Last Time Gov’t Opened First Class Mail
Thanks to vigorous Congressional oversight in the 1970s and the distribution of reports to many outlets, including Federal Depository Libraries, we know what happened the last time the Intelligence Community opened mail without warrants (emphasis mine):
DOMESTIC CIA AND FBI MAIL OPENING PROGRAMS PART I: SUMMARY AND PRINCIPAL CONCLUSIONS Between 1940 and 1973, two agencies of the federal government -- the CIA and the FBI -- covertly and illegally opened and photographed first class letter mail within the United States. These agencies conducted a total of twelve mail opening programs for lengths of time varying from three weeks to twenty-six years. In a single program alone, more than 215,000 communications were intercepted, opened, and photographed; the photographic copies of these letters, some dated as early as 1955, were indexed, filed, and are retained even today. Information from this and other mail opening programs -- "sanitized" to disguise its true source -- was disseminated within the federal establishment to other members of the intelligence community, the Attorney General, and to the President of the United States. The stated objective of the CIA programs was the collection of foreign intelligence and counterintelligence information; that of the FBI programs was the collection of counterespionage information. In terms of their respective purposes, seven of the twelve mail opening programs were considered to have been successful by Agency and Bureau officials. One CIA project and three of the FBI programs concededly failed to obtain any significant relevant information. Another CIA operation -- clearly the most massive of all the programs in terms of numbers of letters opened -- was believed to have been of value to the Agency by some officials, but was criticized by many others as having produced only minimally useful foreign intelligence. Despite two unfavorable internal reviews, this program nonetheless continued unabated for twenty years. While all of these programs responded to the felt intelligence needs of the CIA and the FBI during the "cold war" of the 1950's and early 1960's, once in place they could be -- and sometimes were -- directed against the citizens of this country for the collection of essentially domestic intelligence. In the 1960's and early 1970's, large numbers of American dissidents, including those who challenged the condition of racial minorities and those who opposed the war in Vietnam, were specifically targeted for mail opening by both agencies. In one program, selection of mail on the basis of "personal taste" by agents untrained in foreign intelligence objectives resulted in the interception and opening of the mail of Senators, Congressmen, journalists, businessmen, and even a Presidential candidate.For an official printed version of the report, see: Final report of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, United States Senate : together with additional, supplemental, and separate views. by United States. Congress. Senate. Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities.; Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service. (1976) We don't need to see this movie again. Tell your Congressperson and the White House. Continue reading
Deb Liptak, BOTM for January, 2007
Deborah A. Liptak MLIS, is the owner of info2go, which specializes in locating and delivering government documents, public records and primary research beyond what is available on Google Books, WorldCat or FirstSearch. Deb received a MLIS from the University of Oklahoma 1988. Deb publishes Need to Know by info2go, a monthly newsletter and RSS feed. She is also an on call librarian at Tarrant County Community College in Texas. In a former life, Deb was a Communications-Electronics Officer in the United States Air Force, and recently wrote a magazine article on Information Warfare, which is scheduled for publication later this spring. Continue reading
20061220 – President says he can open mail without a warrant
On December 20, 2006, President Bush signed H.R. 6407 (Public Law No. 109-435), the "Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act" but in his signing statement (President's Statement on H.R. 6407, the "Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act") he "declared his right to open mail under emergency conditions, contrary to existing law and contradicting the bill he had just signed, according to experts who have reviewed it" according to an article in the New York Daily News and reprinted in the Seattle Times:
- Bush says feds can open mail without warrant by James Gordon Meek, New York Daily News (Seattle Times), January 4, 2007.
The opening of mail isn't the only qualification in the signing statement. There are a total of six paragraphs stating various qualifications to the law in "executive branch shall construe" statements.
Continue readingNew Poll – Social Software
It's a new month and so time for a new poll. Please stop by the front page or go directly to the poll and let us know what your favorite social software is. There's an option for people who think social software is a fad, and we'd like to here from you too, especially if you have comments. Last month's poll taught us that most of you don't have time for commenting and that's fine. But do vote in our poll. We at FGI believe that raising public awareness of government information is key to keeping access to it private, free and of course fully functional. Social Networks and other "Web 2.0" tools give us a whole new tool set to spread the word as far and wide as possible. So we'd like to get some feedback on the Web 2.0 tools we've heard of and maybe learn about a few more. As always, if you really love looking at old polls, they are still available. Continue reading
New THOMAS Beta Features
The THOMAS legislative information system from the Library of Congress has posted a beta version of several new features. The direct link to the features being tested is thomas.loc.gov/beta/ -- or you can click on the Explore new features link on the main page to check it out. New capabilities being tested include:
- Search all THOMAS databases for all congresses with one search.
- Sort search results by document type (bills, committee reports, etc), relevance, or date.
- Navigate and refine searches with new options on the search results and document display screens.