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Pentagon requests additional spying powers in U.S.
Oct 12, 2005
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Last week the Senate Intelligence Committee approved a request by the Pentagon for new spying powers in the United States. The request was a provision included in the 2006 intelligence spending authorization bill. This request would allow the Pentagon, mostly through the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), to covertly gather intelligence on U.S. citizens in order to determine whether they can be recruited as informants. Moreover, this process can be conducted without telling the prospective informant that he or she is being contacted by the government according to the Christian Science Monitor.
Last year, a similar provision was removed from the previous intelligence authorization bill, due to the concern it would lead to spying on U.S. citizens. The provision was put back in this year's bill last month with no public hearings or debate at the request of the Pentagon, according to Newsweek.
The Pentagon defended its request to expand its intelligence-gathering powers by saying that it would only grant the Defense Intelligence Agency the same powers the FBI and the CIA now possess. The DIA wanted the new powers to have the flexibility to recruit informants from the Muslim community for the war on terrorism. Potential targets of the military agency are members of ethnic communities inside the United States, such as Pakistanis or Saudis with close relatives in the Middle East, according to Newsweek.
The Pentagon had comparable spying powers before, but these were taken away by Congress when it was revealed that it conducted spying on antiwar protesters in the 1960s and 1970s. As a result, when the DIA is seeking information from American citizens, it is required under the Privacy Act to identify themselves and their purpose for the information.
Another troubling provision of the bill is the creation of a four-year pilot program that would allow U.S. intelligence agencies to have access to data collected about U.S. residents by other government agencies, such as pilot licenses or government permits and applications, as reported in Newsweek.
Members of the American Muslim community expressed concern that the Pentagon's new spying powers will be used to spy on Muslims in the U.S. Ibrahim Cooper, a representative for the Council on American Islamic Relations, commented, "This has a back-alley, dead-of-night feel to it that I don't think would be received well by the Muslim community."
Oct 12, 2005
Email this page
Printer friendly page
Last week the Senate Intelligence Committee approved a request by the Pentagon for new spying powers in the United States. The request was a provision included in the 2006 intelligence spending authorization bill. This request would allow the Pentagon, mostly through the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), to covertly gather intelligence on U.S. citizens in order to determine whether they can be recruited as informants. Moreover, this process can be conducted without telling the prospective informant that he or she is being contacted by the government according to the Christian Science Monitor.
Last year, a similar provision was removed from the previous intelligence authorization bill, due to the concern it would lead to spying on U.S. citizens. The provision was put back in this year's bill last month with no public hearings or debate at the request of the Pentagon, according to Newsweek.
The Pentagon defended its request to expand its intelligence-gathering powers by saying that it would only grant the Defense Intelligence Agency the same powers the FBI and the CIA now possess. The DIA wanted the new powers to have the flexibility to recruit informants from the Muslim community for the war on terrorism. Potential targets of the military agency are members of ethnic communities inside the United States, such as Pakistanis or Saudis with close relatives in the Middle East, according to Newsweek.
The Pentagon had comparable spying powers before, but these were taken away by Congress when it was revealed that it conducted spying on antiwar protesters in the 1960s and 1970s. As a result, when the DIA is seeking information from American citizens, it is required under the Privacy Act to identify themselves and their purpose for the information.
Another troubling provision of the bill is the creation of a four-year pilot program that would allow U.S. intelligence agencies to have access to data collected about U.S. residents by other government agencies, such as pilot licenses or government permits and applications, as reported in Newsweek.
Members of the American Muslim community expressed concern that the Pentagon's new spying powers will be used to spy on Muslims in the U.S. Ibrahim Cooper, a representative for the Council on American Islamic Relations, commented, "This has a back-alley, dead-of-night feel to it that I don't think would be received well by the Muslim community."
