Fergie's Tech Blog

Anti-Terrorism Program Mines IRS' Records

Dalia Naamani-Goldman writes in The Los Angeles Times:

Federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies increasingly rely on the Internal Revenue Service and other government repositories of personal financial information as an important source for leads in terrorism investigations.

The masses of detailed data give investigators broad power to sift through the finances of people, charities and businesses suspected of illegal activities. But they also worry privacy advocates who fear that tax and other financial records may be used improperly.

In 2002, in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the IRS and the Social Security Administration made 12,236 emergency disclosures of personal tax information to intelligence and law enforcement agencies, according to a count obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

These emergency requests are granted only when investigators cite imminent danger or death — and after 2002 became much less common. Since then, the IRS has made only 180 emergency disclosures to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies, but thousands more to intelligence and law enforcement agencies using new powers written into the U.S. Tax Code after 9/11.

posted by Fergie @ 1/15/2007 09:58:00 AM