CTD Acting DAD, Arthur Cummings, II, was authorized to sign
NSLs. This attorney said she told Heimbach that Acting DADs were not authorized to sign
NSLs.

173


If so, the Department should determine whether at the time the subpoenas
were issued responsible Department personnel were aware of or suspected
contacts between the target numbers in the subpoenas and reporters and
whether the Department obtained the toll billing records of reporters in
compliance with Departmental regulations, including the notification
requirements.

Ill. Inaccurate Statements to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Court

As noted in our first NSL report, one of the uses of NSLs is to obtain
evidence to support DOJ applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Court (FISA Court) for electronic surveillance, physical searches, or pen
register/trap and trace orders.!49 For example, information obtained in
response to NSLs seeking subscriber information under the ECPA is routinely
used to help establish the required elements for Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act (FISA) applications seeking electronic surveillance or pen
register/trap and trace orders on a telephone number.

Based on our concern that the FBI may have used records obtained from
exigent letters and other informal requests to seek such FISA Court orders, we
asked the Department’s National Security Division (NSD) to help us determine
whether the Department had sought orders from the FISA Court based on any
information obtained in response to exigent letters or other requests as
described in Chapter Two of this report.

The NSD and the OIG determined that four FISA applications contained
a total of five inaccurate statements. As discussed below, in the small sample
of FISA applications that we reviewed, we found that FBI personnel filed
inaccurate sworn declarations with the FISA Court to the effect that subscriber
or calling activity information was obtained in response to NSLs or a grand jury
subpoena, when in fact the information was obtained by other means, such as
exigent letters.

In our review, we identified a sample of 37 applications to the FISA
Court, which sought FISA electronic surveillance or pen register/trap and trace
orders for 35 unique telephone numbers which were examined by the NSD and
the FBI.15° Our review attempted to determine on what basis the FBI had

149 See OIG, NSLI, 48.

150 These 37 applications were selected for review because they referred to telephone
numbers that either were listed in the 11 blanket NSLs that are described in Chapter Four or
were referred to in CAU e-mails as record requests associated with FISA applications.

122


D. CAU Begins Implementing then Abandons a Tracking
System for Legal Process

In early February 2005, CAU personnel began using a new tracking
system for requests to the on-site providers that Rogers had asked to be
implemented. The system, known as the “Tracker Database,” was designed
to collect information about each records request to the on-site
communications service providers. The database contained fields to identify
the:

¢ communications service provider;

* request date;

e CAU requester;

e pertinent telephone numbers;

e whether an exigent letter was issued;

e type of legal process to follow (NSL or grand jury subpoena);
e records receipt date;

¢ contact information for the field or headquarters requester;
and

e date the CAU received legal process and served it on the
provider.

In an e-mail message to all CAU personnel dated February 2, 2005,
the CAU Intelligence Analyst who was responsible for managing the Tracker
Database wrote that at Rogers’s direction all CAU personnel were required
to use the database. The Intelligence Analyst also wrote that there were
“about 100 pending NSL{s]” for which legal process had not yet been issued
to 2 of the 3 on-site providers, Company B and Company C.187 The
Intelligence Analyst added, “using the [Tracker Database] is not optional
and it’s a way for us to cover ourselves in case anyone starts asking
questions.”

187 The e-mail message stated that a Company A analyst had not yet provided a list
of record requests (telephone numbers) that required legal process. The e-mail also listed
the number of “pending NSLs,” not the number of telephone numbers awaiting follow-up
legal process. As stated above, in January 2005 the Intelligence Analyst responsible for the
tracking system had received a list of 188 telephone numbers which Company B and
Company C had identified as still requiring legal process.

150


Il.

III.

Iv.

A. Legal Authority for Obtaining Calling Activity
Information ........ccccecssesesseessseeceseteressreeessseeessseeeeeseecesseesenseeees 80

B. Hot Number MMMM... 81

1. Company C....
2. Company A....

Cc. FBI OGC and CAU’s Unit Chiefs’ Knowledge of Hot Number

D. OIG AnalySis 0.0... ccccccesssessseeeseseeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseseeees 87

Seeking Reporters’ Telephone Records Without Required
Approvals ..

A. Federal Regulations and Department Policies ..

B. First Matter .........:cccsscesseescsssececseesesesessssscessseseesseeeessseeeseeeees
1. Background .......cccccecceescesceceeeseseeeeeeeesenesseeeeeceeesseeeeees 91
2. The Investigation of the Leak of Information to the
Media..
3. FBI Notifies the Reporters That Their Records Were
Obtained . 101
4. OIG Analysis.. 102
Cc. Second Matter .. 104
1. Background .. 104
2. The Leak Investigation + 105
3. OIG Investigation «111
4. OIG Analysis . 113
D. Third Matter . 114
1. Background . 114
2. The Leak Investigation .. 115
3. OIG Analysis .. 120
Inaccurate Statements to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
+ 122
A. FISA Case No. 1 124
B. _ FISA Case No. . 124
c. FISA Case No. 125
D. FISA Case No. 126
E. OIG Analysis 127

Improper Administrative Subpoenas Issued to the On-site

Providers . 129

iii


b. Three Blanket NSLs in Connection With
Operation “Z”

The FBI issued three more blanket NSLs in October 2006, one to each
of the three on-site communications service providers, in connection with a
different major FBI counterterrorism investigation, which we refer to as
Operation Z.221

In connection with Operation Z, the CAU was provided telephone
numbers recovered

. Youssef advised CAU
personnel of the investigation by e-mail on stating that “[w]e
anticipate numerous requests for telephone exploitation and I want us to be
ready.” He also asked for a CAU “volunteer to head this project.” Four days
later, on MY the CAv began asking the on-site providers to
provide records for groups of telephone numbers related to this operation.

The CAU Primary Relief Supervisor told us that at Youssef’s direction
he issued three exigent letters dated IJ one to each of the three
on-site providers. These exigent letters listed telephone numbers relating to
Operation Z. The exigent letters, which were sent to the three on-site
providers by e-mail, each contained an attachment listing the same 48
telephone numbers. From J through October 20, 2006, the CAU
asked for, and in many instances received, toll billing and other records on
397 additional telephone numbers relating to this operation. Almost all of
these [J were requested without exigent letters.

Youssef stated that he did not recall directing the Primary Relief
Supervisor to issue exigent letters at the start of Operation Z, but that he
would not be surprised if exigent letters had been issued because that was
how the CAU regularly operated. Youssef said that he was not aware that
only one exigent letter was issued to each provider, with J on
additional telephone numbers later requested without even exigent letters.

A CAU Intelligence Analyst who worked on Operation Z told us that
she volunteered to be the coordinator of telephone analysis requests that
the CAU would receive in connection with this operation. She maintained a
contemporaneous log of the telephone numbers that the CAU gave to the

221 The name of this operation is classified.

182


a. Records Obtained in Response to Exigent
Letters

The FBI told us it identified 2,222 unique telephone numbers listed in
the 798 exigent letters which the OIG identified during our investigation and
which the OIG gave to the FBI.235 The FBI told us it has made the following
determinations about these records:

e The FBI has located legal process (NSLs, grand jury subpoenas,
or other legal process) issued either before or after the telephone
number was given to the on-site communications service
providers for 865 (39 percent) of the 2,222 unique telephone
numbers identified in exigent letters. The FBI decided that it
will retain these records because they are covered by legal
process.236

e The FBI identified 765 telephone numbers (34 percent) for
which it determined there were open national security
investigations to which the telephone numbers were relevant at
the time of the exigent letters and there is a currently open
national security investigation to which the numbers are
relevant. The FBI told us it issued NSLs and retained these
records.

e The FBI determined that it obtained records on 57 telephone
numbers (3 percent) in response to exigent letters that were
issued in circumstances that would have satisfied the ECPA
emergency voluntary disclosure statute (18 U.S.C.

§ 2702(c)(4)).287 Accordingly, the FBI decided that it will retain
the records for these numbers.

235 The FBI did not retain copies of exigent letters. The OIG obtained copies of 798
exigent letters, which included a total of 3,764 telephone numbers, by serving OIG
administrative subpoenas on the three on-site communications service providers. The FBI
told us that after eliminating duplicate telephone numbers and telephone numbers listed in
any of the 11 blanket NSLs, 2,222 unique telephone numbers remained.

236 We address below the FBI’s further analysis of these records to determine
whether any of the records obtained by the FBI exceeded the date range specified in the
corresponding legal process. The FBI determined that it will purge any such records.

237 After reviewing a draft of this report, the FBI asserted that the low percentage of
records it retained in its reconciliation project based on the emergency voluntary disclosure
provision was a consequence of the sequence of the FBI’s decision tree, and that the FBI
often never reached the emergency provision as a basis for retention. The FBI also stated
that “because CAU did not have adequate documentation,” the FBI chose not to rely
(Cont’d.)

202


the FBI in a _ the leaker or leakers and | rs

— squad supervisor told us that the plan for conducting
HEE « was discussed with her Division’s chain of command and probably

with a Unit Chief in the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division at FBI Headquarters.
An e-mail from the Unit Chief to the case agent and the squad supervisor on
, noted that the

We determined that on the case agent and

According to the Field Office squad
supervisor and documentation of

article was a classified U.S.

the case agent and

The case agent’s e-mail summarizing
stated that he believed the was successful, noting

The e-mail also stated that the

classified information.

article was U.S. government

The squad supervisor told us that even though

classified U.S. government information.

100


the providers to deliver the toll records to the FBI in a specific electronic
format that was compatible with the FBI’s databases.?+

CTD officials told us that the ability to have requests for toll records
serviced immediately by the communications service providers and to
receive the records in an electronic format that could be immediately
uploaded into FBI databases improved the CAU’s ability to support FBI
counterterrorism investigations in a timely fashion. A CTD memorandum
requesting approval to obligate funds for the contract with Company A
described the contract as providing for “near real-time servicing” of legal
process by Company A analysts.

In 2003, the FBI entered into a contract with Company A. Pursuant
to its contract, Compan’

Company A documents also stated that

In addition to providing toll records, the Company A analysts could
the telephone toll data for the FBI.26 According to the Company A

24 A May 28, 2003, EC from the CAU described problematic delays with toll records
received through conventional channels that were “often via hard copy reports that had to
be retyped into FBI databases.”

25

26 Company B and Company C did not perform MJ of the records they
provided to the CAU.

21


numbers are relevant. The FBI has issued NSLs for these 215
telephone numbers and will retain these records.

e The FBI determined that there were no open national security
investigations to which records for 90 telephone numbers (11
percent) were relevant at the time of the requests and the time
of the analysis but in circumstances that the FBI concluded
would have satisfied the ECPA emergency voluntary disclosure
statute (18 U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4)). The FBI decided that it will
retain these records.

e The FBI determined that records for 288 telephone numbers (35
percent) would be purged from FBI databases because the
records did not qualify for retention under the categories
described in the decision tree.

e The FBI determined that there were no records in FBI databases
for 139 telephone numbers (16 percent), and therefore no
further action was required.

Five Operation Y NSLs (885 unique telephone numbers):

e The FBI determined that there were open national security
investigations to which records for 820 telephone numbers (93
percent) were relevant at the time of the requests, and there are
currently open national security investigations to which the
numbers are relevant. The FBI has issued NSLs for these 820
telephone numbers and will retain these records.238

e The FBI determined that records for 47 telephone numbers (5
percent) would be purged from FBI databases because the
records did not qualify for retention under the categories
described in the decision tree.

e The FBI determined that there were no records in FBI databases
for 18 telephone numbers (2 percent), and therefore no further
action was required.

Three Operation Z NSLs (441 unique telephone numbers):

e The FBI determined that revised NSLs were not necessary
because these three NSLs were signed by authorized FBI
officials and contained the required certifications for NSLs

238 Sixteen telephone numbers (2 percent) were relevant to open national security
investigations other than Operation Y.

204


authorizing release of this information, the on-site Company A and Company C
employees informed CAU personnel when the hot nunbers a
LT In addition, the providers sometimes gave the FBI
more information than just the fact that calling activity existed, such as call
originating and terminating information. Based on records we examined from
Company A, Company C, and the [, we determined that the FBI requested
calling activity information on at least 152 telephone numbers and obtained

calling activity information for at least 42 hot numbers from 2004 through
2006.91

A. Legal Authority for Obtaining Calling Activity
Information

The Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2701 et.seq., a subtitle of the
ECPA which includes the ECPA NSL statute, authorizes the FBI to obtain
historical, stored data from communications service providers. However, the
case law is unsettled whether legal process issued under the Stored
Communications Act can also be used prospectively to obtain records that come
into existence after the issuance of the legal process.92

91 As described below, Company A told us that 87 telephone numbers were placed on a
“hot” list by Company A for the FBI, but only 42 telephone numbers ee We
found documentation indicating that Company C placed at least 65 telephone numbers on a
list for and we found evidence that at least some of these numbers

92 This issue has arisen in the context of government requests to obtain prospective cell
site location information. Courts are divided on whether the government can obtain such
information through legal process issued pursuant to the Stored Communications Act (and the
Pen Register Act), or whether the government must obtain a warrant based on probable cause.
See, e.g., In the Matter of the Application, 534 F. Supp. 2d 585, 599-600 (W.D. Pa. 2008)(W.D.
Pennsylvania decision), aff'd, 2008 WL 4191511 (W.D. Pa. 2008). Several cases denying the
government’s requests for prospective cell cite location information pursuant to the Stored
Communications Act rely in part on the fact that the Act does not authorize collections of
prospective information. See, e.g., In re U.S. for Orders Authorizing Installation and Use of Pen
Registers and Caller Identification Devices on Telephone Numbers, 416 F. Supp. 2d 390, 395 (D.
Md. 2006); In re Application of the U.S. for an Order (1) Authorizing the Use of Pen Register and a
Trap and Trace Device and (2) Authorizing Release of Subscriber Information and/or Cell Site
Information, 396 F. Supp. 2d 294, 311-14 (E.D.N.Y. 2005); In re Application for Pen Register and
Trap/ Trace Device with Cell Site Location Authority, 396 F. Supp. 2d 747, 760-62 (S.D. Tex.
2005). But see, In re: Application of the United States for an Order for Prospective Cell Site
Location Information on a Certain Cellular Telephone, 460 F.Supp2d 448, 452-459 (S.D.N.Y.
2006)(holding that the Stored Communications Act contains no explicit limitation on the
disclosure of prospective data, while acknowledging that a majority of courts to have addressed
the government’s theory that the Pen Register Act, in combination with the Stored
Communications Act, supports disclosure of prospective cell site location information have
denied the government'’s applications); and In re U.S. for an Order Authorizing the Use of Two
(Cont’d.)

80


and Caproni agreed, that it would not be prudent to send piecemeal
information to the IOB. She said that after the FBI fully resolves the issues
relating to the CAU’s improper receipt of records, the FBI will finalize a
report to the IOB. Caproni and Thomas said that the FBI has periodically
briefed the IOB about the manner in which the CAU has improperly
obtained records from the on-site providers without process, including
through exigent letters and blanket NSLs.?29

In sum, the draft PIOB memoranda were flawed and failed to identify
all 11 blanket NSLs that the CAU had prepared and CTD officials had
signed between May and September 2006. We concluded that these failures
occurred because CAU personnel did not maintain copies of the 11 blanket
NSLs, and because the FBI’s attempts in February and March 2007 to
account for the blanket NSLs in the draft PIOB memoranda were confused,
inaccurate, and ineffective.

Cc. FBI Legal Guidance Clarifying Legal Authorities

On March 1, 2007, shortly before the OIG publicly issued its first NSL
report, the FBI OGC issued a guidance memorandum for FBI personnel
stating that, after reviewing information provided to the FBI in the OIG’s
first NSL report, the FBI OGC was providing a “clarification of the legal
avenues available to investigators who seek to obtain subscriber information
and toll billing information from telephone companies.”

The memorandum described the legal basis for employing the ECPA
NSL authority and the ECPA emergency voluntary disclosure statute, and it
directed that FBI investigators cease the practice of using exigent letters to
obtain subscriber or other information from communications service
providers “in advance of and upon the promise of the issuance of legal
process.”

Law Branch, Federal Bureau of Investigation, letter to Intelligence Oversight Board,
October 31, 2007.

229 In the October 31, 2007, letter to the IOB, Thomas stated that the failure to
issue approval ECs for these NSLs violated FBI policy, “impacts Congressional [NSL]
reporting, and hinders oversight.” The letter stated that when the FBI’s review is complete,
the FBI would report to the IOB the absence of ECs documenting the issuance of these
blanket NSLs. Julie F. Thomas, Deputy General Counsel, National Security Law Branch,
Federal Bureau of Investigation, letter to Stephen Friedman, Chairman, Intelligence
Oversight Board, October 31, 2007. After reviewing a draft of this report, the FBI stated
that on March 31, 2009, the FBI OGC formally briefed the IOB regarding the CAU’s use of
exigent letters, the 11 blanket NSLs, and the FBI’s subsequent corrective actions.

190


we found that the FBI’s sneak peek practice violated the ECPA in many
cases.85

Cc. Calling Circle/Community of Interest

In addition, we believe that the community of interest [IJ practices
used by the FBI were improper.

First, the FBI’s lack of documentation made it difficult to determine
under what circumstances and how often community of interest [J were
conducted. We identified 52 exigent letters and over 250 NSLs and 350 grand
jury subpoenas containing requests for community of interest
However, we could not determine whether Company A in fact such
in response to all these requests and, if so, whether the were
limited on an ad hoc basis, for example,

Nor
could we determine how often records or information about the telephone
numbers other than the numbers listed in the legal process or exigent letters
were provided to the FBI. Similarly, while Company A records show that from
2004 through 2007 the on-site Company A analysts used the Company A
community of interest [J to review records for 10,070
——Eiie telephone numbers, Company A could not distinguish
whether these numbers were as part of Company A’s a
service or in response to FBI requests. Company A also could not tell us
whether these | records were actually provided to the

FBI.86

Second, when FBI personnel issued NSLs that included requests for
community of interest , they did not consistently assess the relevance
of the numbers before making the request. Instead,

community of interest requests were often included in the boilerplate
attachments to NSLs. The FBI issued NSLs that requested community of
interest J without conducting, or documenting in the approval ECs, any

85 In a draft of this report given to the FBI in April 2009, the OIG recommended that
the FBI issue guidance specifically prohibiting the use of sneak peeks. In June 2009, the FBI
posted guidance on its Corporate Policy Intranet prohibiting sneak peek practices. The
guidance referred to the OLC legal opinion and also stated that FBI employees “may not
informally seek statutorily protected information prior to the issuance of process.” The FBI told
us that this guidance will be incorporated into the next revision of its Domestic Investigations
and Operations Guide.

86 As noted above, we believe that most of Company A’s community of interest JE
without requests from the FBI as part of Company A’s vice, and
records were not provided to the FBI. (S//NF)

75


While we recognized the significant challenges the FBI faced during
the period covered by our first review, we concluded that these
circumstances did not excuse the FBI’s circumvention of the requirements
of the ECPA NSL statute, the inaccurate statements in the exigent letters,
and the violations of the Attorney General’s NSI Guidelines and internal FBI
policy governing the use of NSLs.

In our second NSL report, we assessed the FBI’s response to the
findings on the misuse of NSLs in our first NSL report. In particular, we
examined the status of the FBI’s implementation of our recommendations
from our first NSL report and additional corrective actions by the FBI and
other Department components. We concluded that the FBI and the
Department had made significant progress in implementing our
recommendations and had taken other significant corrective actions in
response to the serious problems we identified in the use of NSLs. However,
we concluded that it was too early to definitively state whether the new
systems and controls developed by the FBI and the Department would
eliminate fully the problems identified with the FBI’s use of NSLs.

As required by the Patriot Reauthorization Act, our second NSL report
also described the FBI’s use of NSLs in 2006. We found similar misuses of
NSLs to those we identified in our first NSL report and a continuation of the
upward trend in NSL usage.

Finally, in our second NSL report we made 17 additional
recommendations designed to help the FBI further improve its oversight and
use of NSLs.

Our first and second NSL reviews were limited to the FBI’s use of
NSLs and exigent letters and did not investigate other ways in which the FBI
initiated requests for records or other calling activity information from the
three communications service providers, such as by e-mail, face-to-face, or
telephone requests. Our reviews also did not investigate other ways in
which the providers’ employees gave information to the FBI without legal
process, such as by providing calling activity information through what CAU
personnel and the three providers called “sneak peeks” or “quick peeks,” or
by [J FBI personnel to calling activity information by an “hot
numbers.”5 Similarly, our first and second NSL reviews did not investigate
ways in which the resources available from the on-site communications

5 As discussed in more detail in Chapter Three of this report, a hot number is a

telephone number identified by the FBI to either Company A or Company C for purposes of
having the providers to identify calling activity by that

number.


2702(c)(4).284 If the review team deemed that emergency circumstances
existed that could have satisfied the statutory standard, the FBI would
retain the records.

Fourth, if the FBI determined that legal process was not issued and
that there was no relevant open investigation at the time of the request or
no currently open relevant investigation, and that there were no emergency
circumstances within the meaning of Section 2702(c)(4), the FBI would
purge or remove the records from all FBI databases and FBI case files.

2. FBI Analysis of Records Obtained From Exigent
Letters and 11 Improper Blanket NSLs

The FBI identified a universe of 4,379 unique telephone numbers from
the exigent letters and blanket NSLs that it determined must be analyzed to
establish whether records related to each number should be retained or
purged. As Table 4.3 illustrates, the FBI decided it would retain the records
related to a total of 3,352 telephone numbers (76 percent) because they fell
into one of the three categories that justified retention under the decision
tree described above. The FBI determined that records for a total of 739
telephone numbers (17 percent) would be purged from FBI databases
because the records did not fall into one of the three categories for retention.
The FBI could not locate any telephone records in FBI databases for the
remaining 288 telephone numbers (7 percent) and, accordingly, no purging
was necessary.

As Table 4.3 illustrates, the FBI located “standard process” for 1,405
of the 4,379 telephone numbers (32 percent). The FBI defined “standard
process” as an NSL, a grand jury subpoena, or an administrative subpoena
that it determined was issued in connection with the record J of
these numbers. The FBI informed us that in most cases the legal process
issued after-the-fact to cover exigent letters were NSLs, not grand jury
subpoenas. We asked the FBI to determine how many of the telephone
numbers were covered by each type of standard process and in how many
instances the standard process was issued after-the-fact. Although as of
October 2009 the FBI had not provided complete data. The FBI’s partial
data indicates that 1,104 of the 1,405 telephone numbers were covered by
NSLs, which were issued after-the-fact for 946 of the telephone numbers.

234 An e-mail dated August 22, 2007, summarizing a meeting that day with the
review team and NSLB attorneys assigned to assist the team stated that the review
“(rlequires time travel. Put yourself in the position of what was occurring when events were
occurring. What did people believe at the time. BACK UP WITH DOCUMENTS...”

196


Iv. Other Informal Methods for Requesting Records without Prior
Service of Legal Process

In addition to the use of exigent letters, we determined that CAU
personnel regularly requested and received from the three on-site
communications service providers toll records and other information related
to EG telephone numbers without issuing any legal
process or even providing exigent letters. We could not determine the full
scope of this practice since the CAU had no systematic tracking system to
document the requests, and the telephone providers did not consistently
document these requests. However, based on our interviews of CAU
personnel and the providers’ employees, as well as our review of documents,
we concluded that CAU personnel requested [EM for records of more
than 3,500 telephone numbers without prior service of legal process or even
exigent letters.

A. E-mail, Face-to-Face or Telephone Requests, and Informal
Notes

In most of the instances described in this section, CAU personnel
conveyed their record requests to the on-site providers by FBI e-mail.
However, employees of the providers also told us that CAU personnel
sometimes conveyed their = requests by giving target telephone
numbers to the providers’ employees verbally during telephone calls or visits
to the providers’ CAU work stations, or on pieces of paper, such as post-it

notes. CAU a also sometimes sent a to the _

A CAU Intelligence Analyst told us that one of the Company A
analysts routinely provided toll records to him without first receiving legal
process or an exigent letter. The CAU Intelligence Analyst stated that this
was the process he used “close to 100 percent of the time.” The Intelligence
Analyst said he would usually fax an exigent letter to the Company A
analyst several days after he received responsive records pursuant to his
informal requests. We also found several FBI documents indicating that
on-site Company A employees | and in many cases provided
telephone toll billing records to the FBI without any prior legal process or
even exigent letters.

Exigent letters were never provided to Company A for many of these
requests, either before or after the fact. Indeed, as we describe in Chapter

45


We also determined that ITOS-I management learned sometime in
2006 that the CAU needed NSLs to cover the information previously given to
the FBI by the on-site providers. Michael Heimbach, an Assistant Section
Chief for ITOS-I from February 2003 to March 2004 and a Section Chief for
ITOS-I from March 2005 to January 2007, told us that he first became
aware of a backlog of NSLs in the latter part of 2006. He said he learned at
that time that the CAU needed ITOS to issue NSLs for over 100 telephone
numbers. Heimbach told us that he assigned personnel in ITOS “to figure
this out . . . we got to get it right. We have to fix whatever is wrong.”

We found that between February and May 2006, a CAU SSA informed
an ITOS-I Assistant Section Chief that there was a backlog of NSLs which
ITOS-I “owed” for records acquired in exigent circumstances. When the
Assistant Section Chief briefed Heimbach, Heimbach assigned her to
oversee the response of ITOS-I to the issue of the CAU’s backlog. She told
us that she convened two meetings with her Unit Chiefs and a CAU SSA
who had the list of telephone numbers that required NSLs, and she
instructed the Unit Chiefs to work with the pertinent field divisions to
ensure that NSLs were issued. However, as described below, the backlog
was addressed in another manner beginning in May 2006 when the CAU
SSA drafted and CTD Deputy Assistant Director (DAD) Billy signed a
blanket NSL to cover the outstanding Company B record requests.

J. OIG Analysis of FBI Attempts at Corrective Actions From
2003 through October 2006

In sum, as described above and further discussed in Chapter Five of
this report, we found that the FBI repeatedly failed to take steps to ensure
that the CAU complied with the ECPA when obtaining subscriber and toll
billing records information from the on-site communications service
providers.

When Glenn Rogers became CAU Unit Chief in 2003, he learned
about and used an exigent letter provided by the Company A analyst. He
said he relied on the Company A analyst’s representation that the letter had
been approved by FBI and Company A attorneys. However, Rogers did not
seek any guidance about the use of these letters or confirm with FBI OGC
attorneys that they were appropriate. Also, we believe Rogers failed to take
appropriate steps to ensure that timely legal process was obtained as
promised after exigent letter requests were made. This failure resulted in
the development of a significant backlog of records requests for which there
was no legal process. From the beginning of his tenure as CAU Unit Chief
in 2003 until just prior to his promotion to CTD Assistant Section Chief in
November 2004, Rogers also failed to develop or implement any system for
tracking FBI requests for records or other information from the on-site
providers.

162


In addition, based on information provided to the Company A analyst
by an FBI Special Agent, the Company A analyst | Company A’s
database and downloaded records for the reporter’s cellular phone calling
activity. After the [J which was without any legal process,
the Company A analyst informed the FBI Special Agent that there were no
records of calling activity between the reporter’s and the numbers
during the specified date range. The Company A analyst this
without the knowledge of the Special Agent.

Also, at the request of the CAU’s Primary Relief Supervisor, without

any legal process, the on-site Company B and Company C employees
their databases for calling activity by the reporter’s cellular phone

number. The Company B employee found responsive records, although
Company B reported to us that the employee did not recall whether he had
provided responsive information to the FBI. We found no evidence that
these records were uploaded into FBI databases. The on-site Company C
employee determined that Company C had no responsive records.

In sum, we concluded that serious lapses in training, supervision,
and oversight led to the abuses involving the FBI’s improper requests for
reporters’ records in these three leak investigations. CAU personnel told us
they did not know about the special approval requirements for subpoenaing
reporters’ toll billing records. The federal prosecutors involved with these
matters, said they did not know the subpoenas sought reporters’ records
either because they did not see or examine the attachments or because they
did not correctly understand that the terminology used in the subpoenas or
attachments could result in the acquisition of reporters’ records. The
failures in training, the diffusion of prosecutorial responsibility for the grand
jury subpoenas, and the absence of oversight within the CAU or from the
CTD or the FBI OGC resulted in the Department not following legal
requirements and its own policies for issuing subpoenas to obtain reporters’
toll billing records.

E. OIG Findings on Management Failures and Individual
Accountability for Exigent Letters and other Improper
Requests for Telephone Records

In Chapter Five of this report, we assessed the accountability of FBI
employees, their supervisors, and the FBI’s senior leadership for the use of
exigent letters and other improper practices we described in this report.

We concluded that numerous, repeated, and significant management
failures led to the FBI’s use of exigent letters and other improper requests

279


she also recalled learning in April 2007 that Caproni had been informed at that
time that the service had never been used. Thomas said she did not learn until
shortly before her final OIG interview for this report in August 2008 that the
FBI had paid Company C for hot number a

Caproni told us that based on information she had received from FBI
personnel in April 2007, she believed that hot number | had never been
used by the FBI. In an April 2007 e-mail to CTD Assistant Director Joseph
Billy, Jr., and other CTD personnel, Caproni instructed that if the CTD sought
to use hot number a CTD must first contact the FBI OGC. She added
that the FBI OGC needed to understand the technical aspects of the feature
before providing a legal opinion about its use. In 2008, Caproni told us that
her concern at the time was that the feature “might be an unlawful pen
register.”104

D. OIG Analysis

We found that the FBI sought calling activity information on 152 “hot”
telephone numbers from Company A and Company C and was provided
information on at least 42 of those numbers. Company A provided information
that there had been calls made to or from the numbers identified by the FBI,
sometimes in response to specific inquiries from the FBI about whether calling
activity existed to or from a particular area code J) We also found
evidence that Company C also may have provided more information than just
the existence of calling activity, such as call originating and termination
information.

We believe that the calling activity information requested by and
conveyed to the FBI about these hot numbers required legal process. Although
the information given to the FBI by Company A and Company C on these hot
numbers was less extensive than the type of information typically provided in
response to NSLs or pen register/trap and trace orders, it constituted “a record
or other information pertaining to a subscriber or a customer” under the
ECPA. 105

As discussed in Chapter Two of this report in connection with our
analysis of “sneak peeks,” the Department’s Office of Legal Counsel concluded,
and we agree, that the ECPA ordinarily bars communications service providers

104 After reviewing a draft of this report, the FBI stated that, subsequent to her OIG
interview, Caproni concluded that as a matter of law, hot number | did not implicate
the Pen Register Act.

105 18 U.S.C. § 2702(a)(3).

87


— review contract proposals and approve the final wording of such
contracts.

6. If the FBI places employees of communications service providers in
the same work space as FBI employees, the FBI should establish
appropriate written guidance, supervisory and oversight procedures, and
appropriate training to ensure that the methods and procedures used to
obtain records from the providers conform to the ECPA and other applicable
federal statutes, regulations, Executive Orders, Attorney General
Guidelines, and FBI policy.

7. The FBI should issue guidance specifically directing FBI personnel
that they may not use the practices known as hot number Pe] to
obtain calling activity information from electronic communications service
providers.

8. The FBI should issue guidance eect when FBI personnel may

issue I community of interest requests. As

described in Chapter Two, in November 2007 the FBI Counterterrorism
Division prepared draft guidance that would require advance determinations
of the relevance of EE <p 300. numbers included in the
community of interest requests. The draft guidance also would
require that senior FBI officials and a Department attorney approve such
requests and that telephone numbers — pursuant to these requests

be documented for purposes of congressional reporting on NSL usage. We
recommend that the FBI finalize and issue this guidance to FBI personnel.

9. The FBI should carefully review the circumstances in which FBI
personnel asked the on-site communications service providers
on specified “hot numbers” to enable the Department to determine if the FBI
obtained calling activity information under circumstances that trigger
discovery or other obligations in any criminal investigations or
prosecutions.

10. The Department should determine if, in addition to the grand jury
subpoenas identified in this review, the Department has issued other grand

jury subpoenas in media leak investigations that included _a request for
| community of interest or calling circle an If so,
the Department should determine whether at the time the subpoenas were
issued responsible Department personnel were aware of or suspected
contacts between the target numbers in the subpoenas and members of the
news media and whether the Department obtained the toll billing records of
news reporters in compliance with Departmental regulations, including the
notification requirements.

287


Guidelines. Third, although the NSL imposed a non-disclosure and
confidentiality obligation on Company A, the NSL did not contain the
certification required by the Patriot Reauthorization Act and the ECPA for
such NSLs. Fourth, the NSL was not accompanied by the required approval
EC establishing the predication for the request and the relevance of the
records sought to an authorized national security investigation.

Finally, the NSL did not disclose that the FBI had previously asked
Company A to [J these records or that Company A had already done so
and in many instances had provided responsive records.

d. Timeline Regarding Three Improper Blanket
NSLs

Diagram 4.1 (next page) illustrates the timeline of the three blanket
NSLs just described, including the time period in which records were
initially EM without legal process pursuant to exigent letters or other
informal requests, the dates of the blanket NSLs issued to cover these
requests, and the date of three correcting NSLs (described later in this
chapter) issued by the FBI to address the records identified in the three
improper blanket NSLs.

176


much attention to and were not concerned about the reference to a grand
jury subpoena. Other SSAs told us that when they signed the letters they
did not know for sure what type of after-the-fact legal process would be used
by the field division or Headquarters unit that initiated the request. Others
told us that they considered the reference to grand jury subpoenas to
broadly include all categories of legal process, such as NSLs. As noted
above, a few SSAs told us that they never read the exigent letters closely
enough to notice any of the statements they contained.

As noted above, when we asked CAU Unit Chief and CXS Assistant
Section Chief Glenn Rogers why he signed, and permitted his subordinates
to sign, exigent letters containing inaccurate statements, he said he
regretted the wording of the letter, but that the letters were just a
“placeholder.” In response to a similar question, Youssef told us he should
have read the letter more closely and did not realize that the exigent letters
referred to subpoenas rather than NSLs until April or May 2006.266

In evaluating the performance of the individual signers of the
inaccurate exigent letters, it is also important to consider several mitigating
circumstances.

First, CAU Unit Chief Rogers approved the use of exigent letters by the

_ CAU, and in November 2003 Rogers issued an EC to the CAU that referred
to the exigent letters as a tool for obtaining telephone toll billing records
from Company A, which was the only on-site provider at the time. As
described in Chapter Two, three SSAs who signed exigent letters told us that
they raised concerns about the wording of exigent letters to their Unit Chief
at the time, Glenn Rogers. In each instance, the SSAs said that Rogers
assured them that the letter was “standard operating procedure” and had
been approved by “lawyers.” Rogers also told one SSA that he should not
change “a single word” in the letter. Although Rogers told us that he did not
recall these SSAs or anyone else coming to him with complaints about the
exigent letters, we concluded, based on the consistent testimony of the
SSAs, that this had occurred.

Second, CAU personnel were not trained on national security
investigations or NSLs when they arrived in the unit until after the OIG’s
first NSL report was released in March 2007. Rather, newly assigned
personnel — most of whom had no prior experience in national security

266 However, after this time period 28 additional exigent letters were signed by other
CAU personnel with Youssef’s name listed as the CAU Unit Chief, including 15 that
continued to refer to grand jury subpoenas having been requested.

246


his Chief Division Counsel about what the phrase meant in the context of
seeking telephone records in a media leak investigation.

We received conflicting evidence as to whether the case agent had
assured the prosecutor before the subpoenas were issued that use of the
language suggested by the Company A analyst would not result in the
production CL records. The case agent said both that he
did not recall any discussion with the prosecutor about the meaning of the
language and that he did not tell any of the prosecutors that the language in
the subpoenas or the attachments would not request telephone records of
reporters. However, the prosecutor said the case agent had assured him
that the suggested language would not result in a telephone
records and was needed only to ensure the retrieval of incoming and

outgoing calls between the target number and others. In addition, the
prosecutor’s notes seem to corroborate his assertion that the case agent had

told him, erroneously, that the lan; e in the subpoena referring to a
pe pprnyeee would not
generate records, which would have included the records
of reporters.

The prosecutor said he realized after the subpoenas were served and
responsive records were provided to the FBI that eee]

language in the subpoenas could have resulted in the production of
reporters’ records. Following consultation with Criminal Division
supervisors, the prosecutor sequestered a hard-copy of the records,
witnessed the case agent delete the electronic records from the case agent’s
e-mail, and consulted with the Department’s Office of Enforcement
Operations about whether the reporter should be notified in accordance
with federal regulations.

We believe the prosecutor and the Criminal Division acted responsibly
in addressing the issue once they realized that the subpoena could have
generated the reporter’s —_

However, to ensure that the FBI deleted all copies of the records, the
Criminal Division and the CAU should have conferred to see if additional
steps were necessary to address other FBI e-mails attaching the records.
Additionally, we believe that prosecutors who approve grand jury subpoenas
should review them carefully and ensure they understand what is being
requested. In the case of these two subpoenas, the local AUSA who was
facilitating issuance of grand jury subpoenas initialed the subpoenas,
without attachments, even though the subpoenas said on their face, “Please
see attachment.” We believe that the local AUSA should not have initialed
subpoenas without reviewing and understanding the attachments.

We recommend that the FBI provide periodic guidance to FBI
personnel on the special regulations and policies governing subpoenas of

253


Youssef also told us that he did not then inform the Assistant General
Counsel of the problems the CAU was facing regarding the backlogged
record requests because he knew the process of obtaining after-the-fact
NSLs for backlogged numbers would “take some time,” and he wanted to
“give it another two or three months.”

However, CAU personnel told us that the CAU had little success in
obtaining after-the-fact legal process for the backlogged items. Youssef also
told us that the CAU’s work to address the backlog from September 2005 to
May 2006 ultimately was “an exercise in futility.” CAU SSAs told us that
the original requesters were not motivated to provide after-the-fact legal
process after they had received the records from the CAU. In addition, one
SSA noted that occasionally cases were closed between the time the exigent
letter was served and the requesting unit was contacted for an after-the-fact
NSL.

To determine how successful the CAU was in obtaining legal process,
we reviewed spreadsheets that Company B and Company C gave to CAU
personnel at various times during this period. In January 2005, September
2005, January 2006, and May 2006, the on-site Company B employee
provided information and spreadsheets to CAU personnel regarding
telephone records requests for which Company B still had not received legal
process.200 Based on our review of that material, we determined that the
CAU obtained after-the-fact legal process for only approximately 25 percent
of the requests that were pending from January 2005 to September 2005,
and for approximately 30 percent of the requests for process that were
pending from September 2005 through April 2006. The Company B
employee’s spreadsheets also showed that the number of telephone
numbers that had been NE and that required after-the-fact legal
process declined considerably between September 2005 and April
2006. :

The spreadsheets prepared by the on-site Company C employee also
showed that the CAU had similar rates of obtaining after-the-fact legal
process for requests previously made to Company C, and also illustrated a
decrease over time in the number of telephone record requests requiring
after-the-fact legal process.

200 Company A did not provide similar information to the CAU, and we were
therefore unable to determine how many telephone numbers Company A had
without legal process or how often CAU personnel were able to obtain after-the-fact legal
process for its previous record requests to Company A from 2003 to mid-2006.

161


signed quickly after the FBI acquired records from the on-site providers in
emergency situations.

We concluded that after Thomas was given notice in December 2004
that exigent letters with the promise of future legal process were being used
to obtain ECPA-protected records, at a minimum she should have asked an
NSLB attorney to fully and promptly review with CTD’s senior managers the
methods and practices used by CAU personnel to request and obtain
records from the on-site providers so that NSLB could determine if they
were legal. A careful review would also have revealed the additional
improper practices arising from the FBI’s interactions with the on-site
providers, such as requesting records without legal process or even exigent
letters, sneak peeks, hot number [EJ and the use of administrative
subpoenas signed by a CAU SSA.

In evaluating Thomas’s performance, we recognize that CAU
personnel also failed to provide information to the NSLB that they should
have known was relevant to the NSLB’s legal oversight. In particular, as
discussed above, CAU Unit Chief Youssef did not adequately advise the
NSLB on the extent of the backlog and the ongoing difficulties CAU
personnel were encountering in getting after-the-fact NSLs issued by field
and Headquarters divisions. These omissions affected Thomas’s ability to
fully appreciate the scope of the CAU’s various problems resulting from its
use of exigent letters and other improper methods to obtain telephone
records.

Similarly, CAU personnel did not inform Thomas or other FBI
attorneys that the CAU routinely obtained ECPA-protected information from
the on-site providers by using sneak peeks. Moreover, even after FBI OGC
attorneys first were told by the CAU Primary Relief Supervisor about sneak
peeks in February 2007, they were not informed of the extent of the
information given to CAU personnel in response to such requests. As late
as 2007, when the Assistant General Counsel asked CAU personnel to
prepare a memorandum reporting as possible intelligence violations the
improper blanket NSLs she then knew about, the CAU personnel involved in
the drafting effort failed to provide accurate and complete information to the
NSLB about the 11 blanket NSLs that had been drafted by CAU personnel
and signed by senior CTD officials.

Yet, we believe that these deficiencies in reporting these issues to the
NSLB do not excuse Thomas’s failure to take adequate action with the
information she did have. At critical junctures throughout 2005 and 2006,
when Thomas learned more about the CAU’s various practices for obtaining
records from the on-site providers, she did not take timely, decisive, and
effective actions to ensure that the CAU obtained records from the on-site

232


providers. During 2003 through March 8, 2006 - the period when most of
the exigent letters were issued — that provision authorized a provider to
voluntarily release toll records information to a governmental entity if the
provider “reasonably believe[d] that an emergency involving immediate
danger of death or serious physical injury to any person justifie[d]
disclosure of the information.”7© However, we did not agree with the FBI’s
after-the-fact rationale that the letters could be justified under this
provision for several reasons, including that the letters were sometimes
used in non-emergency circumstances and that senior CAU officials and FBI
attorneys told us they did not rely on the emergency voluntary disclosure
provision to authorize the exigent letters at the time.77 We discuss the
potential application of the emergency voluntary disclosure provision to
exigent letters and other informal requests in greater detail in Chapter
Six.

In this review, we found that many FBI supervisors and employees
issued or approved these exigent letters even though the letters on their face
contained statements that were inaccurate, such as that a grand jury
subpoena had already been submitted to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and
would be served as expeditiously as possible. Yet, when we asked these FBI
supervisors and employees why they issued such letters stating that
subpoenas were forthcoming, no one could satisfactorily explain their
actions. Instead, they gave a variety of unpersuasive excuses, contending
either that they thought someone else had reviewed or approved the letters,
or that they had inherited the practice and were not in a position to change
it, or that the communications service provider accepted the letters. But
with few exceptions, no one objected to the inaccurate statements in the
letter. Moreover, we found instances in which the signers of exigent letters
did not know whether there were exigent circumstances.

In Chapter Five of this report, we assess the accountability of
individual FBI supervisors and employees for these improper practices.
However, we believe it is important to note here the widespread failure to
object to letters that contained inaccurate statements on their face. For FBI
officials and employees to unquestioningly issue hundreds of these improper

7 18U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4) (Supp. 2002). In March 2006, the provision was amended
by the PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 to allow voluntary disclosure
“if the provider, in good faith, believes that an emergency involving danger of death or
serious physical injury to any person requires disclosure without delay of information
relating to the emergency.” USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005,
Pub. L. No. 109-177, § 119(a), 120 Stat. 192 (2006).

77 OIG, NSL I, 96-97.

66


his own name as Unit Chief (we found that the number was 367). Youssef
also told us that he was unaware of the details of the CAU requests for
community of interest [NY sneak peek requests, hot number

and the unauthorized use of administrative subpoenas.

Second, like his predecessor Rogers, Youssef failed to establish an
adequate tracking system for exigent letters and other means by which FBI
personnel requested records from the on-site providers. Although Youssef
took steps in April and October 2005 to determine the scope of the
backlogged requests for legal process, he did not seek to maintain an
accurate record at the time they were made of the nature, number, and
origin of the requests to the on-site providers whether communicated by
exigent letter, by telephone, by e-mail, on pieces of paper, or through sneak
peeks. The failure to maintain such records was an internal control
problem that greatly complicated the FBI’s later efforts to determine whether
it had a basis to retain the records.

Third, Youssef himself signed one exigent letter issued to Company A
on November 21, 2005, that contained an inaccurate statement. Like
virtually all other exigent letters signed by CAU personnel, this letter stated
that a grand jury subpoena had been requested from the U.S. Attorney’s
Office. This was not true. When we showed Youssef this letter, he said that
when a CAU Intelligence Analyst presented the letter to him for signature he
did not recall noticing that the letter referred to a subpoena rather than an
NSL. Youssef acknowledged that the follow-up legal process subsequently
issued to cover the numbers in the exigent letter was an NSL. He added
that he had not “closely” read the exigent letter before he signed it. Youssef
told us that he should have read the exigent letter more closely, adding that
he “signed this without really looking at it. . . because at that time I was
aware that that is the procedure in the unit.” We concluded that even if
Youssef believed that exigent letters were “the procedure in the unit,” his
failure to review any exigent letter between March 2005 (when he first
learned they were used) until November 2005 was troubling.259

259 After reviewing a draft of this report, Youssef’s attorney asserted that Youssef
had to sign this exigent letter because the circumstance was a true emergency, the
statement about a grand jury subpoena to follow was simply a “placeholder” meaning that
some legal process would follow, and that it would have harmed the national security for
Youssef to take the time to determine whether the letter accurately stated that a grand jury
subpoena would follow. However, Youssef could have easily and quickly ensured the
letter’s accuracy by revising it to state that legal process would follow. In addition, he could
have ensured that the letter was accurate, either before or after he signed it. Rather his
testimony was that he did not carefully review the letter and did not notice it referred to a
grand jury subpoena before signing it. Finally, we note that 367 exigent letters were signed
(Cont’d.)

228


instituted 11 days after the date of an exigent letter seeking records on that
telephone number. The FBI OGC directed the field division “to determine
whether any information from the . . . exigent letter was utilized to establish
probable cause for the [wiretap].” The FBI OGC advised us in March 2009
that the field office stated that probable cause for the wiretap was
established by independent means.

As a result of the FBI’s analysis, the FBI has decided to retain records
for 16 of the 266 telephone numbers related to criminal or domestic
terrorism investigations and to purge records for 167 telephone
numbers.

5. Other NSLs Referred by the OIG to the FBI

In the course of this investigation, the OIG identified 32 NSLs that we
believed warranted further review because they appeared to be signed by
individuals who did not have authority to sign NSLs or the NSLs had other
possible irregularities. We provided copies of these NSLs to the FBI in
September 2007. In addition to the 32 NSLs identified by the OIG, the FBI
identified 39 other NSLs with possible irregularities.

Of the 71 irregular NSLs, the FBI reported to us that it had issued
letters of censure to 6 FBI employees who together signed 14 NSLs because
they lacked the authority to sign NSLs.244 The FBI took no action against 3
other FBI employees who together signed a total of 14 NSLs while they were
serving as Acting Deputy Assistant Directors (Acting DAD), and the FBI
noted that it did not have a written policy in place expressly prohibiting
Acting DADs from signing NSLs until June 1, 2007 (after these NSLs were
signed). Moreover, in January 2009 the Department’s Office of Legal
Counsel (OLC) determined that Acting DADs are authorized to sign
NSLs.

Thirty-five of the 71 irregular NSLs were unsigned. The FBI said it
was able to locate properly signed NSLs in its files for 23 of the NSLs in this
group. The FBI said it was unable to determine who was responsible for the
other 12 unsigned NSLs, and no action was taken with regard to these
NSLs.

Of the remaining eight NSLs, the FBI said that one of the signatures
on an NSL was illegible and no action was taken, four NSLs were referred by

244 These individuals held the positions of SSA (1), Unit Chief (1), Acting Special
Agent in Charge (3), and Section Chief (1).

209


In addition to the CAU personnel who signed these 722 exigent
letters, from 2002 to 2006, 76 other exigent letters were signed by FBI
personnel not assigned to the CAU. Fifty-eight of these exigent letters were
signed by FBI personnel assigned to the FBI’s New York Field Division. The
remaining 18 exigent letters were signed by FBI personnel in FBI
Headquarters and field divisions who told us they learned about CAU’s
resources either through briefings, previous assignment in the CAU, or their
own initiative. Because exigent letters were primarily issued by the CAU,
however, our review focused on the CAU’s use of the 722 exigent letters and
other informal methods of obtaining non-content telephone records from the
on-site providers, rather than the use of exigent letters by other FBI
offices.

A. Text of the CAU Exigent Letters

The 722 CAU exigent letters were all drafted on official FBI letterhead.
All but 17 of the 722 exigent letters signed by CAU personnel contained the
following two sentences:

Due to exigent circumstances, it is requested that records for
the attached list of telephone numbers be provided. Subpoenas
requesting this information have been submitted to the U.S.
Attorney’s Office who will process and serve them formally to
[the communications service provider] as expeditiously as
possible.

Of the 17 exigent letters that did not contain this language, 11 promised a
follow-up NSL rather than a subpoena, 2 promised to follow up with either a
subpoena or an NSL, and 4 did not mention any follow-up legal process.
The appendix to this report includes examples of two exigent letters issued
by CAU personnel during the period covered by our review.

Of the 722 exigent letters, 75 specified in either the body of the letter
or in an attachment to the letter the types of records sought — either toll
billing or subscriber records, or both. Most of the other exigent letter
requests included only the generic request for “records” quoted above.

Some of the 722 exigent letters also instructed_the recipient to
conduct a “community of interest” or “calling circle” A community
of interest

27


national security investigation. The FBI also relies on approval ECs to
generate required reports to Congress on NSL usage.

Finally, the NSL did not disclose that the FBI had previously asked
Company B to [J these records or that Company B had done so and
had provided responsive records.

b. Company C July 5 NSL

A second blanket NSL, dated July 5, 2006, was issued by the CTD to
Company C.208 This NSL was prepared by the same CAU SSA who prepared
the Company B May 12 NSL.

As described above, on May 18, 2006, the Company C employee sent
to a CAU SSA a list of telephone numbers for which Company C had
previously delivered records to the FBI without legal process. This list
contained 70 unique telephone numbers. The SSA who drafted the
Company C July 5 NSL requested that the Company C employee omit from
this list telephone numbers related to any criminal investigations. In
response, the Company C employee gave the SSA an amended list on July 5,
2006, that excluded telephone numbers associated with criminal and
counterintelligence investigations. The amended list consisted of 35
telephone numbers for which CAU personnel had asked Company C to
provide records from September 2004 to April 2006. The SSA attached the
amended list to the Company C July 5 NSL.

Michael Heimbach, then a Section Chief for the ITOS-I of the CTD,
signed the July 5 blanket NSL. At the time he was temporarily assigned as
an Acting Deputy Assistant Director (Acting DAD) of the CTD.209 Heimbach
signed the NSL as Acting DAD. At the time Heimbach signed this NSL, the
FBI had not issued guidance on whether FBI personnel serving as Acting
DADs were authorized to sign NSLs. The FBI OGC later issued guidance on
June 1, 2007, stating that Acting Deputy Assistant Directors are not
authorized to sign NSLs.210 However, on January 16, 2009, the
Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), in response to a request for a
legal opinion by the FBI General Counsel Caproni, opined that Acting DADs

208 We refer to this as the Company C July 5 NSL.

209 In January 2007, Heimbach became a SAC in the FBI’s Washington Field Office.
Since April 2008 Heimbach has been the CTD Assistant Director.

210 Because the FBI did not formalize this guidance until June 2007, the FBI Office
of Professional Responsibility (FBI OPR) decided to take no disciplinary action against any
Acting Deputy Assistant Director who signed NSLs without authorization.

172


letters, blanket NSLs, and the FBI’s ongoing analysis of the records obtained
in response to these informal means. Thus, while the FBI is not legally
required to purge records it obtained improperly, it decided to do so under
certain circumstances.

In light of these competing issues, we believe that the FBI’s decision
tree and its analysis of which records to purge were reasonable responses to
our identification of the improper collection of these telephone records. The
FBI’s analysis attempted to incorporate the legal standards of the ECPA NSL
statute and the ECPA emergency voluntary disclosure statute, albeit
after-the-fact. We also agree that it is reasonable to purge only those
records whose retention cannot be justified under an application of the
ECPA standards, even though the standards were applied after the
collection had already occurred.

In applying these standards, the FBI has devoted significant resources
in manpower and time to review the improperly obtained records and to
consider whether there is a basis for retaining these records. However, it is
also important to recognize, as we detailed in Chapter Two of this report,
that the FBI’s inexcusable failure to document its requests for thousands of
telephone records severely hampered its ability to determine which records
should be purged.

Finally, we believe the FBI should notify the IOB of the full details of
its final record retention decisions, purging decisions, the 11 blanket NSLs,
and all other actions to address the FBI’s improper acquisition of
ECPA-protected records.?#9

Ill. OIG Conclusions Regarding FBI Attempts at Corrective Action for
Exigent Letters

As discussed in this chapter, prior to the issuance of the OIG’s first
NSL report in March 2007, from late 2003 through March 2007, the FBI
made various attempts to address issues arising from the CAU’s use of
exigent letters and other informal means to obtain telephone records.
However, during this time period, the FBI’s actions were seriously deficient
and ill-conceived, and the FBI repeatedly failed to ensure that it complied
with the law and FBI policy when obtaining telephone records from the
on-site communications service providers. Also during this time, the FBI

249 After reviewing a draft of this report, the FBI stated that it has formally briefed
the IOB on all these issues.

211


that the concept seemed consistent with at least one classified FBI program
ongoing at the time. Chaddic added that since Rogers and most of the SSAs
assigned to the CAU had previous experience with FBI drug investigations
for which SSAs were authorized to obtain telephone records by signing
administrative subpoenas, the exigent letter tool would not be a departure
from their prior FBI experience in securing telephone records.

