OTB...

...this post falls under the umbrella of 'Other Than Bacon' stories"

New York Times editorial: A Reminder for the FBI

"...The day after Thanksgiving, 2002, was a slow day in the Pittsburgh office of the F.B.I., so a supervisor sent a special agent to a rally against the threatened war in Iraq to look for any terrorism suspects who might be there, just to “see what they are doing.” The peace rally was sponsored by the Thomas Merton Center, which has opposed violence and armed conflict since the days of Vietnam, and consisted largely of people distributing leaflets. There was not the slightest indication that there were any terrorists there or even the hint of a connection to terrorism. Nonetheless, the agent kept the leafleteers under surveillance and even took pictures...

...It sounds like the paranoid approach to dissent of J. Edgar Hoover’s F.B.I., but this and other abuses took place during the Bush administration...

...The report did not find evidence that the F.B.I. routinely targeted groups that were trying to exercise their First Amendment right to protest government policies. It characterized the Merton Center incident as a slip-up. But it also found other incidents in which the F.B.I.’s investigation of various groups was based on a weak case of connection to terrorism or any other crime...

...no investigation of an advocacy group should take place without indications of a specific crime. Nonviolent civil disobedience should not be investigated as an act of terrorism. And the F.B.I. should not retain surveillance information it gathers at public events unless it is related to criminal or terror activity — a prohibition that used to be in force at the agency but was relaxed in 2008. To keep the agency from backsliding into the Hoover days, those recommendations should be followed promptly."

Think of an FBI Special Agent as a cop on beat. Only, the beat - is the United States. And for the agent in question, my guess, his beat was Domestic Terrorism. The New York Times wants to remind the FBI that the "Hoover days" included Hoover 'spying' on Americans. Which included keeping files on politicians, celebrities, etc. In the files were things that could be used against them if necessary. And thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, we see that most of the files were innocuous, detailed, but harmless.

Intelligence gathering. Oh wait, I thought the FBI has been transforming into an "intelligence gathering" bureau only since 9/11? (I just hate hearing that).

Don't confuse that with what the FBI in Pittsburgh was doing.

Knowing what is going on in your beat, does not mean there is a full investigation. There may be absolutely no ties to criminal activity within the group being surveilled. It still falls under the agent's 'beat,' and he should know about it.

When something does happen, when there is an act, or crime committed, the agent won't be starting from scratch when he is assigned to leave no stone unturned. Not only can the group in question be 'cleared' in the preliminary stages, but the group may be able to provide experts, witnesses, etc.

Does the New York Times really think civil rights were violated when leafleteers were watched, and the agent "even took pictures." This is what you get when groups like the ACLU, etc., was consulted during the writing of the FBI's Domestic Intelligence Operations Guide, in the Bureau's effort to be more open and avoid the dreaded "Hoover days."


...I would even go so far as to say that FBI Agents may, or may not, have been at Tea Party rallies. They may, or may not, have been some of the ones holding signs and cheering...