House Oversight Committee Leaders Ask GAO to Probe FBI Use of Assessments

Patrick G. EddingtonEarlier this week, Representatives Nancy Mace (R ‑SC) and Jamie Raskin (D‑MD) sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting the congressional watchdog agency to investigate the FBI ’s use (or perhaps more accurately, misuse) of an investigative authority known as Assessments. Cato provided technical drafting assistance for the letter, as well as considerable background material on FBI Assessments obtained by Cato via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).In December 2008, then ‐​Attorney General Michael Mukasey modified the Attorney GeneralGuidelines for Domestic FBI Operations by creating an entirely new class of FBI proto ‐​investigation known as an “Assessment”. Contrary to a typical FBI preliminary or full field investigation, an Assessment requires no criminal predicate to be opened —just the broad and amorphous formulation of an “authorized purpose.” FBI agents can’t—theoretically—utilize wiretaps when conducting Assessments on people or organizations, they can utilize many other tools: conduct physical surveillance of Assessment targets, search public and classifi ed databases for information on them, and run confidential informants against them, among other things.I ’ve written extensively about the dangers to civil liberties of the Assessment authority, with the FBI Assessment onConcerned Women of America being a prime example. Cato also has ongoing FOIA lawsuits against the F...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs