Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
In the aftermath of 9/11, Congress gave the U.S. Justice Department substantial new powers to wiretap and spy on suspected terrorists, but the Justice Department refuses to tell Congress what it is doing with those powers. In response to questions from the House Judiciary Committee, the Justice Department refused to answer "how often 'roving' wiretaps had been conducted, how many times phone-tracing devices had been used against American citizens and resident aliens, how often libraries and bookstores have had to produce materials or even how many times citizens or resident aliens had been subject to new surveillance since the passage of the legislation."