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<h1><font size=4 color="#FF0000"><b>FBI Press Release & Guidelines
Follow<br><br>
</i></font>ACLU Condemns New FBI
Guidelines</b></h1><font size=3>
<a href="http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=76643" eudora="autourl">
http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=76643<br><br>
</a><a href="http://www.webwire.com/">WEBWIRE</a> – Monday, October 06,
2008<br><br>
Washington, DC – New FBI guidelines governing investigations were
released today after being signed by Attorney General Michael Mukasey.
The American Civil Liberties Union quickly blasted the Department of
Justice and FBI for ignoring calls for more stringent protections of
Americans’ rights. The guidelines replace existing bureau guidelines for
five types of investigations: general criminal, national security,
foreign intelligence, civil disorders and demonstrations. The ACLU has
been vocal in its disapproval of the overly broad guidelines, citing both
the FBI’s and DOJ’s documented records of internal abuse. <br><br>
The new guidelines reduce standards for beginning “assessments”
(precursors to investigations), conducting surveillance and gathering
evidence, meaning the threshold to beginning investigations across the
board will be lowered. More troubling still, the guidelines allow a
person’s race or ethnic background to be used as a factor in opening an
investigation, a move the ACLU believes may institute racial profiling as
a matter of policy. <br><br>
“The attorney general today gave the FBI a blank check to open
investigations of innocent Americans based on no meaningful suspicion of
wrongdoing,” said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. “The
new guidelines provide no safeguards against the FBI’s improperly using
race and religion as grounds for suspicion. They also fail to
sufficiently prevent the government from infiltrating groups whose
viewpoints it doesn’t like. The FBI has shown time and time again that is
incapable of policing itself and there is good reason to believe that
these guidelines will lead to more abuse.” <br><br>
The FBI originally adopted internal guidelines in the mid-1970s after
investigations showed widespread abuses and violations of constitutional
rights by the agency, including the politically-motivated spying on
figures like Martin Luther King, Jr. Ironically, these newly revised
guidelines could open the bureau up to exactly that kind of abuse once
more. Though the DOJ and FBI Director Robert Mueller have consistently
claimed that the new guidelines would not give agents new authority, the
previous guidelines governed very different types of investigations, and
tearing down the walls between them will invariably mean that new powers
will be applied where they were not before. <br><br>
Last month, the ACLU formally requested the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector
General investigate current abuses of the attorney general guidelines.
The investigation should particularly examine the manner in which the FBI
uses race, religion, national origin or First Amendment protected
activities in determining whether to initiate, expand or continue an
investigation. <br><br>
“Attorney General Mukasey has decided to implement these disastrous
guidelines against the protests of members of Congress, privacy groups
and the American public,” said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU
Washington Legislative Office. “It is naïve to think these guidelines
will not result in abuse. Though the DOJ and FBI claim they are doing
what they must to meet the law enforcement needs of the future, they are
only doomed to repeat the abuses of the past. Since, under these
guidelines, a generalized ‘threat’ is enough to begin an investigation,
the FBI will be given carte blanche to begin surveillance without factual
evidence. The standard of suspicion is so low and the predicate for
investigations so flimsy that it’s inevitable we will all become
suspects.”<br><br>
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</font><h1><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4><b>Press
Release</b></font></h1><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2><b>U.S.
Department of Justice <br>
For Immediate Release<br>
October 3, 2008</b> <br><br>
</font>
<dl>
<dd>OPA<br>
<dd>(202) 514-2007 <br>
<dd>TDD (202) 514-1888 <br>
<dd><a href="http://www.usdoj.gov">www.usdoj.gov</a><br><br>
<br>
</b>
</dl><div align="center"><h1><b>Fact Sheet: Attorney General Consolidated
Guidelines for FBI Domestic Operations </b></h1></div>
The new consolidated guidelines to govern the FBI’s domestic operations
will address in a comprehensive way the FBI’s investigation of crimes and
threats to the national security and its collection of foreign
intelligence; the FBI’s provision of assistance and information to other
agencies; and the FBI’s intelligence analysis and planning
functions.<br><br>
The consolidated guidelines provide uniform standards, to the extent
possible, for all FBI domestic investigative activities and intelligence
gathering activities. They are designed to provide a single, consistent
structure that applies regardless of whether the FBI is seeking
information concerning federal crimes, threats to national security,
foreign intelligence matters or some combination of these. Previously,
different sets of guidelines applied in different investigative areas
despite their often overlapping purposes and prescribed different
standards and procedures for essentially similar activities.<br><br>
The new guidelines replace five existing sets of guidelines that
separately addressed criminal investigations generally, national security
investigations, and foreign intelligence collection, among other matters.
