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National Security Letters — Part 1

1188 pages · May 11, 2026 · Document date: Dec 4, 1981 · Broad topic: General · Topic: National Security Letters · 1018 pages OCR'd
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OK. And I have one final question, and that is to Mr. Fine, just a quick clarification on accessibility of PIN numbers and Social Security numbers of individuals through this process. On page 73 of your report, there's a discussion of a potential intelligence review board violation because an agent accessed a bank balance by getting a person's bank account and PIN number from the result ofa FISA order. The agent was faulted for not using an NSL, but was not faulted for the fact that the PIN number was readily available. And the reason I flagged this, because this reference makes clear that through an NSL of a 215 order the government can secretly obtain the PIN number for someone's credit or debit account along with their account number and all their identification. CONYERS: The gentleman's time has expired. Finish. NADLER: Weil, what limits are there on this and what protections are there on this power to get PIN numbers and credit account numbers? FINE: The FBI can get bank records and records like that. There has to be predication for it, and they have to show the need for that. And that is one of the tools that the FBI has used and can use. And as we pointed out, that's one of the reasons there need to be controls on this, CONYERS: The gentleman's time has expired. The chair tums to the former chairman, Jim Sensenbrenner from Wisconsin, whose letter to the Department of Justice first triggered the inquiries that have flown from this. And [ congratulate him and recognize him at this time. SENSENBRENNER: Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Just by way of background, we did some oversight when I was the chair of the comnnitee, and received a fetter in late 2005 that indicated that there were problems with national security letters. And the audit that the inspector general conducted was as a result of a provision that I put in the Patriot Act reauthorization that required this audit to be made, as well as the subsequent audit that Mr. Fine is doing that I'm sure we're going to talk about extensively later when the report is issued. I'd also like to point out that national securtty letters were not authorized by the initial Patriot Act in 2001, but have been around since 1986 in legislation that was authored by Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who is the chairman of the Judiciary Committee on the other side of the Capitol.
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