-Caveat Lector- Newshawk: chip Pubdate: Mon, 03 Jun 2002 Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA) Copyright: 2002 Cox Interactive Media. Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website: http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/28 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/ashcroft.htm (Ashcroft, John)
EXPANSION OF FBI POWERS GOOD REASON FOR SUSPICION The broad new investigative powers granted to the FBI last week by Attorney General John Ashcroft pose a threat not only to the freedom of the American people but also to the FBI itself. Ashcroft, of course, described the changes differently. The old rules, he complained, gave terrorists a "competitive advantage." ''Our philosophy today is not to wait and sift through the rubble following a terrorist attack," he said. "Rather, the FBI must intervene early and investigate aggressively.'' More specifically, he said, he wants to give FBI agents the same right to visit public meetings, church services, Web sites and libraries as anybody else in the country. Who could argue with that? The biggest change, however, is that FBI agents no longer need a suspicion that a crime has been or will be committed before beginning to investigate. In the example offered by officials, under the old rules agents could use the Web to look up information on anthrax because that germ had been used in an attack. But they could not have used the Web to learn about smallpox as a bioweapon because no crime had been committed with smallpox. If previous rules truly did prevent such use of the Web, they were absurd and, of course, should have been changed. But that example is misleading. The policy change is far more significant than that example might indicate. Among other things, the change also means that FBI agents have the right to monitor political discussions in chatrooms and newsgroups and to initiate investigations based on the opinions expressed there. It also means that the agency now has the authority to monitor political groups and political activities, to infiltrate those groups with informers and to compile reports on those activities and individuals with no evidence of their involvement in criminal or terror activities. And because the agency is now able to use commercial data-mining services --- again without any indication that a crime had been committed --- the agency could rather quickly compile a list of Americans who subscribe both to Islam Today and American Aviation magazines; those folks, too, could find themselves visited by humorless armed men. Likewise, someone who argued vehemently in a chatroom against a U.S. invasion of Iraq might also make himself a target of an investigation. That kind of scenario may seem farfetched to some, but it's not. During the Vietnam War, Americans were targeted for FBI investigation for just that kind of reason. In fact, it's important to remember that the rules tossed aside by Ashcroft had been implemented for very good cause. The 1975 Church Committee report found that the FBI had compiled dossiers on more than 500,000 Americans, including such well-known criminals as Albert Einstein and John F. Kennedy. FBI agents attended meetings of women's lib groups, noting in its files the name of every person attending. They infiltrated the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and spied on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., whom its Domestic Intelligence Division considered "the most dangerous and effective Negro leader in the country." In 1970, the FBI ordered investigations of every member of "every Black Student Union and similar group regardless of their past or present involvement in disorders." And the list goes on and on. In the strongest language possible, the Church report stressed the importance of requiring law enforcement to investigate conduct, not opinion. Without such a protective rule, it argued, an agency will inevitably be drawn into treating political dissent as a dangerous activity. It's also important to note that the committee found very little evidence that the investigative focus on political groups had been successful in preventing or uncovering terrorist activity or treason. One high-ranking FBI official, in an interview with the committee, described the agency's slide all too well, noting the tendency "to move from the kid with a bomb to the kid with a picket sign, and from the kid with the picket sign to the kid with the bumper sticker of the opposing candidate. And you just keep going down the line." In the absence of a clear legal line preventing such a slide --- a line that has now been erased --- the only hope for keeping agencies such as the FBI out of trouble is strong leadership at the top, deeply committed to respecting the full diversity of opinion that makes America such a great country. And in that role, John Ashcroft is hopelessly miscast. __________________________________________________________________________ Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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