Get ready:

“The FBI repeatedly failed to follow the strict guidelines of the Patriot Act when its agents took advantage of a new provision allowing the FBI to obtain phone and financial records without a court order, according to a report to be made public Friday by the Justice Department’s Inspector General.

The report, in classified and unclassified versions, remains closely held, but Washington officials who have seen it tell ABC News it documents “numerous lapses” and describe it as “scathing” and “not a pretty picture for the FBI.”

FBI Director Robert Mueller is scheduled to brief Congress on the report at noon.

The officials say the inspector general found the FBI underreported by at least 20 percent the use of the controversial provision, known as National Security Letters, NSLs, in required disclosures to Congress.

The Patriot Act gave FBI agents the ability to demand telephone, bank, credit card and library records by issuing an administrative letter, bypassing the need to seek a warrant from a federal judge.”

The good news is that the situation is already under control and corrective actions have been initiated. That’s what Mueller’s going to brief tomorrow. Remember this wasn’t discovered by the Washington Post but by the JDIG which says that our system of checks is working and corrective action when needed is occuring.

Important to remember:

“The inspector general’s report reportedly found “systemic” failures in the issuance, tracking and accountability of the controversial NSLs, although a Justice Department official said there was no finding of “willful or criminal misconduct.”

FBI officials said they could not comment until the report was made public but said the FBI welcomed the findings because several of the reported problems were unknown to senior management.

“Expect a weekend firestorm,” said one Justice Department official.”

Well it’s public now thanks to a “leak” from inside the JD. Place is like a Bill Clinton disposition it has so many holes.

But the point is that there NO indication of a crime here, just messing up the paperwork. The NSLs are a good tool although this won’t help in them getting further scrutiny.

UPDATE: Glenn Greenwald perhaps needs an aspirine and re-read the report. “No criminal misconduct” means “no law was broken. BDS - it’s a brain killer.

UPDATE II: Nearly forgot that the DOJIG is Clinton appointee Glenn Fine , and has been a thorn on the Patriot Act in the past. This is significant because even as biased as he is he couldn’t find any hint of crime or even insinerity.

“According to three officials with access to the report, Fine said the possible violations he discovered did not “manifest deliberate attempts to circumvent statutory limitations or departmental policies.”

In otherwords - Glenn - no laws were broken, either in action or intent.

UPDATE III: Now that the full report is out the MSM is in full spin mode, via AP:

“The FBI improperly and, in some cases, illegally used the USA Patriot Act to secretly obtain personal information about people in the United States, a Justice Department audit concluded Friday.”

Of course that is not what report concludes but when you have flaming BDS it affects the way you read things. Additionally and not surprising Senator “Magic Bullet” wants to have more money-wasting hearings and throw the baby out with the bath water. What a useless hunk of biology Spector is.