NPR: Pentagon Uses Security Letters to Investigate Its Own

Pentagon Uses Security Letters to Investigate Its Own

It is, as reporter Dina Temple-Raston called it, "sort of a big deal."

As she reported on All Things Considered Sunday, the American Civil Liberties Union has learned that the Pentagon, apparently working with the FBI, has used "national security letters" to investigate 455 people connected with the Defense Department over the past five years. These letters allow investigators to get people's personal records without a court order.

Dina noted that the most interesting aspect of the revelations is that officials have to show suspicion of a link to terrorism to obtain the letters, which would mean that the Pentagon has suspected hundreds of its own employees of being connected to terrorism in some way.

Bruce Fein, a former associate deputy attorney general and now head of a conservative group that monitors executive power, told Guy Raz on Morning Edition that if this is true, it indicates that there is a serious security breach in the Defense Department.

A senior Pentagon official told NPR that far fewer than 450 Pentagon employees are actually under investigation. Some are contractors and some are people who "made approaches" to Pentagon employees.

The ACLU, which accessed documents about the letters through a public records lawsuit, accuses the Pentagon of using the FBI as a "foil" to get information on its own people.

Melissa Goodman, staff attorney with the ACLU's National Security Project, says it also raises the issue of the Pentagon investigating civilians. Fein says this kind of probe should be left to the FBI.

10:34 AM ET | 10-15-2007 | permalink

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