Homeland insecurity watch: FBI wiretaps dropped due to unpaid phone bills
Incompetence, as we have seen time again over the course of the Bush administration’s botched handling of border security, immigration enforcement, and TSA policies, knows no partisan bounds. And it isn’t limited to DHS or TSA. The latest results of a Justice Department audit reveal that FBI wiretaps–including one involving a suspected terrorists were cut off because the agency failed to pay its damned phone bills on time:
Telephone companies cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals because of the bureau’s repeated failures to pay phone bills on time, according to a Justice Department audit released Thursday.
The faulty bookkeeping is part of what the audit, by the Justice Department’s inspector general, described as the FBI’s lax oversight of money used in undercover investigations. Poor supervision of the program also allowed one agent to steal $25,000, the audit said.
More than half of 990 bills to pay for telecommunication surveillance in five unidentified FBI field offices were not paid on time, the report shows. In one office alone, unpaid costs for wiretaps from one phone company totaled $66,000.
And at least once, a wiretap used in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act investigation — the highly secretive and sensitive cases that allow eavesdropping on suspected terrorists or spies — “was halted due to untimely payment.”
Here’s the summary of the report over at the DOJ IG’s site. An excerpt:
As part of our audit, we analyzed 990 telecommunication surveillance payments made by 5 field divisions and found that over half of these payments were not made on time. We also found that late payments have resulted in telecommunications carriers actually disconnecting phone lines established to deliver surveillance results to the FBI, resulting in lost evidence including an instance where delivery of intercept information required by a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) order was halted due to untimely payment.
According to FBI field division officials, the various types of telecommunication charges, coupled with the number of invoices resulting from each surveillance order, make it difficult to identify and track incoming surveillance bills. The FBI also lacks proper guidance and consistent procedures necessary to track telecommunication surveillance bills
accurately. Lacking such headquarters-issued procedures, FBI field divisions have instituted separate, ad hoc tracking mechanisms, which had mixed results in paying bills on time. For example, a primary carrier sent a list to one of the field divisions we tested detailing $66,000 in unpaid telecommunication costs resulting from surveillance activity.
I’d say this is worth a Code Red Elmo Alert:
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Trackbacks
- The Jawa Report
- Right Voices » Blog Archive » FBI Didn’t Pay Their Bills So Tele-Coms Cutoff The Wiretaps
- Gunpowder Chronicle
- Gunpowder Chronicle
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Categories: FISA, Homeland Security
NewsBusters.org
» Barack Who?Confederate Yankee
» Think Progress Covers Up Child Abuse in Palin Nomination SmearGateway Pundit
» SARAH PALIN TAKES THE STAGE IN DAYTON!! ...Update: AP AttacksConfederate Yankee
» It's Palin!Marginal Revolution
» Sarah PalinJawa Report
» She's the One: So How Do You Feel Now?Right Wing Nut House
» OBAMA’S SPEECH: NOT BAD AT ALLStop The ACLU
» Barry’s Speech: The Change You Never HeardStop The ACLU
» Vice President Palin? CNBC says it will be.Stop The ACLU
» McCain’s VP Pick: It Could Be Is Sarah Palin!Jawa Report
» Sarah Palin Pick a Plus for McCain Ticket
Oh Great!
Chertoff, your lettuce is ready!
And we’re supposed to believe that all these proposed “fixes” by the Moonbats will run smoothly? I saw an article the other day that said that healthcare in America is the worst of all the industrialized countries. We’re going to turn that over to the government to run?
Thanks - I’d rather do it myself. At least then I won’t have anybody else to blame.
More lies from the MSM…if you had cancer where would you go - Canada, England, Italy, Belgium, or Sloan-Kettering?
“Brownie” isn’t running the FBI is he?
This is one of AJ’s YGTBSMMs…
The Government can’t pay the phone bill,
but can bail-out irresponsable homeowners?
So the Justice Deparment audits the FBI and finds they aren’t competent enough to even pay their phone bills.
How do you send a bill collector after the FBI? Call the IRS?
There’s a lame joke in there, I just don’t know where. I guess the joke is on us - all this time we thought the government was working for us. It turns out they’re not working at all.
They based the low rating for us on the fact that not all Americans had access to healthcare through insurance and this causes them to not get the treatment they needed and they die. it would be interesting to see exactly how many people without the insurance actually don’t get any healthcare and how many do but pay it out of pocket.
If there was a foolproof plan that would provide good healthcare services to everyone in the country (legally in the country…not border jumping) that would not break the bank I bet more people would be interested in hearing about it. But with the governments history of program (mis)management I don’t think I can trust them with my healthcare choices…
FBI not paying the phone bills on wiretaps is just an example of the government wide problem…
I am nearly on the brink of silence. And that’s saying something.
GRRR!
Aloha - not a story from the MSM - an update of an earlier study
I’ve seen so much of this in government it’s like de ja vu all over again.
