WASHINGTON — Attorney General Michael Mukasey confirmed plans Wednesday to loosen post-Watergate restrictions on the FBI's national-security and criminal investigations, saying the changes were needed to improve the bureau's ability to detect terrorists.
Mukasey said he expected criticism of the new rules because "they expressly authorize the FBI to engage in intelligence collection inside the United States." However, he said the criticism would be misplaced because the bureau has long had authority to do so.
Mukasey said the new rules "remove unnecessary barriers" to cooperation between law enforcement agencies and "eliminate the artificial distinctions" in the way agents conduct surveillance in criminal and national-security investigations.
"There was clear-eyed and bipartisan recognition after the attacks (of Sept. 11, 2001) that we needed to be able — and allowed — to collect intelligence in the United States," he said in a speech prepared for an anti-terrorism conference in Portland, Ore. "Indeed, there was a loud demand for it."
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Noting one area that needs to change, he said agents currently can rely on informants to gather information in ordinary criminal investigations, but are more limited in national-security cases. He said the new rules will do away with those differences.
In addition, agents assigned to national security investigations will be given more latitude to conduct surveillance based on a tip. Also, agents will be permitted to search more databases than allowed previously in criminal cases.
