FBI says Miranda readings don't hurt Bureau

Senior FBI officials Wednesday asserted that giving terrorism suspects Miranda warnings does not impede the government's ability to gather critical intelligence.

"I do believe that if you look at the number of recent cases we've had, Miranda has not stood in the way of getting extensive intelligence," FBI Director Robert Mueller said during a keynote speech at a conference in Washington hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Mueller cited recent counterterrorism cases where Miranda warnings were given but intelligence collection was not impeded, such as the arrest of Najibullah Zazi, who has been accused of planning suicide bombings on the New York subway system, and Faisal Shahzad, who was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison for attempting to blow up a car bomb in New York's Times Square.

The issue of giving terrorism suspects Miranda warnings, or telling them they have the right to remain silent, came up repeatedly during panel discussions at the conference.

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., squared off with senior FBI official Sean Joyce over the matter during an earlier panel.

Rogers criticized the decision to give a Miranda warning to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who was arrested on Christmas for trying to blow up an airline en route from Amsterdam to Detroit. He said it "was pretty clear" that a criminal conviction could be secured against Abdulmutallab without a Miranda warning.

"That law enforcement procedure of Mirandizing slowed everything down," Rogers asserted. "That could have been dangerous and lethal to American citizens."

Joyce shot back, saying "misinformation" has been spread about Miranda warnings.

"There's a fallacy out there that because we read someone their Miranda warnings the intelligence gathering stops. And it does not," said Joyce, executive assistant director of the FBI's National Security Branch. "What it does do, and I'm happy it does do it, is that it preserves that prosecutorial option."

Rogers confirmed after the panel that he wants to become the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, as the panel's ranking member Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., is retiring. Rogers is in competition with Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, for the post.

Meanwhile, former and current government officials said during the conference they do not believe the United States should create a domestic intelligence organization like MI5 in Britain. They said they believe the FBI is properly structured to conduct intelligence and criminal investigations and carry out prosecutions.

In other news, Mueller said the threat picture in Europe has not changed in recent days, even with the arrest of 12 people suspected of ties to Islamic militants in France on Tuesday.

"The situation described there [days ago] is the situation today," he said.

Mueller and other officials asserted that U.S. law governing domestic intelligence collection needs to be updated, such as the 1994 The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. "The Internet has become a facilitator, and even an accelerator, for terrorist and criminal activity," Mueller said.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said in a separate keynote speech he was "ashamed" of leaks about U.S. intelligence operations, adding that the disclosure by WikiLeaks of war-related documents "will have a very chilling effect on the need to share."

Speaking at a conference in Washington, Clapper said President Obama expressed "great angst" about intelligence leaks during a meeting Tuesday. Clapper said has was "ashamed to sit there" and listen to Obama express his concerns.

"The irony here is people engaged in intelligence who turn around and talk about it publicly," Clapper said.

Clapper said he was particularly angry about senior intelligence officials who "get their jollies by blabbing to the media."

He described what he said was a "hemorrhage of leaks" occurring and said he believes it is therefore appropriate to keep intelligence compartmentalized, a term that refers to restricting who has access to certain data.

He called the WikiLeaks disclosure "a big yellow flag." He also said the dilemma within agencies between the need to share intelligence and the need to know intelligence still exists, despite years of efforts to tear down those walls.

Clapper did not mention any specific leaks that Obama expressed angst about, saying after his speech that the concern was "related generally to the leaks."