
The FBI Gives Itself Lots of Rope to Pull in Informants
Agents have the authority to aggressively investigate anyone they believe could be a valuable source for the bureau.
President Trump has inherited a vast domestic intelligence agency with extraordinary secret powers. A cache of documents offers a rare window into the FBI’s quiet expansion since 9/11.
Agents have the authority to aggressively investigate anyone they believe could be a valuable source for the bureau.
The FBI coordinates with immigration authorities to locate informants who are no longer of value to the bureau.
A classified policy guide creates opportunities for agents to disguise payments as reimbursements or offer informants a cut of seized assets.
The FBI’s online activities are so pervasive that the bureau sometimes finds itself investigating its own people.
Low-level “assessments” allow the FBI to follow people with planes, examine travel records, and run subjects’ names through the CIA and NSA.
Bureau policies have been crafted to take into account the active presence of domestic extremists in U.S. police departments.
Beneath the FBI’s redaction marks are exceptions to rules on “undisclosed participation.”
Internal documents suggest the FBI uses the secret orders to pursue sensitive customer data like internet browsing records.
The bureau still claims considerable latitude to use race, ethnicity, nationality, and religion in deciding which people and communities to investigate.
For over 10 years, the court intervened to limit the FBI’s ability to act on sensitive information it collected while monitoring phone calls.
Rules governing the use of national security letters allow the FBI to obtain information about journalists’ calls without going to a judge or informing the targeted news organization.