Secret Rules Make It Pretty Easy for the FBI to Spy on Journalists
https://theintercept.com/2017/01/31/secret-rules-make-it-pretty-easy-for-the-fbi-to-spy-on-journalists-2/
Secret FBI rules allow agents to obtain journalists phone records with approval from two internal officials far less oversight than under normal judicial procedures.
The classified rules, obtained by The Intercept and dating from 2013, govern the FBIs use of national security letters, which allow the bureau to obtain information about journalists calls without going to a judge or informing the news organization being targeted. They have previously been released only in heavily redacted form.
Media advocates said the documents show that the FBI imposes few constraints on itself when it bypasses the requirement to go to court and obtain subpoenas or search warrants before accessing journalists information.
The rules stipulate that obtaining a journalists records with a national security letter requires the signoff of the FBIs general counsel and the executive assistant director of the bureaus National Security Branch, in addition to the regular chain of approval. Generally speaking, there are a variety of FBI officials, including the agents in charge of field offices, who can sign off that an NSL is relevant to a national security investigation.