WASHINGTON - FBI Director Robert Mueller has apologized to the editors of The Washington Post and the New York Times for improperly obtaining phone records of the newspapers’ reporters while investigating terrorism four years ago.

Mueller and other FBI officials told the newspapers that agents obtained the records under a process that allowed them to bypass a grand jury review in emergency cases. The incident came to light through a review by the Justice Department’s inspector general of bureau procedures that enabled the FBI to obtain thousands of records from phone companies after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Because of possible First Amendment violations, requests for reporters’ phone records are supposed to receive an even higher level scrutiny before they can be approved — usually requiring the approval of the attorney general or other high-ranking Justice Department official.

Nobody is making this stuff up. This is yet another case of admitted illegal spying on your data. When the government puts this kind of effort into spying on the press, where do you think you stand?

Do you suppose they’ll apologize to the American citizens too?