A DOJ press release dated June 3, states: The New York Times inaccurately reported that Assistant Attorney General Viet Dinh said FBI “agents have contacted about 50 libraries nationwide in the course of terrorism investigations” (Eric Lichtblau, Justise Dept. Lists Use of New Power to Fight Terror, May 21, 2003). The transcript of the hearing, below, makes clear that AAG Dinh was speaking of ordinary criminal cases rather than national security cases. Information on library contact in national security investigations is provided to Congress in a classified format, as was also noted in AAG Dinh’s testimony.
To read Mr. Dinh’s complete testimony, and related documents from the May 19 oversight hearing, “Anti-Terrorism Investigations and the Fourth Amendment After September 11: Where and When Can the Government Go to Prevent Terrorist Attacks?” see my previous posting here.