In contrast to previous guidelines, the new guidelines are generally
unclassified, providing the public with ready access in a single document
to the basic body of operating rules for FBI activities within the United
States.<br><br>
These guidelines also reflect an extensive consultation process that has
included three oversight hearings, numerous formal and informal briefings
with members of Congress and their staffs, and outreach to interested
civil liberties organizations and religious groups.<br><br>
The guidelines support the FBI’s mission, emphasizing early detection,
prevention and interagency cooperation.<br><br>
</b>The consolidated guidelines ensure that the FBI’s operating rules are
consistent with the Bureau’s mission and current operational needs while
at the same time protecting the privacy and civil liberties of Americans.
The guidelines are the latest step in moving beyond a reactive model
(where agents must wait to receive leads before acting) to a model that
emphasizes the early detection, intervention, and prevention of terrorist
attacks and other criminal activities. The consolidated guidelines also
reflect the FBI’s status as a full-fledged intelligence agency and member
of the U.S. Intelligence Community, providing more comprehensive and
adequate treatment of the FBI’s intelligence collection and analysis
functions, and its assistance to other agencies with responsibilities for
national security and intelligence matters.<br><br>
Following the 9/11 attacks, the Attorney General revised the principal
guidelines governing the FBI’s criminal investigation, national security
investigation, and foreign intelligence collection activities
successively in 2002, 2003, and 2006. The current consolidated guidelines
carry forward and complete this process in relation to the FBI’s
operations within the United States.<br><br>
The guidelines are consistent with recommendations of three major
national advisory bodies and studies that the FBI become a more flexible
and adept collector of intelligence.</b>
<ul>
<li>9/11 Commission Report (issued July 2004):<br><br>
<ul>
<li>“ A ‘smart’ government would integrate</i> all sources of information
to see the enemy as a whole. Integrated all-source analysis should also
inform and shape strategies to collect more intelligence…The importance
of integrated, all-source analysis cannot be overstated. Without it, it
is not possible to ‘connect the dots.’”<br>
<li>“Instead of facing a few very dangerous adversaries, the United
States confronts a number of less-visible challenges that surpass the
boundaries of traditional nation-states and call for quick, imaginative,
and agile responses.” <br>
<li>“Countering transnational Islamic terrorism will test whether the
U.S. government can fashion more flexible models of management needed to
deal with the twenty-first-century world.”<br>
<li>“FBI employees need to report and analyze what they have learned in
ways the Bureau has never done before.<br><br>
</ul>
<li>”Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission Report (issued March
2005):<br><br>
<ul>
<li>“ [C]ontinuing coordination…is necessary to optimize the FBI’s
performance in both national security and criminal investigations….[The]
new reality requires first that the FBI and other agencies do a better
job of gathering intelligence inside the United States, and second that
we eliminate the remnants of the old ‘wall’ between foreign intelligence
and domestic law enforcement. Both tasks must be accomplished without
sacrificing our domestic liberties and the rule of law, and both depend
on building a very different FBI from the one we had on September 10,
2001.” <br>
<li>“ The collection of information is the foundation of everything that
the Intelligence Community does. While successful collection cannot
ensure a good analytical product, the failure to collect
information…turns analysis into guesswork. And as our review
demonstrates, the Intelligence Community’s human and technical
intelligence collection agencies have collected far too little
information on many of the issues we care about most.” <br>
<li>“ [I]ntelligence collection…is usually positioned to be reactive
rather than proactivewhen it needs to be both.” <br>
<li>“Ensuring continuing coordination between the FBI’s two halves is
critical for at least two reasons: such coordination is necessary to
optimize the FBI’s performance in both national security and criminal
investigations, andequally importantit will help ensure continued
attention to civil liberties and legal limits on the power of government
to intrude into the lives of citizens.”<br>
<li>“The Intelligence Community must be as agile and flexible as their
target’s travel plans.”<br><br>
</ul>
<li>Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities before and after
the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001 (issued December 2002):
<br><br>
<ul>
<li>“ [Counterterrorism] strategy should…encompass specific efforts
to…enhance the depth and quality of domestic intelligence collection and
analysis….[T]he FBI should strengthen and improve its domestic
[intelligence] capability as fully and expeditiously as possible by
immediately instituting measures to…significantly improve strategic
analytical capabilities…”<br>
<li>[L]ong-term counterterrorism investment should be accompanied by
sufficient flexibility, subject to congressional oversight, to enable the
Intelligence Community to rapidly respond to altered or unanticipated
needs[.]
