toledoblade.com -- The FBI plays Big Brother

The FBI is behaving like Big Brother again, conducting surveillance on U.S. citizens without regard to the guidelines it is supposed to follow to keep its operations above board.

What's worse is that once these breaches were pointed out, the agency brushed them off as if they were no big deal. Newly released classified documents reveal that the FBI has secretly shadowed citizens for as long as 18 months, and that it did so without the proper legal permission or oversight. It also kept tabs on another target for five years, but didn't bother to tell the Justice Department the person had moved from New York to Detroit. That is a clear violation of rules, and also ominously evokes the bad old days when J. Edgar Hoover presided over an agency that too often ran amok.

There's a reason law enforcement agencies are required to get warrants. Warrants give them the authority to obtain information for investigations. But the muscleheads at the FBI didn't bother to update an expired warrant before they seized e-mails. Plus, they obtained bank records without proper authority and conducted an improper "unconsented physical search."

Thank goodness for the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for making public documents - heavily censored, mind you - that give a peek into domestic spying. At least 287 potential violations occurred from 2002 to 2004.

Thirteen cases were referred to the oversight board, the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board whose duty it is to examine violations of rules and laws governing secret surveillance.

The documents show the need for greater oversight of secret surveillance within the country. The FBI's so-what, no-big-deal attitude is due in part to the Bush Administration throwing its weight around in this post 9/11 era. Besides, the documents confirm citizens' fear that their liberties are under attack.

Congress shouldn't let the FBI get by with brushing this off. If it does, the agency will think it can get away with greater breaches. It's time for the House and Senate to quit fighting over whether to establish new restrictions on the controversial USA Patriot Act. The FBI has proven once again just how much every agency needs civilian oversight, and a set of watchdogs, media and otherwise.

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