The Federal Bureau of Investigation dropped a demand it made to a Connecticut library system for records relating to a library computer without a warrant, but said that the library system’s non-cooperation “could have increased the danger of terrorists succeeding.”

The FBI had issued a National Security Letter to The Library Connection, Inc., demanding records relating to use of a particular library computer on Feb. 15, 2005, and the library system sued, saying the National Security Letter provided no due process.

The FBI had dropped the demand for records because the potential terrorist threat it was investigating turned out to be nothing.

“We concluded that based on the passage of time as well as other information we’ve been able to develop that this threat is probably not viable,” said Connecticut U.S. Attorney Kevin O’Connor, who added that the potential threat had been in an e-mail.

O’Connor said that authorities are trying to prevent attacks and that not every case involves enough information to get a warrant.

The librarians had been under a gag order for months. Last year a federal judge said it unfairly prevented them from participating in a debate over how the Patriot Act should be rewritten, but by the time the FBI dropped its appeal in April, Congress had already voted to reauthorize the law. . . .

O’Connor said that the national security letter was appropriately issued and that the ACLU should not question the motives of federal agents trying to investigate a threat.

Prosecutors argued that secrecy in demands for records is necessary to avoid jeopardizing investigations, and that the gag order prevented only the release of librarians’ identities, not their ability to speak about the Patriot Act. — Associated Press

National security letters, first used in the 1970s for espionage and terrorism investigations, required the subject of the letter to be under suspicion. The Patriot Act removed that requirement, so that a national security letter can be issued for records pertaining to literally anyone, as long as law enforcement claims the records might be “relevant” to an investigation. They do not require the approval of a judge.

I’m all for investigating potential terrorist threats. But this level of secrecy and this lack of judicial oversight are unprecedented in American history. With the Patriot Act as it is, there is much potential for abuse, and very little can be done to stop the abuse, should the FBI decide it wants to start abusing its powers again.