Other CTD officials told us they were not aware of the use of exigent
letters until the OIG’s investigation. For example, Laurie Bennett and
Jennifer Smith Love, two of the FBI officials who served as the Section Chief
of the CXS from 2004 through 2006, told us that they did not know about
the letters until the details of the practice emerged during the OIG’s first
NSL investigation in 2006.45 Bennett, who was the CXS Section Chief from
August 2004 to April 2006, told us that she expected that information from
the communications service providers was obtained legally and that the
CAU would have informed her if they could not obtain the information
legally. Love, who was the CXS Section Chief from April 2006 to December
2006, told us that she did not know about exigent letters, although she was
aware that the CAU had obtained records from the providers prior to issuing
legal process, and that the CAU had ongoing problems obtaining NSLs to
cover telephone records that the FBI had previously received from the
on-site providers.

Similarly, former CTD Deputy Assistant Directors John Lewis,
Thomas Harrington, and Arthur Cummings III told us that they did not
know about the exigent letters practice.46 However, Lewis said he was “not
surprised that [the FBI] [was] dealing with the phone companies in as
aggressive a manner as possible.” Cummings told us that he believed the
use of the letters must have been approved by the FBI.

Former Assistant Directors in charge of the CTD also told us they
were unaware of the exigent letter practice. Larry Mefford served as
Assistant Director of the CTD from July 2002 until July 2003 and as
Executive Assistant Director of the FBI National Security Branch from July
2003 until his retirement in October 2003. Mefford said that he was

45 The official who served as the first Section Chief of CXS from 2002 until April
2004 has retired from the FBI and declined our request for an interview.

46 Lewis served as a Deputy Assistant Director in the CTD from April 2004 to June
2006, and retired from the FBI in February 2009. Harrington served as a Deputy Assistant
Director in the CTD from December 2002 until March 2008. Harrington currently serves as
the Executive Assistant Director of the FBI’s Cyber Division. Cummings, who served as a
Deputy Assistant Director in the CTD from August 2006 to November 2007, is currently the
FBI’s Executive Assistant Director for the National Security Branch.

39


BEE language used in the attachment before

the subpoenas were issued.

When we first interviewed Prosecutor 1, he told us that his only
conversation with the case agent about the language in the subpoena
attachment was when he received from the case agent a “muddled” explanation
of what the language meant. Prosecutor 1 told us that the case agent’s
explanation was unclear and that, as a result of this confusing _—_—e he

only later realized that he did not accurately understand what a
a meant.134

In our second interview of Prosecutor 1, he told us that after he had been
interviewed by the OIG and reviewed relevant handwritten notes, he recalled
more details of his conversation with the case agent, and that this conversation
occurred before the subpoenas were issued. He said he recalled the case agent
informing him that use of the suggested language would obtain the “incoming
and outgoing calls to and from the target number.” Prosecutor 1 said he
specifically asked the case agent

whether [Company A’s suggested language] would get |

phone records and I recall him specifically assuring me that he had

spoken to people about this language |
and that it was the language . . . that

was just necessary to get local incoming and outgoing calls
between the target number and anyone that they called...

During this second interview, Prosecutor 1 also produced an undated
document, which Prosecutor 1 said was the subpoena attachment he had
typed based on the facsimile he had received from the case agent with the
suggested language from the on-site Company A analyst.135 The document
contained handwritten notes of Prosecutor 1 stating, “[Case agent] says — it
wouldn’t include [J phone record.” Prosecutor 1 said he made these
notes shortly after a conversation with the case agent before the subpoenas
were issued and that these notes refreshed his recollection of the conversation
with the case agent.

134 The first interview of Prosecutor 1 was not recorded.

135 Prosecutor 1 was only told in general terms the nature of the first interview and was
not asked to bring relevant documents to the interview. Prosecutor 1 volunteered the
document at the second interview, which was recorded.

108


Large groups of
and the FBI

telephone numbers were
moved quickly to exploit the numbers

and that might reveal links to
possible terrorist activities

According to FBI officials, on some occasions the CAU sought
telephone records in connection with international terrorism investigations
involving terrorist plots that were believed to pose an imminent threat to the
United States or its citizens abroad. For example, in a [J case that
received widespread media attention, the FBI investigated a terrorist plot

to detonate explosives

CAU personnel
sought calling records for thousands of telephone numbers in support of
this investigation, which we refer to as Operation Y in this report. CAU
personnel also said they used exigent letters to obtain calling information to
help the FBI address numerous bomb threats. FBI officials said that in
these and other cases the CAU enabled the FBI to quickly address serious
threats through its ready access to the on-site communications service
providers.

The CAU also used the on-site communications service providers to
obtain telephone records in support of criminal investigations, such as
organized crime and kidnapping cases. For example, the CAU issued
exigent letters in the kidnapping investigations regarding
who disappeared in 2005
a U.S. citizen from

who was kidnapped in Iraq

However, as described in Chapters Four and Six, FBI officials told us
that the investigations for which exigent letters were used, although urgent
and important, did not necessarily involve imminent threats or life-
threatening circumstances. For example, we discuss in Chapter Four a
high-profile FBI operation we call “Operation Z” for which CAU personnel
used exigent letters and other informal requests to request records for
hundreds of telephone numbers associated with a dead terrorist. According
to the FBI supervisors responsible for the operation, the circumstances in
which the records were obtained for exploitation were not exigent. In
addition, we found that exigent letters were issued in cases such as media
leak investigations, fugitive investigations, and other investigations that did
not include exigent or life-threatening circumstances.

44


ensure that it only retained records for the time period specifically
documented in the legal process.

Second, if the FBI was unable to identify valid legal process issued
before or after the records were requested, the FBI examined both whether
there was an investigation open at the time of the request and whether an
investigation to which the records are relevant is currently open. If both
requirements were satisfied, the FBI concluded that it would issue an NSL
from the open investigation and retain the records. The approval ECs
accompanying any such NSLs and the NSLs themselves state that the NSLs
are not seeking new telephone records but instead are issued to account for
previously acquired telephone records. If there was no investigation open at
the time of the initial request and no investigation to which the records are
relevant currently open, the FBI determined whether it had, in fact,
acquired and uploaded any records associated with the telephone number.

Third, in instances in which legal process was not served, and there
was no open investigation at the time of the initial request or there was no
currently open investigation to which the telephone number was relevant,
the FBI assessed whether there was an emergency situation at the time of
the request. The FBI decided that if a reasonable person could conclude
that an emergency situation, as defined by 18 U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4), existed at
the time of the request, the FBI would retain the records.233

When analyzing whether a Section 2702(c)(4) “emergency
circumstance” could support retention of records, the FBI review team told
us that its attorneys, agents, and analysts attempted to engage in “time
travel” and consider the facts known at the time of the request. NSLB
Deputy General Counsel Thomas said that the team considered whether a
reasonable person “looking from the [perspective of the ]provider,” could
have concluded, based upon the facts that were present at the time of the
request, that there was an “emergency circumstance” as defined in Section

233 To make this determination, the review team analyzed the investigative
information in FBI case files and used the “emergency” standard in 18 U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4),
which authorizes communications service providers to voluntarily provide non-content
telephone records to the FBI if the providers believe in good faith that “an emergency
involving danger or death or serious physical injury to any person requires disclosure
without delay of information relating to the emergency.”

The Assistant Section Chief, the Intelligence Analysts, and the NSLB attorneys
described the ECPA emergency voluntary disclosure standard as the benchmark for their
analysis, but they did not assess, or conclude, that the records in fact had been requested
or received under the emergency voluntary disclosure statute in effect at the time.

195


and the NSD determine if any of the statements characterizing the source of
subscriber information are inaccurate or incomplete. If any declarations are
identified as containing inaccurate or incomplete statements, we recommend
that the FBI and the NSD determine whether any of these matters should be
referred to the FBI Inspection Division or the Department’s Office of
Professional Responsibility for further review.

Iv. Improper Administrative Subpoenas Issued to the On-site
Providers

Our investigation also uncovered abuses in the FBI’s use of
administrative subpoenas.!©° In some instances, the FBI received records in
response to exigent letters or other informal requests prior to service of
administrative subpoenas. In addition, we determined that some
administrative subpoenas served on the on-site communications service
providers were preceded by “sneak peek” requests through which the on-site
providers’ employees would first check their databases to determine if records
of interest were contained in the databases, and in some cases provided
information prior to the service of administrative subpoenas.

We also found that in 2005 an FBI SSA in the CAU signed seven
administrative subpoenas pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 876 for toll billing records
as part of the fugitive investigation conducted by the FBI’s EE Field
Division regarding an This statute authorizes the use of
administrative subpoenas in connection with an active narcotics investigation
to which the records sought are relevant. However, some subpoenas were
issued when the FBI’s Field Division had no active narcotics
investigation to which the requested records were relevant. Rather, the J
Field Division wanted these records because they were relevant to locating

Additionally, we determined that all seven of these administrative
subpoenas were signed by a CAU SSA who was not authorized to sign these
administrative subpoenas. Moreover, three of the seven subpoenas were
issued after the FBI already had obtained the records through exigent letters.

We also found that two additional administrative subpoenas related to a
separate case were issued by the FBI’s [J Field Division after the FBI had

160 An administrative subpoena is a judicially enforceable demand for records issued by
a government authority.

129


unaware of exigent letters until he read press accounts in 2007 about the
OIG’s first NSL report. Similarly, Willie Hulon, who served as Assistant
Director of the CTD from December 2004 to June 2006, and as Executive
Assistant Director for the FBI’s National Security Branch from June 2006 to
January 2008, told us that he did not know about exigent letters. Hulon
said he “assumed that we were using the NSL legal process.” Joseph Billy,
Jr., who served as one of the CTD’s Deputy Assistant Directors from April
2005 to October 2006, as its acting Assistant Director from June 2005 to
October 2006, and as its Assistant Director from October 2006 until his
retirement from the FBI in March 2008, also told us that he did not know
about the CAU’s use of exigent letters until the OIG’s first NSL investigation
discovered the practice in 2006.

D. The FBI’s Senior Leadership

The FBI’s senior leadership also told us they were unaware of the
CAU’s use of exigent letters until the OIG’s first NSL investigation.

We determined that in July 2006, shortly after OIG investigators
conducted the first interviews in our first NSL review, FBI General Counsel
Valerie Caproni was informed by the Assistant General Counsel that in
emergency circumstances the CAU was using letters that promised future
legal process to obtain records from the on-site providers. The Assistant
General Counsel also advised Caproni that there had been problems with
identifying preliminary investigations to which after-the-fact NSLs could be
tied, but that NSLs were being issued within 2 or 3 days. However, Caproni
told us that she did not actually see an exigent letter until December 2006
when the OIG showed her some sample exigent letters during an interview
in connection with our first NSL report.

FBI Deputy Director John Pistole served as Deputy Assistant Director
and then Assistant Director of the CTD from May 2002 to October 2004,
and as Executive Assistant Director of the National Security Branch from
December 2003 to October 2004. Pistole told us that he did not know
specifically about the use of exigent letters. He said he understood that if
something was “hot, you could get the information right away and then
follow up with paper,” which was the “normal course of business” in
counterterrorism investigations.

FBI Director Mueller told us that he was unaware of the CAU’s use of
exigent letters until at or about the time the FBI received the draft of the
OIG’s first NSL report, which was in late 2006. Mueller stated that, until
then, he was unaware that the CAU was receiving telephone records without
the appropriate legal process.

40


the ECPA NSL statute requires certification that the records sought in NSLs
are relevant to an international terrorism investigation. If the NSLs used to
obtain the records certified, as required by the ECPA, that records sought
within a specified time period were relevant to authorized national security
investigations, but the FBI acquired records outside that date range, the
overcollected records were not covered by the NSL certification. Chart 4.3
illustrates the variance between the date range of the after-the-fact legal
process and the date range of uploaded records for 10 telephone numbers
with the longest periods of overcollection:

206


‘US. Department of Justice

Federal Bureau of Investigation

"Washington, D. C. 20535-0001

August 4, 2006

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Re: Special Project / SSA a
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records for the attached list of telephone numbers be
provided. National Security Letters directing you to rovide
thie information will be processed and served upon = as
expeditiously as possible. .

For the following U.S. numbers:

Sincerely,

Bassem Youssef
Unit Chief
Communications Analysis Unit

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CHAPTER THREE
ADDITIONAL USES OF EXIGENT LETTERS AND OTHER
INFORMAL REQUESTS FOR TELEPHONE RECORDS

We found other irregularities in the way the FBI obtained telephone
records and used the on-site communications services providers located in the
Counterterrorism Division’s (CTD) Communications Analysis Unit (CAU). As
described in this chapter, we determined that the FBI obtained calling activity
information from Company A and Company C on pre-determined “hot
numbers” without legal process. In addition, in three media leak
investigations, the FBI requested J and in two instances obtained
reporters’ toll billing records or calling activity information without prior
approval by the Attorney General, in violation of federal regulation and
Department policy.

We also determined that FBI Supervisory Special Agents (SSA) made
inaccurate statements to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA
Court) in characterizing the source of records that the Department of Justice
relied upon to support applications for electronic surveillance or pen register
and trap and trace orders. In addition, an SSA assigned to the CAU signed
administrative subpoenas to cover the FBI’s earlier acquisition of telephone toll
billing records through exigent letters or other informal requests in violation of
the ECPA and the statute authorizing the use of administrative subpoenas in
narcotics investigations (21 U.S.C. § 876). This CAU SSA and an SSA assigned
to the FBI’s Field Division together signed 5 administrative subpoenas
for telephone records that were dated from 7 to 44 days after the FBI had
obtained the records without legal process, in violation of the ECPA.9

I. Obtaining Calling Activity Information on “Hot Numbers”

From 2004 through 2006 the FBI used a service offered by Company A
and Company C referred to as “hot number [E”_- When using this
service, the FBI asked Company A or Company C to provide calling activity
information for telephone numbers that CAU or other FBI personnel had
identified as “hot numbers.” As described below, the FBI sometimes included
specific parameters in its requests —- such as whether there were calls to or
from a particular area code — After the | were set on the hot
numbers, and without receiving court orders or any type of legal process

90 As described below, some of these problems occurred in combination with the use of
exigent letters or other informal requests.

79


For much of the period when exigent letters were used, we found that
there was no written guidance for CAU personnel regarding the
circumstances under which exigent letters could be used. We found that
there was only a general understanding among CAU employees that there
had to be “exigent” or emergency circumstances for them to use an exigent
letter. We also found that there was no process whereby a supervisor
reviewed and approved the issuance of the exigent letters. Further, there
was no requirement to document the circumstances under which the
exigent letters were issued or the investigation to which the requested
telephone number was related. In fact, CAU personnel were not even
required to retain copies of the exigent letters and, as described below and
in Chapter Four, for the most part were not required to track or otherwise
account for the exigent letters issued to the on-site communications service
providers.

1. Signers of Exigent Letters in the CAU

We determined that three SSAs assigned to the CAU from 2003 to
2005 signed nearly 50 percent of the 722 exigent letters issued by CAU
personnel. One of these 3, an SSA who signed 139 exigent letters, told us
that the communications service providers’ employees often gave him
exigent letters to sign after he had already been given the requested records
— and he simply signed the letters. This SSA also said that while he realized
the exigent letters inaccurately stated that grand jury subpoenas had been
submitted, he signed the letters because he “thought it was all part of the
program coming from the phone companies themselves,” and he assumed
the letters were approved by the communications service providers’
attorneys. This SSA said that each time he issued an exigent letter, it was
in response to a request from a field division or headquarters unit for
records, and he believed that exigent circumstances were present.

Another SSA, who signed 115 exigent letters, said he learned about
the letters from the same Company A analyst who initially had told Rogers
about the letters. This SSA said the Company A analyst told him that the
letter had been approved for use by both Company A and FBI OGC
attorneys. The SSA said he went to Rogers and asked about the exigent
letters, and Rogers told him that they were “standard operating procedure.”
This SSA also said that he knew that subpoenas had not been requested
but signed the exigent letters anyway, based on the assurances of the
Company A analyst and Rogers as well as his awareness that the letters
were a standard practice in the CAU when he began his assignment there in
September 2003. The SSA said that while most of the exigent letters he
signed related to counterterrorism investigations, some were related to
criminal and counterintelligence investigations. He also told us that in
some instances, due to the exigent nature of the request, he did not believe
there were open investigations when he issued an exigent letter.

34


made the request but he did not think the Company C employee would write
his name in the Company C log “without having some justification.”

The Special Agent told us that he did not ask the CAU Primary Relief
Supervisor or the on-site Company B or Company C employees to for
the reporter’s calling activity in their databases, and we found no evidence that
employees of Company B or Company C, or anyone in the CAU, informed the
Special Agent that they had done so.

3. OIG Analysis

We determined that the Department issued a grand j subpoena to
Company A sc cra 1
reporter was believed to have called. The subpoena in Company A’s file had an
attachment that requested a

If Company A had had records of calls

Company A would likely have produced
calling activity information of the reporter in response to the subpoena. This
subpoena was issued without the required Attorney General approval or
compliance with Department regulations governing the acquisition of reporters’
toll billing records.

We also determined that the grand jury subpoena to Company A was
issued without substantive review by a prosecutor. The subpoena cover letter
was signed by an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA), but the subpoena
itself was not initialed by that AUSA (or any prosecutor), and the AUSA said he
did not recall focusing on

Further, although the subpoena request form that the Special
Agent faxed to the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated that a prosecutor assigned to
the investigation would draft the attachment, we do not believe any of the
prosecutors drafted, reviewed, or approved the attachment. !48

In addition, we found that the on-site employee of Company A
Company A’s database for records of cellular phone calling activity by the

148 As noted above, while the copy of the subpoena maintained in the prosecutors’ files
had no attachment, the subpoena that was found in Company A’s files had an attachment that
requested a However, the
attachment in Company A’s files did not bear a facsimile header indicating that it was faxed to
the provider along with the subpoena. Further, the subpoena itself did not include the words
“see attachment,” or otherwise indicate that there was an attachment. No one from the FBI or
the Department could explain to us when or how the attachment was appended to the
subpoena.

120


you have targeted.” The agent acknowledged to us that this e-mail stated that
the analyst had sent him toll records, as opposed to a value-added analysis,
but he said he did not realize that at the time. We believe that had the agent
exercised more care at the time he received the March 24 e-mail, he would have
realized then that the analyst had sent him reporters’ toll records without a
subpoena and without obtaining the required Attorney General approval.

Fourth, in addition to the individual FBI agents’ failings in this case, we
believe that this matter demonstrated how the CAU’s lax and sloppy practices
led to serious abuse of the FBI’s authority to obtain information from the
on-site communications service providers. For example, the exigent letter
issued by the CAU SSA failed to specify any time period for the records
requested. As a result, although the case agent had identified a 7-month
period as being relevant to the investigation, Company A provided the FBI 22
months of records for a Washington Post reporter, only 38 days of which fell
within the 7-month period. Similarly, Company A provided the FBI 22 months
of records for the Washington Post’s bureau in , only 20 days of
which fell within the 7-month period. For the remaining five telephone
numbers, none of the records given to the FBI included calls made during the
7-month period. Yet, neither the CAU Intelligence Analyst who received the
records from Company A, the case agent who received the records by e-mail,
nor anyone else in the FBI recognized that the FBI had acquired and uploaded
records far outside the time period considered to be relevant to the
investigation.

Furthermore, both the CAU Intelligence Analyst who received the records
and the CAU SSA who signed the exigent letter told us they did not know about
the federal regulation and special approval requirements for obtaining
reporters’ toll billing records. This suggests a lack of training and oversight of
the operational support personnel responsible for interacting directly with the
on-site communications service providers. !28

Cc. Second Matter
1. Background

In connection with another media leak investigation a U.S. Attorney’s
Office issued grand jury subpoenas to one of the on-site providers for telephone

128 We discuss these training and oversight failures further in Chapter Five of this
report.

104


addition, an FBI e-mail shows that the Unit Chief refused to state in the EC
that was belatedly drafted to document the predication for the CAU’s
Operation Z requests that the requests were made in circumstances “judged
to be exigent.”275

Several factors make it difficult to determine whether and when the
FBI’s other uses of exigent letters and informal requests satisfied Section
2702’s emergency disclosure exception. First, given the FBI’s lack of
internal controls over the process of requesting records by exigent letters
and other informal requests, it is difficult for the OIG or the FBI to
determine with certainty today how many of the requests were made in
circumstances satisfying Section 2702(c)(4). Indeed, the FBI has conceded
that the lack of documentation for the requests and their connection to
particular investigations has impeded its efforts to demonstrate which
requests clearly were made in Section 2702 circumstances.

Second, the FBI officials who were most familiar with the exigent letter
practice at the time the letters were in use - including Glenn Rogers,
Bassem Youssef, and the NSLB Assistant General Counsel - unequivocally
stated to us that they did not consider the letters at the time they were
made to be requests for voluntary production pursuant to Section 2702.

In addition, as described in Chapter Two, the evidence shows that
CAU personnel who made the requests did not understand “exigent
circumstances” to be synonymous with the definition of qualifying
emergencies under 2702. Although some agents and analysts said an
“exigent” matter included a life-threatening matter, others described it as an
important, pressing, fast-moving, or high-priority matter, and others said it
was a matter in which a high-level FBI official demanded the
information.

Finally, even assuming that some of the investigations associated with
the exigent letter requests were qualifying emergencies under the statute,
the evidence is insufficient to determine whether the providers had the
statutorily required belief that such emergencies justified voluntary
disclosure. Relevant factors to this issue include that the exigent letters did

mails reflected the importance of the investigation, but did not convey that emergency
circumstances existed and required disclosure without waiting for legal process. Indeed,
with regard to the earliest request for records reflected in these e-mails, we found that the
operational unit issued an NSL for the records.

275 We found other examples of use in non-emergency circumstances, such as the
exigent letters used to obtain reporters’ records and records relating to a fugitive
investigation described in Chapter Three.

262


numbers, the subpoenas would be subject to the notification
requirement of subsection (g)(3), regardless of the subjective intent
of the individuals who prepared them.

The OLC opinion also concluded that the notification requirement would be
triggered even if reporters’ toll billing records were not in fact collected in
response to such a subpoena.

Based on the OLC opinion, the Criminal Division concluded that it was
not required to notify the reporters because it believed that neither Prosecutor
1 nor the case agent understood at the time the subpoenas were issued that
the subpoenas called for reporters’ records.

4. OIG Analysis

If Company A had in fact produced the I

records as requested in the grand jury subpoenas, responsive records would
have included reporters’ toll billing records. Because Company A did not
produce all records requested by the subpoenas, the reporters’ records were
not provided. However, we believe that the way in which the Department
drafted and issued the subpoenas was deficient and troubling for several
reasons.

First, the FBI agent provided, and Prosecutor 1 drafted and approved,
language in the subpoena attachments that neither the FBI agent nor
Prosecutor 1 correctly understood. Prosecutor 1 said he relied on the case

agent’s explanation of the phrase [Iii
| The case agent told us he did not recall having a

conversation with any prosecutor about what the language meant, and that he
did not tell any of the prosecutors that the language would not request
reporters’ telephone records. The case agent also said that he expected
Prosecutor 1 to perform any legal analysis of the language.

In addition, the local AUSA initialed the grand jury subpoenas without
reviewing the attachments, which were prepared by Prosecutor 1 and attached
after the local AUSA initialed the subpoenas. We believe the Department
should ensure that the reviews by prosecutors who are asked to approve grand
jury subpoenas are meaningful and complete. That did not happen with
respect to these grand jury subpoenas and their attachments.

Second, our investigation found that but for the conversation about
Company A’s capabilities between a field division Special Agent assigned to a
counterintelligence squad and an a employee, FBI and
Criminal Division attorneys would likely not have learned about the problems

with the language in the grand jury subpoenas. Once the Special Agent
explained to Prosecutor 1 a meant, Prosecutor 1
took several appropriate steps in alerting Criminal Division supervisors to the

113


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The Company A analyst who J the ae it was

helpful to have the reporter’s telephone number prior to the records
MERI |is:2c in the subpoena so that he could “give
[the case agent] an answer really quickly as to whether we had the data or not.”
The analyst also told us that after he the J records and did not
discover telephone contact between the and the reporter, he was
concerned that he had missed the telephone call. He said that he therefore
the provider’s database for calling activity by the reporter to

determine whether there was any activity between the reporter

147 The analyst told us, “The only way to make sure that I did not
mess up was to take a look at the records for [the reporter’s] number... .”

The Company A analyst told us that if the Special Agent had not given
him the reporter’s telephone number, he would not have those
records. However, he also said he had no reason to believe that the Special
Agent knew he had [MJ the reporter’s telephone number.

The Company A analyst e-mailed a [J chart with the analyst’s calling
circle [MJ to the Special Agent. This chart was attached to an e-mail that
included multiple e-mails between the Company A analyst and the Special
Agent in which the Special Agent had provided facts about suspected contact
between the ‘reporter the reporter’s cellular phone
number, the time frame of the suspected contact, and the Company A analyst’s
notification to the Special Agent that records were not located during the

specified period. The CAU Primary Relief Supervisor was copied on this
e-mail.

The Special Agent’s supervisor said he did not know the Special Agent
had provided the reporter’s cellular phone number to the Company A analyst.
The supervisor also said he did not recall learning from the Special Agent or
anyone else that the analyst had [J the records of the reporter’s cellular
phone number.

The CAU Primary Relief Supervisor said he did not know that the
Company A analyst had ae telephone calls made by the reporter.

Yet, the CAU Primary Relief Supervisor had received the e-mail with the Ji
chart described above that provided all these facts. The CAU Primary Relief

147 The Company A analyst explained why reviewing EEE calling activity records
using the might not disclose calling activity between the reporter
However, by reviewing calling activity records of the reporter’s

telephone number, the Company A analyst said, he could be certain to capture telephonic
contact between the [ij numbers.

118


Seventh, Rogers also did not consult with NSLB attorneys about the
use of sneak peeks and other informal requests to obtain information from
the on-site providers, or about the FBI’s acquisition of calling activity
information on J bot numbers without legal process. As Unit Chief
of the CAU, he should have consulted with NSLB attorneys about these
practices to ensure that CAU personnel followed the ECPA, the Attorney
General’s NSI Guidelines, and other relevant laws, regulations, and FBI
policies governing the acquisition of telephone records.

When we questioned Rogers about these actions, he acknowledged
that after a Company A analyst first told him about exigent letters in May
2003, he allowed the use of exigent letters by CAU personnel without
issuing clear guidance regarding how they were to be issued. However,
Rogers stated that nothing was done “to hide the fact that we were getting
stuff in advance of NSLs.”

Rogers also stated that from the time NSLB attorneys became fully
aware of the exigent letter practice in late 2004, the NSLB attorneys never
sought to bring their use to a halt. When we asked Rogers about a
December 2004 e-mail from the Assistant General Counsel to a CAU SSA in
which the Assistant General Counsel discussed the SSA’s request for an
after-the-fact NSL, Rogers noted the Assistant General Counsel’s statement
in the e-mail, “I am realistic enough to recognize that there are emergency
situations wherein we get the information on the promise of an NSL.”
Rogers also told us that during the time he was the CAU Unit Chief and
later the CXS Assistant Section Chief he was never told by FBI attorneys or
CTD management that the exigent letter practice was unacceptable.

We agree that NSLB attorneys share some of the responsibility for the
improper use of exigent letters when they did not end their use after
learning about them. However, for the reasons stated above, we believe
Rogers bears a large portion of the responsibility for the CAU’s improper use
of exigent letters.25+

B. CAU Unit Chief Bassem Youssef

In evaluating Youssef’s actions, we believe it is important to recognize
that when he was assigned as CAU Unit Chief in November 2004 and
Rogers became the Assistant Section Chief of the CXS (which oversaw the
CAU), Youssef inherited the improper practices initiated during Rogers’s
tenure, including the use of exigent letters and other informal methods such

254 Rogers retired from the FBI in 2006.

224


CHAPTER FIVE
OIG FINDINGS ON FBI MANAGEMENT FAILURES AND
INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTABILITY

In this chapter, we assess the accountability of FBI employees, their
supervisors, and the FBI’s senior leadership for the use of exigent letters
and other improper practices we described in this report. In Part I of this
chapter, we discuss the significant management failures that we concluded
contributed to these improper practices and to the FBI’s failure to address
the improper practices in a timely manner. In Part II, we assess the
accountability of individual FBI employees for these improper practices.

1. Management Failures

We found that numerous, repeated, and significant management
failures led to the FBI’s use of exigent letters and other informal requests for
telephone transactional records over an extended period of time. The FBI
failed to follow the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) statute, the
Attorney General’s Guidelines for FBI National Security Investigations and
Foreign Intelligence Collection (NSI Guidelines), and FBI policies when
obtaining thousands of telephone records from the on-site communications
service providers. While these on-site providers provided the FBI with an
important resource in support of its counterterrorism, counterintelligence,
and criminal programs, the FBI failed to provide adequate training,
guidance, and oversight to ensure that FBI personnel used this resource in
accordance with applicable statutes, guidelines, regulations, and FBI
policies. These failures began shortly after the Communications Analysis
Unit (CAU) was established within the Counterterrorism Division (CTD) in
2002, and continued until March 2007 when the OIG issued its first NSL
report describing the use of exigent letters. We believe that every level of the
FBI, from the FBI’s most senior officials, to the FBI’s Office of the General
Counsel (FBI OGC), to managers in the CTD, to the supervisors in the CAU,
to the CAU agents and analysts who repeatedly signed the letters, was
responsible in some part for these failures.

As discussed in Chapter Two of this report, the concept of using
exigent letters originated as a time-saving technique in the FBI’s New York
Field Division during its criminal investigations of the September 11
terrorist attacks. However, their use was transferred to the CAU at FBI
Headquarters in early 2003 and over time became one of the means by
which the FBI routinely obtained telephone records from the on-site
communications service providers. The embedding of the communications
service providers’ employees in FBI work space alongside CAU employees,
coupled with the FBI’s increasing reliance on telephone subscriber and toll

213


B. NSLB Knowledge of Exigent Letters and Involvement in
Issuing After-the-Fact NSLs

We determined that although the CAU began using exigent letters in
March 2003, FBI attorneys were not alerted to the practice until July 2004.
On July 19, 2004, a CAU Intelligence Analyst sent an e-mail to the Assistant
General Counsel stating that the CAU had a Company A analyst on-site.
The e-mail described the services that Company A provided, noting that in
time-sensitive threat matters the CAU could obtain information from the
on-site Company A analyst by using “an exigent letter” and following up
later with an NSL.

However, the Assistant General Counsel told us she believed she first
became aware of the use of exigent letters in December 2004. She said that
she must have overlooked the reference to exigent letters in the July 19
e-mail from the CAU analyst.

The Assistant General Counsel said that she recalled learning about
exigent letters in December 2004 in connection with a specific request from
the CAU that NSLB prepare an after-the-fact NSL. FBI e-mails reflect that
in mid-December 2004, a CAU SSA asked the NSLB to prepare an NSL to
cover records for telephone numbers that had been previously obtained.
The CAU SSA told the Assistant General Counsel that the telephone
numbers included numbers that had been previously — by Company
A pursuant to the CAU “form letter” requests that promised future legal
process.

The Assistant General Counsel reported the CAU request to her
immediate supervisor and to NSLB Deputy General Counsel Julie Thomas,
in an e-mail dated December 17, 2004.175 In that e-mail, the Assistant
General Counsel informed them that in connection with the request, the
CAU SSA had told her the following:

e The CAU was regularly obtaining records without legal process
from the on-site communications service providers.

175 In this section of the report, we rely significantly on e-mails to and from the
Assistant General Counsel. She told us that because many of the issues we interviewed
her about happened more than 3 years earlier, she could not recall the events with
certainty. However, she stated that the e-mails accurately depicted her understanding of
events at the time.

142


Thomas also said that since the follow-up NSLs she signed were not
legally required, she saw no need for the NSLs to document that the records
requested had been previously provided. She said she was confident that
the on-site providers were aware that the records had been previously
provided and were not misled by the absence of any reference to this fact in
the follow-up NSLs.

c. NSLB Attorney Meets with CAU Personnel Regarding
Exigent Letters

In addition to learning about the problems in obtaining after-the-fact
NSLs and addressing the request for an after-the-fact NSL, the Assistant
General Counsel learned in early 2005 that in some instances CAU
personnel had issued exigent letters to communications service providers in
the absence of any authorized and open national security investigation.!78
The Assistant General Counsel was concerned about this practice because
the ECPA NSL statute and the Attorney General’s Guidelines for FBI
National Security Investigations and Foreign Intelligence Collection (NSI
Guidelines) required that information sought in NSLs be relevant to an
“authorized investigation to protect against international terrorism or
clandestine intelligence activities ... .”179 The Assistant General Counsel
believed that after-the-fact NSLs could not be issued unless they were
relevant to an open, authorized national security investigation.

On January 6, 2005, the Assistant General Counsel met with CXS
Assistant Section Chief Rogers and a CAU SSA to discuss the CAU’s process
for obtaining records from the on-site providers.189 E-mail records show

statute to the CAU’s acquisition of ECPA-protected records from the on-site providers
pursuant to exigent letters or other informal requests.

As discussed below, FBI General Counsel Caproni and the Assistant General
Counsel told us that they did not discuss amongst themselves or conclude in 2004, 2005,
or 2006 that the acquisition of subscriber and toll billing records in response to exigent
letters qualified as emergency voluntary disclosures pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4).

178 Many of the signers of these exigent letters told us that in these instances they
were concerned about addressing the exigency and did not consider whether an
investigation had yet been opened. One signer told us that he anticipated an investigation
would be opened shortly after the exigent letter was issued.

179 NSI Guidelines, Section V(12)(“use of National Security Letters in conformity
with... 18 U.S.C. § 2709 (relating to subscriber information, toll billing records... .”
See 18 U.S.C. § 2709(b).

180 Youssef’s attorney has asserted to the OIG that Youssef was “excluded” from or
“not invited to” this meeting. However, Youssef’s FBI e-mails show that he was invited to
the meeting and that the time of the meeting was changed at his request in order to
(Cont’d.)

146


Iv.

B. Counterterrorism Division’s and CAU’s Recognition of
the Use of Exigent Letters ..........cccccccssssssssesssssesseseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 28

Cc. CAU’s Exigent Letters Practice ........ccceeeseeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeenneeeeeee 29

1. Signers of Exigent Letters in the CAU
2. CTD Supervisors

The FBI’s Senior Leadership ..............ccccceseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeenees 40

D.
E. Employees of On-site Communications Service

PLOVICETS .0.......cceeeccescessessneeceeeecessseeeeeseesseeeeeeseecnensseeeeeeeeeeeeeees 41
F. Types of Cases in which Exigent Letters were Used................ 43

Other Informal Methods for Requesting Records without Prior
Service of Legal Process .......ccccssssssseseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 45

A. E-mail, Face-to-Face or Telephone Requests, and Informal

B. “Sneak Peeks” or “Quick Peeks”.

Records Obtained in Response to Exigent Letters and Other

Informal REQUuests......cccccscsssseeseesseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeeeeeeeeceeeeeseneeeeeees 50
A. Types of Records Collected by the ProviderS............:cccceseeeeee 50
B. How Records were Uploaded and Analyzed by the FBI ........... 52
c. Community of Interest/Calling Circle JE.

1. Community of Interest

2. Community of Interest
FBI oo..cceecseesseeeseesseesseesssessseeseeceeessscsssesessesesssesssessssssees

3. Company A’s Use of Community of Interest [EE

4. FBI Guidance on Community of Interest J
REQUESTS 0... iicccceceeecccccceceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaeeaeeaees 62
OIG Analysis...

A. Requests for Telephone Records through Exigent Letters
and Other Informal Requests..

B. “Sneak Peeks” .
Cc. Calling Circle/Community of Interest ...................... 75

CHAPTER THREE: ADDITIONAL USES OF EXIGENT LETTERS AND

I.

OTHER INFORMAL REQUESTS FOR TELEPHONE RECORDB......... 79

Obtaining Calling Activity Information on “Hot Numbers”................ 79

ii


terrorism and criminal investigations for which NSLs are not authorized.
Additionally, Billy told us that signing NSLs that were not accompanied by
approval ECs was “completely outside” his practice. However, we confirmed
with the CAU SSAs who drafted the four blanket NSLs that Billy signed that
none of these four NSLs were accompanied by approval ECs. While we
developed no evidence contradicting Billy’s assertion that his normal
practice was to sign NSLs only if they were accompanied by approval ECs,
these four NSLs were not issued with the required approval ECs.

We concluded that in signing these four NSLs, Billy failed to take
appropriate steps to ensure that NSLs he signed complied with the ECPA,
the Attorney General’s NSI Guidelines, and FBI policy. When Billy signed
these NSLs he had nearly 20 years of experience with FBI national security
investigations, and he knew the legal and policy requirements for using this
intelligence tool. Yet, he signed these NSLs either without the required
certifications or without ensuring that the requests were adequately
predicated under the ECPA by examining the approval ECs.26+

2. Arthur A. Cummings III

Arthur A. Cummings III joined the FBI in 1987. By mid-2006,
Cummings had worked on FBI national security investigations for about 14
years.

Cummings signed 5 of the 11 improper blanket NSLs, all of which
related to Operation Y. He signed these NSLs as a Special Agent in Charge
(SAC) for the Washington Field Office while he was temporarily assigned to
the CTD as an Acting DAD. As a SAC, Cummings was authorized to sign
NSLs by the FBI Director’s delegation pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2704(b).

All of the Operation Y NSLs were deficient. These NSLs were issued
after-the-fact, although the ECPA does not authorize after-the-fact process.
In addition, they did not contain the certifications required for NSLs
imposing non-disclosure and confidentiality requirements on NSL
recipients. These NSLs also violated FBI policy because they were not
accompanied by approval ECs. Finally, all five NSLs were issued
after-the-fact but none of the NSLs disclosed that they were issued for
records that had been previously obtained through exigent letters and other
informal requests.

264 Billy retired from the FBI in March 2008.

240


individuals who signed these blanket NSLs contributed to misuses of these
authorities.

As senior CTD officials, Billy, Cummings, Heimbach, and Love were
responsible for ensuring that the NSLs they signed complied with the ECPA,
the Attorney General’s NSI Guidelines, and FBI policy. While we recognize
that each of these four officials had other significant responsibilities in the
FBI and that they each worked in a high-pressure environment in
furtherance of the FBI’s counterterrorism mission, we believe they should
have taken more care to ensure that the NSLs they signed complied with the
ECPA, the Attorney General’s NSI Guidelines, and FBI policy.

G. —CAU Personnel Who Signed Exigent Letters

As described in Chapter Two of this report, we determined that many
CAU employees — 2 Unit Chiefs, 15 SSAs, and 3 Intelligence Analysts —
signed 722 exigent letters issued by the CAU between March 2003 and
November 2006. The vast majority of these exigent letters stated:

Due to exigent circumstances, it is requested that records for
the attached list of telephone numbers be provided. Subpoenas
requesting this information have been submitted to the U.S.
Attorney’s Office who will process and serve them formally to
[Company A, Company B, or Company C] as expeditiously as
possible.

As discussed above, this language came from the New York Field
Division where grand jury subpoenas signed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office
were used to obtain telephone records related to the counterterrorism
investigations in response to the September 11 attacks. This practice and
the use of exigent letters were adopted by the CAU beginning in 2003.

In evaluating the accountability of the CAU employees who signed
these exigent letters, we asked the CAU employees who signed two or more
exigent letters whether they knew when they signed the letters that the
factual statements were accurate. We asked specifically whether they knew
that there were exigent circumstances associated with the requests and
whether they knew that requests for grand jury subpoenas had been
submitted to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, as specifically stated in the
letters.

With few exceptions the CAU SSAs who signed the letters said they
believed exigent circumstances were present in every instance in which they
signed an exigent letter. The only exceptions to these general statements
were (1) an SSA who told us that he signed several letters when he was new
to the CAU under circumstances he was “pretty sure. . . could be
questionable”; (2) another SSA who told us that he sometimes signed

244


NSLs, and also permit voluntary disclosure based on the providers’ good
faith-belief of a qualifying emergency.?9!_ We concluded that the FBI did not
serve legal process under the ECPA for the information it received pursuant
to sneak peeks.

In addition, we do not believe that the sneak peek practice complied
with the ECPA’s emergency voluntary disclosure provision for several
reasons. First, the practice was described to us as a routine occurrence in
the CAU and not limited to “exigent” or emergency circumstances. Second,
some of the specific instances where the sneak peek practice was used
included media leak and fugitive investigations which did not meet the
emergency voluntary disclosure provision. Third, the FBI’s lack of internal
controls over the sneak peek practice has made it impossible to reliably
determine how many or in what circumstances sneak peek requests were
made, and what the providers were told or believed about the reasons for
these requests.

Our review also found that the FBI improperly asked Company A’s
on-site employees to conduct “community of interest” In response
ity of interest request, Company A would retrieve
records

Although we could not
determine due to the FBI’s lack of documentation how often the FBI
requested these community of interest or how often Company A
provided such records to the FBI, we found at least 52 exigent letters, 250
NSLs, and 350 grand jury subpoenas served on the on-site providers that
included such requests.

The FBI’s community of interest [J requests were often included
in the boilerplate attachments to NSLs. We found that FBI officials who
signed NSLs that contained community of interest requests often were not
aware they were making such requests. In such instances, the FBI issued
NSLs with community of interest al requests without first conducting,
or documenting in the NSL approval memoranda (approval ECs), any
assessment of the possible relevance of a telephone
numbers to the underlying investigation. Absent such an assessment, we

believe the FBI did not satisfy the ECPA requirement to issue NSLs in
national security investigations only upon certification by those authorized

291 As described previously, prior to March 2006, this exception required the
provider to have a “reasonable belief” that a qualifying emergency existed.

269


[PAGE LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK]

136


HE, and three other numbers.!20 The second trace report contained all of the
telephone data acquired on the 10 telephone numbers, as well as available
information in “ database related to 11 of
the 12 telephone numbers listed in the case agent’s November 5, I,

e-mail.

We also found that no grand jury subpoena was issued for these
reporters’ records, either before or after the records were produced. In
addition, no Department personnel sought Attorney General approval for
subpoenaing these reporters’ records, as required by federal regulations and
Department policy.

c. AUSA and FBI Field Division Personnel Knowledge
that Reporters’ Records Were Obtained

When we interviewed the case agent, his squad supervisor, and the
HE Field Office Assistant Special Agent in Charge who supervised the
squad conducting the leak investigation, they told us that they were unaware
that CAU personnel had asked Company A to provide the reporters’ and news
bureaus’ telephone records or that anyone had sent an exigent letter to
Company A for these records.

We asked the case agent about the January 5 e-mail from the CAU
Intelligence Analyst to him forwarding the toll billing records from Company A
and the trace reports on the records. He said that he had not opened the
attachments to this e-mail and had not recognized from the e-mail that the
attachments might have included toll billing records.!2! He told us that he “did
not know exactly what trace reports meant,” and that he interpreted another
portion of the e-mail as meaning that the analyst had run the numbers against
previously established databases.

The case agent also told us that he did not open the attachments,
because he “just wanted to make sure that we did not proceed until we had
sent the subpoena,” adding, “there is no exigency so I was just content to wait
and see what my deliberations with [the AUSA] would yield.” The agent said
that if he had “perceived it at the time as violating DOJ regulations or the law,
[he] would have notified appropriate parties.”

120 Nine of these 10 numbers also appeared on the December 17, IE, exigent letter to
Company A.

121 The Intelligence Analyst said that the only difference between what he sent with his
January 5 e-mail and the raw data he received from Company A was the formatting of the data.

97


not review a copy of any exigent letter until May 2006, more than 18
months after first learning of their use in the CAU. After reviewing an
exigent letter, she merely revised the letter to substitute the term “NSL” for
the inaccurate reference to after-the-fact issuance of grand jury subpoenas,
and she advised the CAU that it could continue to use the revised exigent
letter. The Assistant General Counsel also did not recognize that many of
the exigent requests that came to the CAU qualified for emergency voluntary
disclosure requests under the ECPA. By these actions and inaction, the
Assistant General Counsel allowed the FBI’s improper use of exigent letters
and after-the-fact NSLs to continue. Although the Assistant General
Counsel kept her supervisors informed of the advice she was giving and the
actions she was taking, we believe based on her experience in national
security investigations and the senior policy position she held in the NSLB
that she should have directly confronted the legal deficiencies in the use of
exigent letters and, through her supervisors in the NSLB and in conjunction
with CTD managers, ensured that the use of exigent letters ended.

As described in Chapter Four of this report, we found that 4 senior
CTD officials — Joseph Billy, Jr., Arthur Cummings III, Michael Heimbach,
and Jennifer Smith Love - signed a total of 11 improper blanket NSLs in
2006. Each of these NSLs had multiple deficiencies. None of them was
accompanied by required approval Electronic Communications (EC)
documenting the predication for the requests, and some were issued
without the required ECPA certifications. While we recognize that each of
these four officials had other significant responsibilities in the FBI and that
they each worked in a high-pressure environment in furtherance of the
FBI’s counterterrorism mission, we believe they should have taken more
care to ensure that the NSLs they signed complied with the ECPA, the
Attorney General’s NSI Guidelines, and FBI policy. In signing these
improper NSLs, we believe that these CTD senior officials contributed to
misuses of NSL authorities.

As described in Chapter Two of this report, we determined that many
CAU employees signed the inaccurate and improper exigent letters issued by
the CAU. In evaluating the accountability of the CAU employees who signed
these exigent letters, we asked them whether they knew when they signed
the letters that the factual statements they contained were inaccurate. We
specifically asked whether they knew that exigent circumstances existed at
the time they signed the letters and whether they knew that requests for
grand jury subpoenas had been submitted to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, as
specifically stated in the letters.

With few exceptions the CAU employees who signed the letters said
they believed exigent circumstances were present. However, most of the
CAU SSAs we interviewed told us they did not know whether grand jury
subpoenas had been requested at the time they signed the exigent letters,

283


In the second media leak investigation an Assistant United States
Attorney (local AUSA) and a federal prosecutor approved grand jury
subpoenas that directed a communications service provider to deliver J

This

language meant that the subpoenas sought not
but also the toll
billing records for
reporters.

After the subpoenas were served and records were sent to the FBI
case agent as e-mail attachments, the prosecutor realized by virtue of a
fortuitous conversation with an FBI Special Agent that the provider could
have given the FBI reporters’ records
requested. The
prosecutor took steps to sequester the telephone records and notified the

Department’s Criminal Division of the issue. In our review, we found no
evidence
or that reporters’ toll billing

records were provided to the FBI in response to the subpoenas.

Following consultations with the Office of Legal Counsel, the Criminal
Division concluded that it was not required to notify the reporters of the
subpoenas, even though the subpoenas, if fulfilled, would have resulted in
acquisition of reporters’ records.

We concluded that the way in which the Department drafted and
issued the two subpoenas in this leak investigation was deficient. The
prosecutor drafted and approved language in the subpoena attachments
that neither the FBI agent nor the prosecutor correctly understood; the local
AUSA assigned to assist the investigation in the jurisdiction where the
grand jury was empanelled initialed the grand jury subpoenas without
reviewing the attachments, which were prepared by the prosecutor and
attached after the local AUSA initialed the subpoenas; and but for a
fortuitous conversation between a Special Agent not involved in the
investigation and the prosecutor, FBI and Criminal Division attorneys would
likely not have learned about the problems with the language in the
subpoenas.

In the third media leak investigation the Department served on an

on-site Company A analyst a grand jury subpoena requesting a
ns for records of a the FBI believed
was in telephonic contact with a reporter.

278


on a community of interest” that the attachment stated “may
be considered by you to be toll billing records pursuant to § 2709.” The FBI
‘Assistant General Counsel had drafted this attachment for the CAU. It was
retained on the CAU’s share drive and accessible by all CAU personnel and
the on-site providers.58

We determined that community of interest JJ generally were
after the Company A analyst confirmed with CAU personnel that
was needed. In addition, in some instances, prior to

In other instances, the

9 Thus, it appears that community of interest

requests often were included as boilerplate language in NSLs served on the

on-site Company A analysts, although Company A did not necessarily
such — in each instance.

We found evidence that some FBI officials who signed NSLs that
contained community of interest [J requests were not even aware that
they were making such requests. For example, NSLB Deputy General
Counsel Julie Thomas, who signed at least four NSLs dated from February
2005 to August 2005 requesting in the body of the letters community of
interest ——, told us that she was not aware of Company A’s
community of interest capability until June 2006, when Company A
representatives briefed her and other FBI OGC attorneys on Company A’s
capabilities under its contract with the FBI. Thomas said that if she had
signed NSLs prior to June 2006 containing a community of interest
request, the request would “probably not” have meant anything to her

58 This NSL attachment was similar to a model standard NSL attachment the FBI’s
National Security Law Branch (NSLB) in FBI OGC had previously circulated to FBI
personnel and posted on its Intranet website. The previous standard NSL attachment listed
all of the records identified in the post-May 2006 attachment except calling circle records.

59 We reviewed exigent letters and NSLs that contained the following text: “In
lease provide a ‘calling circle’ for the foregoing telephone number(s

57


the legal standard for an emergency voluntary disclosure pursuant to 18
U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4).49 The Company B employee stated that he did not
provide responsive records unless requesters signed or initialed this
certification.

The Company B employee told us that he also followed his
supervisor’s instruction to be sure to get after-the-fact legal process, and he:
(1) created a spreadsheet to track the outstanding legal process; (2)
reminded CAU personnel and sometimes requesters in the field via either
face-to-face conversations, telephone calls, or e-mails that he was still
awaiting process; (3) brought the issue of exigent letters to the attention of
CAU Unit Chief Glenn Rogers and later Unit Chief Bassem Youssef; and (4)
provided a list of telephone numbers still awaiting process to a CAU SSA so
that the numbers could be incorporated into the Company B May 12, 2006,
“planket NSL” described in Chapter Four.

F. Types of Cases in which Exigent Letters were Used

CAU agents, analysts, and Unit Chiefs told us that they used exigent
letters and other informal requests to the on-site communications service
providers to quickly obtain telephone records and analyze them in
connection with many urgent, high priority counterterrorism investigations.

They said that many of the requests that came to the CAU involved
telephone numbers from a

4 18 U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4) provides:

Voluntary disclosure of customer communications or records.

kee

(c) Exceptions for disclosure of customer records. — A provider described in
subsection (a) may divulge a record or other information pertaining to a
subscriber to or customer of such service (not including the contents of
communications covered by subsection (a)(1) or (a)(2))... .

eee

(4) to a governmental entity, if the provider, in good faith, believes that an
emergency involving danger of death or serious physical injury to any person
requires disclosure without delay of information relating to the

emergency; ....

An earlier version of this provision that was in effect between 2003 and
March 8, 2006 — the period when most of the exigent letters were issued —
authorized a provider to voluntarily release toll records information toa
governmental entity if the provider “reasonably believes that an emergency involving
immediate danger of death or serious physical injury to any person justifies
disclosure of the information.”

43


In sum, the potential use of by the FBI
has important policy implications for

We believe that creates a significant gap
in FBI accountability and oversight that should be examined closely by the
FBI, the Department, and Congress.

It is also important to recognize that the FBI advanced the
only after the OIG found repeated misuses of its statutory
authority to obtain telephone records through NSLs or the ECPA’s
emergency voluntary disclosure provisions. We believe that, given the
abuses described in this report, it is critical for the Department and

Congress to consider appropriate controls on any use by the FBI of
its authority to obtain records voluntarily [zara

The OIG therefore recommends that the FBI and the Department
consider how the FBI may use
telephone billing records, particularly with respect to

We also recommend that the Department notify Congress of this

issue and of the OLC opinion interpreting the scope of the FBI’s authority
under it, so that Congress can consider ee | and the
implications of its potential use.

B. Other Informal Requests for Telephone Records

We found that without any documentation for the requests except
possibly e-mail messages, CAU personnel routinely asked the on-site
providers’ employees to provide calling activity information in response to
what were referred to as “sneak peeks.” Using sneak peeks, the FBI
requested the providers’ employees [J their databases and tell the
FBI whether they had any records on specified telephone numbers. At the
FBI’s request, the providers would conduct sneak peeks and sometimes give
the FBI additional information about the telephone records, such as
whether there was calling activity between specified numbers or calls to or
from certain a These sneak peeks were conducted
without any legal process whatsoever.

We also concluded that many of these sneak peeks violated the ECPA,
which prohibits communications service providers from knowingly divulging
“a record or other information pertaining to a subscriber to or customer of
such service .. . to any governmental entity” except pursuant to legal
process or in certain limited circumstances set forth in the statute. 18
U.S.C. § 2702(a)(3). The relevant exceptions require providers to disclose
such records or information in response to compulsory process, such as

268


Second, the CAU failed to maintain an accurate record at the time
they were made of the nature, number, and origin of the requests to the
on-site providers whether communicated by exigent letter, by telephone, by
e-mail, on pieces of paper, or through sneak peeks.

