The gist courtesy of NYT...
WASHINGTON — A Justice Department plan would loosen restrictions on the Federal Bureau of Investigation to allow agents to open a national security or criminal investigation against someone without any clear basis for suspicion, Democratic lawmakers briefed on the details said Wednesday.
The right is like a shark--once it smells blood it does not stop. The Democratic Party seems to keep thinking that if they capitulate, or triangulate the Republicans was cease to salivate. Not true. Congress gave Bush the Patriot Act. Then Iraq. Then funding for Iraq. Then FISA. All the while they expected them to be satisfied and leave the Dems alone.
It won't happen. They must be stopped. More on the expanded powers below.
Of the propsal Democrats said...
the new guidelines would allow the F.B.I. to open an investigation of an American, conduct surveillance, pry into private records and take other investigative steps "without any basis for suspicion." The plan "might permit an innocent American to be subjected to such intrusive surveillance based in part on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, or on protected First Amendment activities," the letter said. It was signed by Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.
Scary shit, no?
Even a former FBI Agent doubts its legitimacy...
Michael German, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union and a former F.B.I. agent, said the plan appeared to open the door still further to the use of data-mining profiles in tracking terrorism.
"This seems to be based on the idea that the government can take a bunch of data and create a profile that can be used to identify future bad guys," he said. "But that has not been demonstrated to be true anywhere else."
But this is what the Republicans do. They take baby steps off the cliff. There is no dramatic leap. Death by a thousand cuts. They want to take a stand no one with all their mental faculties intact would support, but instead of taking that leap they just push and push and push.
Well Kossacks. Get ready for another congressional battle. Hopefully the Dems won't cave this time. Go Feingold, Durbin, Kennedy, and presumably soon Dodd!
P.S. We have a Civil Liberties Google Group to help focus the DKos community on civil liberties. Come join! Your Civil Liberties will thank you!
And all is not lost. There are groups working on this issue. Not to pimp my own diary, but it is highly relevant given the issue above: Moving the Debate on Civil Liberties