The annual audit by the Justice Department's inspector general found that the FBI again violated rules for obtaining telephone, e-mail, financial and other records using national security letters, a type of subpoena that does not require a court's approval.

A study last year revealed similar abuses.

Inspector General Glenn Fine said the FBI and Justice Department "have shown a commitment to addressing these problems" through corrective measures put in place last year. He said it was too early to determine whether the stepped-up oversight would resolve the matter.

The FBI was given broader authority to collect information on suspected terrorists when Congress rushed to enact the USA Patriot Act after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The law made it easier to issue national security letters.

The report's conclusions immediately drew fire from Democrats on Capitol Hill.

"Legislative action may be necessary to correct these abuses," Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D., Vt.), who heads the Senate Judiciary panel, said in a statement.

The report, like Fine's previous audit covering 2003-2005, did not find that the FBI acted criminally. It blamed agent errors or faulty bookkeeping.

The study said that in 2006, FBI agents reported 84 possible intelligence violations involving the letters, and 34 of those were deemed serious enough to report to an intelligence oversight board.

The violations included making improper requests for information and collecting unauthorized telephone or Internet records.

The review also found an increase in the FBI's use of the letters to gather information. In 2006, agents made 49,425 demands using the letters, a 4.7 percent rise from 2005.

Justice Department officials said they were pleased the audit said the agency was making significant progress in curbing violations.

After the controversy erupted last year, the agency set up an office to police the FBI's intelligence investigations and ensure that agents were adhering to U.S. laws.

The surveillance methods have long drawn complaints from civil-liberties groups.

"This is the kind of abuse that is inevitable when we broaden the government's surveillance power and do not attempt to modernize privacy standards," Michael German, a former FBI agent and now counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement.

Review: Detainee Taping is Limited

A Pentagon review of videotaping of detainee interrogations at military prisons, including Guantanamo Bay, has found so far that "there is not widespread use" of such videotaping by defense agencies, spokesman Geoff Morrell said. The review was begun in January after an uproar over the CIA's destruction of interrogation tapes.

With the review still unfinished, it is unclear how many tapes are out there, though it is known that around 40 show the questioning of two suspects at the Navy brig in Charleston, officials said.

The two are Jose Padilla, the former Chicago gang member sentenced in January for terror-related crimes, and Ali al-Marri, a Qatari citizen held since June 2003 without charge.

Officials have found "no evidence of detainee abuse" on videotapes, said Defense Intelligence Agency spokesman Don Black. Tapes are destroyed "when there's no further need" for them, he said.

Marri's lawyer, Jonathan Hafetz of the Brennan Center for Justice, said he was filing a court motion seeking relief from confinement conditions that he said have caused Marri serious mental deterioration.

- Associated Press