Editorial riddled with errors

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Mar 30, 2008

Sometimes the facts get in the way of the premise of an editorial column. Such is the case with the editorial titled "End the FBI's privacy abuses" (March 12).

This particular piece is riddled with incorrect facts and innuendo regarding the conclusions of the Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General's review of the FBI's utilization of National Security Letters. That the editorial is flawed should not come as any surprise. It was published one day before the OIG audit was released.

Reading the audit results before publishing the editorial would have disclosed that this was not the fourth annual audit conducted by the OIG. It was the second such audit. And this second audit covered the FBI's use of NSLs in 2006, which resulted in significant FBI reforms. Additionally, the IG audit found that the FBI has made significant progress toward correcting the deficiencies found in the prior audit.

To aver that the FBI's use of NSLs shows "widespread abuses," "the gathering of highly personal information" and "the Bureau ... collecting and scrutinizing information it has no reasonable need to see," is not only incorrect but irresponsible. The audit makes no such conclusions. Maybe next time the Deseret Morning News will learn the facts before it rushes to print judgment.

Timothy J. Fuhrman

special agent in charge

Salt Lake City FBI