Here is an open and urgent letter to every American citizen from Anthony Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. It is an important letter and I urge you to read it:
Bush and Mukasey are at it again. They’ve announced dangerous new FBI guidelines that will severely jeopardize the personal privacy of innocent Americans. These regulations need no congressional approval and are terrifying.
Just how far can the FBI go without any factual basis for suspecting improper -- let alone illegal -- activity?
Under far-reaching new guidelines proposed by Attorney General Michael Mukasey, the answer is frightening. All the FBI has to do to put you or any American under prolonged physical surveillance is assert an “authorized purpose” such as detecting or preventing crime or protecting “national security.”
Sound familiar?
It’s the same Bush/Cheney/Gonzales/Mukasey “just trust us” policies that have been eroding our rights for the past eight years.
And like with Bush’s government spying and torture programs, there’s a belief that government officials can ignore the law. In fact, we have good reason to suspect that the FBI has been violating its own internal guidelines all along and is now pushing these new guidelines to cover up past wrongdoing.
That’s why we need to demand an investigation now, before these outrageous guidelines are implemented. The Inspector General’s office at the Department of Justice has proven to be an unbiased, internal watchdog that has consistently exposed wrongdoing. We need to urge the IG to do it again.
These new guidelines would allow the FBI to interview you, your friends and your family under a false pretext. The FBI could recruit secret informants and have them infiltrate peaceful protest groups. And the FBI could initiate investigations based on little more than race, ethnicity or religion.
The FBI could also search commercial databases for personal details about your life with no real reason.
And all of this would be allowed without an ounce of evidence that you or anyone else has done anything wrong.
The last thing we can afford is to let the FBI claim out-of-control investigative powers in the closing months of the Bush administration.
Please act today to help us challenge this dangerous plan to put your personal privacy at risk.
Anthony D. Romero,
Executive Director, ACLU
PS:
Read the ACLU’s letter to Glenn A. Fine, Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Justice, by going here.
Resources:
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ACLU Northern Californnia Office (San Francisco)
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Glenn A. Fine, Inspector General, U. S. Dept. of Justice
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Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director, ACLU
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Federal Bureau of Investigation - Washington, DC
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FBI San Francisco Division Office
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