That new guy at the mosque–could he be an FBI agent fishing for something to investigate?
If the president can do that to Khaled this week, will he try to do the same to citizens next week?
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Yes, and it’s not just Muslims who need to wonder. “For the purpose of detecting or preventing terrorist activities, the FBI is authorized to visit any place and attend any event that is open to the public, on the same terms and conditions as members of the public generally,” according to Attorney General Ashcroft’s “Guidelines on General Crimes, Racketeering Enterprise and Terrorism Enterprise Investigations,” issued May 30. Under previous guidelines, federal agents could do so only if they were following an already-developed lead or conducting an investigation. Now they can fish for leads. As ACLU legislative counsel Marvin Johnson points out in a June 5 analysis, “This was the same basis upon which the FBI sent agents into churches and other organizations during the civil rights movement, and then attempted to block the movement….So long as there is a claimed anti-terrorism purpose, nothing in the Ashcroft Guidelines imposes any judicial control, FBI Headquarters control, or even Special Agent in Command control over this activity.”
Yes, under the Bureau of Prisons interim rule of October 30, 2001, federal agents can listen in without getting any kind of court approval first. They are supposed to let you know. But if they get a court order, they don’t even have to do that.
