Mukasey Says He’ll Give FBI More Authority to Gather Intelligence
Attorney General Michael Mukasey said yesterday that he’ll loosen FBI restrictions on gathering intelligence in the United States and give the agency express authority for that mission.
Mukasey told an audience in Portland, Ore., that existing rules make it “harder to gather information about threats to the national security than it is to conduct ordinary criminal investigations,” Bloomberg News reports. He delivered the remarks at an anti-terrorism conference, according to the Oregonian.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, Mukasey said, it became clear that the FBI needed to shift its national security focus from investigating crimes after they occur to collecting the intelligence to prevent attacks.
He said the changes will “remove unnecessary barriers” to cooperation between law enforcement agencies and “eliminate the artificial distinctions” between intelligence and criminal investigations, the McClatchy News Service reports. The new rules will allow greater use of informants and spy cameras in intelligence cases.
Michael German, policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, told McClatchy News that the changes would loosen restrictions on the FBI’s domestic Counter Intelligence Program that were put in place after Watergate.
Mukasey is consulting with Congress about the changes and plans to release more information in the next few weeks. He said the risk of terrorism is rising as the presidential election approaches and the FBI needs to respond.
