Proposed new FBI rules draw civil liberties worries
Fri Sep 12, 2008 6:17pm EDT

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By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department unveiled proposed new
rules on Friday for FBI investigations, changes a civil liberties group
criticized for giving agents powers to investigate Americans without
proper suspicion.

In its first major change in years, the Justice Department proposed a
consolidated set of guidelines for domestic FBI operations, seeking to
apply the same rules for criminal and terrorism cases, and for
collecting foreign intelligence.

The guidelines were first adopted in the 1970s following disclosures
that the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover had run a widespread domestic
surveillance program that spied on civil rights activists and political
opponents.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domes...47176820080912