Mistakenly Revealed Logbook Has Lawyers Convinced They Are Monitored
Lawyers in Oregon and Washington, D.C., who represent a Saudi charity believe they have proof that the government improperly monitored their conversations with clients accused of financing terrorism.
It’s in the form of a logbook stamped “top secret” that was mistakenly handed over to the lawyers in August 2004, the New York Times reports. The book appeared to list intercepted phone calls between the lawyers and their clients in Saudi Arabia.
The lawyers were ordered to return all copies of the book to the FBI and were told they could not talk about the contents.
Since then, several Oregon lawyers defending clients accused of terrorism links are taking precautions. Stephen Wax of Portland says he warns his clients to assume their conversations are monitored. Thomas Nelson flies from Portland to the Middle East to meet with his client accused of financing terrorism. He shuns e-mail and phone calls to preserve confidentiality.
Two senior Justice Department officials who spoke to the Times said they were aware of a few terrorism cases in which the government might have tapped lawyer-client communications. The conversations were not shared with prosecutors handling cases against the defense lawyers’ clients, however, to preserve attorney-client privilege, they said.
“If a terrorist suspect living in a foreign country is calling into the United States and all of his calls are being monitored, the calls to his lawyers here might be intercepted, as well,” one of the officials told the Times. “It’s not as if we’re targeting the lawyer for surveillance. It’s not like we’re eager to violate lawyer-client privilege. The lawyer is just one of the people whose calls from the suspect are being swept up.”
