Proving he couldn't care less what Congress or the people think, Attorney General John Ashcroft continues to march to his own drummer. He issued new National Security guidelines Wednesday for the FBI--making it easier for them to do background checks on people.

The guidelines enable the FBI to conduct a "threat assessment" of potential terrorists or terrorist activity without initial evidence of a crime or national security threat, as required to begin a more formal preliminary or full investigation. The purpose is to ensure the FBI approaches these investigations "with an eye toward early intervention and prevention of acts of terrorism before they occur," according to the guidelines.

The FBI will be allowed to collect information on "individuals, groups and organizations of possible investigative interest" in national security cases in the ways that agents already can in cases involving more traditional crimes such as illegal drugs and organized crime. ... the relaxed guidelines would, for example, enable the FBI to run a credit check on an individual or run a person's name through law enforcement databases without opening a formal investigation.

....Timothy Edgar, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, said the guidelines raise another caution flag in the nation's fight against terrorism. ....This is exactly what Americans are worried about," he said. "It's the notion that the government can put your life under a microscope without any evidence that you're doing anything wrong." Edgar said the changes could mark a return to the days when the FBI routinely opened investigations on Vietnam War protesters and other dissidents, before the first national security investigation guidelines were issued in 1976.

[link via The Agonist.]

Update: The ACLU responds to the guidelines, saying the Justice Department is overlooking the lessons of Waco, Ruby Ridge and Watergate. [link via Cursor.]