F.B.I. Scrutinized for Amassing Data on American Communities

[groovedaddy]

WASHINGTON — The Federal Bureau of Investigation has collected information about religious, ethnic and national-origin characteristics of American communities, according to internal F.B.I. documents made public by the American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday. Citing the materials, the group urged the Justice Department to tighten restrictions on F.B.I. powers.

The documents show that in recent years, agents identified Arab-American and Muslim communities in Michigan as a potential terrorist recruitment ground; noted an increase in the African-American population of Georgia when analyzing “Black Separatist” groups; identified Chinese and Russian communities in San Francisco as a place to look for organized crime syndicates; and highlighted Latino communities as potentially harboring the Central American gang MS-13.

In a letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., the A.C.L.U. asserted that the documents showed that “the F.B.I. is illegally and unconstitutionally” targeting people for investigation based on their race or religion. It asked Mr. Holder to bar agents from considering this kind of factor; current rules forbid the use of race or ethnicity unless describing a particular suspect, but contain a broad exception for national security or border-related investigations.

The F.B.I., however, said agents were doing their jobs by analyzing potential threats within their areas of responsibility. It said that the bureau was obeying rules barring investigative activity based “solely” on religion, race or ethnicity, but that such factors could help identify particular threats as well as potential victims.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/21/us/aclu-releases-fbi-documents-on-american-communities.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha23

[Scuba]

1. Good. Any FBI agent who ordered domestic spying should be charged....

... and any agent who followed that illegal order should also be charged.

[leveymg]

2. The FBI isn't the real problem. It's NSA/DIA that conducts nearuniversal surveillance and profiling

FBI still, more or less, operates as a law enforcement agency. The military, CIA and other national security and homeland security agencies operate clandestinely according to presidential directives, many of them classified. They operate without legal warrants to capture or kill US Citizens.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Third U.S. Citizen Killed by Obama’s Yemen Drone Strikes was a 16-Year-Old Boy

dunno how many saw this:


The United States has now killed three of its citizens in Yemen in the past month as a result of unmanned aerial strikes carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Following the deaths in late September of Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-born cleric, and Samir Khan, an al-Qaeda propagandist from North Carolina, an American drone strike on October 14 killed Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, the 16-year-old son of the cleric. At the time, the U.S. government led the media to believe that Abdulrahman was at least 21 years old.

The al-Awlaki family released to the media a copy of Abdulrahman’s birth certificate, which shows he was born in Denver, Colorado, in 1995, to disprove the Obama administration’s assertion that he was a twenty-something militant. Relatives claim the son was killed while “barbecuing under the moonlight” with other teenagers, including his 17-year-old cousin, who was a Yemeni citizen.

http://www.allgov.com/US_and_the_World/ViewNews/Third_US_Citizen_Killed_by_Obamas_Yemen_Drone_Strikes_was_a_16_Year_Old_Boy_111020

[PETRUS]

3. Our surveillance state is out of control. K&R nt