WASHINGTON, DC — In a maneuver that would sound like something out of a Mel Brooks movie if it weren’t so chilling, the U.S. Department of Justice is floating new guidelines that would allow FBI officials to open national security or criminal investigations without clear suspicion.DOJ officials plan to make the guidelines public in September, but lawmakers already have been briefed about them — and some Democrats say they are troubling.
Civil liberties groups echo that sentiment, saying they fear the proposed policies will lead to abuses of the system for investigating “terrorists.” Some pundits see the guidelines as another attempt by the lame-duck Bush administration to cement in law and regulation ever-broader and more intrusive investigative powers before it leaves office.
“This seems to be based on the idea that the government can take a bunch of data and create a profile that can be used to identify future bad guys,” said American Civil Liberties Union attorney Michael German, who is a former FBI agent. “But that has not been demonstrated to be true anywhere else.”
Among the concepts to which senators object are increased authority for FBI agents to open investigations, conduct surveillance on citizens and snoop into private records, according to a letter to U.S. Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey signed by senators Russ Feingold [D-WI], Richard J. Durbin [D-IL], Edward M. Kennedy [D-MA] and Sheldon Whitehouse [D-RI]. According to the letter, the FBI’s plan “might permit an innocent American to be subjected to such intrusive surveillance based in part on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion or on protected First Amendment activities.”
Speaking in Portland, OR, in mid-August, Mukasey characterized the plan as a simple effort to “integrate more completely and harmonize the standards that apply to the FBI’s activities. This document clarifies the rules by which the FBI conducts its intelligence mission.” Under current guidelines, he said, field agents can become confused about their roles and duplicate efforts or overlook important aspects of investigations. He also averred agents would continue to need “valid purpose” outside “somebody’s race, religion, or exercise of First Amendment rights.”
Mukasey’s statement does not cling closely to facts already in evidence, though. In 2003, President George W. Bush issued an executive order allowing “narrow” use of race and ethnicity as guidelines for determining potential terrorist threats.
The proposed guidelines face a congressional hearing scheduled to occur September 17th. Mukasey has promised not to sign the guidelines into effect until after the hearing.