Third, the CAU received a steady stream of requests, often in major
threat situations, from senior headquarters officials and field personnel,
who expected - and came to rely upon - prompt responses. As a result,
using exigent letters and other informal requests, the CAU quickly
developed a backlog of record requests for which it had obtained records but
not provided the promised legal process.

Fourth, all three on-site providers accepted exigent letters and other
informal requests as a basis for providing subscriber and toll billing records
information, and other calling activity information covered by the ECPA.

Fifth, we found that senior CTD managers assumed that its
operational units were acquiring information from the on-site
communications service providers through the CAU by lawful means. It was
not until early 2006 that a CTD ITOS Assistant Section Chief learned about
the backlog of promised legal process from the CAU and directed her Unit
Chiefs to address the problem by obtaining the approval ECs and
after-the-fact NSLs from the pertinent field divisions.

Sixth, we determined that when NSLB attorneys learned about the
CAU’s acquisition of records without legal process, including the use of
exigent letters, they did not stop the practice or at a minimum ensure that
CAU personnel were trained on the methods by which the FBI is authorized
to obtain telephone toll billing records and subscriber information in various
types of investigations. Instead, the attorneys themselves became involved
in issuing after-the-fact NSLs to cover records previously obtained through
the use of exigent letters. Further, while the NSLB made resources available
to the CAU regarding the use of NSLs, NSLB attorneys did not believe that
they could assist the CAU until umbrella files (preliminary investigations
from which the NSLs could be issued) were implemented. However, the
initiative to create umbrella files languished for nearly 9 months and
ultimately was rejected, and the designated NSLB attorneys did not receive
requests for assistance from the CAU.

Although NSLB attorneys were aware that the CAU was still obtaining
records without legal process, they failed to terminate the exigent letters
practice. Rather, the NSLB allowed the CAU’s use of exigent letters in what
they believed were emergency situations, and focused on the umbrella file
proposal as a way to link telephone numbers listed in exigent letters and
after-the-fact legal processes to open national security investigations.

164


According to our interviews and review of FBI documents, in November
HM the AUSA assigned to the investigation discussed with the FBI case agent
the possibility of seeking Department approval to subpoena the telephone toll
billing records of the reporters who wrote the two articles in the Post and the
Times. The case agent and the AUSA told us that they were both aware at that
time of the Department’s regulation that requires Attorney General approval for
obtaining reporters’ telephone toll records, and they recalled discussing the
possibility of seeking such approval. They both stated that before taking this
step they believed they should determine whether the toll billing records of
= calls made by the reporters and others NN cou be
obtained from the on-site communications service providers located in the
CAU.

a. The I Field office Requests CAU
Assistance

On November 5, |, the case agent sent an e-mail asking another
Special Agent in the Field Office to inquire, in the other agent’s

capacity as his squad’s liaison to the CAU, whether the on-site
communications service providers could obtain telephone toll records of U.S.
persons — ry calls MM. The case agent’s November 5 e-mail
listed 12 telephone numbers, 8 of which were identified in the
e-mail as belonging to Washington Post reporters

and Washington Post researcher and New York
Times reporters The e-m le ied a
7-month time period — a few months before and a few months after the
published articles - as the time period of interest for the leak
investigation.

Three days later, the Special Agent who had received the e-mail from the
case agent forwarded the e-mail to a CAU SSA - also copying the case agent.
The Special Agent asked the CAU SSA in his forwarding e-mail whether, as a
general matter, calls generated by the identified telephone numbers
originating would be captured by the on-site providers’
systems.

The CAU SSA replied by e-mail on November 10, J, asking whether
the Special Agent wanted him “to start pulling these tolls” and, if so, “what is
the source of the request . . . NSL or FGJ subpoena?” The CAU SSA’s e-mail
was copied to the case agent’s supervisor, but not to the case agent.

We found no e-mail response to the CAU SSA’s questions, either from the
Special Agent or anyone else. When we asked the Special Agent about this
e-mail, he told us that he did not recall it.

92


agent or others to actually obtain these records, a CAU SSA issued an
exigent letter to an on-site Company A analyst requesting the reporters’
records. The exigent letter, which also contained no date restrictions, was
issued without the knowledge of the case agent, CTD managers, or any
prosecutor. It also was issued without the required Attorney General
approval or compliance with Department regulations governing subpoenas
of the telephone toll billing records of reporters. We found that the
reporters’ records were produced to the FBI and uploaded into a ;
EE 2tab2sc, where they remained for over 3 years
until the OIG identified the records in connection with this investigation and
informed the FBI and the Criminal Division of this fact.

We believe that the CAU SSA’s issuance of the December 17, 2004,
exigent letter for the reporter’s records under these circumstances was a
serious performance failure. While exigent letters were routinely used in the
CAU during this period, the SSA showed poor judgment in this instance by
issuing an exigent letter in the absence of a request from the FBI case agent
working on the investigation. The fact that the FBI requested and obtained
reporters’ records without any FBI supervisor or prosecutor knowing about
it reveals the lax, sloppy, and unsupervised manner in which CAU
personnel obtained telephone records from the on-site providers. The CAU
SSA’s explanation for issuing the exigent letter - that he “had never even
read the content of these [exigent] letters,” but was “just using the standard
forms I was provided” — underscores the FBI’s failure to train CAU personnel
on the proper methods for requesting telephone records, the failure to
establish firewalls between FBI personnel and the providers’ employees, and
the failure to ensure that CTD supervisors and FBI attorneys provided
oversight of the CAU’s interactions with the providers.267 The resulting
violations of federal regulation and Department policy were made
significantly worse because the exigent letter did not even include a date
range, and therefore the provider produced records for [J telephone calls
to and from reporters, a researcher for The Washington Post, and the 2
news bureaus, with only 3 calls that fell within the time frame the case
agent believed to be relevant to the investigation.

We also determined that the CAU Intelligence Analyst who received
and analyzed the reporters’ records in response to this exigent letter was
never instructed about the special rules applicable to subpoenas for
obtaining reporters’ toll billing records. However, he received at least one
e-mail prior to receipt of the records that referenced the case agent’s

267 This SSA signed 115 exigent letters, the second highest number of exigent
letters signed by CAU personnel.

250


In November 2004, Rogers was promoted to Assistant Section Chief
for the CXS.17 Bassem Youssef succeeded Rogers as the CAU Unit Chief
and remained the CAU’s Unit Chief throughout the period covered by our
review.

Chart 2.2 shows the personnel who held key positions in the FBI’s
senior leadership, the FBI Office of the General Counsel (FBI OGC), and the
Counterterrorism Division during the period covered by our review.

17 Rogers retired from the FBI in November 2006.

17


c. Failure to Oversee the CAU Activities

In addition to the FBI’s failures in planning, training, and legal advice,
we also found that every level of FBI supervision — from the FBI’s most
senior leadership to the Unit Chiefs in the CAU - failed to recognize the need
for, and assure adequate oversight of, the practices employed by the CAU to
obtain subscriber information, toll billing records, and other calling activity
information from the on-site providers.

In our review , with the exception of CXS Assistant Section Chief John
Chaddic, and Rogers (who became an Assistant Section Chief in the CXS
after serving as Unit Chief of the CAU), no one in the CTD’s supervisory
chain above the CAU Unit Chiefs said they were aware of the FBI’s use of
exigent letters. As described in Chapter Two, John Pistole and Willie Hulon,
the Executive Assistant Directors of the FBI National Security Branch
during the period covered by our review; CTD Assistant Director Joseph
Billy, Jr.; and CTD Deputy Assistant Director John Lewis all said they were
unaware that the CAU was using exigent letters rather than NSLs to obtain
records from the on-site communications service providers.253 Similarly,
Laurie Bennett, who was the CXS Section Chief, said she did not know
about the use of exigent letters. CXS Section Chief Jennifer Smith Love also
told us that she was unaware of exigent letters until after she left her
position as the Section Chief. However, Love also told us she knew the FBI
was getting records without legal process, yet she did not ensure that the
CAU’s activities were legal or fully reviewed.

The one CTD manager who said he was aware of the use of exigent
letters, CXS Section Chief Chaddic, told us that he learned from Rogers that
the CAU was using exigent letters as a “placeholder” to obtain telephone
records from the on-site providers prior to the service of the appropriate
legal process. Yet, he did not ensure that Rogers sought legal guidance from
the FBI OGC about the use of the letters or implement other measures to
ensure the appropriateness of the CAU’s use of these letters.

We believe that each of these CTD officials was responsible for
knowing what their subordinates were doing, ensuring that agents and
others under their command complied with applicable law and FBI policy
governing the acquisition of telephone transactional records, and ensuring
that FBI attorneys had sufficient information about the CAU’s practices to
provide appropriate legal guidance and advice concerning what the CAU was

253 Pistole, Billy, and Hulon also served as Deputy Assistant Directors of the CTD
during the period covered by our review.

219


necessary process for Company B. In October 2005 he instructed CAU
personnel to ensure that all outstanding requests for records from all three
providers were covered by legal process. Also in the fall of 2005, he worked
with the FBI OGC and representatives of the CTD operational units to
reduce the number of future records requests made prior to service of legal
process.258

Yet, although Youssef inherited the CAU’s exigent letters practice, and
NSLB attorneys condoned the use of exigent letters and after-the-fact legal
process, we nonetheless found that, in several respects, Youssef’s actions
contributed to the CAU’s continued use of exigent letters and other informal
requests for telephone records.

First, Youssef failed to understand fully or adequately assess (in
coordination with CTD management and the NSLB) all of the methods by
which FBI personnel were obtaining records from the on-site providers.
Even though he was in charge of the CAU, Youssef did not understand the
scope of the exigent letter practice in his unit, including the routine use of
after-the-fact legal process and the other improper practices within the CAU
for obtaining telephone records. For instance, Youssef told us that apart
from two large counterterrorism operations in 2006, he was unaware that
during his tenure CAU employees had obtained records or calling activity
information for over 1,000 telephone numbers prior to service of either legal
process or exigent letters. In addition, Youssef told us he could not
approximate how many exigent letters were issued by CAU personnel over

258 In response to a draft of this report, Youssef’s attorney stated that Youssef also
requested guidance from the FBI OGC regarding what constituted exigent circumstances,
and that this request prompted the Assistant General Counsel’s April 26, 2005, e-mail (in
which she advised Youssef that exigent letters should be used “only if it is clear to you that
the requestor cannot await an NSL”). Yet, we determined through contemporaneous
e-mails that the Assistant General Counsel’s e-mail was prompted by information she had
received from another Headquarters Unit, not from any request for guidance from Youssef.

Youssef’s attorney also asserted that Youssef’s actions in circulating this e-mail to
CAU personnel “were the first actions taken by any FBI manager, Unit Chief and/or
employee of the [FBI] OGC to provide the CAU employees instruction” as to when an exigent
letter could be used. We note that the Assistant General Counsel wrote in her e-mail to
Youssef, “please make sure the people in your unit are instructed to ask for an NSL, and
only if it is clear to you that the requestor cannot await an NSL... should they be done as
emergencies based on your exigent letter.” Thus, while we agree that Youssef acted
appropriately in following the Assistant General Counsel’s advice to instruct CAU
personnel, it appears that the first action prompting the instruction was taken by the
Assistant General Counsel, not by Youssef.

227


The on-site Company A analyst told us that he
therefore began to provide records in response to a letter from the FBI -
called an “exigent letter” - which stated that exigent circumstances had
prompted the request and that

subpoenas requesting this information have been submitted to
the U.S. Attorney’s Office who will process and serve them
formally to Company A as expeditiously as possible.

According to the SSA who signed the first of these exigent letters in
November 2002, the exigent letters were issued as “placeholders” to enable
the FBI to secure the records promptly. However, the letters still committed
the FBI to serve grand jury subpoenas on Company A after the records were
provided, which the FBI did.

We identified a total of 37 exigent letters issued by the New York Field
Division between November 2002 and April 2003.15 The SSA who signed the
first exigent letter and 11 other exigent letters issued on New York Field
Division letterhead said that he signed these letters because he understood
that the concept had been approved by Company A attorneys and he never
thought about the legal authority for the letters. A Company A analyst told
us that the exigent letter was drafted by someone in the FBI, and that
Company A thereafter accepted the letters. However, we were not able to
determine who initially drafted or approved the New York Field Division’s
use of these first exigent letters.

In 2002, the FBI reassigned several SSAs who had been working in
the New York Field Division to temporary duty assignments at FBI
Headquarters to help set up the CAU as a new unit in the FBI Headquarters’
Counterterrorism Division (CTD). In 2003, one of the Company A analysts
who had worked at the FBI’s New York Field Division’s offices was also
reassigned to work in the CAU. The overlap in Company A personnel who
worked in the New York Field Division and later at FBI Headquarters
contributed to the migration of the exigent letter practice to FBI
Headquarters in 2003.

15 New York Field Division personnel issued at least 20 additional exigent letters
from October 2004 to September 2006. Although an SSA assigned to work in the New York
Field Division estimated that he signed at least 50 to 60 exigent letters, the OIG identified
only 19 exigent letters signed by this SSA. Based on this statement and other information
developed in our investigation, we believe more exigent letters than the 798 we identified in
our investigation were issued by the FBI. However, because of the FBI’s inadequate record
keeping practices, we could not determine how many more were issued.

13


7-month period of interest. For the remaining five numbers, none of the
retrieved records provided to the FBI fell within the 7-month period of
interest.

In total, Company A provided the FBI with toll billing records for 1,627
telephone calls. Of this total, only three calls (.2 percent) fell within the
7-month period of interest identified by the case agent as relevant to the
investigation (two calls in a <r: and one call in records of the
Washington Post’s bureau in

We determined that CAU personnel uploaded all of the reporters’ and
news organizations’ records for the 1,627 telephone calls provided by
Company A into a database on
December 22, where they were available for searching by authorized FBI
and other personnel.118

We also determined that on January 5, i CAU Intelligence
Analyst replied to the case agent’s December 20, , e-mail asking whether
the toll billing records of interest were retrievable. In his January 5 response,
the Intelligence Analyst forwarded to the case agent two CAU “trace reports for
the calling activities associated with your target numbers.”!19 One
of the files attached to the e-mail was titled, “CAU3983FBlItollsonly.xls.” The
analyst also stated in the e-mail, “We didn't have any [Company A] data” for
three of the target numbers. The January 5 e-mail also stated that the analyst
would send the “raw data” to the agent when he received the grand jury
subpoena.

We found that both trace reports attached to the CAU analyst’s January
5 e-mail contained all of the telephone data acquired by Company A concerning
seven telephone numbers the case agent had identified as belonging to
reporters or media organizations in his original e-mail request of November 5,

U8 Our investigation found that prior to June 2008 the only FBI personnel who queried
these records in the database were the CAU Intelligence Analyst and two FBI
employees who were assigned to the FBI OGC’s review team that in 2007 was charged, in
response to the OIG’s first NSL report, with analyzing the FBI’s basis for acquiring records
through exigent letters and blanket NSLs. As discussed below, the prosecutor, CTD
management, and the FBI OGC were not aware that the FBI had acquired reporters’ records
until the OIG informed the FBI General Counsel in June 2008. The administrator of the

database also told us that there is no evidence that non-FBI personnel who have
access to the EJ database queried these records.

119 “Trace reports” contain the results of CAU Intelligence Analysts’ research on
telephone data.

96


that he had heard the term “exigent letters” before, but this was the first
time he was told such letters were used to obtain records from the on-site
providers. He said that the first time he actually saw an exigent letter was
when he signed one in November 2005. 188

Youssef told us that within “a day or two” after learning that the CAU
was using exigent letters and obtaining records prior to issuance of legal
process, he had a conversation with Rogers, who at the time was his
supervisor as the CXS Assistant Section Chief. Youssef said that in this
conversation he told Rogers the practice was “a major issue.” According to
Youssef, Rogers was “nonchalant” about the matter. Youssef said that
Rogers told him, “No, this is the procedure. This is how we do it. We can go
get the requests from the phone companies and then we will get the NSLs
later.” Youssef said that after the conversation with Rogers, he concluded
that, “if that is what he is telling me. . . if 1 went against it and said we are
not going to use exigent letters for example, I would have been
insubordinate.”

Youssef told us that he did not bring his concern about the CAU
obtaining records from the on-site providers with exigent letters rather than
legal process to anyone else in his supervisory chain of command, other
than Rogers. 189

Rogers told us that Youssef never spoke with him about exigent
letters or the backlog of NSLs. He said Youssef probably learned about
exigent letters, like Rogers did, “when somebody came to him and . ... told
him it existed.” Rogers said that he never provided any oversight or
guidance to Youssef about the letters.

Youssef also told us that he did not feel he could go above Rogers with
his concerns to CXS Section Chief Laurie Bennett or to the Deputy Assistant

188 Youssef also told us that he did not closely read the exigent letter he signed in
November 2005, and that the first time that he “really scrutinized” an exigent letter was in
May 2006 when he was asked by a CAU Intelligence Analyst to sign another exigent letter.
Youssef said that he then read the exigent letter and realized that it referenced a follow-up
subpoena. He said because the exigent letter referenced a subpoena, he did not sign the
May 2006 letter.

189 In a letter to Senator Charles E. Grassley, dated March 17, 2007, Youssef’s
attorney stated that in a CXS Unit Chiefs’ meeting, Youssef raised the issue of the CAU’s
use of exigent letters to the CXS Section Chief who “was dismissive of the concern.”
Youssef told us that Rogers was the Acting CXS Section Chief at this meeting.

153


“should not be followed with a subpoena or other compulsory process.” The
memorandum also stated that letters requesting emergency voluntary
disclosures must be approved by Assistant Special Agents in Charge,
Special Agents in Charge, or higher authority.!93 NSLB Deputy General
Counsel Julie Thomas was among the approving officials on the
memorandum.

We found that during the period when FBI OGC attorneys were
developing this guidance they did not consider or discuss how the
emergency voluntary disclosure statute related to the use of exigent letters
Indeed, the Assistant General Counsel acknowledged to the OIG and her
supervisors that the NSLB had not relied on the emergency voluntary
disclosure statute as authority for issuance of exigent letters.

In an interview on July 20, 2006, OIG investigators asked the
Assistant General Counsel about the legal basis for approving exigent
letters. She stated that none of the NSL statutes “specifically addressed
emergency situations.” However, she said she believed that there was “an
exception in national security circumstances where we think it’s absolutely
necessary.” She said the FBI had “tried to reconcile the literal interpretation
[of the NSL statutes] with the other policy considerations” that the FBI
needs to deal with when “lots of lives are at stake.” The Assistant General
Counsel said that in making this judgment the FBI took into account its
policy mandate, its mission, and the emergency voluntary disclosure
statute. However, she said that she was “not pretending . . . in retrospect”
that the FBI had relied on the emergency voluntary disclosure statute at the
time to support the use of exigent letters.194

FBI General Counsel Caproni told us that she was unaware of the
FBI’s use of exigent letters or that the FBI had obtained records before
issuing legal process until the OIG brought the issue to her attention in late

193 Office of the General Counsel, Federal Bureau of Investigation, electronic
communication to all Divisions, Emergency Disclosure Provision and Information From
Service Providers Under 18 U.S.C. § 2702(b), August 25, 2005.

194 We found that the Assistant General Counsel advised Thomas in an e-mail on
July 20, 2006, following an OIG interview in this matter, “[a]rguably, the CAU disclosures
fall under 2702 disclosures, although we have never tried to fit them under that... and
maybe we should, and that would solve the problem.” She also told us in September 2007
that the emergency voluntary disclosure statute was not considered in regard to the CAU’s
activities, stating, “it never came up and it is kind of curious why it did not,” and that “in
retrospect, we probably should have [considered 18 U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4)], but I guess we did
not see the need for it at the time.”

156


said that there were “no problems” and that he would let the NSLB know if
they needed help.199

On January 5, 2006, the Company B on-site employee again sent an
e-mail to Youssef and CAU team leaders with a spreadsheet of telephone
numbers for which Company B still had not received legal process. The
Company B employee stated in the e-mail that since he had sent the
previous spreadsheet in September 2005, he had only received “one to two
NSLs’ and that the spreadsheet contained “a few additional cases.”

On February 7, 2006, the Assistant General Counsel sent an e-mail to
Youssef, with the subject line “Issuance of NSLs - Follow up,” in which she
inquired about the status of the CAU’s issuance of NSLs. She wrote:

The last we talked, in November, 2005, we understood that
there was going to be an effort by [CTD operational units] to get
these NSLs out and that you would be requesting these NSLs in
advance of getting the information when you were not given
enough information to goon.... We haven’t heard from you in
awhile and I wanted to make sure that there was nothing that
needed to be done on our part to assure that these NSLs were
being issued in a timely manner and they were being issued
based on enough information to assure relevance to an
authorized investigation.

On February 10, 2006, Youssef responded by e-mail:

We are actually making some reasonable headway in getting the
NSLs. Our telecom reps are very happy with the results. If we
run into any resistance, I’ll definitely reach out to you for
assistance and backing.

Youssef told us that when he informed the Assistant General Counsel
that NSLs were being issued in a timely fashion, he was referring not to
after-the-fact NSLs covering the backlogged record requests, but rather to
after-the-fact NSLs issued to cover new exigent letters being used by CAU
personnel.

199 The Assistant General Counsel also sent an e-mail message to Youssef on
November 18, 2005, in which she wrote, “[w]e haven’t seemed to be able to get in touch”
and asked whether the CAU was obtaining the information it needed from requesters of
“emergency telephone information” to ensure predication for the issuance of NSLs.

160


and outside the CAU. The providers’ employees also communicated [i

As
described below, many requests for telephone records were conveyed to the
communications service providers through e-mails sent on the FBI e-mail
accounts.

5. Relationship between CAU Personnel and the
Providers’ Employees

We found that the on-site providers’ employees regularly attended
CAU unit meetings and were treated by CAU personnel as “team” members.
This team identification also was evidenced by the on-site employees’ e-mail
communications. When the FBI established FBI e-mail accounts for the
providers’ employees, one of the Company A analysts created a folder
entitled “TEAM USA,” and many of his outgoing e-mails began with a
greeting to “Team,” or “Team CAU.”3! CAU personnel and the on-site
providers also socialized outside the office such as at “happy hour”
celebrations for CAU SSAs who were transferring out of the unit.

To some degree, the collegial relationship between the providers’
employees and CAU personnel fostered a productive working relationship. If
the FBI had properly trained its personnel on the lawful methods for
obtaining telephone records from the on-site providers and if the
interactions between CAU personnel and the providers’ employees were
properly supervised, our observations about the team identity and informal
social interactions would not be remarkable. However, we found that the
proximity of the on-site providers’ employees to CAU personnel, combined
with the lack of guidance, supervision, and oversight of their interactions
with FBI employees (which we discuss in Chapters Three and Four of this
report), contributed to some of the serious abuses identified in this review.

Ill. Exigent Letters Issued by CAU Personnel

We determined that CAU personnel issued at least 722 exigent letters
to the 3 on-site communications service providers from March 14, 2003,

31 One on-site Company A analyst signed his e-mails with the following signature
block: [Name], CTD/FBIHQ, Communications Analysis Unit.

25


threat to the United States or its allies, both domestically or overseas, and
loss of life and property are imminent.”202

On May 18, 2006, Youssef forwarded the draft EC to NSLB Deputy
General Counsel Thomas. On May 19, 2006, the Assistant General Counsel
reviewed the draft EC and recommended minor changes. These changes
were incorporated into a draft EC dated May 19, 2006, but this draft was
never finalized or distributed. However, in May 2006 this OIG review
became known within the FBI, and the number of exigent letters issued
dropped significantly thereafter.

2. NSLB Revises Model for Exigent Letters but Approves
Their Continued Use

On May 19, 2006, in connection with her review of the draft EC, the
Assistant General Counsel asked a CAU SSA to send her copies of the
exigent letters that were being issued by the CAU. The SSA sent copies of
exigent letters, one for each provider, to the Assistant General Counsel that
day by e-mail.2°3 This was the first time she or any attorneys in the FBI
OGC had reviewed the text of an exigent letter.

On May 26, 2006, the Assistant General Counsel responded to the
CAU SSA by sending him revised model exigent letters, stating the new
letters should be used “[p]ronto.” She revised the exigent letters to state
that NSLs, rather than grand jury subpoenas, would be forthcoming. The
SSA e-mailed the revised exigent letters to all CAU personnel. The Assistant

202 After reviewing a draft of this report, Youssef’s attorney stated that this draft
guidance set forth the “proper definition of ‘exigent circumstances” and, if adopted, would
have brought the exigent letter practice into compliance with the law. We found that the
draft guidance’s reference to imminent loss of life was much closer to the standard set forth
in Section 2702(c)(4)’s emergency voluntary disclosure provision than the Assistant General
Counsel’s earlier guidance and we believe it likely would have resulted in a further decrease
in the use of exigent letters if adopted. However, the draft also described procedures that
would have continued the flawed practice of promising compulsory legal process to obtain
the records through exigent letters.

203 In the May 19, 2006, e-mail from the Assistant General Counsel to the SSA,
which copied Youssef, the Assistant General Counsel stated that she was not sure that she
had ever seen an exigent letter and asked to see one. Later that day the SSA forwarded to
her copies of exigent letters, one for each of the three on-site providers, again copying
Youssef. The SSA who sent the letters to the Assistant General Counsel told us that he
could not recall whether he e-mailed the letters in response to her request or at Youssef’s
direction. Youssef asserted to us that he had asked a CAU SSA to send an exigent letter to
the Assistant General Counsel for review in April or May 2006. The e-mail from the CAU
SSA to the Assistant General Counsel did not indicate that Youssef or anyone else in the
CAU was concerned about its contents.

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of business records and other tangible things “to obtain foreign intelligence information not
concerning a United States person.” See 50 U.S.C. § 1861. By statute, use of this
authority is subject to extensive Attorney General-approved minimization procedures
governing how information acquired concerning U.S. persons must be retained and

disseminated. Id. at § 1861(g). The FBI is also subject to comprehensive congressional
reporting requirements as to all orders it obtains, as
eas Id. at § 1862.

288 As discussed in this report, under the ECPA NSL statute, the FBI may only seek
toll billing records when relevant to an authorized counterterrorism or counterintelligence
investigation, provided that the investigation of a U.S. person is not conducted solely on the
basis of activities protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution. See 18 U.S.C. §
2709(b). Provisions in the FISA statute similarly protect U.S. persons with respect to FBI
applications to the FISA Court seeking orders to produce business records (50 U.S.C. §
1861(a)(2)(B)) and to conduct electronic surveillance (50 U.S.C. § 1805(a)).

289 We recognize that the FBI’s Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide
(DIOG) and Executive Order 12,333, as amended, contain restrictions on how the FBI can
collect, use, and disseminate intelligence, particularly with respect to the privacy and civil
liberties interests of U.S. persons. However, these constraints are not statutory.

290

267


The only thing I really regret is the wording in that letter. The
letter was just a placeholder and it was a bad move on my
part... It’s my fault . . . I relied on a flawed piece of paper to do
that and I am sick by it. I am sickened. But I do not think the
letter is the issue. To me the issue is the exigent circumstances
and there were.

Rogers’s explanation is unpersuasive. He knew the letters contained
statements that were inaccurate, yet he signed 12 exigent letters and
allowed his subordinates to sign 678 additional exigent letters during his
tenure as a supervisor in the CTD. Even if there were exigent
circumstances - and we found evidence indicating that there was not
exigent circumstances in all cases, let alone a qualifying emergency under
Section 2702 — that does not excuse an FBI employee signing his name to a
letter that contains inaccurate statements of fact.

Moreover, after at least three CAU SSAs complained to Rogers about
using exigent letters that contained inaccurate references to grand jury
subpoenas having been requested from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Rogers
told them to continue using the letters. He told one of them not to change
“a single word.” Rogers should have recognized and taken immediate action
then to address the inaccurate statements in the letters. He should have
acknowledged the SSAs’ concerns and, at minimum, changed the wording of
the exigent letters to make them accurate. He also should have consulted
with NSLB attorneys and asked them to review the exigent letters to
determine if they could lawfully be used to support FBI investigations. He
did none of these things.

Third, Rogers failed to ensure that the personnel assigned to his
unit - many of whom had no prior experience in the FBI’s national security
programs - received training on the authorized methods to request and
obtain telephone subscriber and toll billing records information in national
security investigations. None of the CAU SSAs we interviewed who signed
exigent letters said they had received training on the FBI’s authorities under
the ECPA to obtain records pursuant to NSLs or the emergency voluntary
disclosure statute.

Fourth, Rogers did not ensure that guidance was issued which, at a
minimum, described in which situations exigent letters could be used. As a
result, CAU personnel used exigent letters and then provided after-the-fact
legal process in a wide variety of inappropriate circumstances. As described
in Chapters Two, Three, and Four of this report, these included instances in
which NSLs were not authorized under the ECPA, the Attorney General’s
NSI Guidelines, or FBI policy and also when the standards set forth in the
ECPA emergency voluntary disclosure statute were not satisfied. Rogers’s
authorization of the CAU’s use of exigent letters to obtain thousands of

222


discussed the fact that there is a media leak case and that. . . we are not
getting at reporters’ numbers. .. .”

Following the meeting, the case agent sent an e-mail to the Company A
analyst seeking “boiler plate” language he could use in forthcoming subpoenas
related to the leak investigation. Specifically, the case agent’s e-mail asked for
“language you like to see in the subpoena to insure that it is as encompassing
as possible.”

The case agent told us, and e-mail records confirm, that he received
suggested text for the subpoenas from an on-site Company A analyst. The

suggested text requested, among other things, a aT
MEER 1.0 case agent told us that he recalled

“maybe a quick perusal” of Company A’s suggested language, but he said that
there was “nothing about the specific language that I would have remembered
reading.”130

The case agent told us that he merely forwarded the suggested text to
Prosecutor 1 for his consideration and was not “prescribing that that text be
used.” However, Prosecutor 1 told us he used that text in typing attachments
to subpoenas to Company A seeking the target telephone numbers’ records.
The facsimile cover sheet the case agent used to transmit the suggested
language to Prosecutor 1 stated, “more boiler plate language per discussion
Friday.”

Our investigation determined that the case agent, his supervisor, and
Prosecutor 1 knew at the time the subpoenas were issued that the target
numbers had been in telephonic contact during the period specified in the
subpoenas with a reporter who had obtained the leaked information.

would cover

130 The case agent stressed that Prosecutors 1 and 2 made it clear to the investigative
team that they were the legal advisors on the investigative team. Therefore, he said, “we never
reviewed draft subpoenas” and “we were not asked to review any language for sufficiency or
adequacy from a legal or investigative perspective. We were merely advised when the subpoena
was ready to be served.”

106


in contact with the NY This is yet another example of the
improper processes and lax controls in the CAU.

In Chapter Six of this report, we recommend that the FBI assess the
information we developed in this review regarding subpoenas and other
requests for reporters’ telephone records to determine whether
administrative or other personnel action is appropriate for the individuals
involved.

III. Conclusion

As discussed in this chapter, we found serious and repeated
management failures that led to the FBI’s use of exigent letters and other
improper requests for telephone records from the on-site providers.

In addition to these management failures, we identified failures on the
part of FBI supervisors and attorneys who did not take sufficient action to
avoid, prevent, or correct the improper use of exigent letters and other
informal requests for telephone records. We recommend that the FBI review
the conduct and performance of these individuals, as described in this
report, and determine whether discipline or other action with regard to each
of them is appropriate.27°

270 Several of the individuals whose performance we criticize have resigned or retired
from the FBI, including former CTD Assistant Director Joseph Billy, Jr., former CTD Assistant
Director Michael Heimbach, former CXS Assistant Section Chief Glenn Rogers, and former
NSLB Deputy General Counsel Julie Thomas.

256


Beyond this threshold legal problem, we found that the three blanket
NSLs to the three on-site communications service providers in 2006 to cover
the backlog of records requests listed telephone numbers that were relevant
to many different FBI investigations, including criminal and domestic
terrorism investigations for which NSLs are not an authorized technique
under the ECPA and the Attorney General’s NSI Guidelines. Accordingly,
the signers of the NSLs could not certify, as required by the ECPA, that the
records sought were relevant to “an authorized investigation to protect
against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities” and
that any investigation of a U.S. person was “not conducted solely on the
basis of activities protected by the first amendment to the Constitution of
the United States.”?23 Also, these NSLs were issued without the required
approval ECs, in violation of FBI policy. Without approval ECs to capture
the records identified in these NSLs, the FBI did not collect data necessary
to include in required periodic reports to Congress on NSL usage.

The eight blanket NSLs issued in connection with Operations Y and Z
also failed to comply with FBI internal policy because they were issued
without accompanying approval ECs. Additionally, the three blanket NSLs
to Company A, Company B, and Company C to cover the backlog of records
requests and the five Operation Y NSLs did not contain the required ECPA
certification for NSLs imposing confidentiality and non-disclosure
obligations on the recipients.

Finally, none of the 11 blanket NSLs stated that the FBI had already
acquired the records, in some instances more than 3 years earlier. While we
developed no evidence suggesting that the communications service
providers who received these NSLs were misled, we nonetheless believe that
the NSLs should have stated that the FBI had already acquired the records.
The FBI later made this disclaimer in various corrective NSLs issued in
2008 and 2009. We believe it should have done so in these 11 blanket NSLs
as well so that the NSLs would be fully accurate and would not mislead
anyone who subsequently reviewed these NSLs.

Il. The FBI’s Corrective Action Since November 2006

We describe in this section the FBI’s attempts at corrective action
beginning in November 2006, after the FBI OGC learned that the CTD had

223 See 18 U.S.C. § 2709(b). As discussed below, the FBI did not complete until
March 2009 its review of all the telephone numbers listed in these three NSLs and issue
revised NSLs for the telephone numbers that were relevant to national security
investigations.

185


news reporters’ toll billing records. We also recommend that the FBI, in
conjunction with Department of Justice attorneys, review Department policy
regarding responsibility for authorizing grand jury subpoenas when
prosecutors share responsibility for investigations with U.S. Attorneys’
Offices.

3. Third Matter

In the investigation of a third media leak matter discussed in Chapter
Three, employees of Company A, Company B, and Company C —
their databases for records of telephone calls of a cellular phone number
used by a reporter. However, the government served no legal process on
any of the on-site providers authorizing the [J of the reporter’s calling
activity.

We determined that prior to J a grand jury subpoena

had been issued to Company A for toll billing records |
The subpoena was requested by an FBI Special Agent and was

prepared by personnel in a U.S. Attorney’s Office. Although the Special
Agent said that his supervisor or one of the prosecutors associated with a
related investigation probably had directed him to have the subpoena
prepared, the FBI supervisor said he did not recall directing the Special
Agent to do so, and the prosecutors said they knew nothing about the
subpoena.268

We determined that in response to the grand j subpoena an on-site
Company A analyst
pe on listed in the subpoena. In e-mail

exchanges, the Special Agent informed a Company A analyst of the name
and cellular phone number of a reporter, facts explaining the relevance of
calling activity by the reporter to the investigation, and information

ah that the cellular phone number of the reporter was in contact

with of the subpoena during a particular period. When
the Company A analyst concluded his and did
not see records of calling activity between and the
reporter’s cellular phone number, on his own he Company A’s

database for records of calling activity by the reporter’s cellular phone
number. The Company A analyst downloaded and reviewed the calling
activity records but did not identify any calls between the reporter’s cellular

268 As noted in Chapter Three, we found evidence that the Special Agent’s
supervisor participated in the interview of the person associated with

prior to the issuance of the subpoena.

254


OIG Conclusion on CAU Personnel who Signed Exigent Letters

First, consistent with our standard practice, we referred the evidence
that we developed regarding the signing of these inaccurate exigent letters to
the Public Integrity Section of the Department’s Criminal Division for its
determination of whether criminal prosecution was warranted. Upon
evaluating the evidence referred by the OIG, the Public Integrity Section
declined prosecution for the exigent letters matter.

We agree that the evidence was insufficient to support a criminal
prosecution. We also agree that significant mitigating circumstances,
described above, must be considered in evaluating the accountability of FBI
employees who signed exigent letters. However, we also believe that none of
these factors, alone or in combination, excuses an FBI employee for signing
an exigent letter either knowing the letter was inaccurate, not making the
effort to confirm the factual accuracy of the letter, or not raising concerns
about the letter’s accuracy to FBI supervisors. Simply put, we do not
believe employees of the FBI should sign their names to letters making a
statement that is not true, even if the letters are approved by management,
sanctioned by FBI attorneys, part of an established practice, or accepted by
the recipients. When FBI employees signed exigent letters attesting to the
fact that “subpoenas have been submitted to the U.S. Attorney’s Office who
will process and serve them formally” to the communications service
providers, the FBI employees who signed these letters should believe that
this is true.

We recognize that a few SSAs raised concerns about the exigent
letters to their supervisor, CAU Unit Chief Rogers, and he instructed them
to continue using the letters without changing the wording. Even in this
circumstance, we believe that FBI employees confronted with this problem
had other options than to simply sign the letters. They could have sought
further guidance from more senior managers in the FBI, either directly or
anonymously. They could have requested guidance from the FBI OGC.
They could have complained to a senior CTD official or the FBI Inspection
Division. They could have contacted the OIG. None of them took any of
these steps. Instead, they continued to sign inaccurate exigent letters. We
believe that in signing these inaccurate letters the FBI employees failed to
exercise sufficient care to ensure the letters were accurate or raise concerns
to others.

However, we also believe Rogers was most culpable for the FBI’s
improper use of exigent letters. Without consulting CTD supervisors or any
FBI attorneys, Rogers took an exigent letter that had been used by the FBI’s
New York Field Division and authorized its use in the CAU to support a
variety of FBI investigations. He signed exigent letters himself and
permitted his subordinates to sign hundreds of exigent letters even though

248


not request voluntary disclosure, but instead stated that compulsory legal
process (generally grand jury subpoenas) had already been requested and
would be served “as expeditiously as possible.” In addition, employees of
the on-site providers told us they usually were given no information about
the circumstances underlying the exigent letters or other informal requests
for records, and that they “assumed” the circumstances were exigent.
Further, at least one of the provider’s employees told us he had doubts
about whether the requests were truly exigent.27© Under these
circumstances, it is difficult to determine whether and when the providers’
employees had the statutorily required “reasonable” or “good faith” belief
that the requisite emergency circumstances existed.277

After reviewing a draft of this report, the FBI also asserted for the first

time that as a matter of law the FBI is not required to serve NSLs to obtain
“records associated ee in national security

investigations. According to the FBI, the majority of exigent letter and other

informal requests discussed in this report were for telephone records J
pnd the FBI

could have obtained these records without any legal process or qualifying
emergency through voluntary production by the communications service
providers. 278

NS

276 This provider ultimately required FBI requesters to endorse a stamped
certification that tracked the statutory language in Section 2702 before the provider would
provide records in response to exigent letters.

277 After reviewing a draft of this report, the FBI asserted that the legal standard of
Section 2702 could be met when an FBI employee requested telephone records in a
qualifying emergency, regardless of whether the FBI employee was aware of the statute.

The FBI also asserted that the providers could form a “reasonable” or “good faith” belief that
an emergency existed without necessarily knowing the facts surrounding the emergency.

As described above, however, with some exceptions the providers frequently received no
information about the investigation for which records were requested, or even a generalized
representation that an emergency situation existed.

278 We disagree with the FBI’s statement that the majority of exigent letter and
other informal requests discussed in this report were for telephone records

In fact, we determined, based on the FBI’s records, that the majority of its
exigent letter requests were for toll billing records associated
We were unable to reach a conclusion concerning the percentage
PRR requested through informal means other than
exigent letters, because the records for these requests (some of which were oral or written

on post-it notes) are incomplete and therefore unreliable.

263


investigations. The FBI’s failure to provide adequate guidance on the proper
way to obtain telephone records in national security investigations had
serious consequences. We found that from the outset of the CAU’s
operations, the CAU SSAs used impermissible procedures such as exigent
letters and sneak peeks to obtain ECPA-protected information and records.
These practices — some of which were copied from procedures used by FBI
personnel in the New York Field Division in connection with criminal
investigations relating to the September 11 hijackers — became standard
operating procedures for the CAU and continued throughout the 3-year
period while Rogers was the CAU Unit Chief and then the Assistant Section
Chief of the CTD’s Communications Exploitation Section (CXS).

Only years later, in retrospect, a senior CTD official acknowledged the
FBI’s failure to plan in advance for having the communications service
providers on-site, observing, “it [was] like having the ATM in your living
room. You know you can go to it all the time and take the overdrafts
because that was what was happening.”

B. Failure to Provide Training and Guidance to CAU
Personnel

The FBI compounded its planning failures when it did not ensure that
all CAU personnel were trained on the legal requirements for obtaining
ECPA-protected records. In particular, FBI managers from the CAU Unit
Chiefs, to the FBI OGC, to the senior leaders of the FBI failed to ensure that
CAU personnel were properly trained to request telephone subscriber and
toll billing records information from the on-site communications service
providers in national security investigations only in response to legal
process or under limited emergency situations defined in 18 U.S.C
§ 2702(c)(4). They also failed to ensure that CAU personnel were trained to
comply with the Attorney General’s NSI Guidelines and internal FBI policies
governing the acquisition of these records. This training was needed not
only for existing CAU personnel but also, in light of personnel turnover in
the unit over the 4-year period of our review, for all incoming CAU
employees.

At the most basic level, the FBI failed to instruct CAU personnel that
FBI requesters must provide NSLs or other legal process before CAU
personnel requested records from the on-site providers relevant to FBI
investigations, except in certain specified emergency situations.
Additionally, the FBI failed to train field and Headquarters requesters on
when and how true emergency requests should be handled. The FBI also
failed to advise CAU personnel of the statutes or regulations in addition to
the ECPA that limit the FBI’s authority to obtain certain types of telephone
records, such as news reporters’ toll billing records; the FBI’s authority to
issue administrative subpoenas in certain investigations; and the FBI’s

216


FBI had obtained subscriber information for the second telephone number (the
one for which a grand jury subpoena could not be located) from a trash
cover.

In November 2008, as a result of this review, the NSD notified the FISA
Court of the inaccurate statement in the declaration regarding the second
telephone number, stating that the NSD and the FBI considered the statement
to be “non-material” for purposes of Rule 10(b) of the FISA Court Rules of
Procedure.”

E. OIG Analysis

Based on our concern that the FBI may have used records obtained from
exigent letters and other informal methods to seek FISA Court orders, we
examined a small sample of the FISA Court applications that referred to
telephone numbers for which records had been requested from the on-site
communications service providers. Our investigation showed that FBI
personnel had filed inaccurate sworn declarations with the FISA Court about
the source of subscriber or calling activity information referenced in
applications seeking electronic surveillance or pen register/trap and trace
orders. While the declarations signed by 4 FBI SSAs in the 37 applications the
NSD and the FBI reviewed stated that the information relied upon in seeking
Court orders had been obtained in response to NSLs or a grand jury subpoena,
in fact the information was obtained in response to exigent letters, an
emergency disclosure letter, and a verbal request to the communications
service providers.!58 Moreover, as detailed above, several of the NSLs referred
to in the four applications were served at least 2 months after the FISA Court
issued the requested orders. (U)

The NSD asserted that the inaccurate statements made in these FBI
declarations were non-material because there is no exclusionary rule for
statutory violations of the ECPA. 159

numbers listed in the NY exigent letter. We were not able to determine how
many days or weeks after the date of the NSL that the NSL was served on the carrier.

188 According to the NSD’s letter to the FISA Court, the FBI obtained the subscriber
information underlying the fifth misstatement through a trash cover.

159 See 18 U.S.C. § 2708 (“the remedies and sanctions described in this chapter are the
only judicial remedies and sanctions for nonconstitutional violations of this chapter”); see also
United States v. Perrine, 518 F.3d 1196, 1202 (10th Cir. 2008); United States v. Steiger, 318
F.3d 1039, 1049 (11th Cir. 2003).

127


On May 18, shortly after Youssef sent his response to the Assistant
General Counsel’s e-mail regarding her interview with the OIG, a CAU SSA
asked the on-site Company B and Company C employees to send him lists
of records requests for which legal process had not been provided. Both
providers responded that day with lists of records requests for which they
had not received legal process. Youssef told us that because the Assistant
General Counsel had informed him about the OIG investigation, he may
have asked about the efforts to address the backlog and that may have
prompted the May 18, 2006, e-mails from the Company B and Company C
on-site employees attaching the lists of telephone numbers.

As described below, the telephone numbers the providers identified
were subsequently incorporated into blanket NSLs the FBI issued to
Company B and Company C to “cover” or “validate” [EY or records
provided to the CAU for which the providers had not received NSLs or other
legal process. Additionally, in July and September 2006, Company A
provided to the CAU lists of record requests that still required legal process,
and in September 2006 the FBI issued another blanket NSL to Company A
to cover its outstanding requests for legal process.

However, as summarized in Table 4.1 and detailed more fully in the
following sections, these three blanket NSLs issued to the on-site
communications service providers were deficient. The ECPA does not
authorize the FBI to issue retroactive legal process for ECPA-protected
records. Moreover, using blanket NSLs to “cover” the previously obtained
records would not cure any prior violations of the ECPA that occurred when
the FBI sought and received records without prior legal process and in the
absence of a qualifying emergency. In addition, all three of these blanket
NSLs were used to cover many telephone numbers not relevant to national
security investigations (which include counterterrorism and espionage
investigations), did not contain the required certifications regarding
non-disclosure, and did not state that they related to records that had
already been provided to the FBI.

168


for telephone transactional records over an extended period of time. These
failures began shortly after the CAU was established within the
Counterterrorism Division (CTD) in 2002, and they continued until March
2007 when the OIG issued its first NSL report describing the improper use
of exigent letters. We believe that every level of the FBI - from the most
senior FBI officials, to the FBI’s Office of the General Counsel (FBI OGC), to
managers in the CTD, to supervisors in the CAU, to the CAU agents and
analysts who repeatedly signed the letters were responsible in some part for
these failures.

FBI Director Mueller, Deputy Director Pistole, and FBI General
Counsel Caproni said they were unaware until late 2006 that the CAU was
obtaining telephone records without appropriate legal process. In addition,
all but one of the CTD supervisors we interviewed said they did not know
prior to the OIG’s first NSL investigation that the CAU was using exigent
letters to obtain telephone records from the on-site providers.

We found that beginning in 2003, shortly after the CAU was
established and the FBI contracted to have Company A’s employees work
on-site, FBI officials failed to recognize and address clear risks for potential
misuse of the FBI’s NSL and other authorities to obtain telephone records.
These risks arose from the combination of several factors, including the
FBI’s expanded authority to obtain records protected by the ECPA, the close
proximity of the on-site providers’ employees to FBI personnel in a common
FBI work area, and the assignment of SSAs and Intelligence Analysts to the
CAU who had no background or training in national security investigations
or in using NSLs.

At the same time, FBI officials at all levels failed to develop a plan and
implement procedures to ensure that telephone records were properly
obtained from the on-site communications service providers. The FBI
compounded its planning failures when it did not ensure that all CAU
personnel were trained on the legal requirements for obtaining
ECPA-protected records. In particular, FBI managers - from CAU Unit
Chiefs, to the FBI OGC, to the senior leaders of the FBI - failed to ensure
that CAU personnel were properly trained to request telephone subscriber
and toll billing records information from the on-site communications service
providers in national security investigations only in response to legal
process or under limited emergency situations defined in 18 U.S.C
§ 2702(c)(4). They also failed to ensure that CAU personnel were trained to
comply with the Attorney General’s NSI Guidelines and internal FBI policies
governing the acquisition of these records. They also failed to recognize the
need for, and assure adequate oversight of, the practices employed by the
CAU to obtain subscriber information, toll billing records, and other calling
activity information from the on-site providers.

280


“could have been 1, 2, or 3 times a week.” An on-site Company A analyst
told us that sneak peeks occurred daily.

We also reviewed e-mails from CAU personnel to employees of the
three on-site providers with requests to their databases for specific
calling activity. For example, in September 2005 an on-site Company A
analyst received an e-mail request from a CAU Intelligence Analyst that
listed four domestic telephone numbers and asked:

Could you take a look at these numbers, below, and let me
know if you have any calls to [MJ or Oregon in the past six
months? If so, [FBI case agent] has indicated he will be able to
provide us with a subpoena.

Similarly, in a March 2006 e-mail exchange between a CAU
Intelligence Analyst and the on-site Company B employee with the subject
line “quick peek,” the Intelligence Analyst requested a “quick peek to see if
[Company B has] any data” for a specific — cellular phone number.
The Company B employee responded to the request, “I ran the number for
the past days and picked up some calls. Stop by my desk if you’d like
to see the calls.”

We also reviewed a series of e-mails between CAU personnel and a
Company A analyst related to a major counterterrorism investigation that
was underway in [J 2006. In one of the e-mails, Unit Chief Youssef
provided a list of four telephone numbers that were determined by a prior
Company A [I to be in contact with a particular telephone number that
had been a target number in an NSL. In response, the Company A analyst
wrote to Youssef, a CAU Intelligence Analyst, and a CAU SSA that, based on
Youssef’s request, Company A took a “quick peek” at the calling activity of
the four telephone numbers identified in the earlier e-mail. The Company A
analyst wrote, “very interesting calling patterns and we strongly suggest that
these numbers are added to the NSL for exploitation.”

The evidence indicates that the FBI OGC first learned about sneak
peeks in February 2007 when a CAU SSA, at Youssef’s direction, sent an
e-mail to FBI General Counsel Valerie Caproni, NSLB Deputy General
Counsel Julie Thomas, and the Assistant General Counsel in which the SSA
addressed various statistics related to the CAU’s use of exigent letters such
as the total number of exigent letters issued by the CAU, the total number
of telephone numbers included in the exigent letters, the number of
telephone numbers for which records had been obtained from the providers
without legal process or an exigent letter, and the number of telephone
numbers for which legal process was required. In this e-mail, the CAU SSA,
for no apparent reason, referred to the sneak peek practice. He described
the practice as “a process wherein the telecom provider would glance at the

49


reporters’ telephone toll records were acquired by the FBI illustrated the
absence of internal controls in the CAU for requesting records from the on-site
communications service providers, the lack of training and guidelines at the
CAU as to what constituted an emergency request, and the use of exigent
letters that contained inaccurate statements.

First, we found that for the purpose of obtaining reporters records, the
CAU SSA issued a factually inaccurate exigent letter without the knowledge or
approval of the case agent or the AUSA. This was a complete breakdown in the
required Department procedures for approving the issuance of grand jury
subpoenas for reporters’ toll billing records. Apparently on his own initiative,
the CAU SSA requested these records even though he was not asked to obtain
them — he was only asked to find out if J calls IJ were captured
by the on-site communications providers’ systems.

Second, we were troubled by the two inaccurate statements in the
exigent letter, which stated that there were exigent circumstances and that a
request for a grand jury subpoena had been submitted to the U.S. Attorney’s
Office. Notwithstanding these assertions of fact, the CAU SSA told us he did
not recall the case agent making any representations about any exigent
circumstances underlying his inquiry about the availability of records, and the
case agent said he made no such representations. The CAU SSA speculated
that he could imagine circumstances in which the leak of classified information
could present exigent circumstances. Such speculation cannot justify
requesting telephone records protected by the ECPA without the required
Attorney General approval and compliance with federal regulation.

Third, we concluded that the case agent should have exercised greater
attention to detail when he received the e-mail from the CAU Intelligence
Analyst that included the toll records of the reporters and U.S. media
organizations. The January 5, IJ e-mail sent by the CAU Intelligence
Analyst to the case agent referred to “two trace reports for the calling activities
associated with your target numbers.” These were references to the

telephone numbers the case agent had inquired about in his
November 5, e-mail. The attachments to the e-mail contained all of the
telephone data acquired by Company A concerning several of the telephone
numbers the case agent had identified as belonging to reporters or media
organizations in his original e-mail request of November 5,

The case agent told us that he did not open the attachments to the
January 5 e-mail or realize then that they contained reporters’ toll billing
records. He also stated that he interpreted the e-mail as meaning that the
analyst had run the numbers against pre-existing databases. However, the
CAU Intelligence Analyst sent another e-mail to the case agent on March 24,
HEEB stating that the January 5 e-mail contained “two products which
reflected [Company A] toll records on several of the a numbers that

103


and inaccurate letters over a 3-and-a-half-year period is both surprising and
troubling.

Moreover, not only did the FBI issue exigent letters to obtain records
from the three on-site communications service providers, the FBI used even
less formal means to request or obtain telephone toll billing records or other
information. We found that the FBI obtained records or information from
each of the on-site communications service providers in response to e-mail,
face-to-face requests, requests on pieces of paper (including post-it notes),
and telephonic requests without first providing legal process or even exigent
letters. These informal requests were made in connection with major
operations as well as other international terrorism, domestic terrorism, and
criminal investigations. As described in Chapter Six, like exigent letters,
these other types of informal requests did not constitute legal process under
the ECPA and FSI policy.

