“ | 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. In one office alone, unpaid costs for wiretaps from one
phone company totaled $66,000.
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 and intelligence 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. [AP Story]
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