GAO finds no rights abuses by FBI, but scope of review limited

In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks and as part of the Bush administration's war on terrorism, FBI agents have been given broad new powers to open terrorism investigations and to conduct surveillance of terrorist suspects, even in the absence of proof of criminal activity. Civil libertarians and many lawmakers have assailed those powers as an encroachment on personal privacy and individual rights under the Constitution.

But a review by the General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative arm, finds that the FBI has not abused the new authorities it has been granted to track and pursue terrorists under some guidelines issued by Attorney General John Ashcroft. Comptroller General David Walker presented the report as testimony Wednesday at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing.

Among the new powers FBI agents have is the right to attend any public gathering or a religious service while conducting terrorism investigations without identifying themselves as agents. Agents can also visit Web sites and chat rooms surreptitiously to look for leads and information.

But GAO investigators who visited FBI field offices found few instances of agents actually availing themselves of these privileges. Field office managers said agents are so busy handling "legitimate leads" and ongoing inquiries and investigations that they "do not have the time or need to visit public places or surf the Internet to generate additional leads," Walker said.

GAO acknowledged that they found "some agents are proactively using the new investigative authorities." And its report cautioned that "as traditional investigative constraints are eased . . . appropriate internal controls are needed to prevent investigative abuses and ensure the protection of civil liberties."

But in a number of areas, GAO could find no proof that FBI agents are acting abusively or violating the law.

Instead, the investigators found that FBI managers need to strengthen internal controls and oversight of the new techniques. For instance, as the FBI installs technology to analyze case files and is building a massive database for terrorism investigations, bureau officials must create a means to document how often agents are using those systems and for what purposes. Currently, "there is no indication" of how agents are supposed to keep track of their activity or how their supervisors can review what the agents are doing or ensure that the work is for the purpose of "detecting or preventing terrorism," the report found.

Likewise, in regard to agents visiting public places or religious services, there is no indication of a mechanism to track their visits and ensure appropriate oversight, the report said.

FBI officials told the auditors that agents should obtain a supervisor's approval to visit public sites if time permits, and that the date, time and place visited should be documented in a case file.

While the report found no evidence of abuse, the focus of the investigation was also limited only to a single set of guidelines, specifically those that cover general crimes, racketeering and terrorism. They determine the circumstances under which agents can open investigations.

Some of the most significant counterterrorism measures enacted since the Sept. 11 attacks, including those that have drawn the most criticism and caused the most concern among civil rights groups and some elected officials, were not included in the GAO's review.

For instance, investigators didn't focus on the 2001 USA PATRIOT Act, enacted quickly after the attacks, which tore down long-standing barriers between the FBI and intelligence agencies. The act allowed those agencies to share information on terrorism more freely. It also established a number of requirements, including a mandate for the government to monitor foreign students at U.S. schools, colleges and universities.

The review didn't examine possible abuses under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the FBI to gather intelligence information electronically on terrorist suspects in the U.S. Nor did the GAO look at guidelines from the attorney general for FBI foreign intelligence collection and foreign counterintelligence investigations. Major portions of those guidelines are classified.

Using those new guidelines, Attorney General Ashcroft has set a record for issuing surveillance warrants that allow FBI agents to monitor people in the U.S. for three days without approval from a special court. Since the Sept.11 attacks, Ashcroft has approved more than 170 requests for those warrants, three times the number approved in the past two decades.