From Muslim Advocates

On September 16, 2009, Muslim Advocates filed suit demanding that the FBI release the guidelines used by its agent to monitor the activities of innocent Americans. In response to the lawsuit — and considerable media coverage [ see Politico article ] — the FBI released a heavily redacted version of the surveillance guidelines on September 25, 2009. As a result, Muslim Advocates yesterday filed an amended complaint to press the FBI to release the surveillance guidelines in their entirety.

While key sections were concealed, the guidelines nevertheless describe a troubling evolution of the FBI from an agency focused on fighting crime to an agency focused on tracking the everyday lives of millions of law-abiding Americans, particularly Muslims. The guidelines permit identifying and monitoring locations of concentrated racial and ethnic communities, and the businesses, vocations, travel, financial practices, and charitable giving of American Muslims. They confirm concerns that the FBI has been monitoring millions of law-abiding American Muslims, a practice that was recently described by a former FBI agent.

Furthermore, the FBI redacted the entire chapter on the use of informants in religious and political organizations, which is of particular significance given reports that the FBI is actively recruiting and cultivating agent provocateurs and sometimes coercing community members to become informants to infiltrate mosques and spy on American Muslims.

The amended complaint filed by Muslim Advocates in federal court seeks the full and complete guidelines without redactions. Full disclosure is required to allow Muslim Advocates and the public to assess the constitutionality of the guidelines and understand the full scope of the FBI’s surveillance powers.

Tags: American Muslims, FBI, lawsuit, Muslim Advocates, Surveillance

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