WASHINGTON: The most secretive court in the United States, which considers requests to allow surveillance of terrorist and espionage suspects, has made an unprecedented attack on the government.

The little-known foreign intelligence surveillance court said the FBI had made more than 75 mistakes in its applications for search warrants and in consequence it rejected a request by the justice department to loosen the controls governing searches and wiretaps.

It said the proposals were “not reasonably designed” to safeguard Americans’ privacy.

The court has existed since 1978, but in the USA Patriot Act, passed as a response to the September 11 attacks, its authority was increased.

Its reputation — in so far as it has one — has always been for passivity and secrecy. The most recent newspaper account of its workings said that it had only ever rejected one justice department application — out of 12,000 - for permission to conduct a covert operation.

But it rejected the new procedures proposed by the attorney general, John Ashcroft, which would give prosecutors in criminal cases routine access to information collected by the FBI. It said the plan would give prosecutors too much power and create the likelihood of misuse.

The justice department is appealing against the decision and said the court was hampering the government’s attempts to monitor potential terrorists.

The dispute has been simmering in private since May and came to public attention on Friday only because of questions raised by the Senate judiciary committee.

The final verdict may hinge on the supreme court’s interpretation of the wording of the hastily passed Patriot Act, which allows surveillance to take place when spying and terrorism is “a significant purpose” of the investigation rather than “the purpose”, which was the law previously.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.