It’s an all-to-familiar story: a government agency performing a needed service only to knee-capped by low-level bureaucratic indifference.
Does anyone else see the parallel with Walter Reed? Thre the delivery of first-class medical care was undone by miserable barracks conditions and incompetence in processing paperwork.
Maybe they should hire some illegals to keep up with the bills because apparently it’s a job that Americans aren’t willing to do.
Our government in action, folks. And liberals want to turn over the reins completely to them. Example #99,999,999.99 affirming that liberals aren’t dealing with a full deck.
If the gubament, isn’t looking out for us, praytell, who is?
TSA detaines 5 year old Yup I feel so much safer now
/sarc
OMG!!!…..cut off phone bill…..
puts me in the same league / NOT!!!
so…….?….. what exactly IS!!! the government doing w/ my hard-earned TAX money?……kinda concerned onnaconna I am barely making it…..& my Italian Mother would NEVER go for this kinda’crapa.
This sounds about par for the Government. I am a Budget Analyst for the USAF and you think the FBI has problems DOD is just as screwed up. In 1994 the DOD transferred accounting and payment operations from each individual base to the Defense Finance Accounting Service (DFAS). It has been a complete and total failure with DFAS unable to keep up with the workload. When they established these centers the expected all the civilian employees to sell their homes and move to the new centers and of course most refused. Some of the centers were established in combat zones like San Bernardino, CA (used to be Norton AFB facilities) or the middle of nowhere like Limestone, ME (used to be Loring AFB). Military members were sent to these areas with no support facilities such as barracks for the single enlisted members, no health care, no base exchange, no commissary, or child care facilities. Of course enlisted were not paid enough to make ends meet without these facilities creating financial hardships on them.
Once the DFAS centers were finally beginning to barely function they were constantly under going reorganizations causing more chaos for the employees and customers at the base level. A few years ago they moved out all the military and replaced them with civilian employees that did not know the first thing about Government accounting. Anyone with a real accounting degree will have nervous break down if transferring over to how the Government does their books, which has always been less than efficient. Most of the new employees didn’t have a clue of what they were doing causing more problems. Last summer DFAS was forced to implement a system upgrade, which crashed the entire accounting system that still delays payment to our vendors today. We even sent folks from the local bases out to help them catch up, but there is still constant confusion from this poorly lead organization.
Another factor is the total incompetence of Civil Service systems in dealing with employees that don’t perform up to standards. I moved over from the Base Budget Office in May to run the books for the Communications Squadron on my base. The individual I replaced was a complete nightmare that would never have lasted in the private sector or in the active duty military. From my experience on active duty with problem civilian employees you just can’t get rid of them once they have survived their 3 year probation period. When I assumed my new position payment to our communication companies had not been made for part of fiscal year 2006 and all of 2007. We were able to catch up with our financial responsibilities by the end of fiscal year 2007, but the crap Congress was pulling at the beginning of this fiscal year created huge problems in obtaining funding authority putting me behind with our telecommunication contractors again. We have been able to catch up, but I do not blame any vendor for dropping services to any branch of the Government for failure to pay.
I am glad I have not become a complacent civil servant and hope I never will still thinking like the crusty old Senior NCO I was when I retired from active duty.
I don’t pay my phone bill so that my credit rating will be bad. This way if someone wants to steal my identity, the joke will be on them. A low credit score is my identity theft protection. Not paying the phone bill is the easiest way to hurt your credit.
If it’s true, I would suspect some left-over-from-the-previous- administration Bush-haters are purposely disrupting ongoing previous successes in an attempt to again open the administration for undue criticism.
Off Topic - sorry, won’t hijack this thread, but the MSM leave things out of the story, here for example we see “The largest reductions in amenable mortal-ity were seen in countries with the highest initial levels, including Portugal, Finland, Ireland, and the U.K, but also in some higher-performing countries, like Australia and Italy. In contrast, the U.S. started from a relatively high level of amenable mortal-ity but experienced smaller reductions.”
So since we started high, we didn’t experience the same rate of improvement as the countries that were low to start with. I haven’t read the actual report, but the MSM always - always slants the story to meet their agenda.
OK,
sorry, back on topic…
Sure, the bill was not paid. But I am betting there is a bunch of interest adding up. I think toying with the Gooberment might just be a big mistake come tax time. I smell an audit.
Let’s be real; the Gooberment may be slow to pay but, they pay. Why do you think businesses want Gooberment contracts.
I hoppe Uncle Sam finds another long distance carrier and I hope it is not AT&_. The thought of them getting any of my money makes me sick!
Well, obviously the problem is that we don’t pay enough taxes. Just like in schools, incompetency can be solved by throwing more money at it.
/sarc
Bureaucracies are incredibly adept at wasting time and money.