We noted in our first NSL report that FBI personnel were required by
FBI policy to document information demonstrating the FBI’s authority to
use NSLs in national security investigations. The predication for an NSL
request was supposed to be documented in NSL approval memoranda,
known as approval ECs. These approval ECs, which were routinely
uploaded into the FBI’s Automated Case Support System, identified the
underlying national security investigation, summarized the facts
establishing the predication for the requests, and described the relevance of
the information requested to the investigation.78 The steps required to
complete these approval ECs and the chain of command required to approve
each NSL request were designed to ensure that the FBI satisfied statutory
and Attorney General Guidelines’ requirements for using NSLs.

In contrast, when CAU personnel issued exigent letters or made other
types of informal requests for records and information from the on-site
providers, they did not document the authority for their requests or explain
the investigative reasons why the records were needed. The exigent letter
requests also were not subject to any supervisory or legal review.
Specifically, exigent letters and other informal requests were not: (1)
accompanied by approval ECs documenting the predication for the requests,
specifying the date range of the records requested, and certifying the
relevance of the information sought to pending national security
investigations; (2) reviewed and approved by FBI attorneys; (3) approved by
FBI supervisors; or (4) signed by one of the limited number of senior FBI

78 OIG, NSLI, 23-25.

67


We interviewed 15 SSAs and 10 Intelligence Analysts who were
assigned to the CAU beginning in March 2003. They stated that their duties
consisted chiefly of responding to requests from field divisions, legal
attachés, and operational Headquarters units. These requests included
asking the CAU to obtain and analyze telephone numbers related to ongoing
FBI investigations and to report back to the requester with telephone
records and analysis.

CAU personnel analyzed the telephone numbers by obtaining
information from numerous databases and other resources, including
information from the three on-site communications service providers. One
SSA from a CTD operational unit who frequently requested CAU support
characterized the CAU’s role as having “a phone database on steroids; to
identify ‘good’ versus ‘bad’ numbers; to provide [J charts and analysis;
and to get numbers in a usable format for the field.”

Nearly all of the 15 SSAs we interviewed who worked in the CAU told
us that when they arrived at the CAU they had little or no experience in
national security investigations.18 In addition, all but 2 of the 29 FBI
employees we interviewed who were assigned to work in the CAU said they
had limited or no prior experience working with NSLs. None of the SSAs we
interviewed said that the FBI provided them training on the legal and
internal FBI requirements for issuing NSLs until after the OIG’s first NSL
report was issued in March 2007.19

2. Terminology Used in this Report for Non-Content
Telephone Transactional Records

As described above, the ECPA generally prohibits communications
service providers from divulging “a record or other information pertaining to
a subscriber to or a customer of” their services.2° However, in authorized

18 Virtually all of these SSAs had extensive experience in conducting or supporting
criminal investigations, which were governed by a different set of Attorney General
Guidelines than the Attorney General’s Guidelines for FBI National Security Investigations
and Foreign Intelligence Collection (NSI Guidelines), which applied to the conduct of
national security investigations.

19 In response to the OIG’s recommendations in our first NSL report, the FBI is now
providing mandatory NSL training to FBI employees involved in the use of NSLs. This
training, as well as the NSL guidance and other corrective actions implemented by the FBI
and the Department in response to our first NSL report, is described in Chapter Four of our
second NSL report.

20 18 U.S.C. § 2702(a)(3).

19


The CAU SSA said that if the case agent was interested in obtaining toll
billing records or subscriber information on the hot numbers, the FBI would
issue administrative subpoenas or exigent letters for those records.!°! The
CAU SSA estimated that he gave Company A a total of 20 telephone numbers
in connection with both the and the other fugitive investigation.102

In our investigation, we found no evidence that the FBI established
procedures, guidance, oversight, or training to ensure that CAU personnel
sought appropriate legal authority when they asked Company A or Company C
to provide calling activity information in response to the FBI’s requests
— on hot numbers.

Cc. FBI OGC and CAU’s Unit Chiefs’ Knowledge of Hot Number

In this section we examine what CAU Unit Chiefs and FBI OGC attorneys
knew about hot number

CAU Unit Chiefs and FBI OGC attorneys told us they were unaware of
the use of hot number [J by CAU personnel. CAU’s first Unit Chief,
Glenn Rogers, said he thought Company A offered a hot number
capabili

However, Rogers said he was not certain whether
Company A’s hot number [J was ever utilized by the FBI and also was
not certain what authority the FBI would use to acquire the calling activity
information.

101 The CAU SSA told us that before notifying FBI requesters of calling activity by the

hot numbers, Company A used “sneak peeks” to first determine whether the calling activity
was associated With ii iTS 1 ye investigative

value. After the Company A analyst made this determination, he notified the FBI of calling

activity by telephone numbers that might be of investigative interest.

102 The CAU SSA said he recalled first learning about hot number I at a
meeting in 2004 he attended with CTD Section Chief Michael Fedarcyk, CAU Unit Chief Rogers,
and a female NSLB attorney whose name he could not recall. He stated that they discussed
the use of “forward-looking subpoenas” or “anticipatory search warrants” that would request
information The CAU SSA told us that the
NSLB attorney said that she approved of forward-looking subpoenas. He said he was not
certain whether the legal processes discussed at the meeting were grand jury subpoenas or
NSLs, but that the NSLB attorney said that there was no legal problem with forward-looking
subpoenas. He also said that no FBI attorneys ever told him that they had legal reservations
about hot number [EE We could not identify any NSLB attorney at this meeting, and the
FBI could not locate documentation of any legal review by the NSLB of hot number Pd or
other features of the Company A contract from 2003 through 2007.

85


[PAGE LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK]


personnel authorized to sign NSLs.79 Similarly, the exigent letters did not
meet the legal requirements in the Patriot Act and Patriot Reauthorization
Act that senior FBI officials certify in writing the relevance of the records
sought to authorized national security investigations and that any
investigations of U.S. persons are not based solely on activities protected by
the First Amendment. We illustrate in Diagram 2.2 (next page) the
differences between the 4-step approval process required for issuing NSLs
and the 1-step process used by CAU personnel to issue exigent letters to
obtain the same information:

79 Prior to June 1, 2007, a legal review and approval by an FBI attorney was not
required. However, guidance issued by the FBI OGC in November 2001 recommended such
areview. Office of the General Counsel, Federal Bureau of Investigation, electronic
communication to All Field Offices, Counterterrorism, and National Security, November 28,

2001.

68


a particular telephone number,” the OLC concluded that the ECPA “bars
providers from complying with such requests.”83 In reaching its conclusion,
the OLC opined that the “phrase ‘record or other information pertaining to a
subscriber’ [in 18 U.S.C. § 2702(a)(3)] is broad” and that since the “information
[requested by the FBI] is associated with a particular subscriber, even if that
subscriber’s name is unknown” it cannot be disclosed under the ECPA unless
the disclosure falls within one of the ECPA exceptions.

As described in Chapter Two, the information the on-site providers gave
to CAU personnel in response to their sneak peek requests often included more
detailed information about the subscribers or customers than simply whether
the provider had records regarding particular telephone numbers or persons.
Therefore, we concluded that this information also was information “associated
with a particular subscriber” within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 2702(a)(3).

As described above, the ECPA prohibits the disclosure to the government
of toll records or information related to a subscriber except in certain limited
circumstances set forth in the statute. The relevant exceptions require
providers to disclose such information in response to compulsory legal process,
such as national security letters, and also permit voluntary disclosures based
upon the providers’ good faith belief of a qualifying emergency.8* We found
that the FBI did not serve legal process under the ECPA for the information it
received pursuant to sneak peeks.

In addition, we do not believe that the FBI’s sneak peek practice
complied with the ECPA’s emergency voluntary disclosure provision for several
reasons. First, the practice was described to us as a routine occurrence in the
CAU, not limited to “exigent” circumstances. Second, some of the specific
instances where the sneak peek practice was used included media leak and
fugitive investigations, which clearly did not meet the emergency voluntary
disclosure provision. Third, the FBI’s lack of internal controls over the sneak
peek practice made it impossible for us — or the FBI - to reliably determine how
many or in what circumstances sneak peek requests were made, and what the
providers were told or believed about the reasons for these requests. Therefore,

83 The OLC identified a very narrow exception under 18 U.S.C. § 2702(a)(3) for
disclosure of whether a particular telephone number was among those assigned or belonging to
the provider but not “whether the provider has given [the number] to a subscriber.”

84 As described previously, prior to March 2006, this exception required the provider to
have a “reasonable belief” that a qualifying emergency existed.

74


A second instance of a flawed legal response occurred in May 2006
when the NSLB again perpetuated the use of exigent letters promising
future legal process. Although NSLB attorneys were aware of the CAU’s use
of exigent letters at least by December 2004, no NSLB attorney asked to see
a copy of any exigent letter until May 2006. As described in Chapter Four of
this report, we found that the Assistant General Counsel, who was involved
in advising the CAU on the use of exigent letters, first asked to see the
exigent letter on May 19, 2006, 2 days after the OIG interviewed her in
connection with our first NSL report and asked her questions about the
CAU’s acquisition of records prior to issuing legal process. After reviewing
the exigent letter, the Assistant General Counsel modified the letter by
substituting the word “NSL” for the word “subpoena” and deleting the
reference to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. This corrected the inaccurate
reference to grand jury subpoenas in many of the letters, but the advice
given by the NSLB was still flawed because the revised letter continued to
seek to obtain records with the promise of future legal process. We find it
troubling that neither the Assistant General Counsel, her immediate
supervisor, nor NSLB Deputy General Counsel Thomas reviewed an exigent
letter for more than 1% years after they learned of their use.

In addition, the FBI OGC and the CTD failed to use the FBI’s alternate
authority under the ECPA (18 U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4)) to request voluntary
disclosure of telephone records from the on-site providers in qualifying
emergencies. Even though FBI OGC attorneys developed the first general
guidance for all FBI divisions during the spring and summer of 2005
regarding the emergency voluntary disclosure statute, they failed to
coordinate with CTD management and direct that the FBI (1) stop using
exigent letters; or (2) advise CAU personnel that the emergency voluntary
disclosure statute should be used to address record requests in appropriate
circumstances. These corrective actions did not happen until 2007, shortly
before the OIG’s first NSL report was issued.

The FBI OGC’s failure to ensure that CAU personnel were aware of the
ECPA emergency voluntary disclosure statute had significant consequences.
Between August 25, 2005, (the date of the FBI OGC guidance on the ECPA
emergency voluntary disclosure statute), and November 13, 2006. (the date
of the last exigent letter we located), CAU personnel issued an additional 86
exigent letters seeking records for 553 telephone numbers. None of these
letters was subjected to the scrutiny or approval procedures that FBI
personnel were directed to employ when requesting emergency voluntary
disclosures under the ECPA. Moreover, as described in Chapter Two of this
report, during this same time period the FBI acquired records or calling
activity information on thousands of other telephone numbers through
other informal means, such as sneak peeks, e-mail, and telephonic
requests.

218


[PAGE LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK]

viii


subpoenas had been requested for the records and would be forthcoming, no
subpoena was ever issued for the reporters’ telephone toll billing records. The
letters also stated (and the FBI confirmed to us) that the FBI has purged these
records from FBI databases.126

However, the FBI did not disclose to the reporters or their editors that

4. OIG Analysis

As discussed above, federal regulation and Department policy requires a
balancing of First Amendment interests and the interests of law enforcement
before issuance of subpoenas for the production of reporters’ telephone toll
billing records. The regulation also requires the Department to take reasonable
alternative steps to obtain the records, and if those efforts fail, to request
Attorney General approval before issuing any such subpoena.1!27

We determined that the FBI did not comply with these legal
requirements. As detailed above, without any request from the FBI case agent
or anyone in his chain of command and without the knowledge of any
prosecutor, a CAU SSA issued an exigent letter to an on-site Company A
analyst for the telephone toll billing records of Washington Post and New York
Times reporters and their bureaus in [J Company A provided the
records to the FBI, and the FBI uploaded the records into a —

database without complying with these requirements.
The records remained in that database for over 3 years, unbeknownst to the
prosecutor, CTD management, and FBI OGC attorneys, until OIG investigators
determined that the records had been acquired and notified the FBI General
Counsel. The FBI subsequently purged the records from the

databases and notified the reporters and their news
organizations that their records had been acquired without following required
procedures.

We believe that the actions of the FBI personnel involved in this matter
were negligent in various respects. Moreover, the manner in which the

126 In addition to the letter, Director Mueller called the editors of the two newspapers to

express regret that the FBI agents had not followed proper procedures when they sought the

127 See 28 C.F.R. § 50.10 (2004).

102


collections, handled the overcollected materials appropriately, and made
required reports to the President’s Intelligence Oversight Board (IOB).82

B. “Sneak Peeks”

We also identified the FBI’s practice of obtaining “sneak peeks” for
telephone toll records in the providers’ databases, a practice that we concluded
violated the ECPA statute (18 U.S.C. § 2702(a)(3)). There is no provision in the
ECPA allowing the FBI to obtain information about these records without either
issuing legal process or making requests for voluntary disclosure in qualifying
emergencies, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4).

Because CAU personnel failed to keep records of sneak peek requests, we
were unable to determine how often such requests were made during the
period covered by our review, whether the requests were pertinent to FBI
investigations, in what circumstances they were made, and what, if anything,
the providers were told about the reasons for these requests. However, we
found that these requests were routine. One Company A analyst told us he
responded to these requests on a daily basis, a Company C employee told us
that these requests were approximately one-half of the requests he received
from the CAU, and a Company B employee told us that he responded to these
requests up to three times per week. The on-site Company C employee’s log
and e-mails of the employees of all three on-site providers also demonstrate
that such requests were routine.

Although CAU Unit Chief Rogers was aware of and approved sneak peek
requests, we found that he issued no guidance and failed to require
supervisory review or establish internal controls regarding their use. Rogers
said he understood sneak peeks to be requests to see if the providers “even had

82 Executive Order 12863, which has since been modified, requires the Department to
report intelligence violations to the President’s Intelligence Oversight Board. According to
Executive Order 12863, possible intelligence violations include any activities that “may be
unlawful or contrary to Executive Order or Presidential Directive.”

“Unauthorized collections” is a phrase used to describe several circumstances in which
the FBI receives information in response to NSLs that was not requested or was mistakenly
requested. For example, many unauthorized collections occur due to errors on the part of NSL
recipients when they provide more information than was requested (such as records for a
longer period of time or records on additional persons). The FBI refers to these matters as
“over collections” or “overproductions.” We refer to these as “initial third party errors” because,
while the NSL recipient may initially have provided more information than requested, the FBI
may or may not have compounded the initial error by using or uploading the information.
Other unauthorized collections can result from FBI errors, such as when a typographical error
in the telephone number or e-mail address results in the acquisition of data on the wrong
person. See NSL II at 141.

72


& 3 ¢ 2
$ 2
| 2
8 | 2es| 3 : 3 3
a| 3
Ss g rs H g & 2 § 2 & E a
268) 85] & E: 3 = 2 t
Sas/52) Sem) bs | 3 36
og) & sm, 2a] 3 2e
Date Recipient Signer E é : 2 F 2 23 ge 6%
10/20/06 | Company A | Assistant 445 | Vv V None 4/13/07
Director required
Billy per FBI
OGC
10/20/06 | Company B_ | Assistant 445 |v V None 4/13/07
Director required
Billy per FBI
OGC
10/20/06 | Company C | Assistant 445 | Vv Vv None 4/13/07
Director required
Billy per FBI
OGC

*Cummings signed the NSLs as SAC.
Yellow = Operation “Y” blanket NSLs Turquoise = Operation “Z” blanket NSLs

a. Five Blanket NSLs in Connection with
Operation “Y”

The CAU SSA who drafted the Company B May 12 and Company C
July 5 blanket NSLs also drafted five other blanket NSLs in August and
September 2006. All five of these additional blanket NSLs listed telephone
numbers related to a major FBI counterterrorism operation that was
initiated in P| which we refer to as Operation Y.217

We were told that CAU employees told the three on-site
communications service providers when Operation Y first began that the FBI
was undertaking a significant operation that would generate many requests
for J of telephone records, and that after-the-fact NSLs listing
multiple telephone numbers would be prepared to cover the requests for
these records. Youssef told us that he could not recall whether he or
someone else from the CAU informed the providers about the anticipated
requests for Operation Y. He told us that the plan was for the Headquarters
operational unit to prepare after-the-fact NSLs. We determined that, with
few exceptions, records requests relating to this operation were

217 The name of this operation is classified.

179



The case agent also told us that he never told the CAU SSA or anyone in
his management chain that exigent circumstances existed regarding the need
to obtain the telephone records listed in his November 5 e-mail. He also said
that he had no idea where the CAU SSA obtained the language in the exigent
letter stating that requests for subpoenas had already been submitted to the
U.S. Attorney’s Office. He further stated that the only representations he made
to the CAU regarding a subpoena were contained in his e-mails, which stated
that a subpoena was contemplated and would be provided in the future.

The AUSA who directed the leak investigation told us that he did not
know anything about the FBI having obtained any reporters’ records in the
investigation until the OIG identified this issue and interviewed him in 2008.
The AUSA also said he did not recall if the case agent had ever sent the
reporters’ telephone numbers to the CAU to determine if their records were
available. The AUSA said he did not know that the CAU SSA had sent an
exigent letter to Company A seeking the reporters’ and news organizations’ toll
billing records, that Company A had provided responsive records, that a CAU
Intelligence Analyst had sent the records and his analysis to the case agent in
an e-mail, or that the reporters’ records had been uploaded into a a
database.

The final e-mail we found relating to the reporters’ telephone records was
sent by the case agent to the CAU Intelligence Analyst on March 24, I. The
subject line of the e-mail stated, “Important question.” The e-mail referenced
the CAU Intelligence Analyst’s January 5, , e-mail and stated:

Il am working closely with the United States Attorney’s Office ...
and we are contemplating getting a grand jury subpoena for
certain telephone toll records ns telephone numbers)
that will require special approval from the Department of Justice
before issuance. Before we undertake getting the approval for the
subpoena, the AUSA wants to know with certainty whether

telephone toll records for
telephone calls can be obtained.

This is a key question for us going forward. [Emphasis in original.]

The Intelligence Analyst replied by e-mail on the same day, stating, “Back
in January I sent you two products which reflected [Company A] toll records on

98


Company C records also show that the FBI was billed for and paid a
separate fee to Company C for this hot number We found that the
FBI paid Company C a for hot number during the period from
2002 through 2006.97

2. Company A

Documents that Company A provided to the FBI as part of Company A’s
2004 contract proposal for on-site services in the CAU described Company A’s

capability to “track, follow, and capture fugitives, terrorists and other
criminals” and in to search for known fugitives (i.e.
HE) «. «.« ”-“ One of Company A’s stated goals in the proposal was to
create a report “to be customized specifically for the FBI based upon input data

such as hot target list, significant numbers, secure data, etc.”

An on-site Company A analyst told us that Company A’s
capability v2: A Company A MMMM He said he
could not recall when information on “hot numbers” was requested by the
CAU.% Use of this capability enabled the FBI to learn in that
there was calling activity by the hot numbers. Additionally, if specified by the
FBI requesters, Company A would [J the requesters only to calling activi
within certain parameters, such as calls to or from a particular area code

The on-site Company A analyst said that while he received details of
the calling activity by the hot numbers - including the date, time, and duration
of the calls — he informed the FBI requesters only that there had been calling
activity. The Company A analyst told us that he typically notified the CAU or
other FBI requesters of the calling activity verbally.

The on-site Company A analyst who set many of the Company A hot
number [MJ told us that he did not discuss with anyone in the FBI or
Company A whether legal process would be served before he provided calling
activity information. He also said that he did not receive any type of legal

97 Company C’s schedule of payments shows that Company C billed the FBI at a rate of
per month in fiscal year (FY) 2006 for for a maximum of 1,000
telephone numbers. A Company C representative told us that Company C also billed the FBI
at a flat rate in FY 2002 and FY 2004.

98 Com A’s BEE was different from another Company A capability called
“hot number |.” Hot number | permits Company A to collect all toll billin;
records at set intervals, such as every 4, 8, or 12 hours, while JE provided
information about calling activity on particular telephone numbers. Company A told
us that the FBI never received information or records from Company A in connection with its
“hot number [EP service, and we found no contrary evidence.

83


when the NSL was drafted he was unaware that an approval EC was
necessary.

The CAU SSA who drafted the Company B May 12 NSL told us he did
not discuss it with any FBI OGC attorney. He said he also did not know
there was an NSLB attorney who would draft an NSL for him. Neither
Youssef, who was aware of the NSLB’s outstanding offer of assistance, nor
anyone else in the CAU or CTD notified the FBI OGC about the blanket
NSL.

Billy acknowledged to us that his signature appeared on the Company
B May 12 NSL. However, he said he did not recall signing the NSL, did not
know the SSA who prepared the document, and did not recall ever meeting
him. Billy stated that over the course of his FBI career he had signed
hundreds of NSLs. He also said that his normal practice was to rely on an
approval EC to adequately describe the predication for the requested
records. In response to our questioning, Billy said he did not rule out the
possibility that over the course of his FBI career he had signed an NSL
without an approval EC, but he stated that such a case would be an
exception and that he believed he would have received sufficient facts to
ensure that the NSL was properly predicated. Billy also said that he knew
that NSLs were authorized only in instances in which there was an open
preliminary or full national security investigation and that the requested
records had to relate to that open investigation.

We found several defects with this NSL. First, this NSL was served
after-the-fact. As noted previously, there is no provision in the ECPA
authorizing the issuance of retroactive legal process.

Second, this NSL was defective under the ECPA because 39 of the 192
telephone numbers included in the Company B May 12 NSL were relevant to
FBI domestic terrorism investigations, and 5 related to FBI criminal
investigations. However, the ECPA and the Attorney General’s NSI
Guidelines authorize the use of NSLs only in international terrorism or
espionage investigations. Therefore, the use of this NSL to cover previously
obtained records for telephone numbers relevant to domestic terrorism and
criminal investigations violated the ECPA NSL statute, the Attorney
General’s NSI Guidelines, and FBI policy.

Third, the NSL did not contain the certification required by the Patriot
Reauthorization Act and the ECPA for NSLs imposing non-disclosure and
confidentiality obligations on the recipient.

Fourth, this NSL also failed to comply with FBI policy requiring that it
be accompanied by an approval EC establishing the predication for the
request and the relevance of the telephone records sought to an authorized

171


NSL and the relevance of the telephone numbers to an open national
security investigation. Heimbach said that he assumed he was told when
he signed this NSL that the approval EC was being prepared or had already
been prepared.

As was the case with the Company B May 12 NSL, no CAU or CTD
personnel sought legal guidance from any FBI OGC attorney regarding the
content of the Company C July 5 NSL.

We found several defects with this NSL. First, as was the case with
the Company B May 12 NSL, the NSL was served after-the-fact, which is not
authorized by the ECPA. Second, the NSL included seven telephone
numbers relevant to domestic terrorism investigations for which NSLs are
not an authorized technique under the ECPA NSL statute or the Attorney
General’s NSI Guidelines. Third, although the NSL imposed a
non-disclosure and confidentiality obligation on Company C, the NSL did
not contain the certification required by the Patriot Reauthorization Act and
the ECPA for such NSLs. Fourth, the NSL was not accompanied by the
required approval EC establishing the predication for the request and the
relevance of the records sought to an authorized national security
investigation.

Finally, the NSL did not disclose that the FBI had previously asked
Company C to [J these records or that Company C had already done so
and had provided responsive records.

c. Company A September 21 NSL

The third blanket NSL, dated September 21, 2006, was issued to
Company A.?13 It was prepared by the CAU’s Primary Relief Supervisor.214
The NSL listed 700 telephone numbers that CAU personnel had asked
Company A to J between May 2003 and January 2006. Some of these
numbers were provided in response to exigent letters, and some of the
exigent letters had been issued after the 215

213 We refer to this as the Company A September 21 NSL.

214 We call this SSA the Primary Relief Supervisor because Youssef referred to him
in this capacity in his annual performance evaluations.

218 The telephone numbers listed on this NSL were relevant to various FBI
investigations, including international terrorism investigations. However, others related to
domestic terrorism investigations and criminal investigations such as fugitive cases, alien
smuggling, securities fraud, arson, illegal narcotics, and bank robbery.

174


for other FBI divisions and units, stated that Company A

The slides stated that

domestic

local and long distance calls;

|

:
° cellular cals,

: pee

Of the three providers, Company A had the greatest volume of records

available to the FBI. The key features of Company A’s on-site support were
the availability of of telephone records, a
These features were not

available to FBI field agents or Headquarters personnel who served NSLs on
Company A through its more formal procedures.

The on-site Company C employee also had access to calling records of
telephone

the Company B on-site employee could only provide
calling records These were the same types of telephone

records that FBI agents outside of the CAU obtained from Company B’s

Sl


In some instances the FBI issued exigent letters after receiving the records.
In other instances, exigent letters were never provided or the FBI did not
issue any after-the-fact legal process for up to 20 months.

The on-site Company B employee told us that he gave telephone
records to the FBI without legal process or exigent letters more often in
connection with major FBI operations than in other matters. However, we
reviewed e-mails from September 2005 to November 2005 indicating that on
at least three occasions the Company B employee provided records to CAU
personnel prior to receiving legal process or exigent letters, and none of
these three instances related to major operations.

B. “Sneak Peeks” or “Quick Peeks”

Many CAU SSAs and Intelligence Analysts we interviewed, and
employees of the three on-site communications service providers, also told
us about a practice that became known in the CAU as “sneak peeks” or
“quick peeks.” At the request of CAU personnel, the providers’ employees
routinely | of their databases to determine whether they
had any responsive records, without receiving legal process or exigent
letters. The providers’ employees would then describe for the CAU
personnel the information contained in the databases without providing the
records to CAU personnel. We reviewed documents showing that employees
of all of the on-site providers communicated this type of information to CAU
personnel either verbally, by e-mail, or telephonically. At times, the
providers’ employees even invited CAU personnel to view records on their
computer screens. If the providers’ databases contained requested records,
CAU personnel would then decide whether to issue exigent letters or obtain
legal process from the field division or Headquarters’ operating unit in order
to obtain the actual records.

Glenn Rogers, the CAU’s first permanent Unit Chief, acknowledged to
us that he knew about this practice of sneak peeks. He stated that he
believed the practice was first used in the FBI’s New York Field Division
before it was used by CAU personnel. He said he did not see any legal
problem with the practice and stated it was his understanding that there
was no expectation of privacy in telephone records because the “numbers
belong to the phone companies.” He said he therefore did not think there
was anything wrong with requesting sneak peeks, and he did not believe

instances, post-it notes or a “sticky.” Neither Company A nor Company B maintained

similar logs. However, both Company A and Company B are able to retrieve records of the
a by their on-site employees.

47


CHAPTER TWO
THE FBI’S USE OF EXIGENT LETTERS AND OTHER
INFORMAL REQUESTS FOR TELEPHONE RECORDS

This chapter details the FBI’s use of exigent letters and other types of
informal requests for telephone records. First, it provides background on
the FBI’s initial use of exigent letters in 2002 in connection with its criminal
investigations of the September 11 hijackers, the migration of the practice to
FBI Headquarters in 2003, and the FBI’s contracts with Company A,
Company B, and Company C to provide on-site support to FBI
investigations. It describes the FBI’s establishment of the Communications
Analysis Unit (CAU), and the FBI’s process for issuing exigent letters; the
CAU personnel who signed them; and how the requests were initiated,
drafted, approved, and documented.

This chapter also describes other practices by which CAU personnel
requested and received telephone records from the on-site communications
service providers without prior issuance of legal process or even exigent
letters. These other informal methods included e-mail requests or oral
requests. These informal requests also included what CAU personnel called
“sneak peeks,” which were requests without legal process to obtain
information about whether calling activity existed for particular telephone
numbers or subscribers, to obtain details about the calling activities, or to
view records on the on-site providers’ computer screens without obtaining
the records themselves.

In addition, this chapter describes how the telephone records were
analyzed by the FBI and uploaded into FBI databases. The chapter also
describes FBI requests for a “community of interest” or “calling circle”

I. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA)

To protect the confidentiality of telephone and e-mail subscriber
information and telephone toll billing records information, the Electronic
Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) states that communications service
providers “shall not knowingly divulge a record or other information
pertaining to a subscriber or customer of such service . . . to any


We confirmed that Youssef was not included on some e-mails between
Rogers and the Assistant General Counsel between November 2004 and
February 2005.257

With regard to Youssef’s claim that Rogers bypassed him, Rogers
acknowledged to us that he had very little interaction with Youssef when
Youssef became the CAU Unit Chief, and that Rogers never provided Youssef
with any guidance on matters involving the CAU, including exigent letters.
Rogers said:

I didn’t give him any briefings. He didn’t ask for any.... He
never came to me for advice .... The most contact I had with
him was he was constantly e-mailing me to get his admin leave
approved for his lawsuit. And that was the majority of my
interaction with him.

Rogers also said that he had recommended to the CXS Section Chief that
Youssef should not be selected for the CAU Unit Chief position because
Rogers did not think that he “had enough experience or understanding of
what [the CAU] did.”

It is clear from the evidence that Rogers did not interact with Youssef
or value Youssef’s input into the CAU operations. We believe Rogers should
have risen above his disagreement about Youssef’s selection and ensured
that, working together, they managed the unit appropriately.

It is important to recognize that soon after Youssef became the CAU
Unit Chief he learned about exigent letters, that NSLB attorneys were aware
of the CAU’s practice of using exigent letters, and that the NSLB attorneys
were working with CAU personnel on a process for issuing after-the-fact
NSLs more expeditiously. In addition, Youssef took steps to address the
backlogged requests for legal process. For example, in approximately April
2005, after learning from a Company B employee about the backlog of legal
process owed to that provider, he instructed CAU personnel to obtain the

257 We found that Youssef did not attend two important meetings with Rogers and
NSLB attorneys that were held on January 6, 2005, and January 26, 2005. After reviewing
a draft of this report, Youssef’s attorney stated that Youssef was “excluded” from or “not
invited” to these meetings. However, Youssef told us that he knew about the meetings
before they were held. Youssef’s attorney stated that Youssef could not attend them
because he was on sick leave in one case and at a deposition in his Title VII case in the
other. FBI e-mails and documents also reflect that Youssef was invited to these meetings
but did not attend. Youssef acknowledged that he made no effort afterwards to learn what
had occurred at these meetings.

226


subpoenas. This SSA said Rogers told him not to change “a single word” in
the letter because it had previously been reviewed and approved.*3

Rogers told us that he did not recall any of the SSAs in the CAU
coming to him with concerns about the wording of the exigent letter. Rogers
also said that he never spoke to any attorneys from either the FBI or the
communications service providers about the use of exigent letters. Rogers
said that he accepted the validity of the exigent letter based on the briefing
he received from the Company A analyst who told him in May 2003 that the
letter had previously been approved for use in the New York Field Division
in 2002. Rogers, who signed 12 exigent letters, told us that he took “full
responsibility for that letter - that it wasn’t worded properly, [and] that it
took so long to change the wording” to refer to NSLs rather than
subpoenas.

2. CTD Supervisors

In addition to our interviews of CAU personnel and supervisors, we
also interviewed supervisors in the CTD who served during the 2003
through 2006 time period about the use of exigent letters. These officials
included FBI Assistant Section Chiefs, Section Chiefs, Deputy Assistant
Directors, and Assistant Directors who had responsibility either for
oversight of the CAU or the other CTD units whose frequent requests for
telephone records resulted in the CAU’s issuance of the exigent letters. All
but one of them told us they were unaware before the OIG’s first NSL
investigation that the CAU was using exigent letters to obtain telephone
records from the three on-site communications service providers.

The one FBI official who told us that he knew about exigent letters at
the time they were used was John Chaddic, the Assistant Section Chief of
CXS from June 2003 to October 2004.44 Chaddic told us that in
approximately June 2003 Rogers briefed him about exigent letters and
described them as a “placeholder so that we could get the toll records and
analyze them while we waited on the NSL.” Chaddic said he never saw an
exigent letter but “wasn’t surprised” when he learned about the exigent
letter process because the FBI could not afford to wait for the appropriate
legal process in emergency situations when lives might be at risk. Chaddic
also told us that he had assumed the use of exigent letters was addressed in
the FBI’s contracts with the communications service providers. He also said

43 None of the other SSAs we interviewed who signed exigent letters said they
brought concerns about the use of exigent letters to either Rogers or Youssef.

44 Chaddic is currently a Unit Chief in the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division.

38


As described in this report, the ECPA generally prohibits
communications service providers from disclosing toll records information
except in certain limited circumstances set forth in the statute. The
relevant exceptions require providers to disclose such information in
response to legal process such as NSLs, and permit voluntary disclosures in
emergencies involving danger of death or serious physical injury.

Yet, the exigent letters and other informal requests were not valid
legal process for compelling the disclosures pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2709.
Section 2709 of the ECPA authorizes the FBI to compel the production of
toll records through NSLs issued by statutorily designated high-level FBI
officials who certify that the records sought are relevant to an authorized
national security investigation. As we described in our report, the exigent
letters and verbal, e-mail, or handwritten requests routinely used by CAU
personnel to request toll billing or other calling activity information from the
providers did not meet these requirements. For example, none of the
individuals who signed exigent letters issued by the CAU were among those
specially delegated officials authorized to sign NSLs.27! Further, none of the
exigent letters contained a certification that the records sought were
relevant to an authorized national security investigation or that any
investigation of a U.S. person was not conducted solely on the basis of
activities protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the
United States.

In response to our findings, the FBI asserted that its use of exigent
letters and other informal requests may have been justified under the
emergency voluntary disclosure provision of the ECPA, Section 2702(c)(4).
During 2003 through March 2006 - the period when most of the exigent
letters were issued — that section authorized a provider to voluntarily release
toll records information to a governmental entity if the provider “reasonably

271 The ECPA NSL statute authorizes only the FBI Director or his designees in
positions not lower than Deputy Assistant Director (DAD) or field division-based Special
Agents in Charge (SAC) to sign NSLs compelling communications service providers to
produce subscriber and toll billing records information in investigations of international
terrorism or espionage. See 18 U.S.C. § 2709. As Diagram 2.2 in Chapter Two illustrates,
by issuing exigent letters the FBI substituted a 1-step process in which CAU personnel
signed requests for telephone records without supervisory review by those officials
authorized by the ECPA to approve and certify the FBI’s basis for requesting these types of
records, and without the documentation of the predication for the requests that FBI policy
required.

260


and took the matter toa CAU SSA. The Company B employee said the CAU
SSA then explained to him the concept of exigent letters and told him the
NSL was “not written or not going to be written right now or today.” The
Company B employee told us that he conferred with his Company B
supervisor, who told him to honor the requests but to be sure to get the
after-the-fact legal process. Thereafter, the Company B employee regularly
accepted exigent letters and provided responsive records to the CAU. The
Company B employee told us that “the majority of the time” he “did not
know what the [exigent] circumstance was.” He said he “pretty much
assumed ... that it was an exigent circumstance” because he was
supporting counterterrorism investigations in the CAU.

We determined that the providers’ on-site employees often received
exigent letters from CAU personnel — and responded to them - without
receiving any information about the FBI investigations for which the records
were needed. The providers’ employees told us that they accepted exigent
letters without question and assumed that the circumstances were exigent.
For example, the Company C employee told us, “most of the time I know
nothing about the case personally” and that he sometimes relied on CAU
personnel saying the matter was “hot.” The Company B employee said that
he only received case details related to exigent letter requests less than 25
percent of the time, but he reasoned each time that, “it is an emergency
situation and they need my assistance. I am taking their word.” A
Company A analyst told us that the CAU requesters “did not always tell me
the circumstances of why they needed the records” and said he accepted the
FBI’s representation in the exigent letters, observing, “personally, it wasn’t
my place to police the police.”

The Company B employee told us that although he “assumed” CAU’s
requests were emergencies, he had concerns about whether the exigent
letter requests were truly emergencies, and these concerns led in part to
Company B’s decision to change its procedures. Beginning on October 10,
2006, the on-site Company B employee placed a stamp on the exigent
letters for which he provided responsive records. The stamped text stated,
“An emergency involving danger of death or serious physical injury to a
person requires disclosure without delay of information relating to the
emergency.”48 The Company B employee told us that he added the stamped
text to the exigent letters at the direction of Company B’s legal counsel and
he also required FBI requesters to certify by initialing and dating the
stamped declaration that the circumstances of the request comported with

48 The stamp appeared on the final 13 exigent letters served on the on-site
Company B employee between October 10, 2006, and November 6, 2006.

42


performance of the CAU SSA who signed the exigent letter, and the case

agent who received the records but failed to alert his supervisors or the

Assisant United States Attorney (AUSA). In addition, we recommend that

the Department re-evaluate the policies governing the

reporters because of the significant First Amendment interests
We believe that the FBI cannot

such as when it is investigating national security threats or
the kidnapping of a child, if it

2. Second Matter

In the second media leak investigation discussed in Chapter Three, an
AUSA (local AUSA) and a federal prosecutor approved two grand jury
subpoenas. The FBI case agent had forwarded to the prosecutor for his use

in drafting the subpoenas text suggested by an on-site Company A analyst,
wi aces asus: a

When the subpoenas were issued, both the case agent and the
prosecutor knew that the target numbers had been in telephonic contact
with a reporter during the time period specified in the subpoenas. Asa

result, if Company A fully responded to the subpoenas, the responsive
records would include
| | but also the a records of reporters

Yet, in the absence of Attorney General
approval or compliance with the federal regulation governing subpoenas for
reporters’ toll billing records, the subpoenas were issued, records were

roduced to the FBI, and the records were uploaded into a
RE cacatasc

In our investigation, we identified this problem but also determined
that in this instance no reporters’ telephone records were actually provided
to the FBI.

When we investigated how these subpoenas were issued, the case
agent told us that he had merely forwarded the on-site Company A analyst’s
suggested language to the prosecutor for his “consideration” and was not
“prescribing that the text be used.” He said the prosecutors had made
“unequivocal statements that . . . they were the legal advisors.” We believe
the case agent’s explanations are insufficient and that he should have
determined the meaning of iG in the subpoena before
providing it as suggested text for the subpoena attachments. Ata
minimum, he should have consulted with his supervisor, CAU personnel, or

252


Moreover, by not reviewing records obtained in response to exigent letters
and other types of informal requests, CAU personnel compounded problems
arising from the lax procedures at the front end of these requests. CAU
personnel told us, and documents we reviewed confirmed, that records
obtained in response to exigent letters and other informal requests were
routinely uploaded into a ey database when
received from the on-site communications service providers. However, this
uploading normally occurred without verification that the records obtained
matched the requests. Further, the original FBI requesters often did not have
access to this database or know that CAU personnel were uploading records
into the database.

We found in our first NSL review that the FBI did not always examine
records obtained in response to NSLs prior to uploading the records into FBI
databases.81 However, in those instances where the communications service
providers responded to routine NSLs issued by FBI field offices, the case agents
or Intelligence Analysts who had initiated these requests would sometimes
review the records before they were uploaded into FBI databases. Because of
their familiarity with the underlying investigations, these case agents or
Intelligence Analysts could identify records the FBI did not request, or had
requested by mistake, and take corrective action before the records were
uploaded or placed in investigative case files.

In contrast, CAU personnel routinely uploaded records obtained in

response to exigent letters and other informal processes into the [J
eee] database upon receipt, without any review. The CAU
SSAs and Intelligence Analysts said they were for the most part unaware of the
facts of the investigations and were acting merely as conduits between the
requesters and the on-site communications services providers. Indeed, CAU
personnel did not even retain copies of the exigent letters or documentation of
the other types of informal requests and therefore were unable to confirm that
they received responsive records. This meant that neither CAU personnel nor
anyone else in the FBI determined whether the FBI had received unauthorized

81 FBI personnel were not required until June 1, 2007, after the OIG’s first NSL report
was issued, to confirm that records obtained in response to NSLs matched the requests in the
NSLs before uploading them into FBI databases. We found in our first and second NSL reports
that the FBI obtained unauthorized collections in response to many NSLs, findings confirmed
by the FBI’s review of a statistical sample of NSLs issued from 2003 through 2006. The
unauthorized collections included records not requested in the NSLs. See OIG, NSL I, 73-84;
OIG, NSL II, 26-28, 82-99.

71


that the [J task force members agreed that he could sign them. However,
he said he did not recall any specific conversations with CAU Unit Chiefs
Rogers or Youssef, or any FBI attorneys in which he was told he was
authorized to sign the subpoenas.

The CAU SSA told us that he was by an on-site Company A
analyst when there was calling activity from telephone
numbers associated with family, friends, or attorneys. The CAU SSA
told us that he used Company A’s hot number capability in the
HB investigation. Once the CAU SSA was to calling activity by those
telephone numbers, Company A typically performed a sneak peek to

determine if the telephone number calling or receiving a call from the “hot
number” was a real telephone number en If it was a relevant

telephone number, the Company A analyst notified the CAU SSA, who then
signed either an exigent letter or issued an administrative subpoena addressed
to Company A seeking records for those telephone numbers. The SSA
subsequently issued Title 21 administrative subpoenas to cover some of the
records obtained through exigent letters.

FBI records show that the data provided by Company A in response to
the exigent letters were uploaded into an pl
database before the date of the administrative subpoenas issued by the SSA to
cover the records.

3. Two Additional After-the-Fact Administrative
Subpoenas

We identified two additional after-the-fact administrative subpoenas in a
different investigation in which the subpoenas were provided from 1 to 6 weeks
after the records had already been obtained by the FBI through exigent letter or
an informal request.

In an organized crime/narcotics investigation conducted by the FBI’s
MM Field Division, another CAU SSA signed 2 exigent letters addressed to
Company A dated August 9, 2004, seeking toll billing records for a total of 24
telephone numbers. Responsive records were uploaded in —
| database on August 10, 2004. A SSA issued an
administrative subpoena to Company A, dated August 17, 2004, to cover these
records. 167

167 As an SSA assigned to the FBI’s Criminal Enterprise Program, this SSA was
authorized to sign Title 21 administrative subpoenas.

133


D. FISA Case No. 4

In this case, the Department filed an emergency application with the
FISA Court for electronic surveillance on four telephone numbers in connection
with a counterterrorism investigation.

First Inaccurate Statement: The supporting declaration by an FBI SSA
stated that the FBI had obtained telephone calling activity information from
records obtained in response to NSLs served on a carrier. The FISA Court’s
order was issued on ee

However, working with the NSD and the FBI, we determined that the only
NSL served on the carrier seeking records on three telephone numbers
connected to a target of the investigation referenced in the application was
dated | the day after the FISA Court had issued its order, and
the only NSL served on the carrier for a fourth telephone number also
connected to the target was dated a 2 months after the FISA
Court issued its order. We determined that the calling activity information on

which the Department relied in its FISA Court application was obtained in
response to an exigent letter to the carrier dated a

In November 2008, as a result of this review, the NSD notified the FISA
Court of the inaccurate statement in the declaration, noting that the NSD and
the FBI considered the statement to be “non-material for purposes of Rule 10(b)
of the FISA Court Rules of Procedure.”

Second Inaccurate statement: The declaration in this application
inaccurately stated that pursuant to a grand jury subpoena the FBI had
received records from a communications carrier on an unspecified date
confirming subscriber information for two telephone numbers. In response to
our inguiry, the FBI located a grand jury subpoena to the carrier dated
= for one of the telephone numbers, but said that neither the FBI nor
the pertinent U.S. Attorney’s Office could locate any grand jury subpoena for
the second telephone number.!57 However, the declaration also stated that the

157 The declaration also stated that the FBI had received subscriber information on an
unspecified date for two of the four telephone numbers discussed in Case No. 4 above from a
carrier, but did not specify the legal process or other basis for this assertion. We found that
the FBI served an exigent letter on the carrier dated seeking records for the
four telephone numbers discussed above in Case No. 4, including a request for a
a] community of interest [J for a 24-month period. The only NSL or other

le; rocess we identified that was served on the carrier for this information was an NSL dated
seeking toll billing records and subscriber information, and included a
request for a community of interest [IMJ for two of the four telephone

(Cont’d.)

126


service providers were used in connection with other FBI or Department
activities, such as FBI administrative subpoenas, applications for electronic
surveillance orders filed with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
(FISA Court), or grand jury subpoenas in media leak investigations.

Moreover, in our previous NSL reviews we did not assess the
individual accountability of the signers of the exigent letters, their
supervisors, or attorneys in the FBI OGC. In addition, we did not address
the training, guidance, supervision, or legal oversight provided to the CAU
employees who signed the exigent letters, or the role of FBI supervisors and
senior FBI management in the use of exigent letters.

In this investigation, as described in this report, we cover these and
related subjects.

II. Methodology of the OIG Investigation

The OIG team that conducted this investigation was composed of
attorneys, special agents, program analysts, auditors, and paralegals from
the OIG’s Oversight & Review, Investigations, and Audit Divisions. The OIG
team led this investigation and wrote this report. Personnel from the FBI’s
Inspection Division participated with the OIG team on parts of this
investigation.®

In this investigation, we interviewed over 100 FBI employees and
former employees, as well as employees of Company A, Company B, and
Company C, each of which co-located employees in FBI offices beginning in
2003 and continuing through late 2007. We interviewed 31 of the 32
current or former FBI employees who signed the exigent letters. We also

6 After we issued our first NSL report, we initially referred our findings regarding
exigent letters to the FBI for it to conduct an investigation to determine whether
disciplinary action should be taken against any FBI employees involved in the exigent
letters practice. However, after further consideration and discussion with the FBI, we
determined that the OIG should lead the investigation. As a result, the OIG determined the
scope of the investigation, the witnesses to interview, and the content of this report.
Initially, FBI Inspection Division personnel assisted us in interviews of FBI employees and
employees of the communications service providers. However, we determined that they
should not participate in all aspects of the investigation. For example, the Inspection
Division did not participate in the review of CAU Unit Chief Bassem Youssef or his conduct.
In addition, after our first interview made clear the scope of the issue, the FBI was not
involved in further interviews relating to the leak investigations in which the FBI sought or
obtained toll billing records or other calling activity information of members of the news
media. Finally, no FBI personnel participated in the writing of this report, and this report
reflects the conclusions of the OIG only.


We found that the FBI did not serve legal process on the providers in
advance of receiving information about hot numbers. Moreover, we found
no evidence that the FBI requested, or the providers gave the FBI, this
information pursuant to the emergency voluntary disclosure provision of the
ECPA. Instead, it appears that the information was disclosed as part of the
contractual arrangement between two of the providers and the FBI, and was
often used in connection with fugitive matters that did not qualify as
emergency situations under Section 2702.

Therefore, we concluded that the FBI’s practice of requesting and
obtaining calling activity information about hot numbers without service of
legal process violated the ECPA.

We also examined whether information obtained in response to
exigent letters or other informal requests were used in applications for
electronic surveillance or pen register/trap and trace orders filed with the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA Court). The Department’s
National Security Division (NSD) and the FBI reviewed 37 FISA applications,
which together referenced a total of 35 unique telephone numbers, to
determine whether FBI declarations filed in support of the applications
accurately stated the basis for verifying subscriber or calling activity
information. We found five misstatements in four declarations, which were
filed under oath by FBI personnel. The declarations inaccurately stated that
the FBI had acquired subscriber or calling activity information from NSLs
when in fact the information was acquired through other means, such as
exigent letters, an emergency disclosure letter, and a verbal request to the
communications service providers. Moreover, several of the NSLs referred to
in the four applications were served at least 2 months after the FISA Court
issued the requested orders.

As a result of this review, the NSD notified the FISA Court of the
inaccurate statements. The NSD concluded that, under the ECPA, the
inaccurate statements made in the FBI declarations were non-material. Yet,
even though the inaccurate statements may have been non-material to the
FISA application, we believe that any inaccurate statements to the FISA
Court are serious and affect the credibility of representations made by the
government.

It is also important to note that we reviewed only a small percentage
of the FISA Court applications that may have relied upon information
derived from exigent letters or other improper means. Based on our results
in these cases, we believe there are likely other similar inaccurate
statements in other applications. Moreover, no one in the FBI and the NSD
who reviewed these applications prior to their submission to the Court had
identified the inaccurate statements. Thus, our review concluded that the
FBI and the NSD failed to provide adequate supervision and oversight to

271


After reviewing a draft of this report, NSD officials stated that in addition
to concluding that the ECPA did not provide for exclusion of evidence for
violations of the statute, the NSD also examined each of the applications
addressed in FISA Cases 1, 2, 3, and 4 and determined that the inaccurate
information was not substantive in nature but rather concerned only the
manner in which information was obtained. The NSD officials stated that they
concluded that the misstatements were non-material because the underlying
substantive information provided in the misstatements was correct and that
only the procedural manner in which it was obtained was misstated (e.g., in
FISA Case 1 the declaration stated that subscriber information was obtained
from an NSL rather than from an exigent letter). We agree with the NSD that
the inaccurate statements were non-material for purposes of Rule 10(b) of the
FISA Court Rules of Procedure.

However, while the NSD deemed these statements “non-material” for
purposes of the FISA Court Rules of Procedure, we believe that inaccurate
statements to the FISA Court are serious matters. They also affect the
credibility of representations made by the government.

It is also important to note that we reviewed only a small percentage of
the FISA Court applications that may have relied upon information derived
from exigent letters or other informal means. Based on our results in these
cases we believe there are likely to be other similar inaccurate statements in
other applications. Moreover, no one in the FBI and the NSD who reviewed
these applications prior to their submission to the Court had identified the
inaccurate statements. Thus, our review also concluded that the FBI and the
NSD failed to provide adequate supervision and oversight to ensure the
accuracy of the FBI’s declarations filed in support of applications seeking FISA
Court orders.

After reviewing a draft of this report, NSD officials told us that they
believe that even non-material representations to the Court are very serious
matters. They also said that, to address these types of issues, the FBI
instituted procedures in February 2006 to verify the factual accuracy of
information contained in FISA applications. To ensure that these procedures
are being followed, the NSD conducts on-site reviews of FBI field offices.

In Chapter Six of this report we provide recommendations to address the
issues identified in this portion of our review.

We recommend that the FBI, in conjunction with the NSD, should
determine whether any FISA Court orders for electronic surveillance or pen
register/trap and trace devices currently in place relied upon declarations
containing FBI statements as to the source of subscriber information for
telephone numbers listed in exigent letters or the 11 blanket NSLs. If the FBI
and the NSD identify any such pending orders, we recommend that the FBI

128


Four of this report, the FBI was able to locate exigent letters for only 235 of
the 700 telephone numbers listed on one of the so-called “blanket” NSLs
issued by the FBI to cover or validate records previously obtained by the
FBI.5°

We did not have similar data for Company B and Company C, but
employees of both carriers told us they also i and
provided telephone records to the FBI in response to e-mails and verbal
requests and without legal process or exigent letters. The Company B and

Company C employees stated that they believed such J usually
related to major FBI counterterrorism investigations.

We also determined that in connection with at least three major FBI
counterterrorism investigations in 2005 and 2006, CAU personnel requested
telephone records for hundreds of telephone numbers from the three on-site
communications service providers. While we identified some exigent letters
associated with these operations, the majority of the requests in these
operations were initiated without legal process or exigent letters. Ina
majority of these instances, even when records were turned over to the FBI,
exigent letters were not subsequently provided to cover the requests and
records provided for these major operations. Moreover, in most instances
the FBI issued legal process to cover these requests well after the records
had been provided to the FBI, from 20 days later to 6 months later.

The on-site Company C employee also told us that apart from major
FBI operations, he occasionally provided records to CAU personnel prior to
receiving legal process or an exigent letter. We also reviewed an e-mail
message the Company C employee sent in January 2006 to Unit Chief
Youssef and a CAU Intelligence Analyst in which the Company C employee
stated that he would give priority to requests which did not have
accompanying legal process or an exigent letter if the CAU provided him a
reason to do so. In response to this e-mail, the CAU Intelligence Analyst
stated that “[w]e are working with hundreds of numbers and it’s not
practical to give the [exigent letter] for every number that comes in.”

We also reviewed the on-site Company C employee’s log and identified
numerous instances apart from major FBI operations where telephone
records were provided to the CAU without legal process or exigent letters.51

50 This was the Company A September 21, 2006, blanket NSL, described in Chapter
Four.

51 The Company C on-site employee kept a contemporaneous log of requests made
by CAU personnel. He said he used the log to record requests for a, including
requests pursuant to legal process, exigent letters, sneak peek requests, and, in some
(Cont’d.)

