FBI wiretaps cut off due to unpaid bills

Half of 990 FBI bills were not paid on time; one bill totaled $66,000

The Associated Press
updated 12:16 p.m. CT, Thurs., Jan. 10, 2008

WASHINGTON - Telephone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals because of the bureau's repeated failures to pay phone bills on time.

A Justice Department audit released Thursday blamed the lost connections on the FBI's lax oversight of money used in undercover investigations. Poor supervision of the program also allowed one agent to steal $25,000, the audit said.

In at least one case, a wiretap used in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act investigation "was halted due to untimely payment," the audit found. FISA wiretaps are used in the government's most sensitive and secretive criminal investigations, and allow eavesdropping on suspected terrorists or spies.

"We also found that late payments have resulted in telecommunications carriers actually disconnecting phone lines established to deliver surveillance results to the FBI, resulting in lost evidence," according to the audit by Inspector General Glenn A. Fine.

More than half of 990 bills to pay for telecommunication surveillance in five unidentified FBI field offices were not paid on time, the report shows. In one office alone, unpaid costs for wiretaps from one phone company totaled $66,000.

The FBI did not have an immediate comment.

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There is a bit more at the link.

My local rag added a comment not at the link, to the effect that the action by the phone companies raises questions about their conduct in releasing records to the FBI - to the effect of:

"They're willing to believe the FBI that "The warrant's in the mail" but don't believe "The check's in the mail."

John