Pentagon Viewing Americans' Bank Records

[theHandpuppet]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PENTAGON_BANK_RECORDS?SITE=OHCIN&SECTION=AMERICAS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Pentagon Viewing Americans' Bank Records

By LOLITA BALDOR
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon and to a lesser extent the CIA have been using a little-known power to look at the banking and credit records of hundreds of Americans and others suspected of terrorism or espionage within the United States, officials said Saturday.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Saturday the Defense Department "makes requests for information under authorities of the National Security Letter statutes ... but does not use the specific term National Security Letter in its investigatory practice."

Whitman did not indicate the number of requests that have been made in recent years, but said authorities operate under the Right to Financial Privacy Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the National Security Act.

<snipping>
The national security letters permit the executive branch to seek records about people in terror and spy investigations without a judge's approval or grand jury subpoena.... MORE

Gee, and I wonder what the criteria might be to label someone a "suspect" and who wrote the rules?