46


K. FBI Issues 11 Improper Blanket NSLs in May to October
2006 ....esesceessceesseeessseeesssseeessseeesseeessesessstesessnesensneseseneseseneees 165
1. Youssef Proposes Policy and Procedures for Service
of NSLs «. 165
2. NSLB Revises Model for Exigent Letters but Approve:
Their Continued Use ..........cccccc ce eeeeeceeeeeeeensenneeeeeeees 166
3. Three Blanket NSLs (May, July, and September
2006) .. 167
4. Eight Additional Blanket NSLs in 2006 178
5. OIG Analysis of 11 Improper Blanket NSLs... « 184
Il. The FBI’s Corrective Action Since November 2006.. . 185
A. FBI OGC Learns of Blanket NSLs . 186
B. The CAU’s Draft Memorandum to the FBI OGC Reporting
Possible Intelligence Oversight Board Violation ...............000. 187
Cc. FBI Legal Guidance Clarifying Legal Authorities.........0.0........ 190
D. Relocation of Communications Service Providers’
Employees From the FBI .............ccsccscccesssssseeeeeesesseeeeeesenags 191
E. FBI Analysis of Whether it Will Retain or Purge
BS 10f0) oe [Bp 192
1. FBI AnallySis..........000.cccccccessssscccesesssssseececesssseeeeesereeenae 192

2. FBI Analysis of Records Obtained From Exigent

Letters and 11 Improper Blanket NSLs. . 196
3. Steps Taken to Purge Records .. 208
4. Records Improperly Acquired Relating to Criminal
Investigations... 208
5. Other NSLs Referred by the OIG to the FBI 209
6. OIG Analysis of FBI Retention Decisions . 210
Ill. OIG Conclusions Regarding FBI Attempts at Corrective Action
for Exigent Letters 0.0.0... ccccccsccecsssssecesseceessseesseeessseesesseeseseeeseneeeees 211
CHAPTER FIVE OIG FINDINGS ON FBI MANAGEMENT FAILURES
AND INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTABILITY .........ccccsssscessseecenreeeeeeeeeneees 213
I, Management Failures ..........00.:cccccsseesscsseccseessssaneseeessssaeesesenennaenees 213
A. Failure to Plan for Proper Use of the On-Site
Communications Service Providers .............ccsessseceeeeeeeteeeee 214
B. Failure to Provide Training and Guidance to CAU
Personnel ...........cscceccceecessseesseeecessesssaaeeeseeessaaeeeseessseeeserees 216
Cc. Failure to Oversee the CAU Activities .........cccccceeseeeseeeereee 219


Seventh, the NSLB provided advice to the CAU about the use of the
exigent letters that was inconsistent with the ECPA NSL statute. In April
2005, the Assistant General Counsel sent an e-mail to Youssef in which she
advised that exigent letters should be used by the CAU “only if it is clear...
that the requester cannot await an NSL.” This advice was inaccurate
because the ECPA does not authorize the FBI to obtain toll billing records
from communications service providers unless it first serves compulsory
legal process such as an NSL or the provider makes a voluntary production
pursuant to Section 2702’s emergency disclosure provision. Even if the
letter were interpreted as seeking voluntary production, the advice that the
letter could be used “when there really are exigent circumstances . . . only if
it is clear. . . that the requester cannot await an NSL” would allow use in
circumstances that did not meet Section 2702’s standard. The NSLB’s
erroneous advice was forwarded by Youssef to all CAU personnel. Neither
the Assistant General Counsel’s immediate supervisor nor NSLB Deputy
General Counsel Thomas — who were both informed that Youssef was
circulating the e-mail containing her advice to the entire unit - corrected
this inaccurate advice.

K. FBI Issues 11 Improper Blanket NSLs in May to October
2006

This section of our report describes the FBI’s ineffective attempts at
corrective action from May through October 2006, regarding the exigent
letter practice and the backlog of record requests for which the FBI had not
yet served legal process. During this period, the NSLB reaffirmed its flawed
approval of the use exigent letters with the promise of future legal process.
In addition, the FBI issued 11 improper blanket NSLs prepared by CAU
personnel and signed by senior CTD officials to “cover” the records it had
previously received through exigent letters and other informal requests.

1. Youssef Proposes Policy and Procedures for Service of
NSLs

On May 10, 2006, Youssef e-mailed the CAU’s draft of a guidance EC
containing proposed procedures for the CAU’s use in obtaining records from
the on-site communications service providers to an FBI OGC attorney for
review. The draft guidance stated that in exigent circumstances the CAU
could obtain records from the on-site providers using exigent letters and
then issue after-the-fact NSLs. The draft stated specifically that the CAU
would issue exigent letters “in crisis situations where there is a specific

165


The Primary Relief Supervisor told us that he wrote the second draft
memorandum but in doing so mostly relied on information from the Acting
Section Chief and Youssef. He said that he provided input on the Operation
Z NSLs included in the memorandum “because that’s the case that I
knew.”227

Youssef told us that the CAU was told to draft the PIOBs but was “not
given very clear instructions as to what the [P]IOB was about.” He also said,
“we did not know where to go, we did not know where to start and we put
together what we knew.”

We found that for several days after the second draft was completed,
FBI OGC attorneys, including Caproni, exchanged e-mails with the Acting
Section Chief and Youssef concerning the two blanket NSLs that were
included in the first draft but omitted from the second draft. On March 6,
2007, NSLB Deputy General Counsel Thomas and the Assistant General
Counsel met with the Acting CXS Section Chief and Youssef to discuss
those NSLs. According to the Assistant General Counsel, the Acting Section
Chief and Youssef stated at the meeting that the Senior Intelligence Analyst
who prepared the first draft had mistakenly included those two NSLs, and
that those NSLs had been properly issued. The Assistant General Counsel
also said that the Acting Section Chief and Youssef told her that they could
not locate the NSLs in the file.

The Assistant General Counsel reported to her supervisors after the
meeting that Youssef had convinced her of the “incompetence of the people
who were drafting the EC” and that she now believed the two blanket NSLs
were erroneously listed in the first draft and properly omitted from the
second draft.

Ultimately, the FBI OGC decided not to formally notify the IOB of
details concerning the blanket NSLs.228 Thomas told us that she decided,

227 As described previously, the Primary Relief Supervisor had drafted the Operation
ZNSLs. He also had drafted the Company A September 21 blanket NSL (which was not
included in the draft PIOB memoranda), but told us he did not recall that NSL when he
worked on the PIOB draft memoranda.

228 Rather, on October 31, 2007, Thomas sent a letter to the IOB chairman to
supplement information the FBI OGC had provided in earlier briefings to IOB staff on the
FBI’s analysis of exigent letters and blanket NSLs. The letter stated that the FBI would be
reporting to the IOB the blanket NSLs that were issued without required approval ECs, as
well as the blanket NSLs that improperly requested records relevant to criminal
investigations. The letter also stated that the FBI will purge from FBI databases records for
which the FBI “has no legal authority” under the ECPA NSL statute or the emergency
voluntary disclosure statute. Julie F. Thomas, Deputy General Counsel, National Security
(Cont’d.)

189


regularly issued after-the-fact NSLs, which were an inappropriate tool for
remedying the FBI’s improper practices. The FBI also issued 11 improper
blanket NSLs to try to “cover” or validate the improperly obtained records.
These attempts were inconsistent with the ECPA NSL statute, the Attorney
General’s NSI Guidelines, and internal FBI policy.

By contrast, after the OIG issued its first NSL report in March 2007,
the FBI took additional actions to address the problems created by exigent
letters, which we believe were appropriate. The FBI ended the use of exigent
letters; issued clear guidance on the proper use of NSLs; directed that FBI
personnel be trained on NSL authorities; agreed to the move of the
communications service providers’ employees off the FBI’s premises; and
expended significant effort to determine whether improperly obtained
records should be retained or purged from FBI databases.

212


Director (DAD) for CTD, John Lewis.!9 He said that shortly after Bennett
came to the CXS in August 2004, she expressed her dissatisfaction with his
performance as a Unit Chief for the CXS Document Exploitation Unit and
that “within three weeks [of her arrival at CXS], everything I did was wrong.”
Youssef also asserted that Bennett began expressing her dissatisfaction with
his performance “within the same week” of when his attorney provided a list
of FBI witnesses to be deposed in an connection with an Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission complaint Youssef filed against the FBI. Further,
Youssef said that Bennett’s supervisor, DAD John Lewis, also “was after”
him and was “retaliating after me mercilessly.” Youssef added that he
believed Lewis was “not going to pay attention to anything that I am saying.”
Youssef stated that he never brought his concerns about the exigent letters
practice to anyone else in his chain of command because he “really did not
have access to talk to anybody.”

F. NSLB Attorney Provides Incorrect Advice to the CAU About
the Use of Exigent Letters

On April 26, 2005, the Assistant General Counsel sent an e-mail to
Youssef expressing concern that “on occasion, CAU is presuming that
someone who comes to them [seeking records from the on-site providers]
has an emergency.” She instructed Youssef “not [to] assume that all people
who come to you are in an emergency situation” and to ensure that CAU
personnel were “instructed to ask for an NSL.” She also reminded Youssef
that if exigent letters were used, the CAU could ask the designated NSLB
attorneys to draft the after-the-fact NSLs. She wrote that the NSLB could do
the NSLs quickly and that she personally would do whatever it took to get
NSLs done in a day or two. Finally, she wrote that “we are willing to allow
these requests when there really are exigent circumstances . . . only if it is
clear .. . that the requestor cannot await an NSL.”

The Assistant General Counsel told us that she could not recall the
circumstances surrounding this e-mail. However, we determined from her
contemporaneous e-mails that her concern arose from an instance in which
a Headquarters operational unit obtained toll billing records from the
Company C on-site analyst using the exigent letter process and then sought
an after-the-fact NSL from the NSLB.19! The Assistant General Counsel was

199 Laurie Bennett was the CXS Section Chief from August 2004 to April 2006.
John Lewis was the CTD DAD from May 2004 to June 2006.

191 After reviewing a draft of this report, Youssef’s attorney suggested that the
Assistant General Counsel’s April 26, 2005, e-mail was in response to a request from
Youssef for guidance. However, as described above, we determined through
(Cont’d.)

154


While no formal legal review of community of interest JJ was
undertaken by the FBI, the Assistant General Counsel stated that, “we had
generally allowed the CAU to do it because, as we understood it, their cases
are often more serious and involve immediate threats.” However, she said
she believed the community of interest feature was used by the CAU only in
urgent circumstances “where you don’t have time to do an investigation
kind of piece by piece.” The Assistant General Counsel stated, “The only
reason you do a in the very beginning is because you
don’t really have the time and you think the situation is serious enough that
you need to get that information right away.” She explained that NSLB had
approved the community of interest attachment for NSLs served on the
on-site providers based on a relevancy analysis that took into account the
immediacy and seriousness of the underlying threats for which the CAU

rovided operational support, rather than on a relevancy analysis of the
| telephone numbers that would Jj a
FBI General Counsel Caproni and NSLB Deputy General Counsel
Thomas told us that while the FBI has not issued written guidance on

community of interest [J requests, they concluded based on their own
legal analysis that community of interest [Poo
records could satisfy the ECPA relevance standard. Caproni stated that the
ECPA relevance requirement does not necessarily mean that only

HER «ecords are relevant to an investigation. Thomas also stated
that any relevance assessment of the Pe] telephone numbers
would be “very fact specific” and that, based on the nature of the [J target,
the ns records could be relevant under the ECPA.

In March 2007, after the OIG raised questions about community of

interest [J requests in connection with our ongoing exigent letters
oo the FBI directed its ee ae
In

April 2007, the Assistant General Counsel instructed all Chief Division
Counsels (CDC) in FBI field divisions to contact NSLB if they saw any
community of interest requests.©

68 CDCs in all 56 FBI field divisions report to the Special Agents in Charge of the
field division and are responsible for reviewing all NSLs prepared for the signature of the
Special Agent in Charge. The Assistant General Counsel stated in her April 9, 2007, e-mail
to the CDCs that NSLB had “opined to CAU that in certain situations, they can ask for and
obtain from the embedded carriers information on a Io of _ j

She stated that such requests must be made in the NSL attachment (which lists
the type of information the provider “may consider to be ‘toll billing records’,” not the body
(Cont’d.)

63


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implemented in January 2008 requires the user to enter the total number of
telephone numbers for which toll billing records are requested in each

NSL.66
3. Comune A’s Use of Community of Interest SE

Based on information provided by the on-site Company A analysts

and other information from Company A, we found that Company A’s on-site
analysts used the community of interest a

= services Company A provided to the FBI. One Company A analyst
estimated he may have used the community of interest a for up to

25 percent of the [I nc Company A records show that

from 2004 to 2007, Company A analysts used its community of interest
HER 0 review records in its database for 10,070
telephone numbers. We believe that most of these numbers were

by Company A analysts without community of interest requests from the

FBI but did not generate records that were provided to the FBI. A Company
A attorney told us, based on information provided to him, that the majority
of the community of interest | by the on-site Company A
analysts did not result in disclosure of any data to the FBI. However, we
found that Company A did not request and the FBI did not provide legal
process or exigent letters in connection with a A’s use of its

community of interest [J as part of its
services.

support

66 After reviewing a draft of this report, FBI officials told us that th ect
to add a feature to the automated system to capture data on a

numbers.

61


CHAPTER FOUR
THE FBI’S ATTEMPTS AT CORRECTIVE ACTIONS
REGARDING EXIGENT LETTERS

In this chapter we describe the FBI’s efforts at corrective action to
address the use of exigent letters, including the FBI’s efforts to provide legal
process to cover records [NEE and often acquired in response to exigent
letters or other informal requests. The chapter is divided into two time
periods: (1) the initial efforts from 2003 through October 2006; and (2) the
efforts, beginning in November 2006, after attorneys in the FBI Office of the
General Counsel (FBI OGC) National Security Law Branch (NSLB) learned
about “blanket NSLs” that Communications Analysis Unit (CAU) personnel
had drafted and Counterterrorism Division (CTD) officials had signed to
cover previously acquired telephone records.170

I. The FBI’s Attempts at Corrective Actions From 2003 through
October 2006

We determined that CAU personnel who issued exigent letters to the
on-site communications service providers for records or calling activity
information, or used other informal means for requesting records without
legal process, sometimes obtained after-the-fact legal process, such as
NSLs, to “cover” the original requests. However, as described in Chapter
Three of this report, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) does
not authorize the FBI to obtain such records unless it first serves
compulsory legal process, such as an NSL, or the provider makes a
voluntary production pursuant to Section 2702’s emergency disclosure
provision.!71 There is no provision in the ECPA authorizing the issuance of

170 FBI personnel first used the term “blanket NSL” in August 2006 to describe
certain after-the-fact NSLs prepared by CAU personnel and signed by CTD officials. We
also use that term in this report.

171 The ECPA NSL statute requires communications service providers to comply
with requests for telephone subscriber and toll billing records information if the Director or
his designee

certifies in writing . . . that the name, address, length of service, and toll
billing records sought are relevant to an authorized investigation to protect
against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities, provided
that such an investigation of a United States person is not conducted solely
on the basis of activities protected by the first amendment to the
Constitution of the United States.

(Cont’d.)

137


summary report from the database of all the data related to a particular
telephone number.

C. Community of Interest/Calling Circle

In addition, we found that the FBI often asked Company A’s on-site
employees what were termed “community of interest” or “calling
circle” These requests were conveyed to Company A in NSLs,
grand jury subpoenas, exigent letters, and e-mails. We determined that as
part of its contract with the FBI, on-site
Company A analysts used Company A’s community of interest

on records that were not identified in FBI
requests. However, the FBI did not maintain documentation of how often
these community of interest requests were made, and we could not
determine how often the FBI acquired records in response to these

|

1. Community of Interest

54


FBI to obtain ECPA-protected records by serving this type of informal letter
prior to getting the records, with “legal process to follow.”

In our first report, we noted that in limited circumstances, a separate
provision of the ECPA authorizes the FBI to obtain non-content telephone
records from communications service providers. From April 2003 through
March 2006 - the period when most of the exigent letters were issued — the
ECPA provision authorized a provider to voluntarily release toll records
information to a governmental entity if the provider “reasonably believe[d]
that an emergency involving immediate danger of death or serious physical
injury to any person justifie[d] disclosure of the information.”!2 However, for
several reasons we did not agree with the FBI’s after-the-fact argument that
the exigent letters could be justified under this provision. In fact, senior
CAU officials and FBI attorneys told us they did not rely at the time on the
emergency voluntary disclosure provision to authorize the exigent letters,
and we also found that the letters were sometimes used in non-emergency
circumstances.13

Il. Background on the FBI’s Use of Exigent Letters

A. Origins of Exigent Letters in the FBI’s New York Field
Division

As described in our first NSL report, the FBI initiated a criminal
investigation, referred to as PENTTBOM, immediately after the
September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. As a part of that investigation, the
FBI arranged to have a Company A fraud detection analyst located on-site at
the FBI’s New York Field Division to assist in providing and analyzing
telephone records associated with the September 11 hijackers and their
associates.

12 18 U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4) (Supp. 2002). In March 2006, the provision was amended
by the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 (Patriot Reauthorization
Act) to allow voluntary disclosure “if the provider, in good faith, believes that an emergency
involving danger of death or serious physical injury to any person requires disclosure
without delay of information relating to the emergency.” USA PATRIOT Improvement and
Reauthorization Act of 2005, Pub. L. No. 109-177, § 119(a), 120 Stat. 192 (2006).

13 OIG, NSL I, 96-97.

11


es

Some of the 722 exigent letters also had an attachment listing various
categories of records requested, such as subscriber information, —
data, and community of interest reports. However, we found that, as with
the case with NSLs that had similar attachments, the FBI did not
consistently obtain all records listed on the attachments to the exigent
letters.

Of the 722 exigent letters issued by the CAU, only 77 letters included
the date range for the request, which ranged
Several CAU SSAs and intelligence analysts told us that they
sometimes requested whatever records the communications service provider
had on a particular telephone number, regardless of the time
period.

In addition, employees of the on-site communications service
providers told us that CAU requesters would often come to their work
stations and tell them the specific records they needed and the date
parameters for their requests. When they did so, CAU personnel sometimes
provided exigent letters to cover the request at that time or at a later time if
responsive records were located. For example, we reviewed entries in the
on-site Company C employee’s log in which he noted references to
requested. However, the log also noted that the Company C employee only
needed an exigent letter for those instances in which he located responsive
records, not for all EE he

B. Counterterrorism Division’s and CAU’s Recognition of the
Use of Exigent Letters

The first document we identified relating to the FBI’s ability to obtain
telephone records from the three on-site communications service providers
without first serving legal process was a January 6, 2003, EC from the
Acting Unit Chief of the CAU that was distributed to all FBI divisions.34 It
described the CAU’s mission and processes, and stated that the CAU could
obtain telephone records in “exigent circumstances” and that “[a]ppropriate
legal authority (Grand Jury subpoena or NSL) must follow these requests.”

33 We describe community of interest requests in more detail below.

34 This EC predated the contracts between the FBI and the three communications
service providers.

28


In mid-January 2005, Thomas agreed to a proposal from the
Assistant General Counsel’s supervisor that two NSLB attorneys and a
paralegal serve as the NSLB points-of-contact for the CAU to prepare
after-the-fact NSLs to cover records obtained through exigent letters.

Also in January 2005, the Assistant General Counsel proposed a
solution to her NSLB supervisors, including Thomas, which she believed
would ensure that telephone numbers listed in exigent letter requests would
be relevant to open national security investigations. She proposed that CTD
operational units open generic preliminary national security investigations
(called “umbrella files”) for various types of recurring threats to the United
States.183 The Assistant General Counsel suggested that when CAU
personnel were asked by field divisions or FBI Headquarters to request
telephone records from the on-site providers in cases where there was no
open national security investigation to which the records were relevant, CAU
personnel would associate the telephone number with one of the open
umbrella files based upon the nature of the threat. As discussed below,
however, this umbrella file proposal was never implemented.184

On January 26, 2005, the Assistant General Counsel and the two
NSLB attorneys designated as the points of contact met with CAU personnel
to discuss their proposed assistance to the CAU. Both point-of-contact
attorneys told us that the umbrella file idea was discussed at the meeting

obtaining predication information from FBI requesters. In a November 2006 e-mail, the
Assistant General Counsel informed Caproni that Bowman had spoken to “higher ups to
make sure they understood that CAU needed more information when doing a request in
order for the request to allow for an NSL.” Bowman told us that he spoke with CTD DAD
John Lewis about the Assistant General Counsel’s concern, but did not raise the issue with
other FBI officials.

183 When the FBI opens an investigation, each investigation is assigned a unique
file number. If implemented, the Assistant General Counsel’s proposal would have resulted
in the assignment of a unique file number for each type of generic threat, such as threats
against transportation facilities, infrastructure, or special events. This file number would
then serve as the authorized national security investigation referred to by FBI personnel in
preparing the Electronic Communication (EC) seeking approval of after-the-fact NSLs.

184 The umbrella file proposal would have addressed only one aspect of the exigent
letter problem — the ECPA requirement that records sought in NSLs be relevant to
authorized national security investigations. See 18 U.S.C. § 2709(b). However, as
discussed in Chapter Six of this report, the core legal problem with exigent letters was that
the ECPA does not authorize the FBI to obtain telephone toll records unless it first serves
compulsory legal process such as an NSL, or the provider makes a voluntary production
pursuant to Section 2702’s emergency disclosure provision. Thus, even if there were
authorized investigations to which the records sought in exigent letters were relevant, this
legal problem would remain.

148


associated documents, repeatedly missed opportunities to halt the use of
exigent letters, did not work with CTD managers to ensure CAU personnel
were properly instructed on the FBI’s authorities to obtain telephone records
from the on-site providers, and signed improper after-the-fact NSLs.261

D. NSLB Assistant General Counsel

As described in this report, the NSLB Assistant General Counsel had
the most frequent contact with CAU personnel regarding exigent letters.
She was an FBI senior line attorney who was the NSLB point-of-contact for
NSL-related policies and issues. In that position, she was consulted when
field and Headquarters personnel, including Chief Division Counsels, had
questions about NSLs. She also was responsible for drafting NSL guidance,
preparing or overseeing the preparation of NSL training materials, preparing
congressionally mandated reports to Congress on NSL usage, and
evaluating the need for legislative amendments to the FBI’s NSL
authorities.

We determined that in December 2004, in connection with a request
for an after-the-fact NSL from a CAU SSA, the Assistant General Counsel
first learned that the CAU regularly used exigent letters to obtain telephone
records, that these exigent letters promised after-the-fact legal process, that
the CAU relied on field divisions to supply the after-the-fact legal process,
and that the field divisions often did not respond to the CAU’s requests for
after-the-fact legal process. In response, the Assistant General Counsel
promptly and appropriately notified her immediate supervisor and NSLB
Deputy General Counsel Thomas about this information. We also found
that she consistently kept both her immediate supervisor and Thomas
informed about her interactions with the CAU concerning exigent letters and
the problems the CAU was encountering in obtaining legal process after the
exigent letters were issued. She also periodically advised CAU Unit Chief
Youssef that she and the NSLB were available to assist the CAU in working
through exigent letters problems by making NSLB resources available to
assist with promptly drafting after-the-fact NSLs.

Yet, while the Assistant General Counsel generally kept her
supervisors informed of what she learned on a timely basis, she provided
inaccurate guidance to Youssef that “we are willing to allow these requests
when there really are exigent circumstances .. . only if it is clear... that
the requestor cannot await an NSL.” She also recommended to NSLB
Deputy General Counsel Thomas that the NSLB designate attorneys to

261 Thomas resigned from the FBI in December 2008.

235


that NSLs or other legal processes were required prior to such sneak peeks.
Bassem Youssef, who succeeded Rogers as the CAU Unit Chief, told us that
he had no “first-hand knowledge” of the sneak peek practice in the CAU
during his tenure. However, Youssef stated that the concept, as he came to
learn in 2007, was to indicate only whether the on-site providers had
responsive records on a telephone number.52

We also reviewed the Company C employee’s log and identified many
entries of database J for which the employee noted that there was
“no paper.” The log identified CAU requests such as “any calls between
these numbers in past month,” “any = calls during Dec 22-25, 2005
[for three domestic telephone numbers],” and “any [telephone calling]
activity [for three domestic telephone numbers].” The Company C employee
told us that “sometimes there was nothing said” by FBI personnel about the
reasons for sneak peek requests. The requesters sometimes just said, “here
is a sticky with numbers” and they would specify a date range.

E-mail records we examined from employees of the three on-site
communications service providers also showed that in response to sneak
peek requests, they confirmed whether the provider had records on an
identified telephone number. These e-mails also showed that the providers’
employees sometimes responded to these requests with additional
information about the calling activity by the identified telephone numbers.
For example, e-mail messages from the providers to CAU personnel often
included whether the telephone number belonged to a particular subscriber
or a synopsis of the call records, such as the number of calls to and from a
specific telephone number within certain date parameters, the area codes [J
a called, and call duration.53

The on-site Company C employee told us that he responded to
requests for sneak peeks “fairly frequently,” estimating that he responded to
such requests approximately 300 times (which represented nearly one-half
of all the requests he received from CAU personnel from April 2004 until
June 2007). The on-site Company B employee stated that sneak peeks

52 We asked Youssef about an August 8, 2006, entry in the Company C employee’s
log which listed Youssef as the CAU requester for a sneak peek involving four telephone
numbers. Youssef told us that he had no recollection of making such a request to the
Company C employee.

53 As described in Chapter Three of this report, sneak peeks were used by the FBI
in connection with a media leak matter in which the three on-site providers their
databases for calling activity of a reporter.

48


the use of exigent letters - which improperly combined a request for
voluntary production with a promise of future compulsory process - and she
also failed to identify the emergency voluntary disclosure statute as an
appropriate alternative to exigent letters in qualifying emergencies.

In June 2006, when Thomas received an e-mail informing her that the
Assistant General Counsel had sent a new version of a model exigent letter
to the CAU in May 2006, Thomas again allowed the practice of using exigent
letters to continue. The new version of the exigent letter promised that
NSLs (rather than grand jury subpoenas) would be issued in the future.
While the revised model exigent letter corrected an inaccurate statement in
the exigent letter about grand jury subpoenas, the revised letter still did not
ensure compliance with the ECPA’s requirements that either (1) the FBI
issue legal process in advance of obtaining records; or (2) the provider
produce records voluntarily in circumstances satisfying Section 2702’s
emergency voluntary disclosure provision. Consequently, the revised
exigent letter did not resolve the fundamental legal problem with the letters
under the ECPA.

In addition, we found that Thomas herself signed seven after-the-fact
NSLs in 2005. The ECPA does not authorize the issuance of retroactive
legal process, and such process would not validate an improper disclosure
of records under the ECPA. The NSLs and approval ECs also did not state
that the FBI had already acquired the records.

In evaluating Thomas’s overall performance we recognized that she
was also assigned to provide legal counsel to support many high-profile
threats that the FBI addressed during the period covered by our review.
Thomas told us that she regularly was involved with “the most emergent
issues that face the intelligence community.” She said she routinely dealt
with “life and death situations” that required immediate attention. Thomas
also said that soon after she was appointed NSLB Deputy General Counsel
in the fall of 2004, she “came to believe that the span of control of this
branch was beyond the capabilities of any human being.” She said that
starting in December 2004 she had requested that Section Chief positions
be established in the NSLB to assist her, but that this did not occur until
January or February 2008.

Yet, taking all these circumstances into account, we believe Thomas
inappropriately approved the use of the exigent letters practice and
after-the-fact NSLs, did not promptly review an exigent letter or direct
another attorney to review one, did not review the providers’ contracts and

234


B. The Work of the Communications Analysis Unit (CAU) and
the FBI’s Contracts with the Three Communications
Service Providers

As part of a reorganization of the CTD following the September 11
attacks, the FBI created the Communications Exploitation Section (CXS) in
2002. The mission of the CXS was to support the FBI’s investigative and
intelligence missions by analyzing terrorist communications. As noted in
Chart 2.1, one of the four units created within the CXS was the CAU.

14


Division had at times improperly issued administrative subpoenas in that
investigation. Following the FBI OGC’s review, in March 2009, the FBI General
Counsel ordered the Field Division to

immediately conduct a comprehensive review of the use of each
administrative subpoena issued in this case to determine whether
it was authorized pursuant to the above discussion, and if not, to
purge these records from FBI systems and the case file.

We agree with the FBI OGC’s analysis and conclusion regarding the issuance of
administrative subpoenas in the investigation.

During this investigation we also found that the FBI did not establish
sufficient internal controls of the use of administrative subpoenas in the CAU.
A CAU SSA who was not authorized to issue Title 21 administrative subpoenas
signed seven such subpoenas, and no one in the CAU or the J Field
Division recognized the improper use of this authority. Moreover, the FBI OGC
and CAU management were unaware that the CAU was using administrative
subpoenas to cover records acquired from exigent letters.

We found that the ECPA was violated when the FBI obtained
ECPA-protected telephone records in these matters without first issuing
appropriate legal process. The ECPA requires communications service
providers to disclose local and long distance non-content telephone records
“when [the FBI] uses an administrative subpoena authorized by a
Federal... statute... .” 18 U.S.C. § 2703(c)(2). However, the ECPA does not
authorize the FBI to obtain ECPA-protected records and then serve an
administrative subpoena. Accordingly, we believe that the FBI’s receipt of
records obtained prior to issuance of administrative subpoenas violated the
ECPA!69,

In Chapter Six of this report we provide recommendations designed to
ensure that all FBI personnel receive training and periodic guidance on the
FBI’s administrative subpoena authorities and the relationship between those
authorities and other federal statutes, including the ECPA, that govern the
FBI’s authority to seek telephone records.

169 The FBI has not asserted, and we found no evidence to support, that these were
emergency voluntary disclosures pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4).

135


The Pen Register Act, which authorizes court-ordered electronic
monitoring of non-content telephone calling activity, can be used to obtain
prospective calling activity information.23 The Pen Register Act authorizes the
installation of pen register and trap and trace devices in both criminal
investigations and also in national security investigations pursuant to the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).°* Pen registers identify outgoing
dialed telephone numbers, while trap and trace devices identify incoming
telephone numbers. Pen registers and trap and trace devices require court
orders (pen/trap orders) and are issued for a fixed period of time, not to exceed
60 days.

B. Hot Number

We found that Company A and Company C

During the period covered by our review, the FBI
identified 87 “hot numbers” for Company A to and at least 65 hot
numbers for Company C to IM. The FBI did not provide legal process to
Company A or Company C either before or after it identified the numbers and
received calling activity information.

We describe below details about the FBI’s acquisition of this information,
what the CAU Unit Chiefs and attorneys in the FBI Office of the General

Pen Register and Trap and Trace Devices, 632 F. Supp. 2d 202, 207 (E.D.N.Y. 2008) (granting
prospective cell site location information and stating the Stored Communications Act does not
preclude the ongoing disclosure of records to the government once they are created.

Recent cases have questioned whether any cell site location information — historical or
prospective — is available under the Stored Communications Act, or whether cell site location
information is excluded because the cell phone is then a “tracking device’ excluded under the
Act. The W.D. Pa. decision has been appealed, and the 3rd Circuit’s ruling will be the first
appellate decision on the issue. Prior to the appeal to the 3rd Circuit, the Department of
Justice concluded that prospective cell site location information was encompassed within the
terms of the FISA pen register provision, as amended by the Patriot Reauthorization Act.
However, the Department is awaiting the 3rd Circuit’s decision before pursuing this position
with the FISA Court.

°3 The Pen Register Act, which is part of the ECPA, authorizes the FBI to obtain court
orders for the real-time interception of outgoing or incoming telephone numbers to a target
telephone. See Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, Title III (“Pen Register Act”),
Pub. L. No. 99-508, codified as amended at 18 U.S.C. §§ 3121 - 27 (2000 & Supp. 2002). In
criminal cases, the courts are authorized to enter ex parte orders for pen registers or trap and
trace devices upon certification that the information likely to be obtained “is relevant to an
ongoing criminal investigation.” 18 U.S.C. § 3122(b)(2).

94 See 18 U.S.C. §§ 3121 - 27; 50 U.S.C. § 1842(e).

81


investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine
intelligence activities” and that any investigation of a U.S. person “is not
conducted solely on the basis of activities protected by the first
amendment.”296 After-the-fact legal process, no matter how soon after the
fact, is not authorized either by the ECPA NSL statute, the Attorney
General’s NSI Guidelines, or FBI policy. Additionally, none of the
after-the-fact NSLs cited the ECPA emergency voluntary disclosure statute
as authority for the previous

Although the CAU began to obtain after-the-fact legal process more
quickly, the backlog of records requests persisted. The backlog began
during Glenn Rogers’s tenure as CAU Unit Chief and continued after
Bassem Youssef became the CAU Unit Chief in November 2004. While some
after-the-fact NSLs were issued by FBI field and Headquarters divisions and
the NSLB to address the backlog, we found that neither Rogers nor Youssef
took appropriate steps to ensure that the CAU tracked or adequately
addressed the backlog. Neither supervisor ensured that FBI personnel who
had asked the CAU for records issued the appropriate NSLs or, if these
efforts were unsuccessful, alerted senior CTD managers to the problem. As
a result, by mid-2006 the FBI had a backlog of record requests for more
than 900 telephone numbers. In addition, neither Youssef nor any other
CAU personnel sufficiently informed NSLB attorneys of the full scope of the
problems the CAU was facing regarding the backlogged record requests.

The FBI attempted to address the backlog by issuing 11 blanket NSLs
that were designed to “cover” or validate telephone records that had been
provided to the FBI pursuant to exigent letters or other informal requests.
The FBI attached to the blanket NSLs signed by senior CTD officials lists
that included telephone numbers that had been IM by the on-site
providers as long as 3 years earlier.

However, these blanket NSLs were improper and flawed, and they did
not comply with the ECPA NSL statute, Attorney General’s NSI Guidelines,
and FBI policy. As noted above, the ECPA does not authorize the FBI to
cover the prior production of telephone records or ECPA-protected calling
activity information by issuing after-the-fact NSLs. In addition, the blanket
NSLs included telephone numbers relevant to criminal or domestic
terrorism investigations for which NSLs were not an authorized technique
under the ECPA NSL statute, the Attorney General’s NSI Guidelines, or FBI
policy. Additionally, the blanket NSLs were not accompanied by required
approval ECs, and most of them did not contain the required certifications

296 See 18 U.S.C. § 2709(b).

274


We concluded that after Bassem Youssef became the CAU Unit Chief
in November 2004, he took some steps to address the backlog of requests
for legal process from the on-site providers relating to exigent letters.
However, Youssef terminated the CAU’s Tracker Database in February 2005
after complaints from CAU staff that the system was “cumbersome.”
Youssef said that at the time he terminated use of the database, he did not
know that the CAU was obtaining records prior to service of legal process.
However, even after the time he acknowledged learning about the Company
B backlog he did not implement a process to maintain an accurate record at
the time they were made of the nature, number, and origin of the requests
to the on-site providers whether communicated by exigent letter, by
telephone, by e-mail, on pieces of paper, or through sneak peeks. The
failure to maintain such records was an internal control problem that
greatly complicated the FBI’s later efforts to determine whether it had a
basis to retain the records.

In addition, contrary to his suggestion, Youssef was not the first FBI
official to raise the issue of exigent letters to NSLB attorneys. We found that
NSLB attorneys, including Thomas, learned about the exigent letters
practice in December 2004. Further, we found that when Youssef first
spoke with the Assistant General Counsel on March 11, 2005, about
streamlining the NSL process, the Assistant General Counsel already was
aware that the CAU was obtaining records pursuant to exigent letters prior
to service of legal process. In fact, Youssef told us that he did not learn that
exigent letters were used by the CAU to obtain records from the on-site
providers, or that there was a significant backlog of promised legal process,
until some time after this meeting.?2°1

We concluded that several factors contributed to the FBI’s failure to
timely and effectively address the use of exigent letters. First, CAU Unit
Chief Rogers and his CTD supervisors approved the use of exigent letters
without first consulting FBI attorneys.

201 After reviewing a draft of this report, Youssef’s attorney stated that at the
March 11, 2005, meeting, Youssef was the first to tell the Assistant General Counsel that
the CAU’s receipt of records without legal process was wrong but that the Assistant General
Counsel did not provide him with any guidance or instruction to address the problem. As
we describe in this chapter, however, the Assistant General Counsel was already aware of
and concerned about the exigent letter problem before she met with Youssef, had already
made suggestions to her supervisors about the need for opening preliminary investigations
to support issuance of NSLs, and after the March 11 meeting provided guidance and
instruction to Youssef as she learned more about the exigent letter practice and attempted
to address it.

163


A third SSA, who signed 98 exigent letters, said he learned of exigent
letters from the Company A analyst shortly after he arrived at the CAU in
September 2003. The SSA said he read the exigent letter but was not
concerned with the reference to a subpoena being requested from the
U.S. Attorney’s Office. He said he assumed that the letter was a legitimate
document because he saw other CAU personnel using exigent letters. The
SSA also said that at one point either Rogers or a Company A analyst told
him not to change the language in the exigent letter because attorneys for
both Company A and the FBI had already agreed to the wording. This SSA
told us that exigent letters were typically prepared by employees of the
on-site communications service providers, who would forward the exigent
letters to him by e-mail for his signature at the same time they furnished
him the requested telephone data.*! He said that on other occasions one of
the intelligence analysts on his team would prepare the exigent letters. The
SSA told us that he was not concerned with whether an incoming request
was made pursuant to an open FBI investigation, because a case would
eventually be opened even if it lagged behind the exigent letter process.

This SSA also told us that he used exigent letters only under exigent
circumstances and that he would not sign his name to letters containing
false statements. When we asked him about the inaccurate statements in
the exigent letters that subpoenas had been submitted to the U.S.
Attorney’s Office, he said the language “did not make sense” since that
language did not reflect how the process to obtain records and to issue
after-the-fact legal process actually worked in the CAU. Yet, although he
said he thought at the time that the language in the exigent letters did not
make sense, he said he nevertheless signed the letters because he thought
the letter was accepted by the providers and was an established practice in
the CAU. He said his overriding concern was the fear that “something
would blow up in the U.S.” if he did not aggressively respond to requests for
telephone data in support of FBI terrorism investigations.

While most SSAs told us they believed exigent circumstances were
present when they signed the letters, we found contrary evidence regarding
some of these letters. For example, an SSA who signed 34 exigent letters
told us that he was “pretty sure” that some of the exigent letters he signed
when he first joined the CAU “could be questionable” in terms of whether
there were exigent circumstances. Another SSA who signed 61 exigent
letters said that Intelligence Analysts on this team would sometimes
describe the situations prompting the requests, but if he was busy, “they'll

#1 Other CAU personnel, documents, and e-mails confirmed that telephone records
were often provided to the FBI before exigent letters were issued.

35


assessment of the possible relevance of I) telephone numbers
to the underlying investigation. Absent such an assessment, we believe the
FBI did not satisfy the ECPA requirement to issue NSLs in national security
investigations only upon certification by those authorized to sign NSLs that the
records are relevant to authorized national security investigations.87 Moreover,
although we identified instances in which some community of interest
requests were limited to telephone numbers with a or from
—— we do not believe these limitations necessarily

satisfied the ECPA certification requirement or corresponding provisions of the
Attorney General’s NSI Guidelines and FBI policy.88

Third, FBI personnel who made the decisions to request community of
interest after reviewing MY records were not among the
officials to whom the FBI Director delegated authority under the ECPA to sign
NSLs. CAU Intelligence Analysts and SSAs are subordinate to the FBI officials
who are authorized to sign NSLs. Yet, after reviewing the

records, these subordinate FBI employees sometimes asked the on-site
Company A analysts to provide a records. We believe that if

the signers of the NSLs did not themselves determine that the
records were relevant to an authorized counterterrorism
investigation, the of the SG records would violate the

ECPA, even if the community of interest request was included in the NSL
attachment.

Fourth, when the FBI received digital records from Company A in
response to its community of interest — requests, the records did not
identify or otherwise distinguish toll cords

in
legal process or exigent letters. Moreover, the FBI uploaded responsive records
into 2 AEG atobase, and the FBI did not separate
records on the target numbers listed in legal process from the records —
and provided in response to community of interest requests. It is
therefore likely that the records of thousands of calls to and from

telephone numbers were uploaded into the

database without the required relevance assessment
by an authorized FBI official. Without additional research on these telephone

87 See 18 U.S.C. § 2709(b).

88 Limiting a community of interest [MJ request to calls to or from
numbers by itself is not necessarily a relevance assessment.
Similarly, limiting community of interest [J requests to the [NN calls froma
would not necessarily satisfy the ECPA relevancy requirement.

76


exigent letters presented to him by the CAU Intelligence Analysts without
requiring an explanation of the details if he was busy on other projects; and
(3) CAU Unit Chief Bassem Youssef and at least two SSAs who told us they
did not read the exigent letters closely or in detail, signed it “without looking
at it,” or “just glanced over it.” Nearly all of the SSAs also told us that their
primary concern each time they signed an exigent letter was to be
responsive to the demand for telephone toll billing records as quickly as
possible in order to support critical FBI investigations.

The exigent letters also stated that requests for a specific form of legal
process — “subpoenas” - had already been submitted to the U.S. Attorney’s
Office. In most cases, this was not true. As described in Chapter Four of
this report, in most cases the legal process issued after-the-fact to cover
exigent letters were NSLs issued by the FBI, not grand jury subpoenas.
However, most of the CAU SSAs we interviewed told us they did not know
whether grand jury subpoenas had been requested, although some
recognized that the letters inaccurately described the process for obtaining
grand jury subpoenas.

We sought to determine whether the signers of exigent letters knew
whether the statement that requests for grand jury subpoenas had been
submitted to the U.S. Attorney’s Office was false when they signed the
letters. One SSA who signed 139 exigent letters told us that although he
recognized that the exigent letters inaccurately stated that grand jury
subpoenas had been submitted, he signed the letters nonetheless because
he “thought it was all part of the program coming from the phone companies
themselves,” and he assumed the letters were approved by the
communications service providers’ attorneys.

Another SSA who signed 115 exigent letters said that he knew that
subpoenas had not been issued but signed the exigent letters anyway,
because he saw the letter used by other CAU personnel as a standard
practice and he received assurances from CAU Unit Chief Glenn Rogers that
the exigent letter was okay to use.

A third SSA who signed 98 exigent letters said he was not concerned
with the reference to subpoenas having been submitted to the U.S.
Attorney’s Office, although the language “did not make sense” because it did
not correctly reflect the procedure to obtain subpoenas. This SSA said he
“didn’t really have any reason to question” the letters because the letters
were accepted by the providers and were an established practice in the
CAU.

When we questioned other SSAs about their signing exigent letters

which inaccurately stated that grand jury subpoenas had already been
requested from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, they said that they did not pay

245


for NSLs imposing non-disclosure and confidentiality obligations on the
recipients. Finally, the after-the-fact blanket NSLs did not retroactively cure
any violations of the ECPA that occurred when the FBI requested and
received records without legal process and in the absence of a qualifying
emergency.

2. Corrective Actions after the OIG’s First NSL Report

By contrast, after the FBI received the OIG’s first NSL report it began
to take appropriate steps to address the improper use of exigent letters and
other informal requests for telephone records. In March 2007, the FBI OGC
issued guidance directing that FBI personnel no longer use exigent letters.
The guidance explained the distinctions between the FBI’s authority to
compel the production of ECPA-protected records or to request emergency
voluntary disclosures. The guidance made clear the legal avenues that were
available to FBI investigators who seek to obtain telephone records,
including a description of the legal basis for emergency voluntary disclosure
requests. In June 2007, the FBI issued comprehensive guidance to all FBI
personnel regarding the FBI’s NSL authorities.

In 2007 and 2008, the FBI conducted three audits to assess the
extent of its errors in NSL usage. The FBI reviews generally confirmed the
OIG’s findings in its first NSL report as to the types of errors made by FBI
agents in their use of NSL authorities as well as the unauthorized
collections caused by third parties who provided the FBI with information
that was not requested.

In December 2007 and January 2008, the employees of the three
on-site providers moved out of the FBI. These moves were also
accompanied by changes in the FBI’s protocols for obtaining telephone
records from the three providers.

Additionally, the FBI developed a process to determine whether to
retain or purge telephone records obtained through exigent letters and those
listed in blanket NSLs. As part of this process, the FBI reviewed records for
the 4,379 unique telephone numbers listed in exigent letters and the 11
blanket NSLs to determine whether there was a basis to justify retention of
the records. In deciding whether to retain records based on the results of
that research, the FBI developed a 5-step “decision tree” based upon the two
ECPA authorities for obtaining telephone records. Since the ECPA does not
authorize the FBI to compel the production of ECPA-protected records with
a promise of future legal process, the FBI’s decision tree was used by the
FBI not as a basis for the original record requests, but as a basis upon
which to analyze whether the FBI would retain the records.

275


General Counsel told us that her intent was to make sure that if the CAU
was “going to use exigent letters at all, this [the revised letter] is the
document [they] need to use.”204

On June 15, 2006, the Assistant General Counsel forwarded a copy of
the revised exigent letter to Thomas, her immediate supervisor and other
FBI OGC attorneys, and she informed them that she had drafted similar
exigent letters for each of the on-site providers. The e-mail stated that she
had changed the letter that the CAU had been using, which referred to a
grand jury subpoena and not an NSL.

Thomas did not object to the revised exigent letter. She told us that
she did not recall receiving the e-mail and that she had no recollection of
the e-mail.

3. Three Blanket NSLs
(May, July, and September 2006)

On May 17, 2006, the OIG interviewed the Assistant General Counsel
in connection with our first NSL review. During the interview, she told us
about the CAU’s use of exigent letters. This was the first time we
questioned her, or anyone else in the FBI, about exigent letters.

Following the interview that same day, the Assistant General Counsel
sent an e-mail to Youssef with copies to other CTD and NSLB personnel.
The e-mail stated that the Assistant General Counsel had discussed with
the OIG the difficulty that the CAU had experienced in obtaining prompt
issuance of NSLs to the on-site communications service providers after
receipt of records. She wrote that she had represented to the OIG, “as you
have represented to me, that the problem appears to be resolved” and that
the operational units were issuing the NSLs.

Youssef acknowledged receipt of the e-mail the following day, May 18,
writing, “thank you for volunteering our names.” He added in the e-mail
that he was only kidding and that “an [OIG] interview would be welcome at
any time.”

204 Like the original exigent letter, the revised model exigent letter promised future
legal process, which we concluded circumvented the ECPA’s requirements that either (1)
the FBI issue legal process in advance of obtaining records, or (2) the provider produce
records voluntarily in circumstances satisfying Section 2702’s emergency voluntary
disclosure provision.

167


e The FBI determined that records for 404 telephone numbers (18
percent) would be purged from FBI databases because the
records did not qualify for retention under the categories
described in the decision tree.

e The FBI determined that there were no records in FBI databases
for 131 telephone numbers (6 percent), and therefore no further
action was required as to these records.

Thus, with respect to the exigent letters, the FBI determined that it
would retain records for 1,687 telephone numbers, that it had no
information in its databases for 131 telephone numbers, and that it would
purge records relating to 404 telephone numbers.

b. Actions Regarding the 11 Blanket NSLs

The FBI determined that the 11 blanket NSLs together listed an
additional 2,157 unique telephone numbers. As with the telephone
numbers listed in the exigent letters, the FBI used the decision tree
described above to decide whether it will retain records for these additional
telephone numbers.

Regarding the 11 blanket NSLs, the FBI has taken the following
actions to date:

Company B May 12, Company C July 5, and Company A
September 21 blanket NSLs (831 unique telephone numbers):

e The FBI determined that legal process existed for 99 telephone
numbers (12 percent), and the FBI decided that it will retain
these records.

« The FBI determined that there were open national security
investigations to which records for 215 telephone numbers (26
percent) were relevant at the time of the requests, and there are
currently open national security investigations to which the

primarily on the emergency disclosure provision in its reconciliation project. Nevertheless,
the FBI asserted that “a substantial number” of the records were produced in qualifying
emergencies. We agree with the FBI that the lack of documentation of the requests and the
circumstances under which they were made makes reliance on Section 2702 problematic.
As described in Chapter Six, the lack of documentation and other factors made it difficult
for the OIG or the FBI to determine reliably whether and which requests without legal
process were made in qualifying emergencies.

203


a. FBI Review Team

To determine which records to retain, under the overall direction of
NSLB Deputy General Counsel Thomas, the FBI assigned teams of
attorneys, Supervisory Special Agents, Special Agents, and Intelligence
Analysts to review the 2,222 unique telephone numbers listed in the exigent
letters and the 2,157 additional unique telephone numbers listed in the 11
blanket NSLs.

The CTD selected an Acting Assistant Section Chief from one of its
operational units to lead the FBI’s analytical efforts, under the guidance of
three NSLB attorneys. The Assistant Section Chief had extensive experience
in both counterterrorism investigations and in the use of NSLs. CTD
Intelligence Analysts who were also experienced in counterterrorism
investigations assisted in this effort. During its peak, the Assistant Section
Chief’s team utilized 19 Intelligence Analysts and 7 support personnel. The
team’s effort was also supported in September and October 2007 by
Intelligence Analysts based at an FBI facility in Idaho, who searched the
FBI’s databases for information relevant to the analysis.

The review team gave the NSLB attorneys summaries of information
collected on each telephone number, along with the team’s recommendation
as to whether the records should be retained by the FBI or purged. NSLB
attorneys evaluated the data collected on each telephone number and made
a determination as to whether they concurred with the team’s
recommendation.

b. FBI “Decision Tree”

In making its determinations on record retention, the FBI developed a
5-step analytical process, referred to by FBI OGC attorneys as the “decision
tree,” to assess whether the FBI would retain records obtained in response
to exigent letters or after-the-fact blanket NSLs. The FBI OGC created
Diagram 4.2 to illustrate the steps in its analysis:

193


We also determined that the telephone records received by the CAU
were routinely uploaded into the ita oabase
without being compared to the FBI’s original request. The CAU employee in
charge of the CAU team that uploaded the records told us that there was no
mechanism in place to verify that the records were for the target telephone
numbers and within the date ranges specified in the original request. He
also stated that his team did not receive a copy of the FBI’s original request.
The team therefore was not in position to check whether any information
had been mistakenly supplied to the FBI or had been mistakenly requested
due to FBI errors. Several CAU SSAs and Intelligence Analysts told us that
they sometimes informally checked the records to see whether the records
matched the requests, but none of these individuals said there was any
formal protocol requiring such a review.5&

After the CAU team uploaded the records to the
HE) database, a CAU employee would deliver the CD to the CAU
requester, who was responsible for forwarding the CD to the FBI field or
Headquarters’ operating unit that had initiated the request. The CD
containing records was considered by the CAU to be the “original”
evidence.

The results of the CAU’s analysis are used to create documents called
“trace reports” or “J reports” that were normally forwarded to requesters
as attachments to an EC. However, field office requesters sometimes
preferred to conduct their own analysis and would specify that the CAU not
perform any analytical work. In these instances, the CAU sent requesters a

56 In response to our first NSL report, the FBI OGC directed that FBI case agents
ensure that, in the future, the records obtained in response to NSLs match the NSL
requests. The CAU’s policy now requires CAU requesters to certify to the database manager
by e-mail that responsive records have been verified as accurately encompassing both the
target telephone numbers and date ranges specified in the NSLs.

53


284 Under 18 U.S.C. § 2709(b) the FBI may only issue NSLs to obtain such records
upon the certification that the records sought are relevant to an authorized
counterterrorism or counterintelligence investigation. In the voluntary context, the FBI
may request and obtain such records under 18 U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4) only if “the provider, in
good faith, believes that an emergency involving danger of death or serious physical
injury to any person requires disclosure without delay of information relating to the
emergency.”

285 For example, requests for voluntary disclosure under the emergency
circumstances provisions of the ECPA NSL statute must be approved at a level not lower
than an Assistant Special Agent in Charge in a field office and a Section Chief at
Headquarters. See FBI OGC Electronic Communication (EC) to all Divisions (March 1,
2007), at 4. The EC also advises that approval of such requests must be in writing, even if
the initial approval was oral. The rank of the approving official for NSLs is set by statute at
Special Agent in Charge in field offices and Deputy Assistant Director at Headquarters. See
18 U.S.C. § 2709(b).

286 Under the ECPA NSL statute, the FBI is required to report to certain
congressional committees, on a semiannual basis, concerning all NSL requests made under
Section 2709(b). See 18 U.S.C. § 2709(e).

287 Moreover, other collections of similar types of records for intelligence activities
contain statutorily mandated approval, minimization, and reporting requirements. For

example, the FISA business records provisions provide useful comparisons as to how such
intelligence activities are regulated, AIC (scr

these provisions, the FBI may apply to the FISA Court for an order requiring the production
(Cont’d.)

266


numbers, the FBI is unable to identify which records are associated with
numbers and whether those numbers were relevant to the
underlying investigations for which they were requested.

Fifth, when Company A [ij its community of a to

review telephone numbers as part of its services
in the absence of specific P| requests from the FBI, the on-site Company A
analysts sometime provided to the FBI information pertaining to a subscriber
or a customer of its service. This also appears to violate the ECPA statute,
which prohibits communications service providers from divulging “a record or
other information pertaining to a subscriber to or customer of such service...
to any governmental entity.” See 18 U.S.C. § 2702(a)(3).

Finally, FBI e-mails indicate that in late 2004 FBI OGC attorneys became

aware of but did not object to community of interest [J requests for

telephone numbers. In May 2006, these attorneys also
approved use of a boilerplate attachment for NSLs served on the on-site
providers. This attachment listed community of interest records and 17 other
types of information that “may be considered by [the providers] to be toll billing
records.” Although FBI General Counsel Caproni and NSLB Deputy General
Counsel Thomas concluded that community of interest [J requests for

telephone numbers could satisfy the ECPA relevance
standard such that the FBI would not have to issue separate NSLs for the

records, the FBI did not issue written guidance on when
such requests were appropriate. In March 2007, on the advice of the FBI OGC,
the CTD directed that such requests

In November 2007, the FBI OGC and the CTD generated draft
that incorporates the principle that the

Although this
guidance has not yet been finalized, current FBI policy as stated in the
Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (DIOG) requires that the NSLB
Deputy General Counsel approve community of interest requests and that
—— telephone numbers for which information has been obtained
be reported to NSLB for congressional reporting purposes. In addition, the

DIOG requires that the NSL approval EC demonstrate the relevance of
Pe information to the national security investigation.

