WP: New FBI powers

[Insane3D]

WASHINGTON - The FBI has implemented new ground rules that fundamentally alter the way investigators handle counterterrorism cases, allowing criminal and intelligence agents to work side by side and giving both broad access to the tools of intelligence gathering for the first time in decades.

The result is that the FBI, unhindered by the restrictions of the past, will conduct many more searches and wiretaps that are subject to oversight by a secret intelligence court rather than regular criminal courts, officials said. Civil liberties groups and defense lawyers predict that more innocent people will be the targets of clandestine surveillance.

...

FBI applies new rules to surveillance

 

[arsbanned]

From the article:

"With 9/11 as the catalyst for this, what we've done is fundamentally change the approach we take to every counterterrorism case," FBI terrorism chief John S. Pistole said in an interview. "This is a sea change for the FBI."

"By eliminating any distinction between criminal and intelligence classifications, it reduces the respect for the ordinary constitutional protections that people have," said Joshua L. Dratel, a New York lawyer who has filed legal briefs opposing government anti-terrorism policies. "It will result in a funneling of all cases into an intelligence mode. It's an end run around the Fourth Amendment," which protects citizens from unreasonable searches, he said.

In a sense they're both correct. There has always been a tension between freedom and the need to control society in the U.S. as in any Democracy. With the 9/11 (or 11/9 as the case may be) attacks that tension has multiplied. The U.S. can't very well just stand by lamely while people are trying to destroy it - IMO- hence the need for tighter controls and expanded powers for the FBI.

Good topic.

 

[dmcowen674]

Insane3D, what's WP? Washington Post? But the link points to MSNBC. Anyway, Title should be more like Constitution Trashing: FBI get powers that Nullifies 4th Ammendment.

Also this goes beyond the FBI. This allows all Agencies to work together in covert operations against Citizens outside and beyond "Terroristic" activities. It is already happening with many cases that have nothing to do with Terrorism.
We are reaching the point of Marshall Law in the U.S. I should add this to the "Civil War" thread.

More from the article:
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"By eliminating any distinction between criminal and intelligence classifications, it reduces the respect for the ordinary constitutional protections that people have. It will result in a funneling of all cases into an intelligence mode. It's an end run around the Fourth Amendment."

"They're going to use all their foreign intelligence tools, and then they're going to prosecute people using those tools," Beeson said. "They're putting this whole class of criminal cases outside the protection of the Fourth Amendment."

"The principal danger is what the old rules were designed to avoid: to make sure that the FBI wasn't using intelligence authorities when they were really just looking to bust bad guys," he said. "There does need to be good oversight to make sure these new rules are not abused."

 

[Insane3D]

Yeah Dave, WP is Washington Post. It is a WP story on MSNBC's site. They mirror Newsweek's and the Post's articles, and don't require registration.

 

[arsbanned]

Also this goes beyond the FBI. This allows all Agencies to work together in covert operations against Citizens outside and beyond "Terroristic" activities. It is already happening with many cases that have nothing to do with Terrorism.

OMG they have been checking my library records! Seriously, I'd love for someone to show me how they've been targeted by the FBI.
I certainly have no love for Ashcroft and his cronies, but continuing to allow the Bin Ladins of the World carte blanche to kill U.S. citizens is just as bad swallowing Ashcroft's ideas whole.
Yeah, MSNBC is just a news portal. It's News Lite.
I enjoy Reuters, New York Times and-especially- Fox News