FBI Denies Data Mining Grocery Records: The San Francisco bureau of the FBI emphatically denies that it searched through grocery store records in the Bay Area to identify Iranian operatives or terrorists, as was reported by Congressional Quarterly's Jeff Stein and commented on by THREAT LEVEL earlier this week.'

FBI Special Agent Joseph M. Schadler'says there was no Total Falafel Awareness program in San Francisco.

'We didn't data mine supermarket information,' Schadler told THREAT LEVEL. 'This didn't happen.'

Officials at FBI headquarters plan to write a letter to the editor of'CQ disputing the'piece,'according to Schadler.

I asked in my post whether grocery stores volunteered the records or whether the FBI used National Security Letters or the infamous Section 215 of the Patriot Act. Christopher Sogohian suggested that the FBI may have used credit card records, not supermarket databases for such a project. While Schadler's quoted statement here doesn't speak to that possibility, comments he made off-the-record indicate that the denial would clearly extend to Soghoian's hypothesis and my questions.

THREAT LEVEL filed a Freedom of Information Act request for documents about the alleged'falafel'finding'on Thursday. I also'emailed CQ's Stein for comment about the FBI's denial'using the email address at the end of the falafel piece but that email bounced. See Also:

• FBI Mined Grocery Store Records to Find Iranian Terrorists
• Court Strikes Down Key Patriot Act Power Again
• Librarians Describe Life Under An FBI Gag Order
• Legally Questionable FBI Requests for Calling Circle Info More Prevalent Than Previously Known
• Dems To Let NSA Spy in US, But Spooks Will Hate the Fine Print ...

(Read Original Article - Via Threat Level.)