77


In reviewing the FBI’s responsibility for exigent letters and other
improper requests for telephone records and the performance of FBI
personnel involved in the practices covered in this review, we recognize that
the FBI was confronting major organizational and operational challenges
during the period covered by our review. As we noted in our first NSL
report, following the September 11 attacks the FBI overhauled its
counterterrorism operations, expanded its intelligence capabilities, and
began to upgrade its information technology systems. Throughout the
4-year period covered by this review, the CTD also was responsible for
resolving hundreds of threats each year, some of which, such as bomb
threats or threats to significant national events, needed to be evaluated
quickly. Many of these threats, whether linked to domestic or international
terrorism, resulted in a large number of high-priority requests to the CAU
for analysis of telephone communications associated with the threats, which
was the CAU’s core mission.

Members of the FBI’s senior leadership told us that they placed great
demands on the CAU and other Headquarters’ units. The FBI Director
stated that he placed “tremendous pressure” on CTD personnel to respond
to terrorism threats. Other senior FBI officials stated that there were
countless “hair on fire” days when Headquarters personnel worked through
nights and on weekends to determine whether information the FBI received
from various sources presented threats to the United States. Indeed, some
of the exigent letters and other improper practices we describe in this report
were used to obtain telephone records that the FBI used to evaluate some of
the most serious terrorist threats posed to the United States in the last few
years. In our view, these circumstances do not excuse the management and
performance failures we describe in this report, but they provide important
context to the events that led to the serious abuses we found in this
review.

We also believe the management failures we described do not explain
all the deficiencies we found in this review. In this review, we concluded
that FBI supervisors and attorneys did not take sufficient action to prevent
or promptly correct the improper use of exigent letters and other informal
requests for telephone records. We also concluded that the performance of
some FBI employees who signed letters that were inaccurate on their face
was not in accord with the high standards expected of FBI and other law
enforcement personnel.

First, we found that Glenn Rogers, the CAU’s first Unit Chief,
authorized the CAU’s use of exigent letters without proper legal review by
the NSLB, and failed to ensure that the personnel assigned to the CAU
received proper guidance on national security investigations and using
NSLs. Rogers also personally signed 12 exigent letters without making an
effort to confirm that exigent letters were appropriate for use by the CAU in

281


We then determined that Company A gave CAU personnel responsive
records within approximately 1 week of service of the subpoenas and that an
on-site Company A analyst e-mailed the records to the case agent. We asked
the administrator of the i database to identify
any records uploaded in response to the subpoenas. With the database
administrator’s assistance, we determined that toll billing records on the target
numbers listed in the subpoenas were uploaded into the database. However.
we found no evidence that the FBI received or uploaded an
telephone records

We also found no evidence that reporters’ records were ever provided to the FBI
in response to (he [TTT s.ipocnas.1°
Because of the

during the time period specified in the subpoenas and
the fact that the Department had issued subpoenas for a

HE records for this time period that would have included reporters’ records,
the OIG also raised with the Criminal Division and other Department officials
the question whether notification of the reporters was required under 28 C.F.R.
§ 50.10(g)(3). As described above, that regulation requires that if telephone toll
billing records of reporters are subpoenaed without the required advance
notice, the affected reporter must be notified “as soon thereafter as it is
determined that such notification will no longer pose a . . . substantial threat to
the integrity of the investigation” and, in any event, within 45 days of any
return in response to the subpoena. !4!

The Criminal Division and the OIG asked the Department’s Office of
Legal Counsel (OLC) to opine on the question when the notification provision in
the regulation would be triggered. OLC concluded in an informal written
opinion dated January 15, 2009, that the notification requirement would be
triggered if, using an “objective” standard and

based on the totality of the circumstances, a reasonable
Department of Justice official responsible for reviewing and
approving such subpoenas would understand the language of the
subpoenas to call for the production of the reporters’ telephone toll

141 28 C.F.R. § 50.10(g)(3).

112


issued blanket NSLs without approval ECs. These efforts included the
CTD’s preparation of draft memoranda reporting possible intelligence
violations to the FBI OGC; the FBI OGC’s notification to the President’s
Intelligence Oversight Board (IOB) of an intelligence violation; the issuance
of new guidance in March 2007 clarifying the FBI’s authority to request
telephone subscriber and toll billing records information; mandatory NSL
training for FBI employees; relocation of the communications service
providers’ employees; and the FBI’s analysis of whether it will retain records
acquired in response to exigent letters and the blanket NSLs.

A. FBI OGC Learns of Blanket NSLs

As described above in connection with the Company B May 12 NSL,
the Assistant General Counsel sent an e-mail to Youssef and other CTD and
NSLB personnel regarding what she had told the OIG during her May 17,
2006, interview concerning problems the CAU had experienced in issuing
NSLs. The Assistant General Counsel sent Youssef a follow-up e-mail on
August 2, 2006, in which she asked Youssef whether there was any backlog
of requests for which the FBI had received information but not yet issued an
NSL. In his e-mail response dated August 3, 2006, Youssef stated that Billy
had signed a “blanket NSL” for the “backlogged requests.”224

On August 3 and on August 8, 2006, the Assistant General Counsel
sent e-mails to Youssef requesting a copy of the NSL and approval EC that
Youssef said Billy had signed in his August 3 e-mail but she received no
reply from Youssef. NSLB attorneys took no further action regarding the
Company B May 12 NSL until November 2006. On November 7, 2006, in
connection with a meeting FBI General Counsel Caproni had scheduled that
day with the OIG concerning a draft of our first NSL report, the Assistant
General Counsel forwarded Youssef’s August 3, 2006, e-mail about the
Company B May 12 NSL to Caproni. The Assistant General Counsel wrote
to Caproni, “I presume that Bassem [Youssef] told OIG about it so I thought
you ought to know about it.”

Caproni forwarded the e-mail to Billy and asked him whether he
recalled signing a blanket NSL. Billy responded that he did not recall
“signing anything blanket.” On November 8, 2006, Caproni forwarded
Billy’s response to the Assistant General Counsel and asked her whether
she could “unravel this.” Also on November 8, the Assistant General

224 Although Youssef’s e-mail did not further describe this NSL, Youssef told us that
he was referring to the Company B May 12 NSL.

186


without legal process, Company B and Company C employees J their
databases for the telephone records of the reporter’s cellular phone calling
activity. 142

2. The Leak Investigation (U)

An FBI Special Agent participated in an interview of a witness relating to
the potential leak of information to a reporter. Based on information that was
provided by the witness, the Special Agent sought additional information from
the on-site analyst from Company A.

a. The Subpoena for

The Special Agent served a grand jury subpoena on an on-site
Company A analyst for the toll billing records of a To
generate the subpoena, the Special Agent had faxed a subpoena request form
to an administrative support employee in a U.S. Attorney’s Office who was
responsible for preparing subpoenas for a related investigation.143 The Special
Agent’s subpoena request stated that a prosecutor assigned to the investigation

would draft the attachment to the subpoena. The Special Agent noted on the

facsimile cover sheet accompanying the subpoena request form, “We need
Compary A ara

As a result of the request, the subpoena, on its face, requested
re The subpoena contained no limiting

date range.

The Special Agent served the subpoena by facsimile on an on-site
Company A analyst. A cover letter addressed to Company A that accompanied
the subpoena was signed by a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, but the
subpoena itself did not bear his signature or initials.

The Special Agent told us that he was “probably directed” to request the
subpoena by his supervisor or one of the prosecutors associated with the
related investigation. However, the prosecutors and the Special Agent’s
supervisor told us they did not recall approving the subpoena or discussing it
with the Special Agent. The prosecutors said they did not know how the
subpoena came to be issued.

142 As with the second matter, pursuant to Rule 6(e) we have excluded grand jury
information, including any identifying details about the leak under investigation, from this
summary.

143 The Special Agent who made the subpoena request was not assigned to the related
investigation.

115


employees, the types of J that Company A analysts performed for the
FBI were: (S)

e | community of interest | (described later in

this chapter), when requested;

e alerting CAU requesters if the Company A analysts noticed that
the data reflected indicators that _ make it a priority (such

as calls to or from a

>

e evaluating telephone data to eliminate unnecessary follow-up
on telephone numbers that were of no investigative value;
and

e preparing visual presentations such as Hi charts showing
communication between telephone numbers of
interest.

The FBI’s contract with Company A significantly exceeded the scope of
the services that were provided to the FBI by Company B and Company C.
From 2003 to March 2007, the FBI paid Company A more than
under this contract.

In 2003, the FBI entered into a contract with Company C under which
an on-site Company C employee assigned exclusively to service the CAU’s
requests provided toll records to the FBI on an expedited basis. From April
2004 to September 2008, the FBI has paid Company C over —
under this contract. Similar to the Company A contract, the Company C

addition, the on-site Company C employee told us that he could provide to
the FBI subscriber data, which consisted of names and addresses of
Company C customers. Company C’s contract proposal stated that it would
maintain ( of telephone data storage.2”

In 2004, the FBI entered into a contract with Company B, under
which Company B agreed to provide the CAU with the same types of records
it would provide to the FBI in response to an NSL. These records included:
(1) subscriber and billing information, which included telephone numbers

27 The on-site Company C employee told us in 2007 that in some instances
Company C could provide records IIIa

22


that they discussed issues concerning the emergency records requests CAU
personnel had been receiving, including the fact that CAU personnel were
given little information about the requests. In an e-mail to Thomas on
January 6 shortly after the meeting, the Assistant General Counsel reported
that Rogers and the SSA told her they were “inundated” with emergency
requests, including requests from Gary Bald, the Executive Assistant
Director of the FBI’s National Security Branch. She stated they told her that
in response to Bald’s requests, the CAU would obtain records from the
on-site providers “with very little background as to why the telephone
number is important.” The Assistant General Counsel informed Thomas
that she told Rogers and the SSA that they should tell Bald that they needed
more information about the requests and that they could tell Bald that
NSLB attorneys required predication for obtaining the information. The
Assistant General Counsel added in her e-mail, “But I know that’s not going
to happen.”181

Bald confirmed to us that he often requested information regarding
telephone numbers from the CAU. He said that the CAU provided valuable
information and that he had repeatedly encouraged his subordinates in CTD
operational units to utilize the CAU and the on-site providers’ resources.
However, he said he was unaware of the procedures the CAU used to
comply with his requests. He said he did not know that the CAU used
exigent letters and assumed that NSLs were issued to the providers prior to
release of information to the FBI. He also said he was never told that the
on-site providers were providing information to the CAU before they received
an NSL.

In her January 6 e-mail to Thomas, the Assistant General Counsel
proposed that NSLB personnel be made available to the CAU to help get
NSLs signed quickly after the FBI acquired records from the on-site
providers in emergency situations. She acknowledged that under her
proposal the CAU would still receive records prior to issuance of the NSLs,
but stated that her plan would ensure that NSLs would be issued “very
shortly after” any information was provided.182

facilitate his attendance. However, Youssef did not attend and later apologized for missing
the meeting.

181 Thomas told us that while she did not recall this particular e-mail and did not
speak with Bald about this issue, she agreed with the Assistant General Counsel’s advice.
She said that on numerous occasions she has provided similar advice to FBI Personnel so
that “they can use the lawyers as the fall guy’.”

182 The Assistant General Counsel also informed Marion Bowman, who had
previously served as NSLB Deputy General Counsel, of her concern that the CAU was not
(Cont’d.)

147


one NSL for then-DAD Billy’s signature. The SSA told us that he discussed
his idea with Youssef and that Youssef agreed with the proposal. The SSA
also stated that when Youssef agreed with the concept, he appeared “quite
giddy about getting the books cleared up.”

Youssef also said to us that this SSA proposed to him the idea of the
Company B May 12 NSL. Youssef stated that the SSA told him he had
discussed the issue of obtaining individual after-the-fact NSLs with the CTD
operational unit and had been told that it would “take forever” to get the
NSLs. Youssef added that the SSA told him that if all the telephone
numbers were put in one NSL, Billy would sign it. Youssef said to us that at
first he resisted the idea because he did not want to create a precedent of
having the CAU draft NSLs, since that was the operational unit’s job.
However, he said that the SSA suggested that they draft the NSL “to be
cooperative,” and therefore Youssef agreed. Youssef also stated that within
a few weeks or maybe a month or two from that conversation the SSA
informed Youssef that the NSL had been signed.

The SSA told us that he used as a model for the blanket NSL, a copy
of an NSL provided by a CAU Intelligence Analyst on his team. He said the
process of drafting the NSL and getting it signed took about 2 weeks. The
SSA later learned that the NSL that he used as a model was outdated and
did not contain the certification required by the USA PATRIOT Improvement
and Reauthorization Act of 2005 (Patriot Reauthorization Act) concerning
imposition of non-disclosure and confidentiality requirements on NSL
recipients.207

The Company B May 12 NSL also was not accompanied by any
approval EC. An approval EC is the document routinely generated by FBI
agents seeking approval to issue NSLs. FBI policy requires approval ECs to
describe the underlying national security investigation to which the NSL
relates and, in the case of NSLs seeking telephone records, the relevance of
the telephone number to that investigation. The SSA told us that he did not
prepare or ask others to prepare an approval EC for the Company B May 12
NSL because he did not think it was necessary. Youssef also told us that

207 Section 116 of the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005,
Pub. L. No. 109-177, 120 Stat. 192 (2006) states that if the FBI seeks to impose
non-disclosure and confidentiality obligations on NSL recipients, the FBI Director or his
designee must certify that disclosure of the FBI’s demand for information might result in
danger to the national security of the United States; interference with criminal,
counterterrorism, or counterintelligence investigations; interference with diplomatic
relations; or danger to the life or physical safety of any person.

170


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The FBI data also shows that 244 telephone numbers were covered by grand
jury subpoenas, which were issued after-the-fact for 201 of the numbers.

In Table 4.3 we summarize the review team’s final determinations on

the retention of records for the 4,379 unique telephone numbers, and in the
sections that follow we describe these determinations in more detail.

197


obtained the records. The FBI received the records prior to issuing the
subpoenas, which violated the ECPA.

In the sections that follow, we describe these improper uses of the FBI’s
administrative subpoena authority.

A. The FBI’s Administrative Subpoena Authority

The Attorney General is authorized to issue administrative subpoenas in
connection with the investigation of certain controlled substances (narcotics)
offenses and offenses involving sexual abuse or exploitation of children and
health care fraud.!61 Title 21, Section 876(a), of the U.S.C. provides that “in
any investigation relating to his functions under this chapter with respect to
controlled substances . . . the Attorney General may . . . require the production
of any records . . . which the Attorney General finds relevant or material to the
investigation.”162

The Attorney General has delegated authority to issue Title 21
administrative subpoenas to the FBI Director, who in turn has delegated the
authority to FBI Special Agents in Charge, Assistant Special Agents in Charge,
Senior Supervisory Resident Agents, and “those FBI Special Agent Squad
Supervisors who have management responsibilities over Organized Crime/Drug
Program investigations.”!63 This authority may not ordinarily be
re-delegated.164

Finally, the ECPA recognizes an exception to the prohibition against
divulging “a record or other information pertaining to a subscriber to or
customer of such service . . . when the governmental entity uses an
administrative subpoena authorized by a Federal or State
statute... .”165

161 See 21 U.S.C. § 876 (narcotics) and 18 U.S.C. § 3486 (sexual abuse or exploitation
of children and health care).

162 21 U.S.C. § 876(a). The FBI’s Manual of Investigative Operations and Guidelines
(MIOG) has a corresponding provision stating that any Title 21 subpoena for the production of
records must be relevant to a controlled substances investigation. MIOG, Pt. I § 281-7.1

163 See 28 C.F.R. § 0.85; see also Criminal Investigative Division, electronic
communication to all field divisions, Procedure and Operational Issuances, Criminal
Investigative Division; Administrative Subpoenas; Proposed Change in the Manual of
Investigative Operations and Guidelines, May 1, 2007.

164 Id.
165 18 U.S.C. § 2703(c)(2).

130


although some said they recognized that the letters inaccurately described
the process for obtaining grand jury subpoenas. Some CAU employees
explained their signing the letters by stating they “thought it was all part of
the program coming from the phone companies themselves,” and they
assumed the letters were approved by the FBI or communications service
providers’ attorneys. Another CAU employee said that he knew that
subpoenas had not been issued but signed the exigent letters anyway
because he saw the letter used by other CAU personnel as a standard
practice and he received assurances from CAU Unit Chief Rogers that the
exigent letter was okay to use. Other CAU employees said they said that
they did not pay much attention to and were not concerned about the
reference to a grand jury subpoena. Still others told us that when they
signed the letters they did not know for sure what type of after-the-fact legal
process would be used by the field division or Hedquarters unit that
initiated the request. Others said that they considered the reference to
grand jury subpoenas to broadly include all categories of legal process, such
as NSLs. And others told us that they never read the exigent letters closely
enough to notice any of the statements they contained.

It is important to recognize several mitigating factors regarding these
CAU signers of exigent letters. For example, CAU Unit Chief Rogers and the
NSLB approved the use of exigent letters, the FBI failed to train CAU
personnel on the authorized means of requesting records from the on-site
providers, and the communications service providers readily accepted the
exigent letters.

However, we believe that none of these factors excuses FBI employees
who signed an exigent letter from not making the effort to confirm the
factual accuracy of the letter or, knowing the letter was inaccurate, not
raising concerns about the letter’s accuracy to FBI supervisors. Simply put,
we do not believe employees of the FBI should sign their names to letters
making a statement that is not true, even if the letters are approved by
management, sanctioned by FBI attorneys, part of an established practice,
or accepted by the recipients.

We also recognize that a few SSAs raised concerns about the exigent
letters to their supervisor, CAU Unit Chief Rogers, and that he instructed
them to continue using the letters without changing the wording. Even in
this circumstance, we believe that FBI employees confronted with this
problem had options other than to simply sign the letters. They could have
sought further guidance from more senior managers in the FBI, either
directly or anonymously. They could have complained to a senior CTD
official or the FBI Inspection Division. They could have contacted the OIG.
None of them took any of these steps. Instead, they continued to sign
inaccurate exigent letters.

284


retroactive legal process.!72 Therefore, after-the-fact NSLs would not cure a
prior improper receipt of records under the ECPA.

As described below, from 2003 through October 2006 CAU Unit Chief
Glenn Rogers and his successor Bassem Youssef took steps to request the
issuance of after-the-fact NSLs from FBI operating divisions to cover these
records. Because the CAU was an operational support unit, CAU personnel
did not conduct investigations. CAU personnel were not authorized to issue
NSLs. The unit therefore depended on field or Headquarters divisions to
prepare and issue the after-the-fact NSLs. However, the operating divisions
often did not respond quickly and sometimes did not respond at all to the
CAU’s requests for after-the-fact NSLs. As a result, during Rogers’s tenure
as CAU Unit Chief, a backlog developed of requests for legal process for
records that had been provided by the on-site communications service
providers at the CAU’s request. We determined that Rogers did little to
address the backlog. After Rogers left and Youssef became the Unit Chief in
November 2004, Youssef began taking steps in approximately April 2005 to
address the backlog of legal process owed to one provider, but did not
recognize or begin to address the backlog for the other providers until
October 2005.

The FBI OGC also became involved in addressing the exigent letters
practice during this time period. We found that in December 2004, NSLB
attorneys in the FBI OGC became aware of the CAU’s use of exigent letters
and its difficulty in obtaining prompt after-the-fact NSLs from the operating
divisions. However, NSLB attorneys failed to direct that the CAU end the
practice of issuing exigent letters with the promise of legal process until
March 2007, following release of the OIG’s first NSL report.

Moreover, beginning in January 2005, NSLB attorneys themselves
became involved with the CAU in issuing after-the-fact NSLs to cover the
records acquired in response to exigent letters. The NSLB attorneys also
attempted to initiate a process that would ensure prompt issuance of
after-the-fact NSLs predicated on open national security investigations.
However, this effort was ineffective because the issuance of after-the-fact
legal process would not retroactively validate an improper disclosure of
records under the ECPA, even if the legal process was served a short time
after receipt of the records. In any event, the proposal was never

18 U.S.C. § 2709(b).

172 See In re Application of U.S. for Nunc Pro Tunc Order, 353 F. Supp. 45, 46
(D. Mass. 2005).

138


assist the CAU in preparing after-the-fact NSLs more expeditiously and over
a period of nearly 9 months worked on a proposal to create “umbrella files” -
generic national security investigations of recurring threats — that could be
used to document in NSL approval ECs the predication for NSLs (until she
was informed that the umbrella files were not needed). When we asked her
how she justified the use of exigent letters that promised future legal
process, the Assistant General Counsel told us that the FBI had “created an
exception [to the ECPA statute] in national security circumstances where we
think it’s absolutely necessary.” However, the ECPA does not provide for
such an exception.

We were also troubled the Assistant General Counsel did not seek to
review a copy of any exigent letter until May 2006, more than 18 months
after first learning of their use in the CAU. We believe she should have
asked to see an exigent letter upon hearing of its use.

Even after reviewing an exigent letter, she did not recognize that the
CAU was obtaining records in violation of the ECPA. Instead of
recommending that their use be halted, in May 2006 she merely revised the
exigent letter to substitute the term “NSL” for the inaccurate reference to
after-the-fact issuance of grand jury subpoenas, and she advised the CAU
that it could continue to use the revised exigent letter. By these actions,
she allowed the FBI’s improper use of exigent letters and after-the-fact NSLs
to continue. However, it is also important to note that she forwarded the
revised exigent letter to both her supervisor and Thomas, and that neither of
these supervisors objected to the Assistant General Counsel’s changes or
otherwise questioned the CAU’s continued use of exigent letters.

Finally, we believe the Assistant General Counsel should have
recognized that many of the exigent requests that came to the CAU qualified
for emergency voluntary disclosure requests under the ECPA. Yet, like her
immediate supervisor and NSLB Deputy General Counsel Thomas, the
Assistant General Counsel did not ensure that CAU personnel were briefed
about the circumstances in which the FBI could lawfully request voluntary
disclosure without legal process.

In sum, we concluded that based on the Assistant General Counsel’s
experience in national security investigations and the position she held in
the NSLB, she should have directly confronted the legal deficiencies in use
of exigent letters and, through her supervisors in the NSLB and in
conjunction with CTD managers, ensured that the use of exigent letters
ended, which she did not do.

236


Thomas replied to the Assistant General Counsel’s e-mail, stating that
she would discuss the issue with NSLB supervisory attorneys. Thomas also
asked the Assistant General Counsel for proposed language for the
after-the-fact NSL. However, Thomas also did not ask to see the exigent
letter that had been used to obtain the records, did not at that time (or at
any time until late 2006) review the contracts with the providers, and did
not ask anyone in NSLB to do so.

Ultimately, Thomas signed an after-the-fact NSL dated January 18,
2005, addressed to Company A. We determined that this NSL included
some telephone numbers that were listed in exigent letters dated July 13,
14, and 15, 2004, that were given to an on-site Company A analyst. Despite
the misgivings expressed by the Assistant General Counsel to her
supervisors about signing NSLs that did not disclose that the FBI had
already received the records, the NSL and accompanying approval EC did
not state that Company A had previously provided the records to the
FBI.

We found that Thomas signed six additional after-the-fact NSLs over
the next 4 months in which the NSLs themselves and the accompanying
approval ECs did not disclose that these records had previously been
requested and received by the FBI. Thomas signed an NSL dated
February 2, 2005, addressed to Company A, which included a list of 63
telephone numbers related to Operation “W.”!76 We determined that this
NSL included some telephone numbers that were listed in exigent letters
given to the on-site Company A analysts as early as a
Thomas also signed an after-the-fact NSL dated February 2, 2005,
addressed to Company B, which related to Operation W and listed one

telephone number. The FBI had previously requested records for this
telephone number in an exigent letter dated a

Thomas signed two NSLs dated June 28, 2005, addressed to
Company A and Company C. These NSLs sought records from each
provider for 163 telephone numbers related to another major FBI operation.
All of these telephone numbers had previously been and records
for many of them had been provided to the CAU as early as
On June 30, 2005, Thomas signed at least two more after-the-fact NSLs in
connection with another counterterrorism investigation. These two NSLs
covered records for telephone numbers that the CAU had requested from the

providers in October 2004. E-mails show that the Assistant General
Counsel had informed Thomas prior to her signing the NSLs that these

176 The name of this operation is classified.

144


getting stuff in advance of NSLs” and that “nobody ever told me to cease”
using exigent letters.

We found that the practice of obtaining records and providing
after-the-fact legal process was so common in the FBI that it was mentioned
in a CTD training video created in 2004. In the video, a CAU SSA speaks
with a field agent by telephone and makes arrangements to provide
telephone records that the SSA had already received from a communications
service provider. The SSA says to the field agent, “I’ll just need you to send
me an NSL to cover the books.”

As discussed in Chapter Three of this report, we found other irregular
practices concerning the CAU’s interaction with the on-site providers. One
of our findings in that chapter has a bearing on the issue whether signers of
exigent letters knew that exigent circumstances were present. In one of
three instances involving subpoenas or other requests for the toll billing
records of news reporters, a CAU SSA signed an exigent letter seeking toll
billing records for reporters for the Washington Post and The New York
Times. Yet, the case agent told us he did not inform either the CAU SSA
who signed the exigent letter or anyone in his management chain that
exigent circumstances existed. Similarly, the CAU SSA said he did not
recall anyone informing him that exigent circumstances were present.

None of the CAU SSAs or Intelligence Analysts who signed the exigent
letters received training on NSLs upon entering the CAU. In addition, these
SSAs did not have prior national security investigation experience. Many
told us that in their prior experience in criminal investigations field-based
SSAs were authorized to sign administrative subpoenas for telephone toll
billing records, and they therefore did not believe the exigent letter practice
to be extraordinary.

Three of the SSAs who together signed 114 of the 722 exigent letters
issued by the CAU told us that they were concerned with the use of exigent
letters and separately brought their concerns to Rogers when he was the
CAU Unit Chief.42 Two of these SSAs said that Rogers assured them that
the exigent letters were proper and had been approved by “lawyers.” The
three SSAs told us they were directed by Rogers to continue using the
exigent letters. One SSA said he had also expressed concern to Rogers
about the reference in the exigent letters to follow-up subpoenas when he
became aware that after-the-fact process was more often NSLs than

42 These SSAs are not the same SSAs described above who together had signed
nearly SO percent of the exigent letters signed by CAU personnel.

37


There had been some problems with the promptness or lack
thereof of those NSLs, as well as figuring out a [preliminary
investigation] to which to attach the NSL request. I think the
problem is resolved now but we still allow the receipt of info
without an actual NSL prior to the receipt. It is analogous to
the 2702(d) emergency but we have never premised it on that.

On July 20, 2006, NSLB Deputy General Counsel Thomas forwarded
to Caproni another e-mail from the Assistant General Counsel in which the
Assistant General Counsel reported that she had been asked in a recent
OIG interview about the CAU’s practice of issuing exigent letters “in
emergency situations to get NSL information.” Thomas stated in her
forwarding e-mail, “[w]e have done better with this [issuing NSLs prior to
requests for records] but when we are sitting right next to the rep. its tough
to wait the 2-3 days it takes to get” the NSL. Caproni responded to Thomas,
“I think we’ve always done some ‘paperwork to follow’ requests.”263

However, Caproni said she did not see an exigent letter and was
unaware of the extent to which the FBI was using exigent letters before the
OIG showed her an exigent letter and informed her of the details of the
practice in late 2006 in connection with the OIG’s interview of her in our
first NSL investigation.

We concluded that the two e-mails described above did not alert
Caproni of the extent of the problem and in fact suggested that the problem
had been “resolved.” Moreover, by the time Caproni received these e-mails
the OIG investigation was ongoing within the FBI and the issuance of
exigent letters had all but stopped. Under these circumstances, we do not
believe she was on sufficient notice of the problem, in advance of the OIG
investigation, to remedy it.

263 When the OIG asked Caproni about her reference to the FBI always doing
“paperwork to follow” requests, Caproni stated that when she was an Assistant United
States Attorney there were instances in which records were obtained prior to the service of
legal process. Caproni told us, “in my experience it is not a particularly unusual
circumstance to do a paperwork-to-follow request,” as long as the process comes within “a
day, or . .. maybe you are going to get the records on Saturday and you are going to give
them the process on Monday.” Caproni added that when she was told about the CAU
obtaining records prior to process, “[i]t did not surprise me or shock me,” noting, however,
that she believed at the time that legal process was served within a day or two. Caproni
distinguished her prior experience from the sort of delays that she learned were occurring
in the CAU.

238


In Charts 4.1 and 4.2 we summarize the review team’s final
determinations on retention of records for the same 4,379 unique telephone
numbers, breaking down the data into the following sub-categories:

e Exigent Letters and Blanket NSLs (combined)
e Exigent Letters

e Company B May 12, Company C July 5, and Company A
September 21 Blanket NSLs

e Operation Y and Z Blanket NSLs

199


authority to obtain pen register/trap and trace orders for ECPA-protected
information covered by the Pen Register Act.

Even Joseph Billy, Jr., who was CTD Deputy Assistant Director (DAD)
and the CTD Assistant Director from April 2005 to March 2008, told us that
he was unaware of the ECPA emergency voluntary disclosure statute when
he was a Special Agent in Charge, a CTD DAD, or the CTD Assistant
Director. In fact, Billy said he did not know that communications service
providers did not need NSLs for records they provided to the FBI pursuant
to the ECPA emergency voluntary disclosure statute. He told us that when
he learned about the statute prior to his August 2007 OIG interview, “that
was a revelation to me.”

The FBI’s failures also involved senior attorneys in the FBI OGC.
NSLB attorneys failed to recognize the seriousness of the information they
learned in late 2004 and early 2005 about the “form letter” —- an exigent
letter - that was being used in the CAU to obtain records from the on-site
providers that was followed by after-the-fact NSLs. From then until March
2007, when the OIG’s first NSL report was issued, the FBI OGC failed to
take sufficient action to address the FBI’s improper use of these exigent
letters and after-the-fact legal process.

Aggravating this failure, FBI OGC attorneys also provided flawed
guidance to CAU personnel about obtaining records from the on-site
providers. For example, in April 2005 the Assistant General Counsel who
was the NSLB point of contact for NSL-related policies and issues wrote that
exigent letters could be used in emergencies “only if it is clear to you that
the requestor cannot await an NSL.” This guidance did not accurately state
the requirements of either the ECPA NSL statute (18 U.S.C. § 2709), or the
emergency voluntary disclosure statute (18 U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4)).252. However,
this flawed guidance was circulated to all CAU employees, and the CAU
continued to request information from the on-site providers first, and
addressed the need for legal process later (if at all).

252 To conform to the ECPA, proper guidance would have stated that the FBI could
either compel the production of records by first serving legal process or could request
voluntary disclosure of records in the types of emergencies defined in the emergency
voluntary disclosure statute. In April 2005, the statute authorized communications service
providers to voluntarily disclose records or information “if the provider reasonably believe[d]
that an emergency involving immediate danger or death or serious physical injury to any
person justifie[d] disclosure of the information. 18 U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4) (Supp. 2002). In
March 2006, the provision was amended to allow a communications service provider to
disclose records “if the provider, in good faith, believes that an emergency involving danger
of death or serious physical injury to any person requires disclosure without delay of
information relating to the emergency.” See 18 U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4).

217


LIST OF ACRONYMS

[AUSA | Assistant United States Attorney
CAU _ Communications Analysis Unit
CD _ Compact Disk

| CDC Chief Division Counsel a
CTD Counterterrorism Division

CXS Communications Exploitation Section
DAD Deputy Assistant Director |
DT-6 Domestic Terrorism [Squad] 6 _ |
EC __| Electronic Communication |
ECPA Electronic Communications Privacy Act _|
EOPS _ _| Electronic Surveillance Operations & Sharing Unit
FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation
FISA Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978
FISA Court Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
FISDU | Field Investigative Software Development Unit _

_1OB Intelligence Oversight Board |
ITOS-I International Terrorism Operations Section
NSD ___| National Security Division
NSI Guidelines The Attorney General’s Guidelines for FBI National Security

Investigations and Foreign Intelligence Collection _

NSL National Security Letter
NSLB National Security Law Branch
OGC | Office of the General Counsel _|
OIG | Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General
OLC __ | Office of Legal Counsel
PIOB | Possible Intelligence Oversight Board
SAC | Special Agent in Charge _

[SSA _| Supervisory Special Agent



However, we found that after Thomas became the NSLB Deputy
General Counsel and became aware of exigent letters, she did not
adequately review and assess the legality of their use in a timely fashion,
halt their use, ensure in coordination with CTD officials that CAU personnel
understood the lawful methods for obtaining records from the on-site
communications service providers, or ensure that the NSLs that she
personally signed complied with the ECPA NSL statute.

As NSLB Deputy General Counsel, Thomas served as the principal
legal adviser to the FBI General Counsel on FBI national security issues.
After the September 11 attacks, the NSLB grew from a small unit of
approximately 10 employees to a full branch within the FBI OGC consisting
of 6 units staffed by over 70 attorneys, Special Agents, and support
personnel. The NSLB’s mission was to provide legal support throughout the
FBI, including to the Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Cyber
Divisions, by advising on legal issues related to national security matters,
ensuring an efficient and timely process for seeking FISA warrants,
developing and maintaining liaison relationships within the Intelligence
Community, and providing legal training on national security issues to FBI
employees.

Yet, beginning in December 2004 when the Assistant General Counsel
first informed Thomas about a “form letter” the CAU was using to obtain
records in advance of legal process, Thomas failed to directly address the
fact that these letters violated the ECPA. Even though she recognized that
there were only two authorities by which the FBI could obtain ECPA records
in national security investigations (pursuant to legal process or the
emergency voluntary disclosure statute), Thomas did not take prompt,
decisive action in December 2004 when she learned that (1) the CAU was
regularly obtaining records from the on-site providers by using a form letter
that promised future legal process, and (2) the CAU was having difficulty
obtaining after-the-fact legal process from Headquarters’ operating units
and FBI field divisions regarding the records it already had received from the
on-site providers.

In particular, Thomas did not ask to review the exigent letter; did not
direct the Assistant General Counsel or anyone else to review the exigent
letter; did not ensure that CAU personnel were trained on the lawful
methods for obtaining telephone records; did not review the FBI’s contracts
with the three on-site communications service providers (or the underlying
contract proposals and other documents) until after the FBI received a draft
of the OIG’s first NSL report; and did not determine if the CAU had issued
any guidance to its employees about the appropriate and legal way for FBI
personnel to request records from the on-site providers. Instead, Thomas
approved a recommendation from the Assistant General Counsel in January
2005 that NSLB personnel be made available to the CAU to help get NSLs

231


Rogers, the CAU’s first permanent Unit Chief, acknowledged to us
that he was aware of and approved the use of exigent letters. He said that
before he became the CAU Unit Chief in March 2003 he did not know about
exigent letters. He said he first learned about exigent letters from an on-site
Company A analyst on May 27, 2003, while the CAU was working on an
investigation of a bomb threat.35 Rogers said that the Company A analyst
told him that exigent letters had been previously approved by Company A
and government attorneys for use in the New York Field Division for
emergency situations. Rogers said he was not sure whether the attorneys
referred to by the Company A analyst were from the FBI’s New York Field
Division or possibly from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Rogers said he did not
seek any further details about the identity of any FBI attorneys who may
have approved the use of exigent letters.

Rogers said that based on what the Company A analyst told him
about the prior use of exigent letters by the New York Field Division, he
signed the exigent letter that requested records for four telephone numbers
in the bomb threat matter. We determined that Rogers personally signed 10
more exigent letters while serving as the CAU’s Unit Chief and 1 exigent
letter after he was promoted to Assistant Section Chief for the CXS in
November 2004. In addition, we identified a total of 355 other exigent
letters that were issued by CAU personnel, listing 1,375 telephone numbers,
while Rogers was the CAU Unit Chief.3¢

Rogers acknowledged that he was responsible for the use of exigent
letters at the CAU. He said that he never established any unit policy for the
use of exigent letters, and he provided only very general verbal guidance to
CAU employees. Rogers stated that he told CAU personnel that if requesters
“state that it’s exigent,” or “have circumstances they describe as ‘exigent’
and they promise the grand jury subpoena or NSL,” then the exigent letter
was authorized. Rogers said that incoming CAU employees usually learned
about exigent letters when they received on-the-job training from more
senior CAU employees.

35 We determined that after Rogers became the Unit Chief in March 2003, CAU
personnel issued eight exigent letters, dated between May 14 and May 27, 2003, that had
Rogers’s name typed in the signature block. The first exigent letter Rogers signed was
dated May 27, 2003.

%6 The 1,375 total includes some duplicate telephone numbers. We identified 15
telephone numbers that were listed on exigent letters sent to more than one of the on-site
providers.

31


Based on advice from the OEO Director, the Criminal Division did not
notify the reporters about the subpoenas. According to Prosecutor 1, the OEO
Director told Prosecutor 1 and other Criminal Division attorneys that the
regulation requiring notification to the reporter was not triggered because any
possible collection of the reporters’ records was inadvertent and the records
received from Company A were sealed and not reviewed. The OEO Director
also opined that the Attorney General did not have to be notified about the
matter since the records had been impounded and would not be used unless
Attorney General approval was sought.

Prosecutor 1 briefed members of the investigative team that
were prohibited from being used in connection
with the leak investigation. The Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the
Division’s counterintelligence squads also sent an e-mail to all FBI personnel

assigned to the investigation directing that the language suggested by the
on-site Company A analyst referring (crit

not be used in the leak investigation because it could capture records
of reporters. 139

3. OIG Investigation

During our investigation of exigent letters, the OIG interviewed

Prosecutor 1 about another media leak investigation that we describe in the
next section, and we learned about the el
grand subpoenas issued to Company A in this case.

We then informed Criminal Division officials that we believed that it
should be determined whether the records Company A had provided to the FBI
actually included any reporters’ records. However, Criminal Division officials
did not believe that any of the responsive records they had sequestered should
be unsealed or reviewed.

We therefore suggested that, without examining the electronic or hard
copy records that the Criminal Division had sequestered, the OIG and the

Criminal Division should jointly determine whether Company A had provided
any records in response to the subpoenas
because if all the records were provided, they would contain

the records of reporters.

139 Prosecutor 1 told us that he and others also reviewed all grand jury subpoenas

issued by the investigative team and determined that they had issued no other subpoenas
request

111


imposing non-disclosure and confidentiality obligations on the
recipients.239

e On April 13, 2007, the CTD issued an EC documenting the
predication for the three NSLs. Consequently, the FBI decided
that it would retain these records.

c. Overcollections

The FBI review team also analyzed the records obtained for the
telephone numbers listed in exigent letters and the blanket NSLs to
determine if the FBI had acquired any records beyond the records specified
in the legal process that formed the basis for the decision to retain the
records. Specifically, the review team examined whether any records
obtained and uploaded into FBI databases in response to exigent letters or
listed in the blanket NSLs included records outside the date range of the
dates specified in the corresponding legal process.24° Based on its review,
the FBI identified records related to 302 unique telephone numbers that it
decided to purge due to overcollections.24!

Of these 302 telephone numbers, the FBI identified 73 telephone
numbers for which the FBI uploaded overcollections of more a
In that universe, the FBI uploaded records on 1 telephone number more

HER) outside the date range in the legal process, and records on 14
telephone numbers that were Pe outside

the date range of the legal process.

The FBI decided to purge these overcollected records because they
exceeded the scope of the legal authority used to obtain them. For example,

239 The NSLs each included the same 445 telephone numbers, but 4 numbers were
duplicates.

240 In an August 26, 2008, EC the FBI stated that it had established a 14-day
“grace period” before and after the date range specified in the after-the-fact legal process.
Overcollections that fell within the grace period were not purged from FBI databases.

241 As discussed in Chapter Two of this report, the CTD did not require until
June 1, 2007, that case agents immediately ensure that responsive records accurately
match the NSL request. The guidance issued in June 2007 required that any identified
overcollections must be sequestered with an FBI attorney before the records are uploaded
into any FBI database and must be returned to the provider, destroyed by the FBI, or
addressed in another NSL. Similarly, the FBI did not require until October 17, 2007, that
CAU requesters review responsive telephone records received from the communications
service providers to ensure proper collection and then certify to the CAU’s database
manager by e-mail that the responsive records had been verified as accurately
encompassing both the target telephone numbers and date ranges contained in the NSL.

205


government entity.” The ECPA contains an exception to maintaining the
confidentiality of such records by imposing a “duty to provide” responsive
records if the Director of the FBI or his designee certifies in writing that the
records sought are

relevant to an authorized investigation to protect against
international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities,
provided that such an investigation of a United States person is
not conducted solely upon the basis of activities protected by
the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States.?

During the period covered by our review, the ECPA and Attorney
General’s Guidelines for FBI National Security Investigations and Foreign
Intelligence Collection (NSI Guidelines) authorized the use of national
security letters (NSL) only during investigations of international terrorism or
espionage upon the written request of a Special Agent in Charge or other
specially delegated senior FBI official.!° In order to open such
investigations, the FBI must satisfy certain evidentiary thresholds, which
are documented in FBI case files and approved by supervisors. If case
agents want to issue NSLs, FBI policies require a 4-step approval process.
Case agents must secure the approval of the case agent’s supervisor, an
Assistant Special Agent in Charge, the field office’s Chief Division Counsel,
and the Special Agent in Charge (or equivalent supervisors and attorneys at
FBI Headquarters) who signs the NSL. FBI personnel authorized to sign
NSLs are all members of the Senior Executive Service.

We concluded in our first NSL report that the CAU’s use of exigent
letters circumvented the ECPA NSL statute.!!_ We found that neither the
ECPA, the Attorney General’s NSI Guidelines, nor FBI policy authorize the

8 18 U.S.C. § 2702(a)(3) (2000). In this report we refer to entities that provide
electronic communication services to the public as “communications service providers” or
the “providers.”

9 18 U.S.C. §§ 2709(a) and 2709(b)(2) (2000 & Supp. IV 2005).

10 The Attorney General’s NSI Guidelines were consolidated with other Attorney
General Guidelines into a new set of Attorney General Guidelines, referred to as the
Attorney General’s Consolidated Guidelines, which became effective on December 1, 2008.
The new guidelines now govern the FBI’s criminal investigations, national security
investigations, and foreign intelligence investigations. However, these new guidelines did
not alter the requirements for NSLs issued in national security investigations, which
include investigations of international terrorism and espionage.

11 OIG, NSL I, 95-98.

10


interviewed all 4 of the officials in the FBI Counterterrorism Division (CTD)
who signed a total of 11 after-the-fact “blanket” NSLs in 2006 that were
issued in an attempt to “cover” or “validate” records previously obtained in
response to exigent letters or other improper requests.

We also interviewed FBI supervisory personnel who oversaw the CTD’s
CXS and one of its units, the CAU, from 2003 to the present; current and
former Deputy Assistant Directors (DAD) and Assistant Directors in the
CTD; the former Executive Assistant Director of the FBI’s National Security
Branch; the FBI’s Deputy General Counsel for the FBI OGC NSLB; an
Assistant General Counsel assigned to the NSLB and other NSLB attorneys;
several retired or former FBI officials; and the FBI General Counsel, Deputy
Director, and Director.

In addition, we examined thousands of FBI documents and electronic
records from FBI Headquarters and field divisions, as well as additional
documents obtained through OIG administrative subpoenas served on the
three communications service providers.

Our investigation also sought to determine whether any FBI personnel
who signed or had supervisory responsibility for those who signed the
exigent letters and made other informal requests violated any criminal laws
or engaged in administrative misconduct or improper performance of official
duties. To this end, we consulted with the Public Integrity Section of the
Department’s Criminal Division for a decision on whether the evidence
warranted criminal prosecution. We provided to the prosecutor the evidence
we gathered in our investigation, including transcripts of interviews,
relevant documents, and e-mails. The Public Integrity Section declined
prosecution of any individuals relating to the exigent letters matter.

With the assistance of the Department’s National Security Division we
also examined applications for pen register/trap and trace orders or
electronic surveillance orders filed with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Court (FISA Court) that referred to telephone numbers listed in exigent
letters or some of the blanket NSLs signed by CTD officials in 2006.7 We
examined these applications to determine if the supporting documents
accurately characterized the means by which the FBI had obtained the
subscriber or calling activity information it relied upon in seeking the
orders.

7 A “pen register” is a device that records the numbers that a target telephone is
dialing. A “trap and trace” device captures the telephone numbers that dial a target
telephone. See 18 U.S.C. § 3127 (2000).


Il.

Ill.
CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

I.

Individual Performance ..............cccccccecceeeeceeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeseesseeeeenneags

a BOO W Pp

CAU Unit Chief Glenn Rogers ..........cesssseeeeeesssneeeeeeeeenneeeee
CAU Unit Chief Bassem Youssef
NSLB Deputy General Counsel Julie Thomas.
NSLB Assistant General Counsel
General Counsel Valerie Caproni

Signers of the 11 Blanket NSLs: Joseph Billy, Jr., Arthur
Cummings III, Michael Heimbach, and
Jennifer Smith Love.... +. 239

Joseph Billy, Jr. 239
Arthur A. Cummings III 240
Michael Heimbach .....
Jennifer Smith Love...
OIG Conclusion on CTD officials who signed
improper blanket NSLs.

CAU Personnel Who Signed Exigent Letters ..
FBI Personnel Involved in Media Leak Investigations.

1. First Matter.
2. Second Matter...
3. Third Matter

+ 242

PONE

£00) oe] 1b LS) (0) 6 SSS 256

Conclusions
A.
B.
Cc.

Exigent Letters and Other Informal Requests...
Other Informal Requests for Telephone Records..

FBI Attempts at Corrective Actions ...........eessssseeeeeeeeesneeeee

1. The FBI’s Initial Attempts at Corrective Action............ 273
2. Corrective Actions after the OIG’s First
NSL Report ....

Improper Requests for Reporters’ Telephone Records or
Other Calling Activity in Three Media Leak
Investigations ..........cccccecesseeeessseesenseeceseesesseseeseesensseseseaesees 276

OIG Findings on Management Failures and Individual
Accountability for Exigent Letters and other Improper
Requests for Telephone Records ............cscceceeeeesseeeeeeeeeeeeeaee 279


stated it had acquired information pertaining to the subscribers or other calling
activity information for these telephone numbers.

Specifically, the NSD and the OIG examined the sample of applications to
determine whether they inaccurately stated that NSLs were the source of the
subscriber or calling activity information presented to the FISA Court.!5! In
these 37 applications, the NSD and the OIG identified 4 FBI declarations that
together contained 5 inaccurate statements as to the source of the subscriber
or calling activity information relied upon to support the declarations. The four
declarations containing these inaccurate statements were signed by four
different FBI SSAs. 152

These four declarations stated that NSLs were the source of the
subscriber or calling activity information, when, in fact, NSLs were not the
source for the information contained in the FISA application. Rather, for two of
these inaccurate statements, exigent letters not NSLs were used to obtain
records that were the sources of the information in the FISA applications. In
another inaccurate statement, the records cited in an application to the FISA
Court were obtained in response to a letter referring to the FBI’s emergency
voluntary disclosure authority, not in response to an NSL as the application
stated. In another inaccurate statement, the FBI obtained the information
informally by a verbal request, not in response to an NSL as the application
stated. In another application, the NSD determined that a “trash cover” was
the source of the FBI’s information about the subscriber information, not an
NSL as the application stated. 153

We discuss these four declarations below, describing in more detail the
five inaccurate statements we identified.

151 Applications to the FISA Court for pen register/trap and trace or electronic
surveillance orders typically include declarations signed by FBI personnel stating the basis for
asserting that the telephone number referenced in the application belongs to a particular
subscriber. These declarations are signed under oath.

152 The NSD identified 4 other misstatements in the previously mentioned 37 FISA
declarations. These declarations all misstated either the dates of the NSLs seeking subscriber
information or the dates when the FBI obtained responsive records from the providers.
However, in contrast to the five misstatements described in this section, in these four other
instances the statements that the subscriber information had been obtained through NSLs
were accurate. The NSD notified the FISA Court of these inaccuracies in August 2008, calling
the inaccurate dates “non-material” under Rule 10(b) of the FISA Court’s Rules of Procedure.

153 A trash cover is the search by law enforcement personnel of trash outside the land
or yard adjoining a house left to be picked up by garbage collectors.

123


Finally, as discussed above, FBI personnel were involved with
requests to = reporters’ toll billing records in three different media leak
investigations, without first complying with Departmental regulation or
obtaining the required Attorney General approvals. We believe that these
matters involved some of the most serious abuses of the FBI’s authority to
obtain telephone records. As described in Chapter Five of this report, we
recommend that the FBI consider appropriate action for the FBI employees
who sought to obtain these records without first obtaining the required
Attorney General approval.

Il. Recommendations

As discussed above, after we issued our first NSL report in March
2007 the FBI ended the use of exigent letters and took other corrective
actions to address the improper use of exigent letters. However, as a result
of further deficiencies we uncovered in this review, we believe the FBI and
the Department need to take additional action to ensure that FBI personnel
comply with the statutes, guidelines, regulations, and policies governing the
FBI’s authority to request and obtain telephone records. We therefore
provide the following recommendations to the FBI and the Department:

1. The FBI should assess this report and the information we
developed in this review to determine whether administrative or other
personnel action is appropriate for the individuals involved in the use of
exigent letters and other improper requests for telephone records.

2. The FBI should issue periodic guidance and conduct periodic
training of FBI Headquarters and field personnel engaged in national
security investigations regarding the authorities available to the FBI under
the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and other federal statutes
to obtain telephone subscriber and toll billing records information and other
information protected by the ECPA. Such training should cover not only the
provisions of the ECPA, but also other federal statutes and regulations
governing the FBI’s authority to obtain to such records, including the Pen
Register Act, the federal regulation governing subpoenas for toll billing
records of reporters, and the FBI’s administrative subpoena authorities.

3. The FBI should periodically review its existing guidance and
directives to determine if clarifications or updates are needed to describe the
authority of FBI personnel serving in “acting” positions (whether appointed
or on temporary duty assignments) to sign documents or approve activities
for which signature or approval authority is delegated by the FBI Director.
As described in Chapter Four of this report, CTD officials signed improper
blanket NSLs while serving as Acting Deputy Assistant Directors. At the
time these NSLs were signed, the FBI had not issued guidance on whether

285


HE, this media leak case was transferred from the original
case agent to another FBI Special Agent in the Field Office.123
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in , the leak
investigation is still open.

3. FBI Notifies the Reporters That Their Records Were
Obtained

In April 2008, during our investigation of the use of exigent letters, we
discovered the e-mail exchanges described above concerning the reporters’ toll
billing records. The following month we determined that the FBI had acquired
the reporters’ and news bureaus’ toll billing records without any legal process
or Attorney General approval.

In June 2008, the OIG informed the FBI General Counsel and the Acting
Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department’s National Security
Division (NSD) that we had determined that the FBI had requested and
obtained the toll billing records of members of the news media in this leak
investigation without legal process or the required Attorney General approval.
As discussed above, federal regulations also require that the FBI notify
reporters if their toll billing records are subpoenaed without providing required
advance notice. 124

In response to our notifications of these violations, on August 8, 2008,
FBI General Counsel Valerie Caproni wrote letters to the editors of the
Washington Post and The New York Times, and to the reporters whose records
were acquired, stating that the FBI, as part of an authorized FBI investigation,
had obtained the telephone records of reporters and of their bureaus in
HE 25 The letters stated that the OIG had informed the FBI in the course
of its investigation that the FBI had acquired the telephone records in response
to an exigent letter. Additionally, the letter stated that, based on currently
available information, the FBI had made no investigative use of the reporters’
telephone records. The letter noted that while the exigent letter stated that

123 The case agent was later assigned to a second leak investigation described
below.

124 See 28 C.F.R. § 50.10(g)(3).

125 See Valerie Caproni, General Counsel, Federal Bureau of Investigation, letters to
Leonard Downie, Executive Editor, Washington Post, and Td
Bill Keller, Executive Editor, The New York Times, August 8, 2008.

Because our investigation of this issue was on-going, the OIG asked the FBI to briefly
defer notification to the reporters and news organizations, from June until August 2008, until
all significant OIG interviews related to this matter had been completed.

101


Thus, while the NSLs containing the community of interest [J
request language were signed by FBI officials who were delegated the
authority to sign NSLs, the actual decisions about which P|
records were — were made by CAU Intelligence Analysts, Supervisory
Special Agents, and Special Agents who were not among those to whom the
FBI Director delegated authority to sign NSLs.® As a result, in cases where
the NSL signer was unaware that the NSL or attachment contained a
community of interest request, the decisions to [J the
ME vocoras were made without the appropriate official having made
the determination required by the ECPA that the
telephone numbers were relevant to authorized national security
investigations.

As we describe in the analysis at the end of this chapter, if the FBI
was able to establish before issuing the NSL that the |
telephone numbers were relevant to an authorized national security

investigation, we believe a separate NSL for the MY telephone
numbers was not required before requesting or obtaining records on the

HR lephone numbers. However, if the FBI did not establish
the relevance of the Pe] telephone numbers prior to the
initial MM, reliance on the original NSL to obtain

telephone records violated the ECPA, the Attorney General’s NSI Guidelines,

and FBI policy.

