May 30th, 2008
Posted by Elizabeth Rose, Washington Legislative Office at 12:24pm	National Security

With the Stroke of a Pen, the FBI Can Abuse Power Because of an Ashcroft Order

Six years ago today with a simple stroke of a pen U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft diminished our constitutional protections as he signed into existence new guidelines governing domestic spying by law enforcement. The result was that he and subsequent Attorneys General have been able to send G-men to "investigate" Americans who don't agree with President Bush. Fortunately, Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott has taken a long overdue step to rid Americans of the Ashcroft approach to FBI investigation and return us to an older, better system. On May 20, Congressman Scott introduced a sense of the House resolution that would replace the Ashcroft guidelines on domestic spying with ones that actually protect American civil liberties. These guidelines, developed by Attorney General Edward Levi following the release of a report by the famed post-Watergate Church Committee, enable reasonable investigations of suspicious activity. The Ashcroft Guidelines announced May 30, 2002, swept away protections that had been in place since 1976, when the Church Committee detailed the disturbing extent to which the FBI had spied on Americans like Martin Luther King, former Navy officer Father Roy Bourgeois, and Holocaust surviving grandmother Edith Bell, who were peaceful protestors or advocates from across the political spectrum. As is so often the case, there is much to learn from History Repeated, an ACLU report released in 2002 and updated last year detailing The Dangers of Domestic Spying by Federal Law Enforcement. The report and its update were written by Marv Johnson, the respected and courageous ACLU first amendment counsel who died earlier this year due to complications from diabetes. "It appears that the FBI is using America's fear of terrorism to dramatically increase its power in areas that have little to do with terrorism," wrote Johnson, "Despite its inability to manage and analyze the information it already gathers, it now wants to gather more information free from the constraints previously imposed. This not only makes the FBI less effective in preventing terrorism, but it chills Americans' freedom to associate and speak without the fear that their associations and speech will end up in an FBI database." The House Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with respect to Intelligence Activities (known as the Church Committee) also found the FBI had developed over 500,000 domestic intelligence files on Americans and domestic groups and in 1972 alone opened 65,000 new domestic intelligence files. More recently The Progressive described The New McCarthyism, including an FBI visit to an un-American college student's apartment in part because she had a poster of George W. Bush with a noose that said "we hang on your every word." We hope the next attorney general reinstates the Levi guidelines for the FBI. But it would be even better if Congress acts, because then no president and no attorney general would ever again be able to tell the FBI to spy on Americans without reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct.

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1. Jkat Says:
   May 30th, 2008 at 1:38pm

   "because then no president and no attorney general would ever again be able to tell the FBI to spy on Americans without reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct."

   that assumes we will have a chief executive who fels constrained by the law .. our current CE feels he IS the law .. and NO other law can bind him or his minions if he overules the current statutes... or manhandles the constitution of the united states into a mangled ball of paper ..

   oops .. i probably just made "that" list of "dangerous dissenters" eh ??

   fortunately ..i'm former military .. and i won't be spending in time in gitmo .. they'll have to lock me up somewhere else ...

2. Randy Says:
   May 30th, 2008 at 2:31pm

   Yeah I agree with Jkat. The acts of Congress don't matter if the Executive is not bound by them. See Yoo, John.

3. americanlibertyassociation.com Says:
   May 30th, 2008 at 2:35pm

   this is never gunna end.
   It's a constant upward movement to take our right's away and turn this nation into one gigantic taxation control Grid .

4. David Elkins Says:
   Jun 2nd, 2008 at 12:15pm

   Illeagal spying has been going on long before 9/11,just ask ACLU spokeperson Mike German.Calling himself a "FBI whistle blower", he's a well trained criminal who won't sue the FBI, because what they know about his misconduct in Florida pre-9/11, and they won't arrest him or charge him because he's got the goods on the FBI

5. Oldfart Says:
   Jun 2nd, 2008 at 3:29pm

   This would have been so much better had you just listed the so-called swept away protections Ashcroft swept away. Linking a 28 page .pdf file just doesn't get it. Even if I took the time to read the whole thing I'd have to be a lawyer to compare it to the previous guidelines had you bothered to link THEM too.

6. steve Says:
   Jun 4th, 2008 at 1:39am

   my personal experience has been that,
   the conservatives of both the
   republican and democratic wings
   of the establishment are continuing on their merry counterintelpro way
   as they have done since 1945.
   we [australia and the us and britain]
   appear to have more the thin veneer
   of an apparently democratic society,
   than the real thing.
   excessive surveillence , the
   parallax view [seeing dissent as
   treason; seeing centrist views as
   communism.]..blacklists.death squads.

7. Jeff Says:
   Jun 5th, 2008 at 12:35pm

   I am being abuse here in Arkansas and even the aclu won't help me because of the corruption here in Arkansas.

8. terry wagar Says:
   Jul 1st, 2008 at 4:13pm

   In portland oregon, Joan Wagar and Eric Carlson are in A Murder conspiracy together.
   And Clackamas Walmart are acttively helping them by hideing Eric's employment there from me and my family.
   For over A year now Eric Carlson has been going by the name gashel, last name unknown by me, he dyed his hair black, and Walmart agreed to hide his Identity from my daughter, who also worked at that store.
   Joan and Eric have friends in Authority protecting Joan and Eric from prosecution.
   I have reported this repeatedly to the Authority's and they are ignoring Joan and Eric's CONSPIRACY.
   I would be more than happy to Testify to this but the Authority's are covering this up so my testimony would simply dissapear.
   My name is Terry Wagar and Im backing up these charges.
   Nomatter how many people Joan and Eric poisoned the Authority's here in portland Oregon refuse to arrest them.
   Im making these charges public because of the blatent coverup of these charges.
   why is Walmart hideing A BodyDouble?

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