New FBI Surveillance Rules Allow Agents More Freedom

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) plans to release new surveillance rules, which would give agents more freedom in their investigations of both suspects and informants. The new rules would make it easier for agents to administer lie-detector tests and dig through trash, among other things.

“I would call these minor tweaks based on feedback from agents in the field who began operating under the original (rules)… Not sweeping new powers,” the FBI said in a statement quoted by a FoxNews.com article.

However, the article said the new rules would allow agents to investigate informants with many of the same methods previously used to investigate only suspects.

“One of the changes would allow agents to look up people on various databases without opening up a low-level inquiry known as an ‘assessment.’ Currently, agents have to take that formal step before looking into someone’s background,” the article read.

“In addition, the new rules reportedly would allow agents to use surveillance squads multiple times during the ‘assessment’ phase. Currently, those teams can only be used once during that phase.”