NSLB attorneys told us that prior to the FBI’s implementation of an
automated system to facilitate the issuance of NSLs and collection of data

on NSL usage for required reports to Congress, the FBI had not determined
whether it had acquired any a records on U.S. persons that

should have been reported to Congress.65 The FBI’s automated NSL system

64 Prior to the Patriot Act, approximately 10 FBI Headquarters officials were
authorized to sign national security letters, including the FBI Director, Deputy Director,
and the Assistant Directors and Deputy Assistant Directors of the Counterterrorism and
Counterintelligence Divisions. However, the Patriot Act also authorized the heads of the
FBI’s S6 field offices (Assistant Directors in Charge or Special Agents in Charge) to issue
NSLs. Since enactment of the Patriot Act, approval to sign NSLs has been delegated to the
Deputy Director, Executive Assistant Director (EAD), and Assistant EAD for the National
Security Branch; Assistant Directors and all Deputy Assistant Directors for the
Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Cyber Divisions; all Special Agents in Charge of
the New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles field offices, which are headed by
Assistant Directors in Charge; the General Counsel; and the Deputy General Counsel for
the National Security Law Branch in the Office of the General Counsel.

65 The FBI’s new NSL “subsystem” for creating NSLs is described in the OIG’s
second NSL report. OIG, NSL II, 21.

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In connection with the same investigation, on August 11, 2004, the CAU
SSA asked the on-site Company C employee whether Company C had
telephone records on the 24 telephone numbers listed on the 2 August 9, 2004,
exigent letters to Company A (and 46 additional numbers). In response to this
verbal request, the Company C employee delivered a CD with responsive
records to the FBI on August 17, 2004. The field-based SSA who had signed
the August 17, 2004, administrative subpoenas to Company A also signed an
administrative subpoena to Company C dated September 30, 2004, to cover
records for 4 of the 70 telephone numbers for which Company C had already
provided records in response to the informal request. 168

4. Knowledge of the Use of The Title 21 Administrative
Subpoenas

We determined that the FBI OGC and CAU management were unaware of
these inappropriate uses of administrative subpoenas to cover records obtained
through exigent letters and other informal requests. FBI General Counsel
Caproni told us that she did not know that the FBI had issued administrative
subpoenas to cover records obtained in response to exigent letters. NSLB
Deputy General Counsel Julie Thomas also said she did not recall being
informed about administrative subpoenas in these cases. CAU Unit Chief
Bassem Youssef told us that he never discussed with the CAU SSA who signed
the seven administrative subpoenas, Assistant Section Chief Glenn Rogers, or
NSLB attorneys the SSA’s authority to sign administrative subpoenas to cover
records acquired from exigent letters. Moreover, he said he did not know that
administrative subpoenas were used to cover records acquired through exigent
letters.

D. OIG Analysis

After the OIG raised questions about the FBI’s use of administrative
subpoenas in the [J Field Division’s [J investigation, the FBI OGC
responded that, in its view, in the absence of an active narcotics investigation
to which the telephone numbers in the administrative subpoenas were relevant
the FBI is not authorized to issue Title 21 administrative subpoenas. Further,
when the FBI OGC reviewed the Field Division’s basis for issuing Title
21 administrative subpoenas in the case, the FBI OGC concluded that
the [J Field Division did not demonstrate that it had an active narcotics
investigation to which the records sought in all of the administrative
subpoenas were relevant. Accordingly, the FBI concluded that the [J Field

168 We did not locate administrative subpoenas for the remaining telephone numbers
referenced in the informal request.

134


As discussed above, Youssef also asserted that he was subjected to a
hostile working environment from his chain of command above Rogers.
However, we believe that if Youssef concluded that it would be futile to raise
concerns about exigent letters with Rogers or others in the CTD chain of
command, Youssef could have, and should have, raised these concerns with
other FBI managers. He also could have taken the concerns he said he had
in 2005 about the use of exigent letters to the FBI’s Inspection Division, the
FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility, the OIG, or the Department of
Justice.

In sum, we recognize that Youssef was placed in a difficult position
when he became the Unit Chief of the CAU because the use of exigent letters
and other informal means for obtaining telephone records and other
ECPA-protected information from the on-site providers had been ongoing for
several years. In addition, Rogers, who was the CAU’s former Unit Chief
and who became Youssef’s first-line supervisor, did not adequately brief
Youssef about the CAU practices and did not in other ways interact
appropriately with Youssef. We found that Youssef took some steps to
attempt to address the use of exigent letters. However, we concluded that
Youssef did not do all he could have, and should have, to address the
improper use of exigent letters and other informal requests for telephone
records.

Cc. NSLB Deputy General Counsel Julie Thomas

As summarized in Chapter Two of this report, we found that many of
the improper practices described in this report pre-dated Julie Thomas’s
appointment in October 2004 as Deputy General Counsel of the FBI OGC’s
National Security Law Branch (NSLB). Before Thomas’s appointment, CAU
personnel had been regularly issuing exigent letters, and CAU Unit Chief
Rogers had formally recognized exigent letters as an approved method for
getting records from the on-site providers without first serving legal
process.

his. Moreover, as described in Chapter Four, the umbrella plan was dropped because
Youssef informed the FBI OGC months later at a meeting on September 26, 2005, that
umbrella files were not needed because emergency requests for records in cases where
there was no case already open ‘were few and far between.” Therefore, Youssef’s testimony
does not support the assertion that forcing the operational units to open preliminary
investigations would have solved the “root cause” of the exigent letters problem, or that the
FBI OGC refused his request to get the operational units to open preliminary
investigations.

230


CHAPTER ONE’
INTRODUCTION

On March 9, 2007, the Department of Justice (Department or DOJ)
Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued its first report on the Federal
Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) use of national security letters (NSL). Issued
in response to the requirements in the USA PATRIOT Improvement and
Reauthorization Act of 2005 (Patriot Reauthorization Act), the first report
described the use and effectiveness of NSLs, including “any illegal and
improper use,” in calendar years 2003 through 2005.?

On March 13, 2008, the OIG issued its second report on NSLs, which
assessed the corrective actions the FBI and the Department had taken in
response to the OIG’s first NSL report. The second report also described
NSL usage in calendar year 2006.3

In this third report, we describe the results of our investigation of the
FBI’s use of exigent letters and other informal requests, instead of NSLs or
other legal process, to obtain the production of non-content telephone
records from employees of three communications service providers
(Companies A, B, and C).4 The OIG conducted this investigation to examine
in greater detail the extent of the FBI’s use of exigent letters and other
informal requests for such information, as well as to assess the
accountability of FBI employees and supervisors who were responsible for
these practices. We examined the conduct of the FBI personnel who signed

1 The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has redacted (blacked out) from the
public version of this report information that the FBI and the Intelligence Community
considered to be classified. We have provided full versions of our classified reports - a
Secret version and a Top Secret/Secure Compartmented Information (SCI) version — to the
Department of Justice, the Intelligence Community, and Congressional committees.

2 U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, A Review of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Use of National Security Letters (March 9, 2007) (NSL 1),
available at www.usdoj.gov/oig. We refer to this report as the first NSL report, or NSLI. All
references to this report are to the unclassified version that was publicly released. We
provided a separate classified version of the report to the Department and Congress.

3 U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, A Review of the FBI's
Use of National Security Letters: Assessment of Corrective Actions and Examination of NSL
Usage in 2006 (March 13, 2008) (NSL II), available at www.usdoj.gov/oig. We refer to this
report as the second NSL report, or NSL II.

4 In this report, we do not identify the specific companies because the identities of
the specific providers who were under contract with the FBI for specified services are
classified.


investigation of I on the on-site communications service

providers located in the CAU. Of that total a CAU SSA signed seven FBI
administrative subpoenas for telephone toll billing records between January
2005 and June 2005. At the time, this SSA served as the manager of the
CAU’s operational support to the FBI’s IE investigation.

The CAU SSA told us that no one on the [J task force told him that
any of the telephone numbers listed in the seven administrative subpoenas was
relevant to any drug investigation. Rather, he said he understood from the
HMM task force case agent and a task force Intelligence Analyst that the
records were relevant to the FBI’s attempts to locate [MJ The SSA also said
that he knew that the Il investigation was classified by the FBI as a “drug
case” and told us “that is what a is wanted for.”

In August 2008, the OIG asked FBI OGC attorneys responsible for
guidance on administrative subpoenas to describe if they believed it was
appropriate to issue Title 21 FBI administrative subpoenas in a fugitive
investigation where the underlying racketeering acts in the indictment included
narcotics offenses. Elaine N. Lammert, FBI Deputy General Counsel for the
Investigative Law Branch and Chief of Staff for the FBI OGC, told us that in
order to use Title 21 administrative subpoena authority, FBI agents must have
an active narcotics investigation at the time the subpoenas are issued and
believe in good faith that the records requested are relevant to that
investigation.

FBI OGC attorneys asked the [J Field Division to provide
information indicating that it had an active narcotics investigation to which
telephone numbers listed in administrative subpoenas issued in the
investigation were relevant. On March 4, 2009, following review of information
provided by the [I Field Division, the FBI OGC notified the OIG that “while
appropriate in certain aspects of the case at certain times, widespread use of
administrative subpoenas in this investigation without a clear nexus to an
active investigation of violations of the Controlled Substances Act could not be
supported.”

2. Administrative Subpoenas were Signed by Unauthorized
Personnel

In addition, we determined that the CAU SSA who signed the seven
administrative subpoenas in the [J case was not among the FBI officials to
whom the Attorney General delegated authority to sign Title 21 administrative
subpoenas. The SSA told us he believed he was authorized to sign the
subpoenas because CAU Unit Chief Glenn Rogers had designated him to be the
CAU program manager assigned to support the [I Field Division’s I
investigation. The SSA said he would not have signed the administrative
subpoenas unless he believed he was authorized. He also said that he recalled

132


The Primary Relief Supervisor stated that Youssef had assigned him
to work with Company A on the outstanding telephone numbers. He said
that he worked directly with the Company A analysts to obtain a
spreadsheet of numbers for which legal process was outstanding, and he
also sought guidance from the SSA who had drafted the Company B May 12
NSL.

On July 28, 2006, a Company A analyst sent a preliminary list of 213
telephone numbers to the Primary Relief Supervisor. The Company A
analyst took approximately 3 months to compile the final comprehensive
list, which identified 700 telephone numbers. The Primary Relief Supervisor
then drafted the Company A September 21 NSL and attached the list of
700 numbers. He said that in drafting the NSL he likely used a “pony” (or
model NSL) given to him by the SSA who had drafted the Company B
May 12 NSL.

Youssef told us that he was not aware at the time that the Company A
September 21 NSL had been issued, and that he learned about it later in
connection with the OIG investigation.

This NSL was not accompanied by an approval EC, which is required
by FBI policy to document that the requested records are relevant to an
authorized national security investigation. The Primary Relief Supervisor
told us that he did not know that an approval EC was required for an
NSL.

The NSL was signed by Jennifer Smith Love, who was then a CXS
Section Chief, temporarily assigned to serve as an Acting CTD DAD.216 Love
told us that she recognized her signature on the Company A September 21
NSL but could not recall any details surrounding this NSL, including who
gave it to her. Love told us that at the time she signed the NSL she was
unaware that an approval EC was required.

Like the Company B May 12 and Company C July 5 NSLs, the
Company A September 21 NSL was defective in several respects. First, the
Company A September 21 NSL was served after-the-fact. Second, the NSL
included 134 telephone numbers that were relevant to criminal and
domestic terrorism investigations for which NSLs are not an authorized
technique under the ECPA NSL statute or the Attorney General’s NSI

216 In December 2006, Love was promoted to be a Special Agent in Charge in the
FBI’s Washington Field Office. In June 2008 Love became the SAC of the FBI’s Richmond
Field Division.

175


international terrorism and espionage investigations, the ECPA created an
exception to this general prohibition, which allows the FBI to request “the
name, address, length of service, and local and long distance toll billing
records of a person or entity” upon written certification by the FBI Director
or his designee that the records sought are relevant to an authorized
international terrorism investigation, provided that any investigation of a
United States person “is not conducted solely on the basis of activities
protected by the first amendment.”2!

In this report we generally use the term “toll records” to refer to the
non-content records of telephone calls that the three communications
service providers provided to the FBI in response to exigent letters and other
informal requests.22

Toll records in this context are the date, time, duration, and the
originating and terminating numbers to a telephone call. These records are
also sometimes referred to as “transactional” records, as distinguished from
the content of telephone calls. The FBI is not authorized to collect the
content of any telephone calls through NSLs.

3. FBI Contracts with the Three Communications
Service Providers

In 2003 and 2004 the FBI entered into contracts with three
communications service providers requiring the communications service
providers to place their employees in the CAU’s office space and to give
these employees access to their companies’ databases so they could
immediately service FBI requests for telephone records.?3 These employees
were also on call to the FBI after business hours. The contracts required

21 18 U.S.C. § 2709(b)(1).

22 FBI personnel and employees of the on-site communications service providers
sometimes referred to these records by using other industry terms such as “Call records,”
“call detail records,” “calling activity information,” or “tolls.” In addition, the terminology
used in the contract documents to describe records provided to the FBI by the
communications service providers varied, and there were some differences among the three
providers as to the types of records available to the FBI. Accordingly, while we generally
use the term “toll records,” we use other terminology when quoting from contract
documents or witness interviews.

23 During the period covered by our review, Company B and Company C each
assigned one full-time employee to service their respective contracts with the FBI.
Company A rotated four analysts through two full-time positions.

20


2006. She added that, “[sJo, certainly at the time, no, we had no
discussions that these [exigent letter requests] - would qualify under that
provision of the ECPA.”195

As noted above, NSLB Deputy General Counsel Thomas told us in
August 2008 that she believed at the time she signed after-the-fact NSLs in
2005 that the CAU’s requests to the providers were likely emergency
requests that fell within 18 U.S.C. § 2702. However, she qualified her
statement, noting that in light of the many interviews and conversations she
had had on the subject she could not separate what she knew at the time of
her interview from what she knew in 2005. In light of the Assistant General
Counsel’s and Caproni’s recollections to the contrary and the
contemporaneous documentary evidence corroborating their statements, we
concluded that that the NSLB did not rely on 18 U.S.C. § 2702’s emergency
voluntary disclosure provision during the period the CAU issued exigent
letters.

In Chapter Five of this report, we describe further the management
failures that led to the continued use of exigent letters until mid-November
2006, including the FBI OGC’s failure to instruct CAU personnel, in
coordination with CTD management, to use the ECPA emergency voluntary
disclosure statute rather than exigent letters in qualifying emergencies.

H. The September 26, 2005, Meeting

Although the number of exigent letters issued by the CAU declined
after April 2005, the backlog of old requests requiring legal process
persisted. We found that NSLB attorneys did not recognize or focus on the
existence of the backlog of requests requiring legal process. Rather, the
NSLB continued to focus on the umbrella file proposal in order to ensure
that future emergency requests for records were quickly followed by NSLs.

In late September 2005, the Assistant General Counsel suggested a
meeting with Youssef and personnel from CTD operational units to discuss
her umbrella file proposal. She said her purpose for proposing the meeting
was to have the operational units agree to open the umbrella files, which in

195 Caproni also told us that although she was not aware of the CAU’s use of
exigent letters, she believed that if they were used in true emergencies they were defensible
under 18 U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4).

157


voluntary basis from the providers, without legal process or a qualifying
emergency.

It is important to note that the FBI acknowledged in its July 2009
comments to a draft of this report that it had never considered or relied
upon Pe when it obtained any of the telephone
records at issue in this report. Moreover, it cannot be known at this point
whether any provider would have divulged such records based on =
ey alone, and without the FBI’s representation to the
provider that an NSL or other compulsory legal process would be
served.

For the reasons discussed below, we believe the FBI’s potential use of
to obtain records has significant policy implications that
need to be considered by the FBI, the Department, and the
Congress.

283 The FBI has stated that it does not intend to rely on
However, that could change, and we
believe that appropriate controls on such authority should be considered now, in light of
the FBI’s past practices and the OLC opinion.

265


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believe[d] that an emergency involving immediate danger of death or serious
physical injury justifie[d] disclosure of the information.”272

We recognize that some — but not all - of the FBI’s requests may have
been made in circumstances that qualified as emergencies under the
applicable emergency voluntary disclosure provision. For example, as we
described earlier, exigent letters and other informal requests were used to
obtain records in connection with Operation Y (an investigation of a terrorist
to detonate explosives

At
least one provider’s employee told us that he was informed of the nature of
the threat in that matter.?73

However, other exigent letters and informal requests were used in
circumstances that do not appear to qualify as emergencies under Section
2702. For example, as described in Chapter Four, although CAU personnel
used exigent letters and other informal requests to obtain records from all 3
providers relating to over 400 telephone numbers in connection with
“Operation Z,” the Unit Chief and an SSA of the operational unit responsible
for that high-profile counterterrorism operation told us that they did not
believe the CAU requests were made in exigent circumstances.?74 In

272 18 U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4) (Supp. 2002). In March 2006, the provision was amended
to allow voluntary disclosure “if the provider, in good faith, believes that an emergency
involving “danger of death or serious physical injury to any person requires disclosure
without delay of information relating to the emergency.” USA PATRIOT Improvement and
Reauthorization Act of 2005, Pub. L. No. 109-177, § 107(b)(1)(B), 120 Stat. 192 (2006). The
legislative history of a similar amendment to Section 2702(b)’s emergency voluntary
disclosure provision for content information suggests that the belief standard was relaxed
because communications service providers “expressed concern to the Committee that the
[reasonably believes] standard was too difficult for them to meet and that, as a result,
providers may not disclose information relating to emergencies.” Cyber Security
Enhancement Act of 2002, H.R. Rep. No. 107-497, at 12-13 (2002). The Committee report
that accompanied the amendments to Section 2702(b) also stated that the Section was
“aimed at protecting providers who in good faith attempt to assist law enforcement with an
emergency situation.” Id. at 14. However, it also stated that the amendment “does not
change the standard or lower the standard for law enforcement behavior.” Id.

273 Company B’s representative said he was told by CAU personnel that “it could be
the next 9/11.” However, Company B provided the fewest records to the FBI in connection
with this operation. In contrast, one of Company A’s employees told us he received no
briefing from the CAU regarding this operation, and the other employee stated that he
worked on the matter for several weeks before becoming aware that the records he was
providing were associated with Operation Y.

274 After reviewing a draft of this report, the FBI provided the OIG with several
contemporaneous e-mails beginning on June 12, 2006, which it asserted would
demonstrate the emergency nature of Operations Z. However, we concluded that those e-
(Cont’d.)

261


We found that from March 2003 to November 2006, CAU personnel
issued 722 exigent letters for telephone records from these 3
communications service providers. One exigent letter was signed by a CXS
Assistant Section Chief, 12 were signed by CAU Unit Chiefs, 706 were
signed by CAU Supervisory Special Agents (SSA), and 3 were signed by CAU
Intelligence Analysts.

Most of the 722 CAU exigent letters stated:

Due to exigent circumstances, it is requested that records for
the attached list of telephone numbers be provided. Subpoenas
requesting this information have been submitted to the U.S.
Attorney’s Office who will process and serve them formally to
[Company A, Company B, or Company C] as expeditiously as
possible.

However, in our investigation we determined that in some instances
CAU SSAs signed exigent letters even though they believed that the factual
statements in the letters were inaccurate. For example, CAU Unit Chief
Rogers and several SSAs told us they signed exigent letters even though
they recognized at the time that subpoenas requesting the records had not
been submitted to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, as the letters stated.
Moreover, we found a few instances in which the signers of exigent letters
did not know whether there were exigent circumstances or signed the letters
even though they questioned the letter’s accuracy about whether an
emergency existed.

When we asked FBI supervisors and employees why they issued such
letters when they knew that no subpoena had been requested, no one could
satisfactorily explain their actions. Instead, they gave a variety of
unpersuasive excuses, contending either that they thought someone else
had reviewed or approved the letters, that they had inherited the practice
and were not in a position to change it, that the communications service
providers accepted the letters, or that it was not their responsibility to follow
up with appropriate legal process.

In official memoranda distributed to all FBI personnel in January
2003, CTD managers referred to a practice whereby the CAU could obtain
records from Company A prior to service of legal process. In November
2003, Rogers issued an electronic communication to CAU personnel that
specifically mentioned exigent letters.

We determined that the FBI’s use of exigent letters became so casual,
routine, and unsupervised that employees of all three communications
service providers told us that they - the company employees - sometimes
generated the exigent letters for CAU personnel to sign and return to them.

258


designed to ensure that FBI personnel receive periodic training on the FBI’s
authorities to obtain telephone records from communications service providers
and that FBI OGC attorneys and program managers, including successor
officials serving in these positions, are fully familiar with any FBI contracts
with communications service providers.

Il. Seeking Reporters’ Telephone Records Without Required
Approvals

We determined that in three media leak investigations the FBI requested,
and in two of these instances obtained from the on-site communications
service providers, telephone records or other calling activity information for
telephone numbers assigned to reporters. However, the FBI did not comply
with the federal regulation and Department policy that requires Attorney
General approval and a balancing of First Amendment interests and the
interests of law enforcement before issuing subpoenas for the production of
reporters’ telephone toll billing records. 106

In the sections that follow, we describe the federal regulation and
Department policies governing the issuance of subpoenas for the telephone toll
billing records of members of the news media, the facts we found regarding
each of these three leak investigations, and our analysis of each of these three
cases.

A. Federal Regulations and Department Policies

Because of the First Amendment interests implicated by compulsory
process to obtain reporter’s testimony or their telephone records, 28 C.F.R.
§ 50.10 (2004) requires special approvals and other advance steps before
Department employees are permitted to issue subpoenas for reporters’
testimony or the production of their telephone records.

Specifically, this regulation requires that before issuance of such
subpoenas, “all reasonable attempts should be made to obtain information
from alternative sources.”1°7 This regulation also requires the Department to
attempt to negotiate the voluntary appearance of the news media personnel or
the voluntary acquisition of their records. If the records are needed for a
criminal investigation, the regulation requires “reasonable grounds to believe,
based on information obtained from non-media sources, that a crime has

106 See 28 C.F.R. § 50.10.
107 28 C.F.R. § 50.10(b).

89


B. Administrative Subpoenas Served on the On-Site Providers

We found that the FBI served over 200 administrative subpoenas for
telephone records on the on-site communications service providers from 2003
to 2006. Most of these subpoenas were signed by FBI field division personnel,
but some were signed by a CAU SSA. As was the case with NSLs issued after
records were provided to the FBI (as described in Chapter Four), a CAU SSA
told us that in some instances the communications service providers’
employees gave records to the FBI in response to exigent letters prior to service
of administrative subpoenas.

Documentation we reviewed from the FBI and the on-site providers
showed that some of the administrative subpoenas served on the on-site
providers relating to the ( investigation were preceded by “sneak
peek” requests through which the on-site providers’ employees would first
check their databases to determine if records of interest were contained in the
databases. In response to sneak peeks, the on-site providers in most instances
informed CAU personnel that records existed on the telephone numbers of
interest, and the FBI sometimes issued administrative subpoenas for any
records the FBI wanted. However, in some instances the on-site providers gave
the CAU specific information about calling activity, such as the date of the last
call, how many calls were found, and the date range of calls identified, before
any legal process was issued.166

Cc. Improper Administrative Subpoenas Issued in Two FBI
Investigations

In two FBI criminal investigations, we found that SSAs signed
administrative subpoenas that were issued to the on-site providers in
circumstances that violated 21 U.S.C. § 876 and the FBI regulation governing
the delegation of signature authority for Title 21 administrative subpoenas. In
these instances the ECPA prohibition against divulging “a record or other
information pertaining to a subscriber to or customer of such service” was also
violated.

1. Issuing FBI Administrative Subpoenas in the Absence of
an Active Narcotics Investigation

From December 2003 to September 2006, the FBI served at least 54
administrative subpoenas related to the [J Field Division’s fugitive

166 We describe our finding that sneak peeks violated the ECPA in Chapter Two of this
report.

131


national security investigations. Moreover, he signed and allowed his
subordinates to sign letters that inaccurately stated that subpoenas
requesting the telephone records had been submitted to the U.S. Attorney’s
Office and would be served expeditiously. He also instructed subordinates
who questioned him about using such inaccurate letters to continue to use
them. In addition, Rogers failed to implement a system for tracking the use
of exigent letters, which resulted in a growing backlog of JE of records
for which the providers were promised follow-up legal process. These
failures led to the routine use of exigent letters and after-the-fact NSLs, as
well as the use of sneak peeks and other improper practices detailed in this
report. Finally, Rogers failed to ensure that Bassem Youssef, his successor
as CAU Unit Chief, was adequately briefed on the unit’s methods and
procedures, including the specific methods the CAU used for obtaining
records from the providers.

Second, we found that Bassem Youssef inherited the improper
practices that were in place during Rogers’s tenure but that he, too, did not
do all he could have, and should have, to address the improper use of
exigent letters and other informal requests for telephone records. Youssef
failed to understand or adequately assess, in coordination with CTD
management and the NSLB, the various methods by which CAU personnel
were obtaining records from the on-site providers. Youssef told us that he
was unaware of the details of the CAU’s requests for community of interest

sneak peek requests, hot number [J and the unauthorized
use of administrative subpoenas. In addition, Youssef personally signed 1
exigent letter, although he did not review or read the exigent letter for more
than 5 months after he signed the letter and 18 months after he became the
CAU Unit Chief.

Third, we believe Julie Thomas did not properly perform her duties as
the NSLB Deputy General Counsel with respect to the CAU’s use of exigent
letters. Many of the improper practices described in this report pre-dated
Thomas’s tenure in the NSLB. However, after she became the NSLB Deputy
General Counsel and became aware of exigent letters, she did not
adequately review and assess the legality of their use in a timely fashion,
halt their use, ensure in coordination with CTD officials that CAU personnel
understood the lawful methods for obtaining records from the on-site
communications service providers, or ensure that the NSLs that she
personally signed complied with the ECPA NSL statute.

We found that the Assistant General Counsel, an FBI senior line
attorney who was the NSLB point-of-contact for NSL-related policies and
issues, did not recognize that exigent letters promising future legal process
were an improper tool for obtaining ECPA-protected records and that
after-the-fact NSLs also were unauthorized. The Assistant General Counsel
also provided inaccurate guidance on the use of exigent letters, and she did

282


Counsel (FBI OGC) knew about the practice, and our analysis of this
practice.

1. Company C

Company C’s hot number [J feature was described in a
May 23, 2003, proposal of work that led to a contract between the FBI and
Company C for the provision of Company C’s on-site services in the CAU. A
CTD Electronic Communication (EC) dated May 28, 2003, that requested
funding for this contract stated that the “statement of work also allows for the
—— However, we found that the FBI did not establish any
procedures, guidance, oversight, or training for CAU personnel regarding the
use of hot number J We also found no evidence that NSLB attorneys
conducted any legal review of the proposed Company C contract in 2003,
including the legal implications of hot number Further, we found no
evidence that FBI attorneys evaluated the legal implications of hot number

after Company C posted its on-site employee in the CAU in April
2004, or thereafter, until 2007.96

A CAU SSA told us that to obtain information on targeted numbers he
provided a list of telephone numbers to Company C a Company C
would then notify him of calling activity by the targeted numbers. The on-site
Company C’s employee’s log indicates that in some instances the Company C
employee provided more information than just the fact of calling activity, such
as call originating and terminating information.

A Company C representative confirmed for us that Company C did not
receive legal process from the FBI to initiate any hot number and also
did not receive legal process after it had provided information to the FBI about
the hot numbers. The Company C representative also said that Company C
could not determine how often the feature was used or a

at the request of the FBI during the 4-year period covered by our
review. However, based on information provided to us by a CAU SSA who used
the Company C service and our review of Company C documents, we estimated

that the FBI asked Company C to MJ for at least 65 telephone numbers
between May 2004 and September 2006.

95 The EC was initiated by the CAU and was approved by Thomas Harrington, the
Deputy Assistant Director of the CTD.

96 As described below, we found that based on inaccurate information provided to her
in April 2007, FBI General Counsel Caproni came to the erroneous conclusion that hot number
a had not been used by the CAU.

82


the Inspection Division to the FBI OGC for possible IOB violations, and the
FBI has not completed its research into the remaining three NSLs as of
October 2009.245

6. OIG Analysis of FBI Retention Decisions

In evaluating the FBI’s process and decisions regarding whether to
retain or purge telephone records obtained through exigent letters and listed
in the blanket NSLs, we recognize the competing interests faced by the FBI.
On the one hand, the FBI wanted to retain records it believed were relevant
national security investigations. FBI General Counsel Caproni stated that
the FBI was concerned with losing information that could be critical to a
counterterrorism investigation. In describing the FBI’s various corrective
measures, Caproni stated that the FBI cannot “put the nation at risk. So
we chose a path that we think is reasonable.”

On the other hand, FBI officials stated to Congress and publicly
following the release of the OIG’s first NSL report that it would “ensure that
any telephone record we have in an FBI database was obtained because it
was relevant to an authorized investigation.”246 The FBI Director and
General Counsel Caproni stated that any records that were not associated
with authorized investigations would “be removed from our databases and
destroyed.”247

In evaluating the FBI’s review efforts, we recognize that the ECPA has
no exclusionary rule for records acquired in violation of the statute.248
Moreover, we recognize that the only duty specifically imposed on the FBI on
discovery of the ECPA violations is to report the violations to the IOB, and
that the FBI has provided periodic briefings to the IOB staff about exigent

245 After reviewing a draft of this report, the FBI stated that the NSLB reported its
findings to the Inspection Division regarding the four possible IOB violations in April 2009.
One was then reported to the IOB, and the FBI concluded that the other three NSLs were
proper.

246 Valerie E. Caproni, General Counsel, FBI, before the House Committee on the
Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives, concerning “The Inspector General’s Independent
Report on the FBI’s Use of National Security Letters,” (March 20, 2007),
http: / /www.fbi.gov/congress/congress07 /caproni032007.htm (accessed March 26, 2009);
Robert S. Mueller, III, Director, FBI, before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, U.S.
Senate, concerning “Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation” (March 27, 2007),
http: / /www.fbi.gov/congress/congress07 /muelleri032707.htm (accessed March 26,
2009).

247 Id.
248 See 18 U.S.C. § 2708.

210


had already done so and in many instances had provided responsive
records. ?22

As described in the next section, the FBI later drafted an approval EC
dated April 13, 2007, documenting the predication for these three blanket
NSLs. We found a draft version of this EC stating that the records were
obtained in exigent circumstances. However, the final signed EC did not
contain that statement. In an e-mail dated April 30, 2007, from the
Assistant General Counsel to NSLB Deputy General Counsel Thomas
relating to the issuance of the EC, she told Thomas that the Unit Chief of
the operational unit responsible for Operation Z “was not willing to put in
[the approval EC] that it was an exigency, and he was not even willing to say
that CAU thought it was an exigent circumstance because he didn’t think
CAU could believe that.” The Unit Chief and an SSA of the operational unit
responsible for Operation Z told us that they believed the telephone records
requested by the CAU for this operation were not [J under exigent
circumstances. In addition, Youssef said that the telephone records that
the CAU obtained from the on-site providers in Operation Z were of “very
high intelligence value as opposed to a known threat.”

5. OIG Analysis of 11 Improper Blanket NSLs

In sum, we concluded that the FBI’s attempt to address the backlog of
records requests awaiting legal process by issuing blanket NSLs was
ill-conceived, legally deficient, contrary to FBI policy, and poorly executed,
and these blanket NSLs created more problems than they solved.

First, as described at the beginning of this Chapter, the ECPA does
not authorize the FBI to issue retroactive legal process to cover previously
acquired records or information. Moreover, issuance of retroactive legal
process did not cure any prior violations of the ECPA that occurred when
the FBI sought and received records without prior legal process and in the
absence of a qualifying emergency.

222 In addition to the Operation Y and Z blanket NSLs discussed in this section, the
CAU used the same practices in support of other counterterrorism investigations. For
example, 4 after-the-fact NSLs and 3 after-the-fact grand jury subpoenas were used to
cover and the acquisition of records for more than 950 telephone numbers that
were relevant to 2 other counterterrorism operations in 2005 and 2006. The FBI served
legal process between 2 weeks and 6 months after receipt of the records. In many
instances, records were provided in response to requests communicated by e-mail and
other informal means. We found only a few exigent letters associated with these requests.

184


these letters or made these informal requests, their supervisors, and the
FBI’s senior leadership.

I. Findings in the OIG’s Previous Reports

In our first NSL report, we described how the FBI issued at least 739
so-called “exigent letters” between March 11, 2003, and December 16, 2005.
These letters were signed by personnel in the FBI Counterterrorism
Division’s (CTD) Communications Exploitation Section (CXS) who were not
authorized to sign NSLs, including two Assistant Section Chiefs, Unit Chiefs
assigned to the CXS’s Communications Analysis Unit (CAU), Supervisory
Special Agents (SSA), Intelligence Analysts, and an Intelligence Operations
Specialist. We determined that the 739 exigent letters requested
information relating to approximately 3,000 telephone numbers. The
overwhelming majority of the letters requested production of telephone
records, allegedly “due to exigent circumstances,” and also stated that
subpoenas requesting the information had been submitted to a U.S.
Attorney’s Office for processing and would be served formally as
expeditiously as possible.

We concluded that by using exigent letters to acquire information
from three communications service providers prior to serving NSLs or other
legal process, the FBI circumvented the requirements of the Electronic
Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) NSL statute and violated the Attorney
General’s Guidelines for FBI National Security Investigations and Foreign
Intelligence Collection (NSI Guidelines), and internal FBI policy. We also
found that there were factual misstatements in the letters. While almost all
exigent letters stated that subpoenas requesting the information had been
submitted to a U.S. Attorney’s Office and would be served on the providers,
in fact subpoenas were not issued in many instances and in other instances
had not been requested. Moreover, we developed information that exigent
letters sometimes were used in non-exigent circumstances. We also found
that the FBI was unable to later establish that some of the exigent letter
requests were made in connection with the required open preliminary or full
investigations conducted pursuant to the Attorney General’s NSI Guidelines
or that the records requested were relevant to those investigations.

In our first NSL report we also described the circumstances in which
attorneys in the FBI Office of General Counsel’s (FBI OGC) National Security
Law Branch (NSLB) became aware of the exigent letters practice in late 2004
and the efforts NSLB attorneys made to limit the practice, and the fact that
the FBI did not direct that the practice stop for over two years, until after
the OIG provided its first NSL report to the FBI in February 2007.


from telling the FBI, prior to service of legal process, whether a particular
account exists. We also concluded that if that type of information falls within
the ambit of “a record or other information pertaining to a subscriber to or
customer of such service” under 18 U.S.C. § 2702(a)(3), so does the existence of
calling activity by particular hot telephone numbers, absent a qualifying
emergency under 18 U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4).

We found no evidence that the FBI requested or the providers gave the
FBI this information pursuant to the emergency voluntary disclosure provision
of the ECPA. Instead, it appears that the information was disclosed as part of
the contractual arrangement between the providers and the FBI, and was
primarily used in connection with fugitive matters that did not qualify as
emergency situations under 18 U.S.C. § 2702. Therefore, we believe that the
practice of obtaining calling activity information about hot numbers in these
matters without service of legal process violated the ECPA.

We also found it both surprising and troubling that Rogers, as Unit Chief
of the CAU and the official responsible for knowing and assessing the tools
used by his subordinates to obtain information from the on-site providers, said
he was not certain whether Company A’s hot number [I feature was
ever utilized by the FBI. We likewise were troubled that Youssef, Roger’s
successor as CAU Unit Chief, told us that he did not believe that hot number

was used.

In addition, from the inception of the FBI’s contractual relationship with
the three providers beginning in 2003, senior FBI officials knew that the CAU
would be handling telephone transactional records which the FBI could
lawfully obtain pursuant to the ECPA. However, the FBI failed to ensure that
responsible officials in the CTD and the FBI OGC’s NSLB reviewed the
proposed and final contracts with the providers to ensure that the agreements
conformed to the requirements of the ECPA and other relevant laws and
policies. The General Counsel and the NSLB Deputy General Counsel did not
review the contracts or associated documents with the on-site providers until
late 2006 or early 2007. We believe that the absence of timely legal review was
a significant management failure by the FBI. In part because NSLB attorneys
did not review the contract proposals with the on-site providers, they were
unaware of the specific services provided, including the hot number
service.

In Chapter Six of this report we provide recommendations to address our
findings from this portion of our review. We believe the FBI should carefully
review the circumstances in which FBI personnel asked the on-site
communications service providers aT “hot numbers” to
enable the Department to determine if the FBI obtained calling activity

information under circumstances that trigger discovery or other obligations in
any criminal investigations or prosecutions. Our recommendations also are

88


4. Eight Additional Blanket NSLs in 2006

We determined that CAU personnel drafted and CTD senior officials
signed eight additional improper blanket NSLs between August and October
2006 related to major FBI operations. Together, these eight blanket NSLs
were issued to cover the FBI’s previous requests to the communications
service providers without accompanying NSLs for J on calling
records and other information on over 1,500 telephone numbers.

All of these eight NSLs were served after-the-fact, although the ECPA
does not authorize retroactive legal process. Five of the NSLs also failed to
comply with the ECPA certification requirement for NSLs imposing
non-disclosure and confidentiality obligations on the recipients. The eight
NSLs also were issued without approval ECs in violation of FBI policy and
failed to disclose that the FBI had already acquired the records. The
additional deficiencies in these eight blanket NSLs are summarized in Table
4.2 and described in more detail in this section.

TABLE 4.2

Eight Blanket NSLs Issued by the CTD
in Connection with FBI Operations Y and Z

8 Be ~ :
R | 2e3| ge 3
2 4
se, | g55| 22 |
8 g g £8 Hi @ z a oe oe z
ana, a"| 3B og ° 8
g| o¢ of
ER g acy 8 4 2 26
Date Recipient Signer [2225/2 e2| 2 23 a a
08/24/06 | Company B | A/DAD 72|N V 5/04/07 | 5/04/07
Cummings*
08/24/06 | Company C | A/DAD 610 | ¥ V V 3/07/08 3/07/08
Cummings*
08/25/06 | Company A | A/DAD 735 | V V V 3/07/08 3/07/08
Cummings*
09/19/06 | Company A | A/DAD 107 | v V Vv 5/04/07 5/04/07
Cummings*
09/19/06 | Company C_ | A/DAD 73 |V Vv Vv 5/04/07 5/04/07
Cummings*

178



In September and December , a CAU SSA and other CAU personnel
provided briefings to the Field Office’s  <o.20s,
including the case agent assigned to the leak investigation (who attended one of

the briefings), about the resources available to support FBI investigations from
the on-site communications service providers.

Five days after the December [J briefing, the case agent on the leak
investigation sent an e-mail to a CAU Intelligence Analyst who had participated
in the briefing, asking the same questions that had been previously posed to
the CAU SSA by the Special Agent: could the on-site providers obtain toll
records on calls originating (NY telephone numbers
The case agent stated in his December 14
e-mail to the CAU Intelligence Analyst, “You suggested that we run this past
you before we send the subpoena.” The e-mail also stated, “We likely will
proceed with a federal grand jury subpoena, with the AUSA requesting DOJ
approval before issuing the subpoena.” The case agent also noted in the e-mail
that the Special Agent who had originally forwarded this request to the CAU
had already “touched base with [the CAU SSA] preliminarily on this
matter.”

In response, on December 14, [, the CAU Intelligence Analyst sent
the case agent a sample NSL for toll billing records. The Intelligence Analyst
also stated in his e-mail that he would check with the CAU SSA “to make sure
he hasn’t already pulled the tolls.” We found no evidence indicating that the
CAU SSA received this e-mail or that he was informed about any planned
request for DOJ approval.

However, in the absence of any request from the case agent or anyone in
the FBI, the CAU SSA issued an exigent letter dated December 17, , to
Company A for telephone records of the reporters and others listed in the case
agent’s November 5, EE, e-mail. We determined that the SSA did this
without further discussion with the case agent or the Special Agent who had
asked only whether such records could be obtained through the on-site
providers, not that the records should be obtained.!15

The CAU SSA’s exigent letter sought records on nine telephone numbers,
seven of which were identified in the e-mail exchanges described above as
belonging to Washington Post and New York Times reporters or their news
organizations’ bureaus in [J The other two numbers were associated

115 We determined that this SSA had issued a total of 115 exigent letters, the second
highest number of exigent letters signed by any CAU personnel.

93


billing records information in its counterterrorism investigations, led to a
culture in which exigent letters and other even less formal and equally
inappropriate requests for information became the CAU’s accepted and
customary method of conducting business. We found that a distinct lack of
oversight and scrutiny by CAU managers, CTD officials, and FBI OGC
attorneys enabled the improper practice of obtaining ECPA-protected
telephone records with the promise of future legal process to expand and
proceed virtually unchecked for over 4 years.

In reaching our conclusions, we recognize the CAU’s and the FBI’s
important mission to detect and prevent terrorist attacks and the challenges
the FBI faced after the September 11 attacks. After the September 11
attacks, the FBI reorganized its mission, structure, and procedures to
emphasize counterterrorism. As part of this reorganization, the FBI created
the CAU with the important mission of facilitating prompt retrieval and
analysis of telephone records from the communications service providers for
high-priority investigations. The CAU typically requested the telephone
records to pursue its critical counterterrorism mission, not with the
intention to obtain records that CAU personnel knew they were not legally
entitled to obtain. Moreover, it is important to recognize that when we
uncovered the improper exigent letter practices and reported them to the
FBI in our first NSL report, the FBI terminated these improper practices and
issued guidance to all FBI personnel about the proper means to request and
obtain telephone records under the ECPA.

However, in our view that does not excuse the extended, widespread,
and improper use of exigent letters and other informal means to obtain
telephone records that the FBI used for many years, or the FBI’s
ill-conceived and ineffective attempts to cover those record requests with
after-the-fact NSLs and improper blanket NSLs. As discussed in the next
section, we believe the responsibility for these practices was widespread,
from the top of the FBI, to the supervisors who oversaw these practices, to
the FBI attorneys who failed to correct these practices in a timely way, to
the line employees who signed these letters that were inaccurate on their
face.

A. Failure to Plan for Proper Use of the On-Site
Communications Service Providers

We found that FBI officials at all levels failed to develop a plan and
implement procedures to ensure that telephone records were properly
obtained from the on-site communications service providers. Such planning
was needed from the outset of the CAU’s establishment in 2003, particularly
when employees of the communications service providers were co-located in
the CAU’s work space. We also believe that the need for such planning was
obvious before the CAU began operations, not just in hindsight.

214


U.S. Department of Justice
Federal Bureau of Investigation

In Reply, Please Refer to File No. FBIHQ
935 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20535
Room
May 27, 2003

Telephone:
Facsimile:

Attn:

RE: Special Project / FY

Due to exigent circumstances, it is requested that
records for the attached list of telephone numbers be provided.
Subpoenas requesting this information have been submitted to the
U.S. Attorney’s Office who will process and serve them formally
to MMMM as expeditiously as possible.

Sincerely,

Glenn Rogers
Unit Chief
Communications Analysis Group

By:
Supervisory Special Agent

3020 &
NSL
| ee


comfortable,” had started thinking they were part of “the same team,” and
had failed to adhere to the internal controls established by the FBI, on the
one hand, and the providers on the other.

These moves were also accompanied by changes in the FBI’s protocols
for obtaining telephone records under the contracts with the three
providers. According to the CXS Section Chief, a new protocol for
requesting records from the providers was established in December 2007

11, 2008. Under the new

FBI officials told us that, notwithstanding the move to off-site
locations and implementation of the new protocols, the providers remain
capable of quickly responding to the CAU’s requests for telephone records in
high-threat or emergency circumstances.

E. FBI Analysis of Whether it Will Retain or Purge Records

Beginning in late 2006 and concluding in April 2009, the FBI
analyzed whether it would retain telephone records it acquired in response
to exigent letters or records for any additional telephone numbers that were
listed in the 11 improper after-the-fact blanket NSLs described in this
report.

1. FBI Analysis

As described above, the FBI OGC was first told about a blanket NSL
issued to address the backlog of records requests for Company B in August
2006, when Youssef informed the Assistant General Counsel that Acting
Assistant Director Billy had signed “a blanket NSL request on all backlogged
requests.” Although Youssef’s e-mail did not further describe the blanket
NSL, Youssef told us that he was referring to the Company B May 12
blanket NSL. Eventually, the FBI OGC learned that the CAU drafted and
CTD officials signed 11 blanket NSLs between May and October 2006.

In an elaborate and time consuming process, the FBI analyzed the
4,379 unique telephone numbers listed in exigent letters and the 11 blanket
NSLs. We summarize below how the FBI organized and assigned the work
of analyzing which numbers will be retained, its legal analysis of this issue,
and the FBI’s conclusion as to which telephone records it will retain and
which it will purge from its databases.

192


three on-site providers to [J in connection with this operation. She said
that in late October 2006, the Primary Relief Supervisor directed her to
compile a list of all telephone numbers that had been J Using her
log, the Intelligence Analyst prepared a list of 445 telephone numbers and
gave it to the Primary Relief Supervisor.

The Primary Relief Supervisor then prepared a blanket NSL for each of
the three on-site providers, attaching the list of 445 telephone numbers to
each NSL. He said that he gave the NSLs to Youssef or Youssef’s immediate
supervisor for Billy to sign, and that the NSLs were signed on or around
October 20, 2006.

Billy confirmed his signature was on all three NSLs, although he said
he could not recall signing them. He said he recalled the case and that
NSLs were issued. He also told us that signing NSLs without approval ECs
was “completely outside” his practice.

Youssef told us that he was not involved with the Operation Z NSLs.
He said that the Primary Relief Supervisor was the CAU point of contact
with the CTD operational unit for Operation Z. Youssef also said that he did
not recall that the Primary Relief Supervisor had drafted the three blanket
NSLs for Operation Z and said he also did not recall whether he had
provided the NSLs to Billy for signature. Youssef told us that he recalled
one instance in which he had provided NSLs to Billy for signature but did
not think it related to Operation Z. Youssef said that Billy asked him what
case the NSLs were associated with but did not ask for any approval ECs.

The Primary Relief Supervisor stated that he did not draft approval
ECs to accompany the NSLs because he believed they were being prepared
by the CTD operational unit involved with Operation Z. He also told us that
when he drafted the Company A September 21 NSL, he did not know that
approval ECs were required, but he knew that a CTD operational unit was
responsible for preparing ECs for the Operation Z NSLs.

We determined that all three Operation Z NSLs were defective. First,
the NSLs were served after-the-fact. Second, the NSLs were not
accompanied by approval ECs establishing the predication for the requests
and the relevance of the records sought to authorized national security
investigations. Finally, the NSLs did not disclose that the FBI had
previously asked the providers to [Ml these records or that the providers

183


Prosecutor 1’s notes seem to corroborate his assertion that the case

agent had told him, erroneously, that the lan; e in the subpoena referring to
es eee would not
generate records, which would have included the records of
reporters.

The case agent told us that he did not recall any discussion with
Prosecutor 1 or Prosecutor 2 before the subpoenas were issued about the
meaning of the text suggested by the on-site analyst. He said that he never
told any of the prosecutors assigned to this case that the language in the
subpoenas or the attachments would not request telephone records of
reporters.136 The case agent also said he did not recall ever telling the
prosecutors that Company A told him it was necessary to add the suggested
language to ensure that the FBI obtained the local and long distance calling
activity. He stated that he had forwarded the language provided by an on-site
Company A analyst to Prosecutor 1 “merely for [the attorneys’] consideration”
and was “not prescribing that the text be used.”

Prosecutor 1 said that, after the subpoenas had been served on
Company A, he had a conversation with an FBI Special Agent assigned to
another counterintelligence squad in the division who explained the resources
available from the CAU to support the servicing of subpoenas for telephone
records. Prosecutor 1 said that it was only during this conversation (not in the
earlier conversation with the case agent) that he realized that if Company A

as had been requested in the subpoena, Company A
could have produced the toll billing records of reporters |
Prosecutor 1 said that the Special

Agent told him that by requestin;
could provide the

Prosecutor 1 said that as a result of this conversation, “I now knew that [the
case agent’s] explanation [that the subpoena needed to request
in order to get the

136 The case agent told us that he was unaware of any other member of the leak team
telling the prosecutors that the language in the subpoenas and accompanying attachments
would not request reporters’ records. He also said that he thought it was “very unlikely” that
such a conversation occurred.

109


2. Community of Interest EN for the

FBI

We found that FBI requests for records often included requests for
community of interest We identified 52 exigent letters (of the 514
signed by CAU personnel) served on the on-site Company A analysts that
included requests for community of interest 7 We also identified
more than 250 NSLs and over 350 grand jury subpoenas served on the 3
on-site providers that requested community of interest

Prior to mid-May 2006, the FBI issued to the 3 on-site providers 107
NSLs that included in the body of the letters community of interest
requests. After May 2006, the community of interest requests appeared in
“boilerplate” attachments appended to over 150 NSLs. The standard
attachment listed 18 types of records, including a “‘calling circle’. . . based

87 Even though Company B and Company C did not J community of interest
HE, we identified 25 exigent letters to Company B and 20 exigent letters to Company
C that requested such i


providers only in accordance with the ECPA and ensure that the use of
exigent letters and after-the-fact NSLs was halted.

For example, after the Assistant General Counsel informed Thomas in
an e-mail in April 2005 that the CAU may be handling requests from the
on-site providers for records as if they were emergencies when some of the
requests “were not necessarily emergencies,” Thomas did not correct
inaccurate guidance that the Assistant General Counsel had given to the
CAU: that the CAU could continue to use exigent letters “only if it is clear to
you that the requestor cannot await an NSL.” As described in Chapters
Four and Six of this report, this advice was inaccurate because even if the
exigent letter was construed as seeking voluntary production pursuant to
Section 2702, the advice would allow use of the letter in circumstances that
did not meet Section 2702’s definition of emergency circumstances.

Thomas told us that she did not recall receiving the Assistant General
Counsel’s April 2005 e-mail, but after reviewing the e-mail in August 2008
she said it was consistent with her understanding of the advice that the
NSLB was providing the CAU in 2005. Thomas said she understood that
the Assistant General Counsel’s advice was “shorthand” for the “true
emergency” standard in the emergency voluntary disclosure statute (18
U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4)). However, as described above we do not believe it is
reasonable to equate the words “the requestor cannot await an NSL” with
the “danger of death or serious physical injury” standard in Section 2702.
More significantly, FBI General Counsel Valerie Caproni and the Assistant
General Counsel stated unequivocally that the FBI did not rely on that
statutory authority in approving the use of exigent letters. We concluded
that Thomas’s recollection was mistaken and that 18 U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4)
was not relied upon by the NSLB during the period that the CAU issued
exigent letters.

In August 2005, Thomas missed another opportunity to correct some
of the CAU’s improper practices when she failed to recognize that the
emergency voluntary disclosure statute could be used to address some of
the emergency requests coming to the CAU. At that time Thomas approved
FBI-wide guidance issued by the FBI General Counsel for obtaining the
content of communications pursuant to the ECPA emergency voluntary
disclosure provision. The new guidance reiterated the requirements of the
provision and specifically highlighted that since the disclosure was
voluntary it “should not be followed with a subpoena or other compulsory
process.” Yet, even as she reviewed and approved new FBI policy for using
this emergency authority under 18 U.S.C. § 2702(b)(8) for obtaining
communications covered by the ECPA, Thomas failed to recognize a
connection between a similar emergency disclosure provision under 18
U.S.C § 2702(c)(4) relating to toll billing records under the ECPA and how
that authority related to the exigent letters practice. She again failed to halt

233


| ane

4. FBI Guidance on Community of Interest
Requests

Glenn Rogers, who was the CAU’s first permanent Unit Chief
beginning in March 2003, told us that the NSLB had approved the use of
community of interest J, although he said he could not recall the
name of the NSLB attorney who had approved their use. Bassem Youssef,
who succeeded Rogers as the CAU Unit Chief in November 2004, told us
that he was present at a June 2006 briefing by Company A representatives
for FBI OGC attorneys and DOJ personnel on Company A’s capabilities,
which included a reference to the community of interest [J Youssef said
that no one in the FBI OGC raised any questions about community of
interest [MMM at the time and that he never heard from FBI OGC
attorneys about the issue until it was raised during the OIG’s first NSL
review.

We determined that in November 2004 and December 2004, the NSLB
Assistant General Counsel first exchanged e-mails with several CAU
employees regarding the use of language such as “a ‘calling circle’ based on
a —— community of interest” in the body of NSLs or the
accompanying attachments to NSLs.®7 After reviewing the language used in
the CAU’s community of interest requests, the Assistant General Counsel
expressed concern to a CAU SSA that the | information
may be “running a little far a field.” The Assistant General Counsel
thereafter checked with then NSLB Senior Counsel for National Security
Affairs Marion Bowman about the CAU’s practice of obtaining

telephone records using NSLs. Bowman replied that he
thought the FBI’s acquisition of records on numbers was

authorized if the records “related” to an investigation, but stated that
EE <<. :s EN Taercafter, by e-mail
dated March 7, 2005, the Assistant General Counsel told Rogers and
Youssef that NSLB could “make an argument” that Po]
records are relevant, but that | records would require

additional information supporting the position that the records were
relevant.

