By The Washington PostEditorial Page
WASHINGTON — RUMMAGING THROUGH a garbage can may yield important clues about an individual — from reading habits to monthly bills to telltale signs of drug abuse. The unglamorous technique has long been part of the investigative arsenal for a reason: It gets results.
It should come as no surprise, then, that the FBI has given the thumbs up to trash digs to check the credibility of possible informants — so long as agents go through only garbage that has been left on the curb. This determination is one of many in a new set of rules the bureau is scheduled to unveil soon to govern the activities of agents in the field.
Some civil liberties groups condemn the guidelines as giving agents extraordinary new powers. They note that the bureau would allow lie detector tests for possible confidential witnesses and permit agents to search FBI and commercial databases to mine information about a potential suspect without having to open an investigative file.
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