Word: fbi
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...possible connection with law enforcement came to light when the data brokers were asked as part of the Congressional inquiry to submit letters revealing their client lists. One data broker listed as clients the FBI and unspecified "foreign governments," while another claimed to have done work for the Department of Homeland Security. Neither company will reveal the extent of the data they gave out. Both the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security deny any wrongdoing...
...House Energy and Commerce Committee's probe into data brokers has been dogged by controversy. Robert Douglas, an information security consultant who runs PrivacyToday.com and was hired to do research for the committee, resigned in April because he felt allegations that the FBI and Department of Homeland Security were purchasing phone records were not being investigated thoroughly enough. And a bipartisan committee bill to protect phone records by outlawing pretexting was suddenly withdrawn just before a full House vote in early May. Some Democrats suspect there may be a connection between the pulling of the bill and the recent revelations...
...Jefferson may be as surprised as anyone to see Hastert and other Republicans fighting on his side. The Democrat, who represents much of New Orleans, is in serious legal trouble by all accounts, and the allegations released last weekend after the raid are lurid. The FBI charges he authorized bribes of Nigerian officials to drum up business for a Kentucky telecom company, iGate, and that on July 30, 2005, he took $100,000 in cash out of the trunk of a collaborator's car in Pentagon City, and then stored the cash in a refrigerator in his home in plastic...
...cynic might say Republicans - and Democrats - are rallying to Jefferson's defense out of fear, not principle. No one has suggested the top Congressional leaders have any personal interest in making sure the FBI can't search their offices. But there's no shortage of other members who might worry that once the doors to the House and Senate office buildings are opened, there's no telling whose office the feds will raid next...
...there is another more likely reason for the outcry on Capitol Hill. Rather than an isolated incident, Republican leaders view the FBI raid as another example of the Bush Administration's expansion of executive branch power, and they appear to have lost patience. Says Bob Stevenson, spokesman for Majority Leader Bill Frist, "There's a real separation of powers issue here." And one Senate leadership aide says the feeling is Bush has gone too far this time...