The ongoing yin and yang between law enforcement and civil liberties groups continued to rear its head Friday as the Justice Department released new guidelines for FBI powers.
By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
WASHINGTON– Justice Department officials released new guidelines yesterday that empower FBI agents to use intrusive techniques to gather intelligence within the United States, alarming civil liberties groups and Democratic lawmakers who worry that they invite privacy violations and other abuses.
The new road map allows investigators to recruit informants, employ physical surveillance and conduct interviews in which agents disguise their identities in an effort to assess national security threats. FBI agents could pursue each of those steps without any single fact indicating a person has ties to a terrorist organization.
Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey said the guidelines are necessary to fulfill the FBI’s core mission to predict threats and respond even before an attack takes place. The ground rules will help the bureau become “a more flexible and adept collector of intelligence,” as independent commissions urged after the strikes of Sept. 11, 2001, Mukasey said in a statement yesterday.
For Full Story
Joint Statement From Atty. Gen. Michael Mukasey and FBI Director Robert Mueller III