67 Although the first e-mail exchanges we found on this topic were in November
2004, we found that community of interest requests were contained in exigent
letters, grand jury subpoenas, and NSLs as early as February 2003.

62


The EC stated that regardless of whether investigators seek the
information through an NSL, grand jury subpoena, or emergency voluntary
disclosure, “it is incumbent upon the employee to develop or obtain a
sufficient factual predicate to allow for the lawful acquisition of this
information.” The EC also stated that the ECPA NSL statute requires that
the FBI determine that a telephone number is related to an existing national
security investigation and that the information sought is relevant to that
investigation. It further stated that investigators requesting emergency
voluntary disclosure can seek the same information — even in the absence of
an open national security or criminal investigation — if they give the provider
sufficient facts for the provider “to believe, in good faith, that disclosure of
the information sought is required without delay by an emergency situation
involving the danger of death or serious physical injury to any person.” The
EC stated that the provider’s “good faith belief may be based solely on a
statement from the FBI or other entity that an emergency exists,” and that
while a “request to the service provider may be oral, it is preferable to make
the request in writing.”

The EC also stated that requests for emergency voluntary disclosure
must be approved by officials at a level not lower than an Assistant Special
Agent in Charge for field divisions and not lower than Section Chief for a
headquarters unit.23° It stated that regardless of whether the request is
made in writing or orally, the investigative file and a control file should
contain written documentation of the approval of the emergency voluntary
disclosure request by the appropriate FBI official, the emergency, and the
approval of the service provider.231

D. Relocation of Communications Service Providers’
Employees From the FBI

After the OIG issued the first NSL report, employees of the three
on-site communications service providers moved out of the FBI’s offices in
December 2007 and January 2008. The FBI General Counsel told us that
in the aftermath of the OIG’s first NSL report in March 2007, the FBI and
the three on-site providers concluded that while the co-location was legal
and operationally beneficial, it blurred the distinction between the providers
and the FBI. According to the FBI General Counsel, the FBI and the
providers also concluded that both sets of employees had become “too

230 The EC stated that the better practice is that the approval be in writing “in the
form of a signature [by the approving official] on the letter to the service provider.”

231 A control file is an administrative file that is used to store various types of FBI
information unrelated to particular investigations.

191


Chapter Six contains our conclusions and recommendations.

The appendix to the report provides examples of exigent letters signed
by CAU personnel.


The Intelligence Analyst told us that CAU personnel showed little
enthusiasm for using the Tracker Database because they did not want the
responsibility for inputting the data. The Intelligence Analyst said that after
she reported to Youssef several months later that the database was not
being used by CAU personnel, she halted her efforts to implement the
Tracker Database and no other CAU-wide tracking system for identifying the
need for after-the-fact legal process was implemented.

Rogers told us that when Youssef became the CAU’s Unit Chief he did
not provide Youssef with any guidance or instructions on how to use exigent
letters or on how to track exigent letters to ensure they were followed up
with after-the-fact legal process. Rogers said he never discussed exigent
letters with Youssef.

Youssef told us that he did not require CAU personnel to use the
Tracker Database. He said that after he received the February 2, 2005,
e-mail from the Intelligence Analyst, he held an “all-hands” meeting at
which the Tracker Database was discussed. He said that at the meeting
there was an “outcry” and that nobody in the CAU (other than the
Intelligence Analyst who designed it) wanted to use the database because it
was too cumbersome. He said that the database “died instantly” because he
told Rogers no one wanted to use it, and Rogers did not instruct him that it
had to be used.

Youssef also told us that when the Tracker Database issue arose in
February 2005 he did not yet know that the CAU was obtaining records
prior to service of legal process. We therefore asked Youssef what he was
thinking at the time about the reference in the Intelligence Analyst’s
February 2 e-mail to “100 pending NSLs.” Youssef said he could not
remember, but he may have thought “there are NSLs that we still have to
serve. I mean, I did not see it as pending as in NSLs we never got. That was
not my understanding and frankly I do not remember much of this here.”

E. CAU Unit Chief Youssef Learns that the CAU has Obtained
Records in Advance of Legal Process

Youssef told us that he first learned that the CAU was obtaining
records before service of legal process shortly before his first meeting with
the Assistant General Counsel, which we determined occurred on March 11,
2005. On that date, Youssef and two other CAU SSAs met with the
Assistant General Counsel at the off-site location where she was assigned.
He said that he and the SSAs were at the off-site location for another
purpose, and he decided that while there he would introduce himself to her.
Youssef informed Rogers in a contemporaneous e-mail that he had
discussed “streamlining the NSL process” at the March 11 meeting.

151


ECPA-protected records rather than using legal process such as NSLs or
emergency voluntary disclosure requests led to a serious abuse of the FBI’s
expanded authority to issue NSLs following enactment of the Patriot

Act.

Fifth, Rogers failed to ensure that Bassem Youssef, his successor as
CAU Unit Chief, was briefed on the unit’s methods and procedures,
including the specific methods the CAU used for obtaining records from the
on-site providers. Rogers told us he had objected to Youssef’s selection as
Unit Chief and that he had little substantive contact with Youssef after his
appointment. Notwithstanding Rogers’s objections to Youssef’s selection,
Rogers should have fully briefed Youssef upon his entry on duty as Unit
Chief and should have remained engaged with Youssef’s management of the
unit, including Rogers’s plan to implement the Tracker Database to track
requests to the on-site providers and the need to issue follow-up legal
process.

Rogers attempted to justify his actions by stating that he regularly
reminded CAU personnel to stay current on securing the after-the-fact legal
process for the providers. He also said he sometimes spoke with personnel
assigned to CTD operational units and at least one field division about the
importance of issuing after-the-fact legal process for telephone records.
However, his efforts were not sufficient to ensure that after-the-fact legal
process was issued, and he never raised concerns about the practice to
other managers or attorneys in the FBI.

In addition, we found that Rogers’s failure to clearly explain to CAU
personnel what was appropriate under the law and FBI policy led to other
lax and sloppy practices in the CAU, including sneak peeks and informal
requests for records conveyed by e-mail, telephone calls, and face-to-face
conversations.

Sixth, when Rogers was the CAU Unit Chief and also when he was the
CXS Assistant Section Chief, the CAU did not implement any system for
tracking requests to the on-site providers, or keeping copies of the exigent
letters, or ensuring that legal process was issued promptly after the records
were provided to the FBI. The CAU relied on the on-site providers rather
than its own internal controls to document requests for records and the
need for legal process. As a result, the growing backlog of J or
records for which the providers needed legal process went largely unnoticed
and unaddressed by FBI managers for over 3 years, until mid-2006. In
addition, once FBI managers focused on the improper actions, the lack of
documentation of these requests greatly complicated the FBI’s efforts to
determine whether it had a basis for retaining these records.

223


occurred, and that the information sought is essential to a successful
investigation ... .”108 Any requests for such subpoenas must be approved by
the Attorney General in accordance with principles specified in the
regulations. 109

The regulation also requires that if the telephone toll records of members
of the news media are subpoenaed without the required notice, the affected
member of the news media must be notified “as soon thereafter as it is
determined that such notification will no longer pose a. . . substantial threat to
the integrity of the investigation” and, in any event, within 45 days of any
return in response to the subpoena.!!0 Finally, the regulations state that
failure to obtain the prior approval of the Attorney General “may constitute
grounds for an administrative reprimand or other appropriate disciplinary
action.”111

Department policies supplement this regulation by specifying the
information required to be included in requests seeking Attorney General
approval for issuance of such subpoenas. !12

At the time of the investigations at issue, the FBI’s media leak
investigations were governed by the Attorney General’s Guidelines on General
Crimes, Racketeering Enterprise and Terrorism Enterprise Investigations.113 In
addition, at the time of these investigations, leak investigations involving

108 28 C.F.R. § 50.10(f)(1).
109 28 C.F.R. § 50.10(g).
110 Section 50. 10(g)(3) of 28 C.F-.R. states:

When the telephone toll records of a member of the news media have been
subpoenaed without the notice provided for in paragraph (e)(2) of this section,
notification of the subpoena shall be given to the member of the news media as
soon thereafter as it is determined that such notification will no longer pose a
clear and substantial threat to the integrity of the investigation. In any event,
such notification shall occur within 45 days of any return made pursuant to the
subpoena, except that the responsible Assistant Attorney General may authorize
delay of notification for no more than an additional 45 days.

111. 28 C.F.R. § 50. 10(n)(2004).

112 See United States Attorneys’ Manual § 9-13.400, “News Media Subpoenas;
Subpoenas for Telephone Toll Records of News Media; Interrogation, Arrest, or Criminal
Charging of Members of the News Media.”

113 As noted previously, several sets of Attorney General Guidelines were revised and
consolidated into the Attorney General’s Consolidated Guidelines, which took effect in
December 2008.

90


1. The FBI’s New York Field Division Contract with
Company A

The analysis of telephone records associated with the September 11
hijackers and their associates became the primary responsibility of a newly
created squad in the FBI’s New York Field Division known as Domestic
Terrorism 6, or DT-6. DT-6 developed close working relationships with
several communications service providers due to the heavy volume of FBI
requests for telephone records.

In early 2002, the New York Field Division, with the approval of FBI
Headquarters, entered into a contract with Company A that provided for a
Company A fraud detection analyst to be co-located with DT-6 to respond to
the FBI’s increased need for telephone records. To provide this support, the
Company A analyst accessed Company A’s telephone records databases
from a computer work station installed for his use at the New York Field
Division. The Company A analyst was able to respond immediately to FBI
telephone records requests and also was available to respond to requests
after normal business hours. According to an FBI Supervisory Special
Agent (SSA) who worked in the New York Field Division, this arrangement
proved to be highly beneficial to the FBI’s ability to investigate terrorist
threats and was soon used to support a wide variety of FBI counterterrorism
investigations.

2. The New York Field Division’s First Use of
Exigent Letters

At first, the FBI obtained records from the on-site Company A analyst
solely through grand jury subpoenas issued in the PENTTBOM
investigation.!14 An SSA assigned to the DT-6 squad said this process was
also facilitated by the co-location of several Assistant United States
Attorneys (AUSA) at the FBI’s New York Field Division’s offices. As a result,
FBI agents were able to quickly obtain grand jury subpoenas from the
co-located AUSAs to serve on the Company A analyst prior to obtaining
responsive records.

Eventually, the AUSAs left the New York Field Division’s office space,
and over time Company A

14 Since the PENTTBOM investigation was a criminal investigation, grand jury
subpoenas were appropriate legal process by which to obtain non-content records from a
communications service provider.

12


E. Employees of On-site Communications Service
Providers

We also interviewed employees of the communications service
providers who were assigned to the FBI about the use of exigent letters.

The first Company A analyst who arrived at the CAU in April 2003
told us that he was acquainted with the use of exigent letters from his
previous experience as an on-site analyst at the FBI’s New York Field
Division, where, as noted above, exigent letters had been in use since 2002.
Rogers and other CAU personnel who signed exigent letters said that this
Company A analyst told them that exigent letters were a method for
requesting telephone records from Company A. This analyst defined exigent
circumstances as “needing of the records immediately.” The Company A
analyst confirmed that he often informally briefed CAU and other FBI
personnel on the use of exigent letters, and said he told them that they
could use an exigent letter when “they needed the records quicker.”

The on-site Company C employee, who arrived at the CAU in April
2004, told us that neither his company supervisors nor FBI officials
described exigent letters to him before he began working at the CAU. He
said that he was first presented with an exigent letter soon after his arrival
at the CAU and that he accepted the legitimacy of the letter based on the
“credibility” of both the SSA who signed the exigent letter and “the whole
unit.”47 The Company C employee, who did not have prior experience in
subpoena or NSL compliance, told us that he accepted exigent letters at
“face value” as indicating that the FBI needed the data as soon as possible
and would subsequently provide legal process. The Company C employee
stated that he honored exigent letters without consulting his Company C
supervisors.

The on-site Company B employee arrived at the CAU in early
September 2004. This employee had extensive prior experience with
subpoena compliance. He said he had not been told prior to his arrival
about the CAU’s use of exigent letters, and that on the second day of his
assignment, September 8, 2004, a CAU intelligence analyst presented him
with an exigent letter. The Company B employee said he initially declined to
honor the exigent letter, telling the CAU analyst that she would need to
provide an NSL before Company B would process the request. The
Company B employee stated that the analyst was “stunned” by his refusal

47 The first exigent letter we found that was issued to the on-site Company C
employee was dated April 14, 2004.

41


oe successor as CAU Unit Chief, Bassem Youssef, told us that hot

number was a feature offered by Company C whereby the FBI “would
have authority on a particular target number”
However, Youssef said

he did not know what the authority was for hot number EJ He said that
after making inquiries with an FBI field division in 2006 and 2007, he believed
that the FBI had never used Company C’s hot number

capabilities.

On September 12, 2006, a CTD Contracting Officer’s Technical
Representative (COTR) sent an e-mail to Youssef asking him whether the CAU
still needed Company C’s hot number [J service for which the FBI was
then paying ee oer month.!03 Youssef responded that he no longer
needed the hot number [J feature and, in the event it were needed in the
future, “we would ask for it on a month to month basis.” The COTR asked
Youssef to contact Company C and let it know that the FBI was cancelling the
service.

On September 18, 2006, Youssef informed the Company C on-site
employee by e-mail that “we no longer need the hot # — feature and we'll
re-institute it in the future if we need it again.” The Company C employee
replied by e-mail that Company C was then using the feature for two FBI
investigations: the IJ fugitive investigation being conducted by the FBI’s
a Field Division and a second fugitive investigation being conducted by
the Field Division. The Company C a asked Youssef to

confirm that he wanted to terminate hot number for both
investigations, which Youssef confirmed.

Marion Bowman, who was the National Security Law Branch (NSLB)
Deputy General Counsel when the contracts were executed, told us that he was
unaware of and did not review the contracts with Company A, Company B, or
Company C to provide on-site services at the CAU and did not know the
specifications for the contracts. Bowman’s successor as NSLB Deputy General
Counsel, Julie Thomas, told us that she recalled reviewing the contracts with
the on-site providers for the first time in late 2006, after receiving a draft of the
OIG’s first NSL report. She stated that she recalled identifying the provision of
the contract discussing hot number [J and concluding that the FBI
could obtain this type of information only through a pen register. She said that

103 Youssef had co-signed the Company C monthly invoices that included charges for
this feature for 12 consecutive months prior to the COTR asking him whether Company C’s hot
number feature was needed. However, the invoices only referenced a lump sum amount and.
did not itemize the particular services provided for the charges.

86


Fourth, we found that Youssef did not adequately inform the
Assistant General Counsel that CAU personnel were having difficulty
obtaining legal process to address the backlog of record requests about
which he was aware. As described in Chapter Four of this report, Youssef
told us that he emphasized at the September 26, 2005, meeting with NSLB
attorneys and managers of a CTD operational unit that the CAU was
attempting to address the “significant backlog” of NSLs owed to the
providers. However, in late 2005 and early 2006 when the Assistant
General Counsel asked Youssef what the NSLB could do to assist the CAU
to ensure the NSLs were issued in a timely manner, Youssef replied that the
CAU was “making some reasonable headway in getting NSLs” and that the
on-site providers were “happy with the results.” These comments did not
address the problem of the significant backlog of several hundred telephone
numbers for which promised legal process had not been issued. Youssef did
not at this time, or later, advise the Assistant General Counsel of the scope
of this backlog or that the CAU was having difficulty obtaining after-the-fact
legal process to address the backlog.

By not making clear to the NSLB that the CAU was having significant
difficulty in obtaining after-the-fact NSLs, Youssef contributed to an
inaccurate perception that the CAU had the exigent letter matter under
control. Because the NSLB was not informed of the full scope of the
problems, it did not provide additional resources or issue more urgent
directives in coordination with CTD officials to establish clear timetables
and oversight mechanisms to address the problem. While we believe that
NSLB attorneys were very slow in recognizing and correcting the core legal
problem with exigent letters, we also believe Youssef’s understatement of the
problem contributed to the NSLB’s lack of urgency in addressing the exigent
letters situation.260

by the CAU staff under his name, and he did not attempt to verify that the representations
in the letter were accurate.

260 In response to reviewing a draft of this report, Youssef’s attorney stated that
Youssef had requested help from the FBI OGC to force the operational units to open
preliminary investigations prior to the CAU requesting records from the on-site providers,
but that the FBI OGC refused his request. Youssef’s attorney cited two e-mails, dated April
5 and 12, 2005, written by the Assistant General Counsel. According to Youssef’s attorney,
Youssef’s request to the FBI OGC to force the operational units to open preliminary
investigations, if accepted, would have “struck at the root cause of the exigent letter[s]
problem.”

However, the April 5 and April 12 e-mails related to the umbrella preliminary
investigative file plan that the NSLB had proposed in January 2005. In his OIG interviews,
Youssef also portrayed the preliminary investigation suggestion as the FBI OGC’s idea, not
(Cont’d.)

229


contract in 2003 noted that the statement of work for the contract would

allow for
9

As described in Chapters Three, Four, and Five of this report, we
found that the only FBI attorneys who reviewed the three contracts prior to
late 2006 were FBI OGC attorneys who specialized in procurement law.
Marion Bowman, who served as Deputy General Counsel for the FBI OGC
National Security Law Branch (NSLB) when the contracts were executed,
told us that he was unaware of and never reviewed the contracts. Julie
Thomas, who was the NSLB Deputy General Counsel from October 2004
until December 2008, told us that she first reviewed the contracts in late
2006 after she reviewed a draft of the OIG’s first NSL report.

4. Location of the Three Communications Service
Providers

From April 2003 through January 2008, employees of one or more of
the three communications service providers were located in the CAU’s office
space. The CAU’s office space was arranged in an open manner, with no
walls or partitions to set these employees apart from CAU personnel. The
work stations for the providers’ employees consisted of a desk, at which the
employee had access to an FBI computer, an FBI telephone, and a
separately networked computer that provided access to the records of the
communications service provider. These work stations were located nearest
the entry door to the CAU and were immediately adjacent to the CAU Unit
Chief’s office. The work stations of CAU’s SSAs and Intelligence Analysts
were located further inside the CAU’s suite. All of the work stations in the
CAU’s suite, including the work stations for the three communications
service providers, were integrated in one common area.

The FBI issued FBI e-mail accounts to employees of the three
communications service providers for their use at the FBI. The providers’
employees also had access to the CAU computer share drive.3° The FBI
e-mail accounts enabled them to communicate with FBI employees inside

29 As described later in this chapter, we believe that the FBI’s community of interest
HM practices were inappropriate under the ECPA and FBI policy. Further, as described
in Chapter Three of this report, we found that, pursuant to the FBI’s contracts with
Company A and Company C, the FBI improperly obtained ECPA-protected calling activity
information through the use of hot number aa

30 Employees from Company A and Company B told us that they accessed the
CAU’s share drive to review the exigent letter template because they were often asked about
the template by FBI personnel who wanted to request records.

24


meeting he was aware only that Company B had outstanding record
requests that were not covered by legal process.

Youssef said that at the meeting the operational units agreed to issue
NSLs prior to future requests for telephone records, except for “extreme
cases where it is an emergency.” He also said that an agreement was
reached that the CTD operational units would provide the NSLs upon
request from CAU personnel. In fact, beginning in November 2005, the
number of exigent letters issued by the CAU to the on-site providers
decreased significantly.

The Assistant General Counsel e-mailed Youssef on October 21, 2005,
to confirm Youssef’s statement in the meeting that “there no longer seemed
to be a need to create umbrella files, as we had previously discussed.” We
found that the umbrella file proposal was not pursued after this.

I The CAU Efforts to Reduce the Backlog

Beginning shortly before and continuing after the September 26,
2005, meeting, Youssef and CAU personnel made various additional efforts
to obtain after-the-fact legal process for the backlogged record requests. On
October 5, 2005, Youssef convened an “all-hands” CAU meeting in which he
encouraged CAU personnel to ensure that all outstanding requests for
records from the three on-site communications service providers were
covered by legal process. Contemporaneous e-mails also show that on
September 6, 2005, and October 26, 2005, Company B and Company C
sent to CAU personnel spreadsheets listing the record requests that still
required legal process.

In subsequent e-mails to CAU personnel, Youssef assigned these
telephone numbers to the pertinent CAU teams and instructed the team
leaders to contact the relevant FBI field divisions and the CTD operational
units to address the backlog of after-the-fact NSLs. He referred to this task
as “a priority matter.”

The Assistant General Counsel told us that after the September 2005
meeting she followed up with Youssef in e-mails and telephone
conversations to see what the NSLB could do to assist Youssef and the CAU
in ensuring that the operational units provided the necessary NSLs. She
also asked what instructions he would like the FBI OGC to give the CTD
operational units and the field on that subject. She said that Youssef did
not respond in writing to her e-mail message, but later spoke with her and

159


A. FISA Case No. 1

In this case, the Department applied to the FISA Court for a pen
register/trap and trace order in connection with an FBI counterterrorism
investigation. The declaration, signed by an Acting FBI SSA, stated that the
FBI had obtained the subscriber information contained in the application in
response to an NSL served on the carrier. On a the FISA
Court approved the application and issued the order for a pen register/trap
and trace device on the subscriber’s telephone number.

However, working with the NSD and the FBI, we determined that the only
NSL served on the carrier seeking subscriber information for this telephone
number was dated nn — 6 weeks after the FISA Court order
was issued. Rather, we determined that the subscriber information on which

the Department’s FISA request relied was obtained in response to an exigent
letter dated

In August 2008, as a result of our review, the NSD notified the FISA
Court of the inaccurate statement in the declaration, stating that the NSD
considered the statement to be “non-material” for purposes of Rule 10(b) of the
FISA Court Rules of Procedure. !54

B. FISA Case No. 2

In this case, the Department filed with the FISA Court an emergency
application for an electronic surveillance order on in
connection with a national security investigation.

The supporting declaration by an FBI SSA stated that the FBI had
verified the subscriber information through information obtained on
in response to an NSL served that day on a carrier. The FISA
Court’s order was entered on J 155

However, working with the NSD and the FBI, we determined that the only
NSL to the carrier seeking records for this telephone number was dated
— 2 months after the FISA Court order was issued. We found

154 Rule 10(b) of the FISA Court requires the government to report misstatements or
omissions of “material” facts. Neither the FISA Court rules nor the FISA defines what
constitutes a “material” fact.

185 On 2 CAU SSA sent to all three on-site providers an e-mail with
this telephone number and asked them to [MJ for records. The telephone number was
subsequently included in the Operation Y blanket NSLs, which we describe in Chapter Four of
this report.

124


[PAGE LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK]


FBI personnel serving in acting positions were authorized to sign NSLs. To
ensure that all FBI personnel serving in acting positions understand what
they are authorized or not authorized to approve or sign under various
federal statutes, Attorney General Guidelines, and FBI policies, we believe
the FBI should clarify the authorities of FBI personnel serving in various
acting positions.

4. The FBI OGC should review existing contracts between the FBI
and private entities or individuals that provide for the FBI’s acquisition of
telephone records, e-mail records, financial records, or consumer credit
records to ensure that the methods and procedures used by the FBI for
requesting, obtaining, storing, and retaining these records are in conformity
with the NSL statutes and other applicable federal statutes, regulations,
Executive Orders, Attorney General Guidelines, and FBI policy.

5. The FBI should issue a directive requiring that FBI personnel,
including FBI OGC attorneys with expertise pertinent to the subject matter
of the contract, review contract proposals, responses to requests for contract
proposals, and proposed contracts or arrangements with wire or electronic
communications service providers. The objective of the review should be to
ensure that any records requested, obtained, stored, or retained pursuant to
any such contracts are done so in conformity with applicable federal
statutes, regulations, Executive Orders, Attorney General Guidelines, and
FBI policy.

As described in Chapter Two of this report, NSLB attorneys did not
review the contracts with the three on-site providers until after reviewing a
draft of the OIG’s first NSL report. Although the FBI has stated that these
contracts did not require FBI OGC review, the FBI OGC informed the House
Judiciary Committee that procurement attorneys reviewed certain portions
of the contract documents relating to the justification and approval of the
contacts.298 The FBI also informed the Judiciary Committee that FBI OGC
attorneys will be more involved in the contract review process in the future.
To ensure that FBI personnel who are familiar with the laws and policies
affected by such contracts review analyze these important contract
proposals and contracts before they are finalized, the FBI should require
that FBI personnel with relevant expertise — not just procurement attorneys

298 Letter to The Honorable John Conyers, Jr., Responses of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation Based Upon the March 20, 2007 Hearing Before the House Judiciary
Committee Regarding The FBI’s Use of National Security Letters Requested by April 19,
2007 Letter (January 13, 2009), at 6-7.

286


subpoena compliance office. The records available to Company B’s on-site
employee dated back [NNMS* Nevertheless, like the advantage offered
by the Company A and Company C on-site employees, the advantage offered
by the on-site Company B employee was the speed with which requests to
Company B were processed and records provided to the CAU.

Employees of the three on-site communications service providers told
us that they believed that they could release any information in their
databases to the FBI without regard to whether the request was
documented in exigent letters, NSLs, or grand jury subpoenas.

B. How Records were Uploaded and Analyzed by the FBI

CAU personnel told us that the three on-site communications service
providers delivered telephone records to the CAU in an electronic format
that was compatible with FBI databases and a

database used by the FBI primarily for analysis of telephone toll
billing records. The records provided in electronic format could be directly
uploaded without being re-formatted. The on-site communications service
providers’ employees told us that during normal business hours they
usually hand-delivered to CAU employees the requested electronic records
on a compact disk (CD). In many instances the on-site providers’ employees
would also contemporaneously forward an electronic copy of the records to
the CAU requesters as e-mail attachments.

We found that in i the on-site providers

sometimes forwarded telephone records to CAU requesters

Some of these records sent to CAU requesters
were associated with high-value terrorists.55

54 Although the FBI’s requirements for the Company B contract stated that
Company B “would deliver at least [IMB of historical records,” the on-site Company B
employee told us that in some instances he was able to obtain records for up to =

55 The OIG informed the FBI Inspection Division about this practice and raised

concerns about possible breaches of FBI internal policies, as well as security concerns
raised by the | ‘The Inspection Division
informed us that the telephone did not contain any classified
information and that the CTD did not consider the matter to be a security issue. We

disagree, and believe that does raise security
concerns.

52


3. Steps Taken to Purge Records

The FBI has purged records from centralized FBI databases, field
division-based databases, and hard copy files maintained by field division
personnel. Based upon the FBI review team’s findings, the CTD directed
that records be purged either by the CAU, the Field Investigative Software
Development Unit, or various field offices.242

4. Records Improperly Acquired Relating to Criminal
Investigations

The FBI OGC determined that 266 telephone numbers listed in
exigent letters and in 3 of the 11 blanket NSLs were related to criminal
investigations or domestic terrorism investigations for which NSLs are not
an authorized technique under the ECPA NSL statute, the Attorney
General’s NSI Guidelines, or FBI policy.

According to the FBI OGC, it located appropriate legal process (either
grand jury subpoenas or FBI administrative subpoenas) issued to the
on-site providers before or after the FBI obtained records for 16 of these 266
telephone numbers, and the FBI determined that it will retain these records.
The FBI OGC determined that it would retain records requested in grand
jury subpoenas if a grand jury had been empanelled at the time the legal
process was issued and the subpoena was served either before or after the
records were obtained.?43 Of the remaining 250 telephone numbers, the FBI
could not locate legal process for 167 telephone numbers. The FBI therefore
directed the CAU to purge the records in FBI databases on these telephone
numbers. The FBI review team informed us that there were no responsive
records in FBI databases for the remaining 83 telephone numbers.

The FBI OGC informed us that a court-ordered wiretap had been
instituted that targeted 1 of the 266 telephone numbers. The wiretap was

242 As described above and in Chapter Two of this report, the CAU is responsible for
uploading telephone transactional records into a |
database. The Field Investigative Software Development Unit administers an unclassified
FBI database called Telephone Applications, which is used to analyze the calling patterns of
telephone records. Telephone Applications stores raw data derived from telephone records,
known as “metadata,” including the call duration. It does not store the contents of
telephone conversations.

243 Data on the FBI’s retention decisions show that four grand jury subpoenas were
dated after the date when the corresponding records were uploaded into an FBI database,
while five were issued prior to uploading.

208


reporter. The evidence indicates that the Company A analyst [J the
database on his own initiative after the FBI Special Agent provided detailed
information to him about the investigation and the dates of possible contacts
between the reporter | listed in the grand jury
subpoena. The Company A analyst then provided information about the

to the FBI in the absence of legal authority to do so.

We determined that Company B and Company C also J their
respective databases for records of cellular phone calling activity by the
reporter’s cellular phone number. They did so after the Company A analyst

ave the CAU Primary Relief Supervisor the reporter’s cellular phone number,
and dates of suspected calling activity between
the numbers. However, we did not find evidence to conclude that the

Special Agent or any of the prosecutors assigned to the related investigation
asked the on-site communications services providers to do P| or

that they knew that any of the providers’ employees had done so. Rather,
according to the Company C employee’s log, he the Company C
databases for records related to the reporter’s cellular phone number at the
direction of the CAU Primary Relief Supervisor.

We concluded that the CAU Primary Relief Supervisor either directly
asked or prompted the on-site employees of both Company B and Company C
to the calling activity of the reporter without legal process. The CAU
Primary Relief Supervisor told us he was not sure if a grand jury subpoena
could be used to obtain such records and did not know what the process was
for getting such a grand jury subpoena. As noted above in our analysis of the
first leak investigation, we found that the FBI failed to properly train and
provide guidance to CAU personnel about the lawful means to acquire toll
billing records, reporters’ toll billing records, and other information from the
on-site employees of Company A, Company B, and Company C.

In sum, we believe that the [MJ of the reporter’s cellular phone
calling activity at the prompting or direction of a CAU Supervisor in this case
were a clear abuse of authority, in violation of the ECPA, federal regulation,
and Department policy. We believe the FBI’s actions demonstrated inadequate
training for CAU employees, inadequate controls over the issuance of
subpoenas, and inadequate supervision of CAU personnel by the CAU and CTD
management. As discussed further in Chapter Six of this report, we
recommend that the FBI periodically train FBI personnel and issue periodic
guidance on the special approval requirements for subpoenaing the telephone
toll billing records of news reporters.

We also recommend that the Department determine if, in addition to the
grand jury subpoenas identified in this review, the Department has issued

other grand jury subpoenas in media leak investigations that included a
request for ee] community of interest or calling circle

121


toll billing records. The subpoena listed various target telephone numbers. As

we describe below, attachments to the subpoenas contained
langue ET that vould have

resulted in the production of reporters’ toll billing records in violation of federal
regulation and Department policy. However, after service of the subpoenas,
and before looking at the records, the prosecutors realized the error and
impounded the records. Our investigation revealed that reporters’ records were
not included in the records that were produced in response to the

subpoenas.

The following sections describe the circumstances surrounding the
request for a S| and the actions taken by the
Department after it realized that this request may have resulted in the receipt
of telephone records of reporters.

2. The Leak Investigation

Believing that someone may have illegally disclosed information to
reporters, the Department opened a media leak investigation into the matter.
It assigned two federal prosecutors (who we refer to as Prosecutor 1 and
Prosecutor 2) to lead the investigation. These attorneys were assisted by an
AUSA (who we refer to as the local AUSA) from the judicial district where a
grand jury was convened to pursue the investigation, and FBI agents and
Intelligence Analysts. 129

After the leak investigation was opened, the investigative team sought to
obtain records related to various telephone numbers. The FBI case agent
assigned to the investigation told us that he spoke with a CAU SSA about the

investigative team’s interest in obtaining “to-and-from [J calls I
LL for particular telephone numbers. The case
agent told us that the CAU SSA had advised him to contact the on-site
employees of Company A and Company B to obtain the language for the

subpoenas necessary to obtain those calls.

The case agent went to the CAU and met one of the on-site Company A
analysts. The case agent told us that he explained to the Company A analyst
that “we were focused on to-and-from [ij calls
HMM for a single target.” The case agent said he believed that they “also

129 Pursuant to Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, we have excluded
grand jury information, including any identifying details about the leak under investigation,
from this summary of the matter.

105


expectation that a grand jury subpoena would be forthcoming. In his e-mail
to the case agent forwarding the responsive records, the Intelligence Analyst
even recognized that a grand jury subpoena was still needed.

We also found that the case agent failed to exercise appropriate care
and attention to detail. Although a CAU Intelligence Analyst sent an e-mail
to the agent on January 5, that attached reports containing toll
record information for the reporters’ telephone numbers, the case agent said
he did not open the attachments and did not realize that they included the
reporters’ toll billing records. In a subsequent e-mail on March 24,
the CAU Intelligence Analyst reminded the case agent that the January 5
e-mail contained “two products which reflected [Company A] toll records on
several of the — numbers that you have targeted.” We believe that
if the agent had exercised greater care when he received these e-mails, he
would have realized that the analyst had sent him reporters’ telephone
records without a subpoena and without obtaining Attorney General
approval as required.

Moreover, if the case agent had realized he had received the reporters’
records and promptly alerted his supervisors, they and the Criminal
Division could have undertaken corrective measures in early Jj to
address the improper collection. Because he failed to do so, the reporters’
records remained in the i database until
June 2008, when the OIG notified the FBI of the issue.

Finally, as detailed in Chapter Three, the FB!
MEE ¢2¢hone records the FBI had

obtained in response to the exigent letter. FBI agents

When we notified the FBI leadership in 2008 that we had discovered
that the FBI had obtained reporters’ telephone records improperly and
without required Attorney General approval, the FBI appropriately notified
the affected reporters and their newspapers, as required by federal

lation. However, in that notification the FBI did not disclose that the

In Chapter Six of this report, we recommend that the FBI assess the
information we developed in this review regarding subpoenas and other
requests for reporters’ telephone records to determine whether
administrative or other personnel action is appropriate for the individuals
involved. We recommend that the FBI’s assessment include a review of the

251


ensure the accuracy of the FBI’s declarations filed in support of applications
seeking FISA Court orders.

Our investigation also uncovered FBI misuse of administrative
subpoenas to obtain telephone records. We determined that some
administrative subpoenas served on the on-site communications service
providers were preceded by “sneak peek” requests through which the on-site
providers’ employees would first check their databases to determine if
records of interest were contained in the databases. In some cases, the
providers even gave the FBI records or other calling activity information
prior to the service of administrative subpoenas.

We concluded that the ECPA was violated when the FBI obtained
ECPA-protected telephone records without first issuing appropriate legal
process. The ECPA requires communications service providers to disclose
local and long distance non-content telephone records “when [the FBI] uses
an administrative subpoena authorized by a Federal... statute... .”294
However, the ECPA does not authorize the FBI to obtain ECPA-protected
records or information and then serve an administrative subpoena.
Accordingly, we believe that the FBI’s receipt of records obtained prior to
issuance of administrative subpoenas violated the ECPA.295

We also found that from 2003 to 2006 the FBI served at least 54
administrative subpoenas pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 876 for toll billin;
records as part of the fugitive investigation conducted by the FBI’s —
Field Division —— This statute authorizes the use of
administrative subpoenas in connection with an active narcotics
investigation to which the records sought are relevant. However, some of
these subpoenas were issued when the FBI’s J Field Division had no
active narcotics investigation to which the requested records were relevant.
Therefore, this was an improper use of Title 21 administrative subpoenas.
Further, the CAU SSA who signed seven of the subpoenas was not among
those officials delegated authority under the statute to sign administrative
subpoenas.

Cc. FBI Attempts at Corrective Actions

As discussed in Chapter Four of this report, from late 2003 through
March 2007 when the OIG issued its first NSL report the FBI made various

294 18 U.S.C. § 2703(c)(2).

295 We found no evidence that these were emergency voluntary disclosures
pursuant to Section 2702.

272


the records of reporters who may have
contacted the target numbers. !31

Shortly after receiving the facsimile from the case agent with
Company A’s suggested language, Prosecutor 1 drafted grand jury subpoena
attachments. Each subpoena attachment requested

The subpoenas themselves were initialed by the local AUSA.152 The
subpoenas both stated, “please see attachment,” and Prosecutor 1 had notified
the local AUSA by e-mail that Prosecutor 1 would draft the “riders” and add
them after the subpoenas were drafted.133 The local AUSA stated that these
were the first subpoenas he had signed in the investigation. He said at the
time, he did “not know anything” about the reasons for the subpoenas. He told
us that he did not draft the attachments to the subpoenas and that the
attachments were added without his knowledge (after he had initialed the
subpoenas). Prosecutor 1, who drafted the attachments, confirmed that he did
not think the local AUSA would have seen the attachments.

The case agent served the subpoenas, with the attachments, on the
on-site Company A analyst. The case agent told us that he had no discussion

with the on-site Company A analyst about the meaning of Com; A’s
suggested language P|
before the subpoenas were served.

We received conflicting information about whether the case agent and
Prosecutor 1 discussed the meaning of the |

131

132 During this leak investigation, the local AUSA was not involved in the day-to-day
work of the investigative team other than being asked to initial grand jury subpoenas.

133 We reviewed two e-mails that the local AUSA received from Prosecutor 1 concerning
procedures to be followed for grand jury subpoenas issued by the media leak investigative
team. Both e-mails stated that Prosecutor 1 would draft and add “riders” or attachments to
the subpoenas after the subpoenas were drafted.

107


to sign NSLs that the records sought are relevant to authorized national
security investigations.292

likely resulted in the FBI obtaining and uploading into a

database thousands of telephone records for
‘phone numbers without the advance determination
by an SES-level official that the records were relevant to an authorized
international terrorism investigation. In addition, the FBI is unable with
certainty to identify today which records in the database are associated with
a occoies< and whether those numbers were relevant to
the underlying investigations for which they were requested. We also
concluded that the FBI did not recognize the implications of Company A’s
community of interest [J capability when Company A first posted its
analysts on-site at the CAU; did not issue written guidance in coordination
with the FBI OGC about the circumstances in which such requests were
appropriate under the ECPA; did not establish an approval process for such
requests or ensure that the predication for these requests was properly
documented in approval ECs; and did not ensure that records sought in
community of interest [J requests were included in required reports to
Congress on NSL usage.

We also found that the FBI’s community of interest MMB practices

Our review also uncovered other irregularities in the manner in which

the FBI obtained toll billing records and other information from the on-site
roviders. From 2004 through 2006 Company A and Company C

— calling activity by certain “hot numbers” identified to them by CAU
personnel. Without serving legal process or even exigent letters, CAU
personnel requested that the companies F the calling activity
information for a total of at least 152 of these hot telephone numbers. The
on-site Company A analyst thereafter provided the FBI (either verbally or by
e-mail) calling activity information for at least 42 hot numbers during the
period covered by our review.

Based on the Office of Legal Counsel’s legal analysis of the ECPA in its
November 5, 2008, opinion, we concluded that the calling activity
information provided to the FBI on the “hot numbers” constituted “a record
or other information pertaining to a subscriber or a customer,” under the
ECPA.293 Therefore, we concluded that absent valid legal process or a
qualifying emergency, the FBI was not authorized to obtain this
information.

292 See 18 U.S.C. § 2709(b).
293 18 U.S.C. § 2702(a)(3).

270


F. Signers of the 11 Blanket NSLs: Joseph Billy, Jr., Arthur
Cummings III, Michael Heimbach, and Jennifer Smith
Love

As described in Chapter Four of this report, we found that 4 senior
CTD officials signed a total of 11 improper blanket NSLs in 2006. Each of
these NSLs had multiple deficiencies.

We analyze below the actions of the four CTD senior officials who
signed these improper blanket NSLs.

1. Joseph Billy, Jr.

Joseph Billy, Jr., joined the FBI in 1978. By mid-2006, Billy had
been assigned to FBI national security investigations for about 20 years.

Billy signed 4 of the 11 improper blanket NSLs: the Company B
May 12 NSL and 3 Operation Z NSLs. He signed the Company B May 12
NSL when he was a CTD Deputy Assistant Director and the three Operation
Z NSLs as an Assistant Director. In both of these positions, Billy was
authorized to sign NSLs by virtue of the FBI Director’s delegation of NSL
signature authority to Deputy Assistant Directors and Assistant Directors of
the Counterterrorism Division.

However, all four NSLs were deficient. The Company B NSL violated
the ECPA because (1) it included telephone numbers relevant to closed
investigations and records that were relevant to domestic terrorism and
criminal investigations for which NSLs are not an authorized technique
under the Attorney General’s NSI Guidelines; and (2) did not contain the
certifications required for NSLs imposing non-disclosure and confidentiality
requirements on NSL recipients.

The Company B May 12 NSL and the three Operation Z NSLs also
violated FBI policy because they were not accompanied by approval ECs.
Approval ECs are required in order to document that the records sought are
relevant to an authorized national security investigation.

Finally, all four NSLs were issued after-the-fact, and none of the NSLs
disclosed that they were issued for records that had been previously
obtained through exigent letters.

Billy told us that he did not recall signing the Company B May 12
blanket NSL or the three Operation Z NSLs, but he did not contest that his
signature was on all four NSLs. Further, although he told us that he knew
that NSLs were only authorized in instances in which there was an open
preliminary or full national security investigation, the Company B May 12
NSL included telephone numbers related to closed cases and domestic

239


Il. Recommendations .............ccccceceesseseeeceeessseeeeeeessceceeeesseesenseeeseeens 285

Ill. OIG Conclusion on Exigent Letters and Other Improper
Requests for Telephone Records.

vii


process or exigent letters for the calling activity information that he provided to
the FBI.

Based on information we obtained from Company A, we found that from

June 2005 until December 2006, FBI personnel asked Company A to I
HE for at least 87 telephone numbers. A Company A representative told us
that of the 87 telephone numbers, 42 telephone numbers generated callin:
activity information. The attorney stated that information a

was conveyed to the Company A analyst of the
calling activity. A CAU SSA who used the feature told us that
typically he did not receive notification of the calling activity generated on his
hot numbers , usually through an e-mail from the on-site
Company A analyst.

Unlike Company C, Company A provided its hot number J service
as part of its overall contract for services to the FBI, and Company A did not
impose separate charges for setting hot number

A CAU SSA told us that CAU Unit Chief Rogers told him to use Company
A’s and Company C’s hot number [J service in connection with the
a fugitive investigation being conducted by the FBI’s J Field
Division and in connection with another fugitive investigation being conducted
by the FBI’s I Field Division.°° Related to the
investigation, the SSA recalled attending a “meet and greet” session with a
Ma Fics Division supervisor in the CAU that was also attended by CAU
Unit Chief Bassem Youssef. The SSA said that the purpose of the meeting was
for the CAU to describe its resources and how the CAU could support the

fugitive investigation.1°° Several months after this meeting, the FBI

began identifying hot numbers associated with the | investigation and
giving them to the on-site Company A analyst. The Company A analyst

thereafter notified both the CAU SSA and the Field Division case agent
by e-mail of the telephone
numbers.

99 The CAU SSA told us that several other CAU personnel used the hot number
HE feature in other FBI investigations. We received independent information that
corroborated the CAU SSA’s statement regarding other CAU personnel using the hot number

for other CAU cases.

100

84


This EC was approved by the CXS’s Section Chief, the CTD’s Deputy
Assistant Director, and the CTD’s Assistant Director. The EC made no
explicit reference to exigent letters.

The first EC we identified that mentioned exigent letters was an EC to
CAU personnel dated November 18, 2003, approved by CAU Unit Chief
Glenn Rogers. The EC described how CAU personnel processed records

received from the on-site Company A analyst in response to exigent letters.
The EC stated:

Neither the CTD nor the CAU EC provided guidance regarding the
circumstances in which these exigent letters were appropriate.

Cc. CAU’s Exigent Letters Practice

This section provides further details on the exigent letters used by
CAU personnel and their explanations for issuing these letters.

Of the 722 exigent letters issued by CAU personnel from March 14,
2003, through November 13, 2006, 1 was signed by an Assistant Section
Chief, 12 were signed by 2 CAU Unit Chiefs, 706 were signed by 15 SSAs,
and 3 were signed by 3 Intelligence Analysts.

29


and both said they understood that they would be assisting the CAU in
issuing NSLs quickly in emergency situations. They both said they
understood that the NSLs they would facilitate would be issued prior to the
CAU obtaining records, not after the records had already been obtained. In
addition, they said that they understood that they would be working on
future requests for records and that they were not aware of any backlog of
requests for which legal process had been promised. One of the attorneys
stated that when she left the meeting she did not expect to receive any NSL
requests from the CAU until the umbrella file proposal was

implemented. !85

CAU Unit Chief Youssef did not attend this meeting. He told us he
did not know until 2007 that the NSLB had designated points of contact to
assist the CAU with NSLs.!86 However, FBI e-mails reflect that Youssef was
informed in advance about the proposed NSLB assistance and about the
January 26, 2005, meeting with NSLB personnel, and that he had
instructed CAU personnel to attend the meeting.

Both of the point-of-contact attorneys told us that in the months
following the January 26 meeting they did not receive any requests for
assistance from the CAU although they were included on various e-mails
addressing the umbrella file issue. FBI e-mails also reflect that several
months after the January meeting the Assistant General Counsel notified
her supervisors that the NSLB attorneys had not received any requests for
assistance from the CAU.

In connection with the January 26, 2005, meeting, Youssef told us
that beginning in November 2004 (when he became Unit Chief), and
continuing through mid-April 2005, Rogers “specifically kept me out of
several communications, several e-mails between [Rogers] and NSLB.”
Youssef said that, “Rogers knew about the fact that I was going to be at
another meeting that day.... This was an indication that I was not needed
at this meeting.” Youssef stated that Rogers generally kept him “out of the
loop” and that Youssef was not able to raise concerns he had about how the
CAU was being run to Rogers because Rogers was not willing to listen to his
suggestions.

185 We also reviewed various e-mails between the Assistant General Counsel and
NSLB supervisors in which she expressed her opinion that without open umbrella files the
two point-of-contact attorneys and the paralegal could not assist the CAU with preparing
NSLs.

186 FBI records reflect that Youssef was on sick leave the day of the meeting.

149


The copy of the subpoena and related documents provided to us by
Company A contained an attachment requesting, among other information, a

This request, if filled, would result in the

rovision to the FBI of the telephone records of
| However, we do not believe the attachment

to the subpoena was included in the material faxed to the Company A
employee. We noted that the subpoena, the cover letter, and the return of
service all included header information listing the date, time, and telephone
number from which they were faxed. The attachment did not include any
corresponding information indicating that it had been faxed. In addition, the
subpoena itself did not indicate it contained an attachment.!44 Further, copies
of the subpoena maintained in the files of the prosecutors and the U.S.
Attorney’s Office did not contain this attachment.

When we showed the prosecutors the attachment that was in the on-site
provider’s files, they said they did not recall ever seeing this type of attachment
in their grand jury investigation or any other investigations. Moreover, the
Special Agent told us that he would not have prepared the attachment and that
he did not recall previously seeing the attachment. We believe that the
Company A employee may have obtained the attachment from CAU personnel
or from the CAU share drive. The CAU share drive, which was accessible by all
CAU personnel and the on-site providers, included a boilerplate attachment
that was nearly identical to the one Company A provided to us with the
subpoena. The attachment on the share drive had been approved by the FBI
OGC National Security Law Branch and included with numerous NSLs and
grand jury subpoenas.

b. Company A EM Cellular Phone Calling
Activity

After the subpoena was served, the Special Agent sent an e-mail to the
on-site Company A analyst that included the name and cellular phone number
of a reporter, facts explaining the relevance of calling activity by the reporter to
the investigation, and information indicating that the cellular phone number of
the reporter was in contact | of the subpoena during a
particular period.

The Special Agent told us that he provided the cellular phone number of
the reporter to the Company A analyst because the analyst “asked for” it and

144 The subpoena did not state “see attachment” and the box on the face of the
subpoena for “additional information” was not checked.

116


attempts to address issues arising from the CAU’s use of exigent letters and
other informal means to obtain telephone records. However, during this
time period the FBI’s actions were seriously deficient and ill-conceived, and
the FBI repeatedly failed to ensure that it complied with the law and FBI
policy when obtaining telephone records from the on-site communications
service providers. For example, during this period the FBI regularly issued
after-the-fact NSLs, which were an inappropriate tool for remedying the
FBI’s improper exigent letter practices. Additionally, the FBI issued 11
improper blanket NSLs to try to “cover” or validate the improperly obtained
records. These attempts were inconsistent with the ECPA NSL statute, the
Attorney General’s NSI Guidelines, and FBI policy.

By contrast, after the OIG issued its first NSL report in March 2007,
the FBI took several appropriate actions to address the problems created by
exigent letters. The FBI ended the use of exigent letters; issued clear
guidance on the proper use of NSLs and the ECPA emergency voluntary
disclosure statute; and conducted an audit of NSLs issued by field and
Headquarters divisions from 2003 through 2006, the results of which were
summarized in the OIG’s second NSL report released in March 2008. The
FBI also directed that its personnel be trained on NSL authorities; agreed to
the move of the communications service providers’ employees off FBI
premises; and expended significant efforts to determine whether improperly
obtained records should be retained or purged from FBI databases.

1. The FBI’s Initial Attempts at Corrective Action

As detailed in Chapter Four of this report, in late-December 2004 the
CAU asked NSLB attorneys to issue an after-the-fact NSL to cover records
that had previously been provided to the CAU. By late 2004, FBI National
Security Law Branch attorneys, including Deputy General Counsel Julie
Thomas, learned about the CAU’s use of exigent letters, but the NSLB failed
to examine the practice adequately to ensure that it comported with the law,
the Attorney General’s NSI Guidelines, and FBI policy. Instead, the NSLB
sought to devise a process to expedite issuing after-the-fact NSLs for records
that the CAU had requested in emergency circumstances pursuant to
exigent letters.

Yet, these after-the-fact NSLs were legally flawed. Although the NSLB
accepted the CAU’s use of exigent letters with the promise of future legal
process, the ECPA authorizes the FBI to compel the production of records or
other covered information only upon certification in writing by specified
senior officials that the records sought “are relevant to an authorized

273


classified information were categorized by the FBI as espionage investigations
because they potentially involved violations of the Espionage Act.

B. First Matter

1. Background

An FBI squad

supervisor told us response the FBI CTD opened a counterterrorism
investigation into —

the Washington Post and The New
York Times published articles

Washington Post article referred to
indicating that,

York Times article referred to information from a

FBI —€ about

2. The Investigation of the Leak of Information to the
Media

The FBI’s EE Field Office initiated a leak investigation [to
determine whether U.S. government employees or others had violated criminal
laws prohibiting the release of classified information in connection with the
Washington Post and The New York Times articles. The investigation was
assigned to a EM Field Office counterintelligence squad, and a case
agent was assigned to the matter. The U.S. Attorney’s office in
a assigned an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) to the investigation
on or about October J.

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Rogers distinguished exigent letters from the FBI’s so-called “Patriot
Act” letters requesting voluntary disclosure pursuant to the ECPA
emergency voluntary disclosure provision.37 Rogers told the OIG that he
had used “Patriot Act letters” to obtain voluntary disclosures in other
circumstances, and that the exigent letters used by the CAU were not
Patriot Act letters. He said that exigent letters were used for “something
that was not routine and needed immediate attention. When asked whether
he was referring to instances in which there was an emergency that involved
a threat of immediate death or serious injury, he responded, “No, no it just
meant... that these were rapidly moving events . . . that required
immediate attention.”

Rogers told us that he was aware from the time he first learned about
exigent letters from the on-site Company A analyst that follow-up legal
process would be required whenever exigent letters were used. Rogers told
us that he regularly reminded CAU personnel who issued exigent letters to
stay current on securing the after-the-fact legal process owed to the
providers. He also said he sometimes spoke with personnel assigned to CTD
operational units and at least one field division about the importance of
issuing after-the-fact legal process. Rogers asserted that he regularly
checked with CAU personnel and with the on-site providers’ employees to
ensure that the after-the-fact legal process was being provided.

In November 2004, Rogers was promoted to be Assistant Section Chief
of the CTD’s Communications Exploitation Section (CXS), and Bassem
Youssef was appointed as the CAU Unit Chief replacing Rogers. Youssef
signed 1 exigent letter, and, while he was the CAU Unit Chief, 367 exigent
letters listing 2,046 telephone numbers were issued under his name.38

37 “Patriot Act letters” was the name FBI personnel used to refer to letters
requesting emergency disclosure pursuant to the ECPA. As noted previously, from
April 20, 2003, to March 8, 2006, 18 U.S.C. § 2702(c)(4) authorized a provider to
voluntarily release customers’ records to a governmental entity if the provider “reasonably
believe[d] that an emergency involving immediate danger of death or serious physical injury
to any person justifie[d] disclosure of the information.” As discussed in Chapter Four, the
FBI issued detailed guidance in August 2005 concerning the FBI’s authority to request
emergency voluntary disclosures.

38 Company A records show that the CAU issued 11 exigent letters to Company A in
2006 and a total of 239 exigent letters to Company A during Youssef’s tenure as CAU Unit
Chief. We identified 367 exigent letters issued under Youssef’s name as CAU Unit Chief
and 1 signed by him.

The total of 2,046 telephone numbers in the 367 exigent letters includes some
duplicate telephone numbers. We identified 97 telephone numbers that were listed on
exigent letters sent to more than one of the on-site providers. We also identified 224
(Cont’d.)

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