FBI apologizes for improperly accessing reporters’ phone records.

The FBI yesterday revealed that in 2004, it improperly obtained the phone records of reporters for the New York Times and the Washington Post. Requiring such records requires the approval of the deputy attorney general, a procedure not followed in these cases. According to the New York Times, the “records were apparently sought as part of a terrorism investigation, but the F.B.I. did not explain what was being investigated or why the reporters’ phone records were considered relevant.”