(Washington, DC)- House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) expressed shock that Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller testified that the FBI standards were not followed during investigations. He released the following statement following today's FBI oversight hearing and addressed his continued concerns:
I am shocked by Mr. Mueller's testimony that FBI standards on interrogation were apparently not followed by DOD and CIA. The FBI deserves credit for those standards, but they should be followed by all federal government agencies, not just the FBI. This committee will further consider this issue.
Serious problems of abuse concerning National Security Letters continue, including collecting private information on innocent people who were irrelevant to any authorized investigation. Although the FBI has taken some positive steps, action at the FBI field office level is needed, along with legislative reform such as the bill proposed by committee members.
FBI action in the Renzi and Jefferson cases raises serious concerns about maintaining constitutional protections for legislative duties, such as the constituent services that Members of Congress provide to our districts and deliberations with each other over pending legislation - which also directly affect every American. The court found the FBI's actions to be unconstitutional in the Jefferson case for this very reason. I believe the Department should take these constitutional issues very seriously and work with us to develop protocols and procedures to help them identify lawbreakers, while protecting the very sensitive constituent matters that we handle everyday.
