[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 rescinded and replaced by the former Guidelines (``Levi guidelines'') 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 rescinded and replaced by the former Guidelines (``Levi guidelines'') 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.
                                 <all>