Agents would be allowed to conduct physical surveillance in a public location, recruit and deploy informants, and conduct interviews without identifying themselves. Civil libertarians are worried.

WASHINGTON - September 13, 2008 - The Justice Department is finalizing rules that would allow FBI agents to solicit informants and use other new techniques to bolster the agency's intelligence-gathering operation in the United States, officials said Friday.

The changes would expand rules the department enacted after the events of September 11, 2001 that permitted the FBI to conduct "assessments" of threats of terrorism and espionage even in instances where little or no proof existed of criminal activity.

Such assessments are separate from formal investigations, which can involve more invasive investigative methods but which require harder evidence.

Justice officials said the FBI had been hamstrung in carrying out the earlier mandate because the agency had been limited to "overt" intelligence-gathering techniques, such as permitting agents to conduct interviews only when they identified themselves.

But the proposed revisions have raised concerns among civil liberties groups that the FBI would have too much latitude to collect information on U.S. residents and would be allowed to track people based on their race or ethnicity.

The new rules are expected to be signed in the next several weeks by Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey. Meanwhile, FBI agents are already being trained as if the new rules are in effect. The House and Senate judiciary committees are expected to question FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III on the issue next week.

Justice officials discussing the changes requested anonymity so they could speak more freely about them and because the changes have not been finalized.

The revisions underscore the changing mandate of the FBI since September 11, 2001. While maintaining its traditional law enforcement functions, the agency has been trying to significantly boost its domestic intelligence-gathering capabilities to find terrorists before they can act.

Ed. Note: What about freedom? What if I do not agree to sacrifice my freedom in order to make it easier for your fascist cops to do their jobs? What then?