I can’t wait to see what happens when the Feds takeover healthcare.
Boomer, thanks for your input.
I have to agree with Boomer, nothing new to see here. The government has always experienced credit problems.
During the 90s, they handed the government over to lawyers and contractors. They practically killed military logistics.
A good example is the Coast Guard and Deepwater funding. The Coast Guard is manned as if everyone works at least 8 hours a day. No one retires, goes on vacations, gets transferred, sick, dies, etc…
They had been budgeted with so little, that they could do practically anything with nothing. Ancient boats, ancient equipment and they accomplished great things, at great costs to their people.
Then congress hands them billions and says spend it now. You know they were going to mess it up. They barely had the contracting talent to meet day to day operations. Now, lets overload the entire system before allowing them a chance to plus up. Result, mistakes were made. Who was blamed, the innocent as ususal.
Anyway, I have no doubt that overworked agents, with little or no training, were being held responsible to do the logisical work of someone else. They probably did the best they could and were circumvented by some foggy, multi-interpreted, red tape, or some attorney decided the bills could not be paid due to some obsure ethical opinion they came up with, because he/she was in need extra attention that day.
This happens all the time in the Fed. It is one painful humiliation after another.
Would love to see a conservative campaign on getting rid of DHS and TSA. Of course, that won’t happen since there is no conservative in the race willing to stand up to Bush.
there is no conservative in the race
willing to stand up to Bush.Sorry, fixed it.
As a twist on “Men in Black”,
“Calling Agent Howard, Agent Fine, Agent Howard!”
So sad….
Sorry, I’m being unfair to the agents on the line.
My deepest, sincere, apologies.
But, the folks in charge should at least have it together enough to pay the phone bills!
Hmmmmmm…
In one frame we have Boomer - a govt. budget analyst - and regular online presence here at MM.com…..
In the next frame - we see govt. bills going unpaid….
Coincidence? I wonder……..
Dude - you need to get back to work…now you’re making news here instead of commenting on it…
( Just kidding, Boomer )
I don’t see how anyone can stay a Troofer for 10 more seconds when they see stuff like this.
jrlingreenbay Ouch dude! That almost hurt my ity bity poor little feelings. LOL!
I usually am in work and lurk mode with duty always coming before commenting. Believe it or not I actually do worry about getting too involved in the discussion, but some days are busier than others.
I know what you mean, Boomer…
‘Tis a nice distraction from the daily grind….
I rather enjoy government incompetence when it relates to illegal activities or activities that are none of the government’s business. It lends credence to the idea of a limited government. Everything they touch turns to huge steaming piles of — you get the picture. The absolute worst thing for America would be if its government were competent at breaking the law or competent at efficiently using its expanded and unconstitutional powers. Imagine if Medicare ran smoothly: we’d have socialized health care in no time. Imagine if warrantless wiretaps worked: they’d be using them for all sorts of domestic crime-prevention efforts. Imagine if gun control led to less violence: the Second Amendment would be history. No, I take great comfort knowing that no matter what tyranny the government reaches for, they’ll always be hindered by their inescapable incompetence.
The one thing I suspect is that those FBI regional offices have some college grad lawyer in charge of the finances instead of a good office manager. Per Boomer, it takes an senior NCO to salvage that type of situation that the “upwardly mobile” management never has time to learn….
Who do we hold accountable for this? I mean, like, isn’t a fundamental function of government to provide for the common defense?
Actually it says a lot about the huge unmanagable monster that is the federal government.
So by all means, let’s turn our health care over to it. Sounds like a plan to me.
why do the feds have to pay to begin with?
doesnt make sense to me sorry.
Bring back J. Edgar Hoover. And, I don’t care if he did wear dresses.
Lt. Gen. Russel Honore is retiring tomorrow. He would be a excellent choice to replace ole lettuce head.
Foul Balls & Incompetents (FBI).
Really good at shooting 14 year olds in the back while running away and burning women and children to death. It just that paying a phone bill is so-o-o much more difficult. </ sarc >
This is obviously untrue,bacause as any Liberal can tell(with the utmost authority);the whole wire-tapping issue is the phone companies’ collusion with the Bush administration to get grandma’s oatmeal cookie recipe.Dumb a** Libs.
Big deal, the name came up on a list and instead of refusing to let them fly they gave them the once over to ensure the plane was safe. Remember the animals we are fighting do strap bombs onto infants? Being pulled for selectee screening is no reason to cry and make a martyr of yourself on TV This mother is just reaching for her 15 minutes of self pity fame.
Besides voting people out of office, there isn’t much that can be done. It’s not like you can sue the government for failing to protect you from some nebulous threat that may or may not have been stopped by the wiretaps. That’s heading down the road that causes people to sue the government for 9/11, Katrina, or the police for not responding to a 911 call (they have no obligation to do so).
You pretty much just have to sigh and accept it as par for the course.