FBI eavesdropping ends because of unpaid phone bills

Posted 44 weeks 5 days ago by Joel

This isn't good. At least, not for the FBI. But it makes me giggle:

Telephone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals because of the bureau's repeated failures to pay phone bills on time.

A Justice Department audit released Thursday blamed the lost connections on 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.

In at least one case, a wiretap used in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillence Act investigation "was halted due to untimely payment," the audit found. FISA wiretaps are used in the government's most sensitive and secretive criminal investigations, and allow eavesdropping on suspected terrorists or spies.

Heh.

It gets even worse, though. Apparently somebody decided to refinance the White House with a subprime mortgage -- and, well, it's being repossessed next week.