Senate Leaders, Civil Rights Coalition Urge Delay & Review of Proposed Expansion of FBI Powers

Muslim Advocates and a coalition of allied community and civil libertarian organizations released a joint letter to FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III today, calling for an opportunity for meaningful input in the FBI's Domestic Investigative Operational Guidelines (DIOGs) implementing the Attorney General's controversial Guidelines, both of which are expected to take effect December 1, 2008.

The letter reiterates concerns raised in a similar letter to the Attorney General sent yesterday by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Committee members Senators Russell Feingold (D-WI), Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) calling for a delay in implementation of the DIOGs and the Attorney General's Guidelines until the next administration can review them.
The coalition letter discusses the inadequacy of cursory briefings by FBI officials on the eve of the implementation of the DIOGs and their refusal to release copies of the 100-page DIOGs. Noting that "both Congress and the public have expressed serious concerns about unprecedented expansion of the FBI's investigative authorities on several occasions," the coalition calls for the DIOGs to be released, and for their implementation -- and that of the AG's Guidelines -- to be delayed so that Congress, the public and the next administration can fully review the proposed expansion of the FBI's powers.