</ul>
</ul><font size=3><br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2>The guidelines protect
privacy and civil liberties. <br><br>
</b>The new consolidated guidelines issued by the Attorney General
contain numerous privacy and civil liberty protections.
<ul>
<li>The guidelines state that “it is axiomatic that the FBI must conduct
its investigations and other activities in a lawful and reasonable manner
that respects liberty and privacy and avoids unnecessary intrusions into
the lives of law-abiding people.”<br>
<li>All activities must comply with the Constitution and all applicable
statutes, executive orders, Department of Justice regulations and
policies, and Attorney General guidelines.<br>
<li>The consolidated guidelines prohibit the FBI from investigating,
collecting, or maintaining information on United States persons solely
for the purpose of monitoring activities protected by the First Amendment
or the lawful exercise of other rights secured by the Constitution or
laws of the United States.<br>
<li>These guidelines, which will work in tandem with the Attorney
General’s Guidance Regarding the Use of Race by Federal Law Enforcement
Agencies (issued in 2003), prohibit opening an investigation based solely
on an individual's race, ethnicity, or religion.<br>
<li>The consolidated guidelines require the use of the least intrusive
investigative methods feasible, taking into account the effect on privacy
and civil liberties and the potential damage to reputation. <br>
<li>The guidelines direct FBI agents to operate openly and consensually
with U.S. persons to the extent practicable in collecting foreign
intelligence that does not concern criminal activity or threats to the
national security. </font>
</ul><font size=3><br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2>The guidelines incorporate
effective oversight measures to ensure compliance.<br><br>
</b>The new guidelines incorporate effective oversight measures that
provide the responsible components and officials at the Justice
Department and FBI with relevant information on an in-depth and
comprehensive basis.
<ul>
<li>The Oversight Section in the Department’s National Security Division,
and the FBI’s Inspection Division, Office of General Counsel, and new
Office of Integrity and Compliance monitor compliance with the
guidelines. The consolidated guidelines recognize and incorporate the
roles of these components. <br>
<li>The guidelines require notification and reports to the National
Security Division concerning the initiation of national security and
foreign intelligence activities in various contexts and authorize the
Assistant Attorney General for National Security to requisition
additional reports and information concerning such activities. <br>
<li>Many other Department components and officials are involved in
ensuring that activities under the guidelines are carried out in a
lawful, appropriate, and ethical manner, including the Justice
Department’s Criminal Division, United States Attorneys’ Offices, and
Office of Privacy and Civil Liberties, and the FBI’s Privacy and Civil
Liberties Unit. <br>
<li>The consolidated guidelines require the reporting of sensitive
matters to relevant officials within the Department. For example, the FBI
must notify the United States Attorney or other appropriate Department
official concerning matters involving a domestic public official,
political candidate, religious or political organization, prominent
individuals within those groups, or the news media. The National Security
Division must be notified when the FBI initiates full investigations of
U.S. persons relating to national security threats, among other
notification and reporting requirements. <br>
<li>Before the consolidated guidelines become effective on December 1,
2008, the FBI and other affected Justice Department components will carry
out comprehensive training to ensure that their personnel understand
these new rules and will be ready to apply them in their
operations. The FBI will also develop appropriate internal policies
to implement and carry out the new guidelines. </font>
</ul><font size=3><br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2>Consultation with external
organizations improved the guidelines. <br><br>
</b>Throughout the consultation process, the Department received numerous
recommendations to clarify and, in some cases, change the draft
guidelines. The Department has incorporated the majority of suggestions
that it received, including:
<ul>
<li>First and foremost, concerns were raised that, in the process of
incorporating the 1976 guidelines on Civil Disorders and Demonstrations,
valuable safeguards for civil liberties had been lost. The new
guidelines include significant changes when compared to the draft
consolidated guidelines in terms of the techniques allowed, approval
levels required, a time limit and the scope of the investigations.<br>
<li>The guidelines also have been clarified to ensure that agents know
that the list of techniques available at the assessment stage is
exclusive; that the requirement to respect First Amendment activities and
the lawful exercise of other rights applies at the assessment stage as
well as to predicated investigations; that the directive to operate
openly and consensually with United States persons when collecting
foreign intelligence is a requirement; and that the authorities granted
in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Improvements Act of
2008 are available only in the course of a full investigation. </font>
</ul><font size=3><br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2>To view selected documents
please visit
<a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/opa_documents.htm">
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/opa_documents.htm</a>.<br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
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