[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1211 Introduced in House (IH)]
110th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 1211
Expressing the sense of the House that the Guidelines on General
Crimes, Racketeering Enterprise and Terrorism Enterprise Investigation
as modified on May 30, 2002 (``Ashcroft Guidelines'') should be
rescinded and replaced by the former Guidelines (``Levi guidelines'')
to protect Americans from domestic Federal Bureau of Investigation
spying in the absence of suspected criminal activity.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 20, 2008
Mr. Scott of Virginia submitted the following resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House that the Guidelines on General
Crimes, Racketeering Enterprise and Terrorism Enterprise Investigation
as modified on May 30, 2002 (``Ashcroft Guidelines'') should be
rescinded and replaced by the former Guidelines (``Levi guidelines'')
to protect Americans from domestic Federal Bureau of Investigation
spying in the absence of suspected criminal activity.
Whereas in 1976, the House Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations
with Respect to Intelligence Activities (``Church Committee'') released
a report entitled ``Intelligence Activities and the Rights of
Americans'' detailing extensive domestic spying on Americans by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI);
Whereas the Church Committee found the FBI had developed over 500,000 domestic
intelligence files on Americans and domestic groups and in 1972 alone
opened 65,000 new domestic intelligence files;
Whereas the Church Committee found that the FBI's domestic intelligence
activities targeted a broad spectrum of individuals and groups of all
political persuasions including, among many others, the Women's
Liberation Movement, the Conservative American Christian Action council,
the NAACP, the John Birch Society, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.;
Whereas in 1976, Attorney General Edward Levi adopted Guidelines on General
Crimes, Racketeering Enterprise and Terrorism Enterprise Investigation
(``Levi Guidelines'') to end domestic spying as documented in the Church
Committee report and to ensure that the FBI could investigate anyone as
long as there was a rational basis for doing so;
Whereas the Levi Guidelines were adopted to prevent the FBI from domestic spying
when there was no evidence of criminal activity and to address three
problems arising from abusive FBI practices--
(1) surveillance of dissenters solely because of the nature of their
dissent;
(2) inadequate supervision of agents engaging in improper investigative
techniques; and
(3) the use of improper investigative techniques to disrupt the efforts
of dissenters;
Whereas on May 30, 2002, Attorney General John Ashcroft released new Guidelines
sweeping away the protections against improper domestic spying by the
FBI set forth in the Levi Guidelines, without demonstrating any need for
the relaxation of the Levi Guidelines;
Whereas the Ashcroft Guidelines allow the FBI to abuse its investigatory powers
to spy upon innocent Americans in contravention to the purpose of the
Levi Guidelines to protect against domestic spying abuses documented to
have occurred from the 1950s to 1970s;
Whereas the Ashcroft Guidelines severed the tie between the investigative
activity and the existence of criminal activity;
Whereas the Ashcroft Guidelines permit FBI agents to attend any public meeting
whatsoever--whether civic, religious, or political--as long as they
claim there is an antiterror purpose, even in the absence of suspected
criminal activity;
Whereas documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show that in the
years following adoption of the Ashcroft Guidelines, the FBI has
initiated surveillance of various peace, animal rights, environmental
and other organizations without any suspicion of criminal activity;
Whereas the groups subjected to unwarranted FBI domestic spying activities
include the Thomas Merton Center for Peace and Justice, United for Peace
and Justice, Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee, People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals, Vegan Community Project, Direct Action, By Any Means Necessary,
Catholic Workers Group, American Friends Service Committee, Food Not
Bombs, and School of the Americas Watch; and
Whereas the individuals subjected to unwarranted FBI domestic spying activities
have included Holocaust survivor and grandmother Edith Bell for her
peaceful protests with the Thomas Merton Center, former Navy officer and
ordained Catholic priest Father Roy Bourgeois for his criticism of the
School of the Americas, and disability rights advocate Kirsten Atkins
for her educational work and leadership of nonviolent environmental
campaigns, among many other peaceable Americans: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House that--
(1) the Attorney General of the United States should take
any and all steps necessary to rescind immediately and
forthwith the Ashcroft Guidelines and reinstate the Levi
Guidelines; and
(2) the Federal Bureau of Investigation should return to
pre-Ashcroft Guidelines standards requiring a reasonable
indication that a Federal crime has been, is being, or will be
committed before it engages in any domestic spying or other
investigative activity.
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