The U.S. Justice Department's inspector general has prepared a scathing report criticizing how the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) uses a form of administrative subpoena to obtain thousands of telephone, business and financial records without prior judicial approval, U.S. newspapers reported on Friday.

The report, expected to be issued on Friday, says that the bureau lacks sufficient controls to make sure the subpoenas, which do not require a judge's prior approval, are properly issued and that it does not follow even some of the basic rules.

Under the USA Patriot Act, the bureau each year has issued more than 20,000 of the national security letters, as demands for information. The report is said to conclude that the program lacks effective management, monitoring and reporting procedures, The New York Times quoted officials who have been briefed on its contents as saying.

Details of the report emerged on Thursday as Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and other officials struggled to play down a Congressional uproar over another issue, the ousters of eight United States attorneys.

The inspector general's audit found 22 possible breaches of internal FBI and Justice Department regulations -- some of which were potential violations of law -- in a sampling of 293 "national security letters." The letters were used by the FBI to obtain the personal records of U.S. residents or visitors between 2003 and 2005. The FBI identified 26 potential violations in other cases, according to The Washington Post.

Officials said they could not be sure of the scope of the violations but suggested they could be more widespread, though not deliberate. In nearly a quarter of the case files Inspector General Glenn A. Fine reviewed, he found previously unreported potential violations.

The use of national security letters has grown exponentially since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. In 2005 alone, the audit found, the FBI issued more than 19,000 such letters, amounting to 47,000 separate requests for information.

The use of national security letters has been a hotly debated domestic intelligence issue. They were once used only in espionage and terrorism cases, and then only against people suspected as agents of a foreign power.

With the passage of the Patriot Act, their use was greatly expanded and was allowed against Americans who were subjects of any investigation. The law also allowed other agencies like the Homeland Security Department to issue the letters.

The letters have proved contentious in part because unlike search warrants, they are issued without prior judicial approval and require only the approval of the agent in charge of a local FBI office. A Supreme Court ruling in 2004 forced revisions of the Patriot Act to permit greater judicial review, without requiring advance authorization.

Source: Xinhua