US lawmakers raise concerns over FBI powers

[LRE]

US lawmakers raise concerns over FBI powers

WASHINGTON: US lawmakers on Thursday expressed concern about a Justice Department plan to set new guidelines for FBI investigations that would widen powers to investigate people without basis for suspicion.

“We are particularly concerned that the draft guidelines 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,” said the letter addressed to Attorney General Michael Mukasey.

In it, the four Democratic senators - Russ Feingold (Wisconsin), Ted Kennedy (Massachusetts), Richard Durbin (Illinois) and Sheldon Whitehouse (Rhode Island) - urged the Justice Department to wait until experts and legislators could provide input on the proposed changes. “We understand that you intend to finalise and sign next week the draft Attorney General Guidelines intended to govern FBI criminal, national security and foreign intelligence investigations,” it said.

“We have a number of questions and concerns about the guidelines, and urge you not to sign them until members of Congress, experts in the relevant fields, and affected communities have had a full opportunity to provide detailed input.” The senators also accused Mukasey of avoiding “meaningful and robust debate” by making the draft available “to congressional staff for only a few hours at a time, over the course of a week and a half during the August ... recess when many staff and members are out of town.” The proposed guidelines would “permit the FBI to use a variety of intrusive investigative techniques to conduct ‘assessments’ of possible criminal activity, national security threats or foreign intelligence collection - without any initial factual predication,” the senators wrote.

“We are concerned about the extent to which such authority might, for example, permit the FBI to conduct long-term physical surveillance of an innocent American citizen; interview such an individual’s neighbours and professional colleagues, including based on a ‘pretext’ or misrepresentation ... all without any basis for suspicion.”afp

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...2008_pg4_9