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February 16, 2006
Federal officials mistakenly release secret documents to Islamic group's lawyers
Federal officials mistakenly provided an Islamic charity's defense attorneys with top-secret counter-terrorism documents, The Los Angeles Times reported today.
"The blunder exposed secret wiretap requests that commonly include classified information from U.S. agencies, foreign intelligence reports and confidential sources," the Times reported.
The release of the classified documents, which include wiretap records, could threaten one of the Bush Administration's biggest terrorism prosecution cases. The federal government alleges the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development funded the militant Palestinian group Hamas. In December 2001 the Treasury Department shut the organization down and froze its assets.
This blunder appears to be the first of its kind in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court's 27-year history.
Posted by Jessica Bernstein-Wax at February 16, 2006 03:13 PM
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